A funeral director has been recruited to help a firm expand across the region.

After 17 years in the business, working all over the North-East and North Yorkshire, Bryan Shepherd has been recruited by Darlington-based Whitehouse Funeral Service.

The business, in West Auckland Road, Cockerton, provides anything from a traditional Victorian funeral to humanist burials.

"Being a funeral director is a service as well as a business and it's the personal touches that people remember," said Newcastle-born Mr Shepherd, who lived in Newton Aycliffe for ten years and now lives in Darlington.

"I like to keep tradition but have experience of and can cater for all types of funerals including Christian, Muslim, Jewish and humanist."

Mr Shepherd wanted to become a funeral director from the age of 16 but instead decided to work in the licensed trade.

"That decision was something I always regretted and when the opportunity arose to become a funeral director 17 years ago, I grabbed it," he said. "I was over the moon and realised then it was my true vocation."

John Whitehouse, who runs the firm with his wife Christine, and other family members, said: "Bryan's vast experience will be invaluable.

"He is very well known and respected across the region and he is looking forward to renewing his working relationship with local business and families, especially in the Newton Aycliffe area," he said.