The Downs Crematoria Brighton

We have had a look at the Cremation Society of Great Britain figures for the cost of cremation in the United Kingdom, are the headlines.

Countries in the UK in order of cost: Most expensive England; Scotland; Wales with the least expensive being Northern Ireland.

In England there is unsurprisingly a rough north south divide with the Home Counties being the most expensive, although the trend is has plenty of exceptions with Tyne and Wear being quite expensive whereas Brighton is cheapest in England.

The most expensive crematoria in the UK is in Scotland, Dundee charging £735 for the total cremation fee (The total crematorium charges include the following services: use of chapel, waiting rooms and all attendances, floral decoration, music (recorded or organ), scattering/strewing of ashes, Medical Referee’s Fee and environmental surcharge is applicable.). The least expensive is Belfast at £328 which is way less than anywhere less (worrying, heavily subsidised or?), after this the Downs crematoria Brighton which is £410, odd when Chichester ‘next door’ is £725.

The average cost of a cremation in 2012 was £584 a rise of 7% (or about £40) on the previous year. However the variation is inconsistent with many crematoria not increasing prices at all, and considering fuel is a proportion of their cost they effectively are losing money compared to the previous year, which given the pressure on authorities to cut cost seems surprising. There are two that buck the trend are Honor Oak in London upping fees by £172, but the real outlier is Barrow in Furness that increased its fees from £359 to £670! Again without a rationale attached it would be irresponsible to judge as it may be as a result of large capital costs such as abatement equipment which had to be met from the Department’s budget.

In some local authorities there were very wide variations for example Hertfordshire has two crematoria one charging £500 while the other is £730. The most expensive authority appears to be Oxfordshire with neither of their crematoria dipping below £700. The cheapest authority appears to be Nottinghamshire apart from decadents of Robin Hood as the Sherwood Forest crematoria is markedly more expensive than the others.

Now one of my next jobs is to map which of these are private facilities. But what I can’t do with this data is express it in terms of Value for Money, as whilst I am guessing that the private facilities are likely to charge more I would not like to suggest that there is profiteering going on. In fact it could be possible that you would get nicer experience in nicer surroundings. It is likely however a percentage of the fees will be as a result of payback on investment for the facility, although interestingly the three new facilities: Stourport, Melrose and Barry have priced themselves on the average or only slightly more (to get a foothold may be?). As for those existing facilities being outsourced to private companies, then that would need detailed investigation and at present I would not like to comment.

http://www.srgw.demon.co.uk/CremSoc4/Stats/National/2011/CremTab.html

If you have any experience of crematoria in terms of value for money, quality of service and price – let us know

(c) Jackie Morris

I came across a post by the artist and illustrator Jackie Morris, she has shared her experience of scattering the ashes of a close personal friend called Glyn.

It is a lovely piece from a cleared talented artist. Strangely enough I had a look at her Facebook page to see if I had seen her work before, I recognised her style, turns out she is the illustrator for a book I love reading to my kids – East of the Sun West of the Moon. Sorry for digressing.

Her story really takes you there; this is a solitary scattering with just her and the ashes of her friend. As with many people she is surprised by their weight. She takes a walk to an abandoned cottage where her friend had expressed a wish to be scattered. When she arrived she was confronted by the thought that many of us wonder: how do you scatter the ashes? She chooses to use her hands and throw each handful onto the wind. What I really loved is that each casting she chooses to reflect on a different stage of her friend’s life, from a boy to a young man, then on into adulthood – really powerful and thought provoking.

The piece is also captured by lovely photography (I have borrowed and referenced it for this post, if you read this Ms Morris I hope you don’t mind)

Here is her post http://www.jackiemorris.co.uk/blog/how-to-scatter-ashes/

What to do with Cremation Ashes on BBC Radio Lancashire

Should it be your last wish to have you ashes interred in the Holy Land then we can help.

We have teamed up with a company that runs two sites in Israel, one near Jerusalem - in Kibbutz Kiryat Anavim, and the other at the Sea of Galilee -  in Kibbutz Maagan.

Both places are very evocative with huge biblical and historic significance: Jerusalem, the city of David and the Sea of Galilee where Jesus gave his sermon on the mount.

The company will take care of all the arrangements in Israel:

- Picking up the ashes from Tel Aviv Airport

- Transport the ashes to the chosen site.

- Interment of the ashes in the columbarium wall.

- A memorial plaque carved with text chosen by the family

- They can also arrange a ceremony when family visits the site.

The cost: $5600 (£3600)*

We can arrange transport of the urn to Israel should you need us to.

