A Northants funeral director who now helps families say goodbye to their loved ones has spoken about what inspired her to make a dramatic career change – and how she’s helping people in another way through her passion for martial arts.

Emma Webster only began the new chapter in her career as a funeral director working for Central England Co-op covering Desborough and Market Harborough last year, after helping to run a martial arts academy for 15 years on the Norfolk coast.

After moving back to Northamptonshire following divorce, she decided to embark on a whole new career in the funeral industry and hasn’t looked back since supporting families through the toughest times of their lives with real compassion and understanding.

However, she hasn’t left behind her passion for martial arts and is using her skills to volunteer at an anti-bullying scheme for a National Lottery funded project in her now home community of Priors Hall Park, near Corby, sharing her expertise.

The 40-year-old spoke about her rewarding new role as a funeral director and how she’s continuing her passion for martial arts.

She said: “After moving back to my family in Corby from Great Yarmouth following my divorce, I thought about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, and I wanted to build a new career.

“I worked for 12 months with a different Co-op as a Care Logistics Manager in funeralcare, working back of house, so not client-facing. I really enjoyed it and I like the community side of the business so when I saw the opportunity to move into working with clients more and helping them directly it really ticked the boxes for me.

“It’s going really well so far. You have to own your own journey and you get out of it what you put in. I believe you have to have that mentality and it works for me.

“Conducting funerals has been great. It’s so rewarding holding families’ hands through the process and being there on the day making it go as smoothly as possible. It’s about them having confidence in you to deliver what they want and to make sure it’s about them and their loved one.

“I’ve also loved the opportunity to continue doing my martial arts and use it in such a rewarding way. Living at Priors Hall Park there is a great community spirit, and we have a community centre there where the opportunity arose to do my martial arts and it’s been great to be involved with.”