of britain's youngest female funeral director

The woman funeral director aged 20 who is deadly serious about her career choice: Louise Ryan, who is already leading funeral processions, has undertaken 12 months of training, and at 20 years old is believed to be Britain's youngest female funeral director.

After training with her father Michael, Miss Ryan has now been given the go-ahead to direct funerals herself.

Her interest in becoming an undertaker began at age 13 when she began helping out at her father's firm, Michael G Ryan and Son Funeral Directors in Newport, South Wales.

Louise said,

I know it's a strange job for a girl of my age but I really enjoy it. People think it's a bit weird of macabre but dealing with dead bodies just doesn't bother me. The most important thing is to care for families at a difficult time. If I'm out with my friends and someone asks me what I do it can go both ways. It can be a real conversation stopper but most people are fascinated and I get asked all sorts of questions. Most people want to know if it's scary - but what is there to be scared of?