The recent announcement that Samuel Robert Wesley Elliott, best known as Wesley, of Darling Street, Enniskillen, has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the New Year Honours 2017 List - Northern Ireland came as a delightful development. His recognition is for services to the community in County Fermanagh. 

A well-known and highly regarded local figure, Trillick born Wesley has served 53 years as a Funeral Director with the family firm, S.R. Elliott & Sons, Funeral Directors, 17 Darling Street, Enniskillen.

“I am delighted and extremely pleased to receive the award, one doesn’t feel that one is worthy of such an award,” was Wesley’s reaction to the exciting news. He acknowledged: “I do regard it as a very high honour and it is something very special indeed and I feel very humbled by it.”

The funeral business of S.R. Elliott and Sons was originally established in 1930 by Samuel Robert Elliott in Trillick. Samuel, Wesley’s father, fulfilled his ambition of expanding the business, relocating it to Enniskillen in 1963. 

With the support of his wife Rhene, Samuel continued to develop it, making S.R. Elliott & Sons, a valued and well-established concern within Fermanagh’s business community.

After Samuel and Rhene died, Wesley and his wife Hester took over the firm. They continued to expand the business and to innovate, making a very personal commitment to meeting clients’ needs and to ensuring that S.R. Elliott & Sons, remains a highly respected business within the local community. For the Elliotts, S.R. Elliott & Sons is very much a family run concern.

Wesley and his wife Hester have two daughters, Carole and Joan, and they have two sons-in-law, Roy Crawford and Gary Mitchell. Their grandchildren are Mark, Amy and Ryan. Wesley has one brother Gordon and a sister Isobel.