For more detail just send us an enquiry and we will guide you from there:

*The contents of this email were correct at the time of publishing, prices  may change, we try to keep all pages accurate but it can happen.

Memorial tattoos are tattoos that contain the cremation ashes of a loved one, fine gains of ash are incorporated into the ink before the tattooing.

It is interesting that in the UK, celebrities have the ability to legitimise practices and set trends. We are always on the look out for when this happens with cremation ashes.  Here we have a classic case in point , the following is from a  small article on the This is Gloucestershire website.

The star of the television drama series Whitechapel, Hannah Walters has had a memorial tattoo on her foot containing her mothers ashes.

Ms Walters opted for a swirling butterfly design, she said: “I was looking for the right thing to do as a tribute to my mum and I have wanted a tattoo for ages so when I saw this it was perfect.”

There has been quite a bit of debate over memorial tattoos – apart from issues of taste, which sometimes appears to cloud the issues, are they safe? There has been little research on the subject. However many medical practitioners tend to argue on the side of caution, the ashes may not be sterile and there is a chance they could cause infection, also there may be an allergic reaction to a foreign body being placed under the skin.

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/Whitechapel-actress-Hannah-Walters-gets-mother-tattooed

They hold the ashes of a loved one so that you can plant a tree in the ashes and watch it grow.

Geos Urn (english) from Limbo Disseny on Vimeo.

The ex prime minister Margaret Thatcher is to have her ashes interred (buried) next to those of her late husband Denis.

Following the private cremation of Mrs Thatcher at Mortlake cremation in South West London the family plan to keep hold of the ashes until the autumn before interring them at the Royal Chelsea Hospital in London.

According to the Telegraph newspaper a friend of the family said: “They are very conscious that there will be a lot of interest surrounding the internment of the ashes. They thought it would be better to leave it and do it at some point in the future. The family have heard some of the ideas but they need to think about it.” ….I am sure we have some they hadn’t thought of!

Denis Thatcher’s ashes are interred at the Royal Chelsea Hospital

As with many couples, those together in life would like to be close to each other after their death, why the family chose to inter (bury) rather than scatter and why they chose the Royal Chelsea hospital I could not say and I doubt we shall ever know. Interring ashes is a quite a popular choice, some have said it seems a little counter intuitive – to choose to be cremated and they to bury the ashes rather than simply being buried. However at the start of the twentieth century most people were buried and at the end most were cremated, within the space of a hundred years the culture shifted massively and therefore perhaps the burying of ashes is a part of that legacy.

I think another reason may be that interring somewhere gives us a specific place to memorialise, in the UK we are not that comfortable with shrines and not everyone would be comfortable having somewhere inside their house where the ashes were placed and memorialised, but a churchyard, cemetery, formal gardens or woodlands can feel more acceptable.

Funeral culture takes time to change and memorialisation may take even longer and I am sure there is a strong link with belief systems, you could probably map the move to cremation with the secularisation of the country. And whilst I am not suggesting the two are intrinsic (many devote Christians opt for cremation) I would think that people still want to ‘go’ somewhere and remember their loved ones.

As to Mrs Thatcher, we will keep you posted.

You cannot send Cremated human remains / cremation ashes in the post.

The Post Office prohibits this - nationally via Royal Mail and Parcelforce and internationally through Parcelforce Worldwide UK, which includes mail services: First Class, Second Class and Special Delivery

The consequence is that Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage to items, not that you will fined for sending them.

We can arrange the transport of ashes both nationally and internationally - transporting cremation ashes

Here is the link to Prohibited Goods on the Post Office Website - http://www.postoffice.co.uk/prohibited-items

If you are wondering what the chemical composition of Cremation Ash / Cremated Remains is then the following should help, I found this courtesy of the Good Funeral Guide, but thought it was worth worth reproducing.

This a reproduction of the article:

The results provided, with the exception of Phosphate and Sulfate, are presented as the element. However, in the body these elements are present as a part of a variety of organic and inorganic compounds. Upon cremation, most of the organic compounds are converted to the metal oxide. Depending on the conditions of cremation, some may also be converted to carbonates. The inorganic compounds may remain as phosphates, sulfates, chlorides or carbonates, or may be partially converted to oxides. The carbon from the carbonates and the oxygen from the oxides and carbonates are not included in the data presented. Those elements are not determined by the testing procedures used for this report.

