The owner of Merseyside's oldest memorials business is passing the torch after more than 40 years of painstakingly carving hundreds of headstones, which will stand in the county's cemeteries for centuries to come.
Alan Roberts, 61, first started working at E.F. Mackie in 1977, taking ownership of the business in 1992 following the death of his father, David. He said: "In those days, everything was done by hand. There were no computers - everything was hand carved. I'd say it was more difficult, and needed more skill. Now we design the stones on a computer.
"I was there all the way through the changes. We moved with the technology. But if you were to take away the computers tomorrow, there would probably only be me and a few other people left who know how to hand-carve a headstone in this area."
