A TRAINEE funeral director who was previously a Methodist minister, has won a top industry award in his first year in the job.

Andrew Atkins joined Full Circle Funerals in Guiseley in 2019 and has now been named the UK’s ‘most promising trainee funeral director’ at the Good Funeral Awards. He spent 17 years as a Methodist minister, which involved a range of chaplaincy roles, including working with hospices, recovering alcoholics and at Leeds Bradford Airport.

He said: “As a minister, I led hundreds of funerals and always felt that offering families pastoral support, during a very difficult time, and helping to create services that were individual and meaningful, was one of the most rewarding parts of the role. In recent years I worked with Full Circle as a celebrant for numerous funerals and we’ve always shared very similar views about the role and importance of the funeral in the grieving process.