Making a swell exit

The coffins are getting bigger at William Barrett & Sons.

But don’t be alarmed because it will make our final performance in life ever better.

The growing waistlines of West Australians have contributed to more oversized coffins being used by the South West funeral company in the last decade.

In June, one of the State’s major coffin suppliers, Higgins Manufacturing, increased the standard size from 20.25 inches (52.4cm) to 21.25 inches (54cm) across the shoulders of the coffin.

To the naked eye this might not seem much.

But for third generation funeral director Errol Barrett, bigger coffins can make the presentation of a body even better.

“In a way it is their last performance on a world stage before they wander off to heaven,” he said.

“If it is our last performance on stage we should make it a good one, so we get an encore.”

In the past 10 years the number of oversize coffins supplied by Higgins Manufacturing in WA has increased by seven per cent.

But director Paul Higgins said he increased the standard size because he had better technology to make coffins more efficiently.

He also said funeral companies across Australia were getting more professional in their presentation of bodies.