W Lauderdale & Son Funeral Services

W Lauderdale & Son Funeral Services is a third-generation, family-owned funeral director based at 147 Ravensworth Road in Dunston, Gateshead, serving Gateshead, Dunston, Teams, Lobley Hill, Whickham, Blaydon and the wider Tyne and Wear area. The firm was founded in 1946 by William 'Billy' Lauderdale Senior in the Teams area of Gateshead and has remained in family hands for roughly 80 years; today it is owned by Mrs Doris Lauderdale and her son William Robert Lauderdale, whose wife Shauna joined the business in 2017 and also runs an in-house flower service.

The team arranges attended and unattended funerals, traditional church and crematorium services, direct cremation, and bespoke, personalised ceremonies for all faiths and beliefs, supported by a modern Mercedes hearse and limousine fleet, horse-drawn carriage options, embalming, funeral officiants, repatriation for deaths abroad, headstone and memorial work, and funeral stationery. Pre-arranged funeral plans start from £2,225, and the firm operates a 24-hour service with appointments available outside standard office hours (Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm).

W Lauderdale & Son is an accredited member of the National Association of Funeral Directors, with William Lauderdale and several staff also accredited by the Society of Bereavement Practitioners; the firm partners with Ecclesiastical Planning Services, the British Institute of Embalmers and Much Loved. The premises have been recently refurbished to provide what the firm describes as a peaceful, welcoming setting for grieving families.