AN undertaker with a passion for vintage cars has introduced the country's first white Rolls Royce hearse to his fleet.

Dennis Wilcock of Unsworth and Wilcock, Hindley Green, also has a matching old English white limousine for use by bereaved families who feel black is too grim to say goodbye to their loved ones.

Dennis, who has built up a collection of rare limousine for use at weddings and funerals, has added the new hearse, a 1964 Silver Cloud, to his store of funeral memorabilia.

He said: "I thought I would try something new. White cars are used in America and tend to be used by film stars because they are less morbid. Ethnic minorities also favourite white.

"People tend to think they can only have black cars, but we can arrange horse drawn funerals and even motor bike and sidecar combination hearses."

Dennis, 52, served his time as a fitter-turner at Hawker Siddeley's at Lostock and his love of Rolls-Royce engineering emerged during his early years.

In 1982 he bought a 1955 Austin Princess limousine which he hired out to the funeral trade.

He added Daimler and Rolls Royce hearses to his stable and 14 years ago linked with former Tyldesley Co-op funeral director, Jackie Unsworth, to launch the independent family funeral service Unsworth and Wilcock. His son Christopher joined the business two years ago.

Dennis is a partner in the undertakers' business and sole owner of Special Day Limousines and works on the renovation of the vehicles with the help of vintage car restorers .

He said: "I don't know where my childhood interest came from, but I've always loved the Rolls. I got the collecting bug and eventually hope to create a vintage hearse museum."

For further details Dennis can be contacted on 01942 525980.