I see that 23-year-old entrepreneur and machinery enthusiast Aaron Grew has just started My Hearse, My Way, a hearse trailer hire service, in Scotstown, Co Monaghan.

"I thought, you know what, maybe there's a better way for people to go to a funeral," Grew told me. His idea was to let a vehicle that marked a person's life take them to their final resting place.

He assured me that his hearse trailer is fully road legal, with the required hitch and brake specs, and can be drawn by any vehicle with towing capability. Aside from tractors, he mentioned harvesters, lorries, vans, cars and quads.

"It's all part of the service – we come and hook it up," he said, adding that he covers all of Ireland and the UK. A personalised number plate is also included.

Family members are welcome to drive the combination themselves – though Grew, a licensed artic lorry driver, is well able to do it too.

Grew said the trailer had its first outing for the funeral of his grand uncle, a farmer and machinery fanatic who owned 11 Massey Ferguson tractors: "He bought one a month before he died – a vintage Ferguson T20. People were slagging him, asking him why he was getting another one. We used it for his funeral."

Hire price depends on distance, but I understand it will be a few hundred euros in most cases. Time to update the last wishes in my will!

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