AN undertaker is using the growing popularity of the worldwide web to allow relatives abroad to watch their loved one’s funeral service.

Whitehouse Funeral Service, in Cockerton, Darlington, has launched a videoing service to enable people who cannot attend a funeral to still feel involved in celebrating a loved one’s life.

Family who choose to take advantage of the optional service, will be given a passcode they can use to log on to the company’s website and watch a secure recording of the service.

Eventually, there is the potential to stream a funeral service live on the web.

John Whitehouse, managing director of the family-run and owned funeral directors, decided to launch the service after being approached by bereaved families.

He believed the company is the first to offer such a service.

He said: “When a family member can’t travel to a funeral if, for example, they live in Australia then why not offer something that can be put on a secure website and viewed at any time.

“If families want a hard copy we can put it onto DVD.

It makes accessibility so much easier.” Mr Whitehouse said that although at the moment the service was a recording, it could be feasible in the future to show it live on the web.

He believed that for loved ones who could not travel to a funeral, being able to watch it could provide comfort, allowing them to hear the service and the speeches.

It may also offer solace in situations such as soldiers serving in Afghanistan, who might have lost a close comrade in battle, but could not travel to the service for obvious reasons.

He said: “It provides those who can’t attend with the chance to feel part of the funeral service.

“The opportunity for closure and to say goodbye is incredibly valuable to people, for example those serving in the Army, who can’t make it back home, can feel close and a part of the funeral service.

It’s down to the families involved to decide if this is for them.”

The service will be an optional extra offered to families planning a funeral.

Middlesbrough-based website design company Koodoo Creative developed the technology to allow the website to play videos securely and professional video maker Joe Fairbridge of Envizage Media, also based in Middlesbrough, films the funerals and produces the video.