Perhaps it's reaction against the remorseless march of technology, or the dismal "modernisation" of our culture. Whatever the reason, there's soaring demand for the old-fashioned English funeral, with coachman, groom, plumed horses, glass-sided hearse and high hats swathed with "weepers".

Hence the decision by Alan Greenwood and Tony Drewitt to launch their distinctive new funeral service at 425 Kingston Road, Ewell.

Their firm, Greenwood and Drewitt, officially opens this month. It offers a Victorian hearse, hand-built in 1879; a choice of black or grey horses; a Victorian mourners' carriage; two elegant Edwardian landaus; and all the other accoutrements that once made funerals such impressively dignified occasions.

It can also provide embalming, coffin-making, bereavement counselling and other skilled services.

Alan has a fleet of vintage fire engines, which once did duty in Kingston, Wimbledon, Surbiton and Epsom, and have often been requested for firemen's funerals over the years.

Indeed, five years ago he got permission - which he has yet to take up - to run a funeral directors' service from his HQ in Kingston.

He has deep ancestral roots in the Royal borough, and regards his new venture as a link with his family past. For his great-grandfather was John Edwards, who in 1889 established a thriving veterinary practice at 43 Eden Street - premises later acquired by Lankesters, the famous car specialists.

"He looked after the London and South Western Railway's horses over a wide area. He also cared for the funeral horses used by Farebrothers and Paine's, Kingston's two main undertakers," said Alan.

Alan's great-grandmother was Eliza Vining, whose family were famous for generations as tobacco pipemakers at 46 Park Road, Norbiton. (Kingston Museum has a complete set of Vinings' finely-worked pipes and moulds.)

Eliza was 17 when she married John Edwards, and the pair had four children. Their only daughter, Gladys, married Percy Greenwood, and their two sons became prominent local councillors.

John, born in 1917, was twice Mayor of Kingston. Alan's father Douglas, born in 1920, was Mayor of Surbiton in 1961. And Douglas's wife Betty, Alan's mother, was a member of the Crow family, who for generations ran the Three Compasses pub, which flourished in Eden Street from Tudor times until its closure in 1975 to make way for shops.

Alan himself went into business in 1969.

"I got compensation for a works accident, and used it buy a van," he said. "I then started running my own removals business from a council car park in Surbiton!"

By 1973 he had four vans. Now he has more than 20, with an HQ at 119 London Road, Kingston, yards in Woking and Marlow, and a garden centre in Chobham.

Meanwhile, Tony Drewitt had launched a transport service with a difference in Epsom in 1973. All his vehicles are horse-drawn, including a Metropolitan fire engine of 1889 and a 26-seat omnibus made in 1897.

"I didn't begin my funeral service until my mother died in 1994," he said. "The family asked me to arrange a traditional funeral for her, and I got a hearse and a pair of black horses for the occasion."

He's been directing funerals from Epsom ever since.

The new joint venture in Ewell will, he believes, provide not only highly specialised expertise, but the sort of personal, one-to-one approach that is under threat as independent firms are scooped up by vast conglomerates.

Old-fashioned funerals are undeniably beautiful. But aren't they very expensive?

Tony says not.

"Our prices start from £700 for a horse-drawn hearse with driver and groom," he said. "But many firms charge £2,000 just for a motor hearse and one car."

For further information on their old-fashioned funerals, ring 0181 546 3960.

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