Fines dished out at AirBnB house party
– it’s alien to us all.”
Undoubtedly, funeral directors are facing the biggest challenges of their career due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This is certainly true for 23-yearold undertaker Steffan Castle at Roger Castle and Daughter funeral directors in Ystalyfera.
Steff joined the business at just 16 years old and has supported families in and around Ystalyfera during some of their toughest times, as they say a final goodbye to their loved ones.
The crisis has affected Steffan on a personal level as he lost his grandfather last year.
“It’s completely different. It’s been hard as a business but it’s been even harder for the grieving families,” he said.
“With all the restrictions coming in week by week everything changed.
“You can’t be with families as you would usually when they’re grieving, you can’t comfort them as you usually would. It’s very difficult.”
Like Gareth, Steffan says the second wave of the virus seems to have hit the community harder then the first.
“In our local area, the Swansea Valley, we didn’t see it being affected as badly as other areas the first time round.
“But in this second wave, I would say our area has seen it worse than before. I have experienced it personally myself by losing my grandfather.”
Steffan says the worst bit about funerals during the pandemic is not being able to offer the same level of support that undertakers are naturally inclined to do.
“The hardest part is not being able to give our service as we would usually want to and go and comfort the grieving families.
“We aren’t going out to see people in their homes and the parlour here is on lockdown so people can’t come here and see the deceased as they usually would be able to.
“It’s difficult to arrange a funeral over the phone, it’s not the same – you can’t give the comfort you usually would or would want to.
“Hearing people grieving over the phone is difficult, you just have to try and be as helpful as possible.
“As a company, one of the special touches we offer is to give the family as the Welsh would call a ‘cwtch’ as part of the funeral, a bit of personal comfort or reassurance on the day but nothing like that can happen now.
“Hopefully over the next few months we will see things be eased again.”
Funeral directors have now been included in prioritisation in the coronavirus vaccine across Wales.
Steffan says all employees at the funeral home received their vaccine through Powys Health Board on January 30.
Based within the Aneurin Bevan Health Board, previously one of the worst affected areas in the whole of the UK, Michael Ryan, funeral director at Michael G Ryan son and daughters Ltd in Newport, said the industry was still very much feeling the effects of the pandemic.
“It’s very upsetting for everyone. It’s upsetting for the grieving families but it’s also difficult for us not being able to help as we would,” he said.
“On a personal basis I think we’ve seen more deaths this second time around, it’s been difficult.
“Even a year on, it’s still completely different to life before all this.”
MORE than a dozen party-goers were handed fines for breaking Covid regulations after they booked a local AirBnB rental for a late-night houseparty.
The Swansea bash was brought to a halt by officers from South Wales Police on Friday night after they were called to an address in Sandfields.
Officers discovered a party in full flow and were quick to shut it down. But one of the female guests tried to stop police doing their job and is now “being dealt with” for obstructing a police officer.
Blasting their actions as “irresponsible”, officers fined a total of 13 people for the coronavirus breaches and said: “Booking a local Airbnb for a party is irresponsible.”
Meanwhile, police stopped cars in
Penarth Marina yesterday amid complaints about people driving to Cardiff Bay for exercise as level four coronavirus restrictions continue.
Wales’ level four lockdown has a number of restrictions in place in order to decrease the number of coronavirus cases across the country. These state that exercise should start and finish from home and nobody should be travelling unless essential.
Officers have been seen patrolling parts of Penarth several times since restrictions were introduced.
Last month the situation got so bad in the town that police closed off the esplanade due to “too many people”.
Residents living in the marina have also claimed they can’t step outside their front doors due to the droves of people visiting.