OSCARS for people involved in the bereavement profession are to be handed out later this year.

Categories at the Good Funeral Guide Awards in September include Embalmer of the Year, Gravedigger of the Year and Best Alternative To A Hearse.

Charles Cowling, editor of the Good Funeral Guide, said they were for “unsung heroes of astonishing brilliance whom the public deserves to know about.”

The ceremony will take place in the popular retirement town of Bournemouth as part of the Joy of Death Festival which could make an unusual weekend away with which to surprise the wife.

It is actually the idea of Brian Jenner from Bournemouth who last year ran a convention dedicated to the American television series Six Feet Under, a dark comedy about a family who run a funeral home.

He said: “I was overwhelmed by people in the industry who came to me and loved the show. The funeral industry has a problem engaging with the public. But it’s actually not depressing at all, it’s very engaging and human.”

The funeral business is, as Shakespeare pointed out, a most honourable profession: “The houses that he makes last till doomsday.” And you can’t say that about most modern dwellings.

There have also been many famous gravediggers who went on to other careers – Rod Stewart, Joe Strummer from The Clash and Dave Vanian from The Damned.

I wonder if they could persuade Mr Stewart to present one of the awards?

Funeral directors I have known and people in the business, have generally been a warm and generous group with a pleasant sense of humour.

They tell tales to which I can testify. When my Uncle Frank died while on holiday in Bridlington his daughter viewed the body and commented: “Ooh, doesn’t he look well. He always did suit a tan.”

They acknowledge, of course, that things can go wrong on occasions. Like the stonemason who was engaged by a grieving widower to carve appropriate words upon the gravestone of his wife.

Alice was 94 when she died and had attended church every Sunday. Husband Joe instructed that the headstone should bear the message: “Lord, she was thine.”

But the stonemason made a mistake and wrote: “Lord, she was thin.”

Joe said: “You’ve missed off the e. You’ll have to do it again,” and the shamefaced stonemason set about his task.

Weeks later, Joe went to see the stone on the grave. It now read: “Ee Lord, she was thin.”