Rebecca Hillier of Hillier Funeral Service has had a busy 2023!

December is almost over and we’re getting ready to celebrate another year. We’ve been talking to small businesses about how December is for them.

Today we're talking to Rebecca Hillier, who is the general manager of Hillier Funeral Service which is a family run and independent funeral service based in Swindon.

What does December mean for your business?
We have lots of activities going on during December with collecting food for Swindon Food Collective and also we put memory trees in all our branches for families to pop in and place messages on the trees. Early to Mid-December can be very busy as everyone wants to lay their loved ones to rest before Christmas. We are generally then quieter with funerals between Christmas and New Year. 

Give us a flavour of your highlights of 2023.
This year we have been marking our 100th anniversary and to mark the occasion we set up our Hillier Community Fund which looks to help local charities with their vital work.

We have made a pledge to be more sustainable by reducing the amount of paper we use and have pledged to plant a tree for every funeral we conduct which is around 700 – 800 trees per year. 

We completed the renovation to our Rodbourne Cheney branch by removing the outdated pebble dashing to give a cleaner look and redecorated the whole inside. 

With the increase in popularity of holding the funeral service at Kingshill house in our service room, we repurposed one of the upstairs rooms so families can use it for wakes. This means they can hold everything in one location.

In September 2023, we were awarded Most Compassionate Family-Run Funeral Services Provider by the Southern Enterprise Awards.

Would you like to thank anyone who has been especially helpful to you throughout this year? 
I would like to say a massive thank you to all my members of staff, every day they show dedication to providing the best service to our families and including staying late and coming in early in the morning.

Have you done anything for charity or your community this year? 
In addition to our community fund, many of our employees have raised money for charity this year including Great Ormond Street, NSPCC and Brighter Futures. We also collected over 300 Easter Eggs for the hospital and food for the Food Collective this December. 

December 3 was Small Business Saturday in the UK. Can you name up to three local independent ‘retail’ businesses you would recommend using? 
We have been working with IV Florist for over 30 years and they always produce the most beautiful flowers.
Redvers for keeping our cars going. 
Arctic Services are also one of our key suppliers who carry out the maintenance on all our air conditioning units.

December 20 was the Festival of Winter Walks. Do you love any walks in your own community that you could recommend?
I love going for a walk at

• Badbury Clump
• Old Golf Course, Highworth
• Lydiard Park

What has been your proudest moment in 2023?
I’m a keen swimmer and I’ve always wanted to be able to tumble turn, this year after a lot of determination I finally managed it. 

If you could choose three words to sum up 2023? 
I think the only way to describe 2023 for us would be:

• Busy
• Busy
• Busy

For more information visit www.hillierfuneralservice.co.uk