Your Funeral Director

My name is Leisha Louise Hodgson. I am a wife, a mam, a dog lover and I'm also a qualified Funeral Director and Embalmer with over 10 years experience.

I actually hail from the town where 'Billy Elliott' comes from, however I was born into a military family and at a very young age I moved around the world and the UK and I didn't return back to the North East (except for family events) until 2002.

As everyone does, I had dreams and aspirations to be all sorts of things; a nurse, a surgeon, a pilot and a lawyer. It was actually at the age of 15 when I came to choose my school work experience that I was most intrigued by a job with an independent family run funeral home in Essex. After a few odd looks from my fellow students and a quick phone call from my head of year I became a general assistant in the funeral home for two weeks...and I never looked back.

When I moved back 'up North' I knew that no funeral home was going to take on a 16 year old with no life skills and no driving license. So I went to Hartlepool Sixth Form College and studied psychology, media and business. I got a part time job in a call centre (yes, it was Garlands) to pay for my driving lessons and I continued to look for work in the funeral sector.

Life went on for a few years. I applied for jobs anywhere I could, I even looked into professional courses and read up on anything to do with funeral directing. In 2009 I secured some work experience and then a full time job with an independent funeral director. I learnt a great deal at my time there and this is where I became interested in the art of embalming.

Fast forward 3 years to 2012 and I had fully funded and sat my BIE (British Institute of Embalmers) theory and practical exams...and passed. I had left the independent firm and was offered a job with a large funeral company firstly as a Admin/Arranger and then I reached my ultimate goal - I became a full time Funeral Director in 2014 in Durham and in 2018 my final move was to Strathmore House in my now home town of Hartlepool.

2021 was a year of change and in August of that year, with great sadness, I took voluntary redundancy and after many a day and night deciding what to do with myself, I set up my funeral consultancy firm and then finally decided it was time to do what I had always wanted to do - open my own funeral home.

I'm honoured and privileged to say I have looked after hundreds of families and helped to bring them comfort and reassurance in their time of need. Coming into the funeral service felt like more of a calling, I'd never been more sure of anything in my life.

I am also honoured to hold the role as a Quality Assurance Assessor for the largest funeral trade association in the UK for independent funeral directors in which I support other like minded businesses to offer the highest level of standard to their clients.