cremation

EXCLUSIVE: It’s going to be one wacky sendoff for Downton’s Matthew

1 April 2013
Charles
11 Comments
Categories: Attitudes to dead bodies, bereavement, celebrants, cremation, crematoria, DIY funeral, funeral customs, funeral pyres, home funerals, open-air cremation, viking funeral

The GFG can exclusively reveal that Downton star Matthew Crawley will be cremated in a way-out guerilla funeral on the ancestral estate in a ritual created by the grief-stricken family.

Devotees of toff-soap Downton Abbey were left dazed and heartbroken at the end of the 2012 Christmas special when heir Matthew Crawley was violently killed after his motor car flipped as it swerved to avoid an oncoming lorry.

According to plot notes for upcoming series 4, jotted by writer Julian Fellowes and seen exclusively by the GFG, a distraught Lady Mary will banish local undertaker Grassby’s men when they come to take Matthew’s body into their care.

In  heartrending scenes that follow, viewers will see Lady Mary supervise sobbing servants as they wash Matthew’s body, dress it in his favourite suit and lay it out in the state drawing room flanked by bowed footmen and surrounded by candles and essential oils. Here, it is reverently watched over by members of the family.

Meanwhile, it’s all hands to the pump downstairs as the servants are enlisted to build Matthew’s coffin and refurbish a derelict cremator (pictured) which was last used to cremate Lady Mary’s convention-busting great-grandfather Lord Bertram Crawley in 1882.

In a final agonising development, the funeral procession, led by butler Carson, is surrounded by police tipped off by villainous valet Thomas Barrow. After a tense standoff the proceedings are allowed to go ahead in a ceremony led by real-life funeral celebrant and GFG commenter Gloria Mundi.

The storyline is believed to be inspired by Fellowes’ near neighbour and cremation pioneer Captain Thomas Hanham, who lived just 20 miles away in Blandford Forum. Hanham illegally cremated his wife and his mother in the grounds of his estate. The authorities did not prosecute him and a few years later the first Cremation Act was passed.

The GFG believes that Fellowes intends to raise awareness of family-arranged or home funerals, sometimes termed DIY funerals. He was overheard at a funeral he recently attended to exclaim, “Why on earth do we hand over the whole bally shooting match to strangers? We really should jolly well do more of this ourselves.”

Fellowes’ plot notes reveal that he even considered cremating Matthew on an open-air pyre. A scribble in the margin betrays second thoughts: “No. A twist too far. Maybe for Maggie [Smith].” Dame Maggie Smith plays the part of the Dowager Countess of Grantham.

NOTE: Journalists and bloggers are asked as a matter of courtesy to acknowledge the GFG as their source when reporting this story.

Baby ashes scandal hits Edinburgh

5 December 2012
Charles
3 Comments
Categories: cremation, crematoria, scandals

From 1967 until last year, when a new manager was appointed and instituted a cleanup, Mortonhall crematorium, Edinburgh, has been telling parents that children who die antenatally or neonatally do not yield ashes when they are cremated. For an untold period the crematorium has been burying their ashes secretly in cardboard boxes in an unmarked, mass grave in a field behind the crematorium. 

You can read the story in the Scotsman here.  

Helen Henderson, 43, from Sighthill, said: “My son Nathan died when he was just one day old in August 2004. We were told by the undertaker that we would receive his ashes, but when we went to collect them a lady at the crematorium told us we had been misinformed and that there was nothing for us to collect, that ‘you don’t get any ashes from a baby’.

One grieving mother said that when she questioned the policy she was told it had been a result of “laziness and a bad attitude”.

It looks like a very bad business. Crematoria generally are well aware of the emotional needs of bereaved parents and do all in their power to retrieve some ash, however tiny the amount. The scandal at Mortonhall may well cast into doubt practices at other crematoria. Nothing could be more unfair. This is a sector which is characterised by, on the whole, high standards. 

It is likely that, back in 1967, when cremators were hotter and, in operation, more turbulent, there were no ashes after the cremation of a baby. Mortonhall’s culpability in lying to bereaved parents would seem to date from the installation of newer equipment whenever that might have been. 

Even today, cremation of a foetus younger than 24 weeks does not yield any remains. 

When a foetus miscarries or there is a neonatal death in a hospital, the hospital normally takes responsibility for funeral arrangements and will ordinarily have a contract with a funeral director to carry out these arrangements. If there was an contracted funeral director in this case, his or her failure to hold the crematorium to account is unaccountable. 

 A widespread practice is to cremate babies first thing in the morning, before the cremator has reached its full operating temperature. The cooler the burn, the easier it will be to retrieve some ash. 

 South-West Middlesex crematorium has its own baby cremator, which does not burn as hot as an adult cremator. At the Garden of England crematorium babies are cremated on a special tray. 
The Mortonhall scandal will be no less shocking and saddening to seasoned members of the funeral industry, for whom the funerals of babies and children never lose their poignancy.
 Your thoughts would be very welcome. 