The precision of the testing procedure used is +/-10% of the reported value, i.e. Phosphate reported as 47.5% may be 42.8 to 52.2%

Gayle E. O’Neill, PhD.
TEI Analytical, Inc. Niles, Illinois

• Phosphate 47.5%
• Calcium 25.3%
• Sulfate (Sulphate) 11.00%
• Potassium 3.69%
• Sodium 1.12%
• Chloride 1.00%
• Silica 0.9%
• Aluminum Oxide 0.72%
• Magnesium 0.418%
• Iron Oxide 0.118%
• Zinc 0.0342%
• Titanium Oxide 0.0260%
• Barium 0.0066%
• Antimony 0.0035%
• Chromium 0.0018%
• Copper 0.0017%
• Manganese 0.0013%
• Lead 0.0008%
• Tin 0.0005%
• Vanadium 0.0002%
• Beryllium <0.0001%
• Mercury <0.00001%

So I asked Dr O’Neill the following:

1. I am wondering if the results were derived from mass spectrometry, is that right?
2. Have you ever carried out something similar for un-cremated bone as a comparator
3. How toxic do the results indicted cremated remains are?

And got the following response:

1. The results were derived using ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectroscopy).

2. No, we do not have uncremated bone for comparison.

3. I cannot comment on the toxicity.

We carried on investigating, so in answer to question 2, it seems that there four primary constituents that make up our bones ie Phosphates (is a salt or ester of phosphoric acid); Sulphates (a compound containing the bivalent group SO4); Calcium; and Potassium

I have asked another source, namely an Chemist from the Allexperts.com site to comment on the toxicity.

He said:

I would not eat it or snort it, but otherwise, except for high calcium and phosphate, you might think it was just high phosphate dirt without the carbon. I think the metals may be a bit high but I would have to do some calculations to see how high. One question is do these “remains” include teeth, fabric, or jewellery? Toxicity, you would not dump a ton of it in the river, but otherwise, it would not be a concern.

Expert: Henry Boyter

……….So there you go.

How do you want to be remembered when you’re dead?

The red carpet has been booked, the canopies ordered, so who is on the invitation list? Angelina, Brad, oh yes and the cremated remains of Truman Capote…pardon? Yes there has been an odd request made to the friend of the famous American author Truman Capote. Producers wanted his ashes to attend Breakfast at Tiffany’s play premier’s after party, since Capote himself couldn’t make it.

Sadly the trip was not to be. Why, well even more oddly it was due to the risk of them being stolen, again!

The ashes are in the possession of Joanne Carson (Johnny Carson’s former wife and close friend of Capote), she keeps his cremated remains in the Bel Air bedroom where he died in 1984.

The ashes have had an interesting and colourful history. They were stolen in 1988 at a Halloween party at the Carson residence along with £120,000 worth of jewellery, but where anomalously returned shortly after. Then someone attempted to steal the ashes at a showing put on by Mrs Carson of the play Tru, which is adapted from Capote’s works.

So one can understand why Mrs Carson refused, especially when they hold such value to her, as in spite of the trouble they have caused she has referred to friend’s ashes as ‘her sanity’ over the years.

Perhaps the Broadway invite was a roués and the Producer or someone on the team was behind the first two fiendish plots…Where is Scooby do when you need him? You have admit though, it is all pretty odd!

We offer a service to release cremation ashes during a a skydive. Whilst this is not one organised by us us I thought you may find it interesting – I thought it was great, particular the sound track a sort of Spanish version of ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’  - Well done Gary Fletcher I say.

In September of 2005 Gary Fletcher said goodbye to his father by spreading his ashes in the sky during a skydive with his children and his friends. -  This is what happened
Gary Fletcher’s Ash Dive

Gary Fletcher’s Ash Dive from Superfletch on Vimeo.

Scatter tube for cremation ashes

spring wildflowers

Well we tried waiting until Spring had sprung before writing this but Mother Nature seems to have other ideas!

The daffodils and crocuses are still trying to survive despite the snow and rain and Easter is a time when many families get together and think about their loved ones and often decide to scatter their ashes so we’ve put together a couple of ideas for a Spring scattering ceremony.

The most important thing to bear in mind is that it is your ceremony so it is entirely up to you whatever you decide to do. Do think about having someone who can say a few words, they don’t have to trained as a religious figure, unless you want them to, or as a public speaker, although you may wish to use a Celebrant (http://www.independentcelebrants.com),  just someone who can guide those gathered through the ceremony.

You may wish to have a formal or informal order of service, even if you don’t give attendees a printed version it is useful for at least one person to have a rough idea of what is going to happen and to lead the others gathered. You could start with some music (do make sure to bring enough batteries or source a power supply if using a sound system), so that people have a chance to settle down. It is a good idea to follow with a brief welcome and let people know what is going to happen.  A poem or reading can be helpful at this juncture, here is a lovely one we found on the www.dennydavis.net website

Spring Thaw

(Lee Avery Reed)

Not that winter seemed so long, –
We were content together, –
Our home was warm with love, it could
Withstand the fiercest weather.

