Why shouldn’t there be a circus ring with jugglers, fire eaters and sword swallowers performing at a funeral exhibition?

Macabre? Perhaps, but the circus was the theme chosen for the National Funeral Exhibition at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, this month (June).

This is not the best of times for memorial wholesalers (see 'Memorials : Set in stone') and with a tendency to consolidate rather than innovate, the showing of memorials at the two-yearly Show was limited this time.

The National Association of Memorial Masons (NAMM) supported the event as usual with a display of the entries in its Craftex competition of members’ work, in which the craftsmen and women at memorial wholesalers Odlings took most of the prizes.

Strongs Memorials had the largest stand and introduced a new concept in memorialisation of a family tree. It was the brainwave of Carla Brindley, who manages the company’s marketing. Tapping in on the popularity of genealogy, it allows different members of a family to add individual inscriptions – trading up the price of the memorial by increasing the letter count.

Parker Masonry was exhibiting at the NFE for the first time. Eric Parker started in memorials many years ago, diversified and has now come full circle back into memorials. The company was at the Show to introduce itself as a memorial wholesaler. Jake Parker, Eric’s grandson, said there had been a lot of useful contacts with memorial masons and funeral directors at the Show.

Phoenix has become a regular at the Show and was showing newly introduced stones. Stewart Hughes said Phoenix likes exhibiting to emphasise that it makes and carves the headstones itself in the UK.

A young lettercutter, Wayne Hart, voted Maker of the Year by Craft & Design magazine this year, also exhibited his considerable skills. He was feeling encouraged by having received a commission to design the C S Lewis memorial at Westminster Abbey.

Equipment suppliers were also exhibiting. Combined Masonry Supplies showed a new, colourful range of flower vases. Nettlebank showed a new lawn memorial fixing system called Easy-Fix, used in conjunction with a cement joint as a less expensive alternative to the Nettlebank LockDown system. Odlings MCR introduced a new sandblasting cabinet called the HiLine.

With HiLine, Odlings MCR has asked questions about the main drawbacks of most blast cabinets and answered them. The unit is higher to accommodate stones up to 1.2m; it has LED lighting that should last a decade instead of the month or two of halogen lamps; there is a side door for kerbs; the door catches cannot jam; and there is a three-part dust extractor that includes a Hepa unit to remove even the finest particles. Hepa units are now fitted on all Odlings blast cabinets to prevent potentially lethal silica escaping into the workshop.