The Managing Director of award-winning East Midlands funeral directors A.W. Lymn The Family Funeral Service has called for more institutional support for the Roma and Traveller community, highlighting the unique challenges they face when arranging funerals for their loved ones.
Matthew Lymn Rose, Managing Director and fifth generation of his family’s business, says the community is often overlooked by authorities and left to navigate complex regulations without adequate assistance. A.W. Lymn, which has served families across the East Midlands since 1907, has built a strong reputation within the Traveller community over the decades for its compassionate and culturally sensitive approach.
“Over the last decade, we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of Traveller funerals we conduct,” said Matthew. “These are more than just funerals for the traveller community, they’re deeply spiritual events, steeped in tradition and family values. But families often find themselves up against a system that doesn’t understand or accommodate their needs.”
Traveller communities, particularly many English and Irish Travellers that A.W. Lymn serve, follow distinct customs that set them apart from the wider population. For many, burial is essential – though cremation is becoming more accepted – often in a family-owned plot or close to relatives.
A.W. Lymn Senior Funeral Director Edward Martin says many of these customs present challenges as they can clash with cemetery rules – or sometimes even if they don’t clash, permission can be denied. “The standard tradition for many Traveller funerals is they have large caskets, double or triple-depth graves, and elaborate floral tributes,” he said. “However, what we often find is these traditions frequently clash with local cemetery rules or health and safety guidelines. Sometimes, even if the traditions fall inside the rules, they can be met with resistance.
“That’s really frustrating because it leaves the funeral director in the position of having some very difficult conversations with a family that just want to do the best by their departed and honour their traditions.”
Communication presents another barrier. Families often rely on WhatsApp voice notes and late-night texts to make arrangements with their Funeral Director at A.W. Lymn, due to varying literacy levels and communal decision-making. Traditional paperwork, contracts, and written estimates are often replaced by verbal agreements built on trust and a handshake.
“Travellers put enormous trust in those they deal with, and we never take that lightly,” Matthew added. “We work hard to honour their wishes, from sourcing bespoke and unique American-style caskets to arranging horse-drawn hearses or coordinating complex travel logistics across regions. But it’s not always easy when the system doesn’t flex to meet their needs.”
A.W. Lymn has earned the community’s respect by maintaining long-standing relationships, offering flexible services, and going beyond what many other providers would consider. Yet Matthew warns that more needs to be done at a policy level. Traveller families are often faced with more ‘red tape’ than other communities during one of life’s most difficult moments.
“There’s no reason why Traveller communities shouldn’t receive the same recognition and accommodation for their traditions as other cultural or religious groups,” Matthew said. “We need more empathy, more education, and ultimately, more action from local authorities.”
A.W. Lymn’s Sharon Draycott has extensive experience organising Traveller funerals and has worked closely with Matthew on many of them. She says there is still a lot of stigmas that come attached to the community.
“It’s quite upsetting to think there is still a lot of prejudice based on lack of education around the traveller community,” she said. “They’re stigmatised as being, among other things, pushy and distrustful, but that isn’t the case – you just have to learn more what their customs, traditions and signs of trust are. You only get one funeral, and they want to do their best by their dearly departed.”
What began as a handful of Traveller funerals each year has grown to over 60 annually for A.W. Lymn, a sign of both the community’s trust and the growing need for respectful, informed care.
With 25 funeral homes across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and most recently Leicestershire, A.W. Lymn, the fifth-generation family funeral directors, prides itself on offering a variety of services available at an affordable price to the families it has served since 1907.