Yet sometimes we would speak of spring,
Anticipate the greening
On all the views we loved so well,
Now touched with greater meaning.

Today I walk in early spring
As memories come welling . . .
And oh, to see a crocus bloom
And you not here for telling!

You might like to then talk about the deceased or get others to say a few words, if you are going to ask people to say something it is good to give them plenty of warning beforehand so that they have time to prepare a goodbye in advance. You may decide to have a formal eulogy by a faith leader or celebrant or you might just want to talk about how you met the deceased or a favourite story or memory.

When it is time to scatter the ashes you may want to think about doing something symbolic such as scattering flower petals, wildflower seeds, releasing doves or Chinese lanterns. You could simply shake hands or light a candle, with a little preparation your ceremony can be a really special and meaningful event.

We’re offering a 10% discount on all our Flower Scatter Tubes if you enter the code SPRING when purchasing online until the end of May 2013

The Woodland Trust is a Charity that aims to enable the creation of more native woods and places rich in trees; protect native woods, trees and their wildlife for the future and inspire everyone to enjoy and value woods and trees. They have a significant estate across the country.

They allow the scattering of cremation ashes in their woodland with the proviso that you do not hold any kind of formal ceremony in the wood and do not to disturb the ground in any way.

www.woodlandtrust.org.uk

I can not promise you a rose garden. It’s truth I can’t! the The Royal National Rose Society gardens in St Albans Hertfordshire, does not allow people, who aren’t members, to scatter cremation ashes in the gardens. Shame but there you are. I suppose one could become a member before hand if you wanted this to be your  final wish…

So sorry for the Dolly Parton reference but writing this brief post it just seemed so appropriate.

To make an enquiry please fill in the form below with your preferred date and number of people attending the scattering, please make sure you include a contact number as the boat company will call you directly to discuss your requirements, you will receive an automated email containing the phone number should you need to contact the company urgently:

This is the last article in the series and was not with the others but was on the same theme, from the same paper and seemed to chime nicely.

“Lowen Partridge, daughter of the late Tom Partridge, a founding member of Adelaide’s Beefsteak and Burgundy club, and her family thought it only fitting that his ashes rest in his daughter Gretta’s cellar at Hawthorn.

“His will had always stated that he would be cremated but it didn’t state what would happen to his ashes so this was entirely our decision,” Lowen, of Stonyfell, said. 

“He loved wine so much and had an extremely good palate, we thought it was the absolute perfect spot for him until we decided what to do with him long term.”

The family sees him often and sometimes goes down to the cellar to have a drink with him.

“It’s kind of nice to know that his remains are there,” Ms Partridge said.

It’s interesting that Ms Partridge does not see Dad next to the wine as a permanent fixture. Lots of people don’t want a permanent resting place straight away.

The other interesting part of the article was that it stated that 15-20 years ago about 70% of people who were cremated had their ashes stored at the cemetery compared with 47% now, a trend very similar to that in the UK.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/ashes-scattered-far-and-wide-in-places-refecting-the-deceaseds-personality/story-fndo2izk-1226547343088

to scatter or to keep?

How many people opt for cremation in North America

Around 40% of North Americans choose cremation, in Canada it is slightly more popular than in the States. This figure varies from state to state, in Oregon the percentage of cremations is over 63%, Hawaii it is 66% whereas Alabama it is down to 9%.  In general the further north the greater the percentage.

Why are Americans choosing cremation? These are the top answers but statistic do vary from source to source so please bear that in mind.

• money, it is cheaper (~30%)
• it is simpler, less emotional, and more convenient; (~14%)
• saving land (~14%)
• personal preference (6%);
• religious beliefs
• don’t want to be buried
• other reasons cited were concerns for the environment, cold-weather constraints, and ease of transportation to distant burial sites.

To keep or to scatter?

About 40% would choose to scatter their ashes.

Just over 50% would have their ashes kept in a cremation urn. Where the urns are kept break down as:

• 16% buried at a cemetery
• 8% a columbarium (a place for the, usually public, storage of cremation urns)
• 1% in a church columbarium
• 10% would take the remains home.
• 14% want to be placed in an urn but where the decision of where it is kept has not been made.

About 10% don’t know whether to scatter or keep

The above is mainly based on statistics from the Cremation Association of North America