The owner of Merseyside's oldest memorials business is passing the torch after more than 40 years of painstakingly carving hundreds of headstones, which will stand in the county's cemeteries for centuries to come.
Alan Roberts, 61, first started working at E.F. Mackie in 1977, taking ownership of the business in 1992 following the death of his father, David. He said: "In those days, everything was done by hand. There were no computers - everything was hand carved. I'd say it was more difficult, and needed more skill. Now we design the stones on a computer.
"I was there all the way through the changes. We moved with the technology. But if you were to take away the computers tomorrow, there would probably only be me and a few other people left who know how to hand-carve a headstone in this area."
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The memorial and headstone shop, historically based on Rake Lane, Wallasey, was founded by the Mackie family in 1887. In the 1950s it was sold to Alan's grandfather, David, who was an employee at the shop, and the rest was history.
As well as providing more than 100,000 uniquely carved headstones, found in graveyards all across Merseysaide, E.F. Mackies also designed and built the Holy Trinity Memorial at Goodison Park, the memorial for Giles Gilbert Scott at the Anglican Cathedral, and even worked on the famous Beatles statues in Liverpool city centre.
Alan said: "There's quite a lot I look back on with fondness. I've worked on restorations for the Everton Heritage Society, part of the football club, which tracks down the graves of old players in different parts of the country. We've done one in Glasgow, one in Wales, and one in Anfield who had no memorial to speak of.
"I've loved doing it for all these 44 years, and you do help people when they are in distress. You create something that's exactly how they would like to remember their love one, with the right letters and message. That's where you get your satisfaction from."
After closing up shop following his retirement in 2021, Alan is now proud to be passing the tools of the trade on to his spiritual successor, Mackie Memorials on Liscard Way.
New business owner Thomas Smith, whose dad and uncle worked with Alan in his heyday, said: "When I heard Alan was retiring I wanted to step in and keep the business going. Family businesses are an integral part of society — institutions that have served people for generations. It is a great honour to keep the family name going and taking it into the fourth generation.
“It’s no small task to carry the mantle and maintain a reputation of over 135 years but it’s one I take great pride in. Effectively we are an important part of the life and death process and an important part of someone’s journey of grief — it’s an important role and one I don’t take lightly.”
Alan said: "Each generation that comes into this trade fears it will be the last. When cremation came along, we thought it would be the end for us, but it wasn't. It has carried on. Even people who choose cremation want their ashes buried in graveyards and cemeteries, and we do a lot of memorials for cremated remains. I don't think the trade will ever disappear, providing there's land for people to be buried in. People will want to commemorate their families.
"People will always want to remember. You look at the stones in a cemetery, they're things of beauty, not just blocks of stone with names on. I don't think that will ever go away."
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