By Mary Carmichael
If you spot Lew Griffiths wearing his regular weekend ensemble of frock coat, bandana, tricorn hat and long boots, you probably wouldn’t put money on him being a funeral director.
The accessories – a sword, powder horn, telescope, dagger, pistols and a few doubloons – and his tendency to shout ‘Aarrgh’, might just help you work out his favourite pastime though.
Griffiths’ day job is funeral arranger and back office support at Ivor Thomas Funerals in Cardiff. However, he spends a lot of his spare time dressed as a pirate, enjoying skirmishes with George III’s pesky militiamen, aka the Redcoats.
Along with hundreds of fellow enthusiasts, he attends about eight festivals a year, with the exchanges taking place both on land and at sea. “The public tend to cheer us on rather than the Redcoats,” he laughs. “Everyone loves a pirate.”
Griffiths started his professional life as a musician performing in restaurants and hotels and has done a lot of backstage technical stuff in theatres. A self-taught pianist – “I heard Ode to Joy in my dad’s car, when I was about five, went home and played it by ear,” – he’d also played a crematorium organ a few times so knew a little of the funeral world. When lockdown hit and performing stopped, he retrained as a celebrant and decided to take the plunge into funerals full time.
He’s been at Ivor Thomas for the last 18 months. “I’ve found my niche and my people,” he says. “The best thing is being able to help someone have a peaceful final image of their loved one. When someone says: ‘Wow, Dad hasn’t looked that good in ages!’, I know I’ve done something right.”
Initially Griffiths’ re-enactment focus was on the mediaeval period, but after an incident involving chainmail, a metal helmet and a lightning strike, he opted for the pirate role on the basis that the costume was a tad less dangerous. “I’ve always had a thing for history, but a big part of this is social too,” he explains. “It’s just great to meet up, have a fight and celebrate afterwards.”
It’s not his only out-of-work interest. Besides being a Scoutmaster for 15 years, he’s also a winemaker selling his Wolf & Badger branded wine at festivals. “It was a lockdown hobby that got out of hand,” he grins. There’s probably little chance that the wine is going to take over from the ‘grog’ when it comes to his pirate mates though.