Crems on wheels

9 October 2012
Charles
9 Comments
Categories: cremation, crematoria

The handsome chariot pictured above is a mobile crematorium. It is reckoned to have been developed for FEMA in case of disaster.

Would it not serve just as well for scattered rural populations in Wales and Scotland? 

Full mobile crem patent here

Library of dust

19 July 2012
Charles
5 Comments
Categories: ashes, cremation

Posted by Vale

Oregon State Insane Asylum closed in the 1970s after operating for nearly a hundred years. Over that time inmates died, were cremated and their remains, stored in copper canisters, were stored uncollected.

The photographer David Maisel has made a photographic record of them. He writes:

The approximately 3,500 copper canisters have a handmade quality; they are at turns burnished or dull; corrosion blooms wildly from the leaden seams and across the surfaces of many of the cans. Numbers are stamped into each lid; the lowest number is 01, and the highest is 5,118. The vestiges of paper labels with the names of the dead, the etching of the copper, and the intensely hued colors of the blooming minerals combine to individuate the canisters. These deformations sometimes evoke the celestial – the northern lights, the moons of some alien planet, or constellations in the night sky. Sublimely beautiful, yet disquieting, the enigmatic photographs in Library of Dust are meditations on issues of matter and spirit. 

A book of the project can be found here.

Oh yes we would

9 July 2012
Charles
6 Comments
Categories: cremation, crematoria

Denouncing plans for a new crematorium in Surrey which, if it is built, will be no more than 205m from the nearest house, East Grinstead resident David says:

“You wouldn’t want to sit in your garden and overlook a funeral.”

Oh no? How very different you are, David, from the readership of the GFG. 

Footnotes:

Other responses are both predictable and very Sussex.  Helen Tinner says: “The thought of breathing in poisonous fumes whilst out enjoying fresh air is appalling.” Phil Rose says: “I will have my property valued now. If the crematorium is given the go-ahead and it devalues my home then I will expect compensation.” 

The company making the planning application is Peacebound Ltd. So far as we can see, Peacebound was founded in 2010 with £1 share capital and is registered to a residential address in, wait for it, Furnace Parade, Crawley. Does anyone know anything about Peacebound Ltd? 

Source

Muriel’s ashes

30 June 2012
Charles
16 Comments
Categories: ashes, Children, cremation, Memorialising

It was the Jubilee weekend and a year since we had all gathered around Muriel’s hospital bed as she told the Doctors that she wanted no more treatment, no interventions, no resuscitation. She told us she had had a wonderful life, she was ready to go, that she wanted to be cremated and she wanted her ashes to be scattered in an open, high place.  This is the place we chose.

Those of  her children and grandchildren and great grandchildren who were able to be there, each took a handful of her ashes and threw them to the wind. Little children keen to ‘have a turn’, adults laughing and crying all at the same time.

I took pictures for those who couldn’t be there – and when we looked at them afterwards we were amazed to see this one – looking like a proud lion above the clouds! Reminding us of her strength and courage in her living and in her dying. A lady who, in her youth had played bridge with the Shah of Persia, raised seven children and been the proudest Nana and Little Nana to so many more.

Into the freedom of wind and sunshine
We let you go
Into the dance of the stars and the planets
We let you go
Into the wind’s breath and the hands of the star maker
We let you go
We love you, we miss you, we want you to be happy
Go safely, go dancing, go running home.

Posted by Evelyn

The order is rapidly fadin’

21 June 2012
Charles
4 Comments
Categories: alternative funerals, ashes, Attitudes to death, Body donation, ceremony, cremation, Formality vs informality, funeral customs, funeral directors, Religious funerals

Blog reader Kathryn Edwards has drawn our attention to an interesting article in the Guardian. Thanks, Kathryn. 

In it, Rosanna Greenstreet tells how her aunt Molly donated her body for medical education or research, thereby denying everyone the benefit of a funeral. Greenstreet tells us what family and friends did instead:

Molly didn’t believe in God and hated funerals, but she loved a party. So on Saturday 12 May, on what would have been her 94th birthday weekend, Stephen and Prudence held one for her. The celebration lunch was in a private room at the Michelin-starred restaurant, Chez Bruce, in south London. All Molly’s nearest and dearest came. There were photos of her through the ages and letters of condolence from her friends. It was a lovely occasion: we drank champagne as we shared our memories of Molly, and there were no tears.

Greenstreet’s father also wants to donate his bodyto Cambridge university, both for the benefit that will confer and also because it will enable him to evade a funeral. He’s written down seven reasons: 

1. Hopefully, to make some contribution to medical training

2. To spare relatives the trouble of organising a funeral.

3. To spare my estate the cost of a funeral (a “cheap” one might cost £3,000).

4. To spare possible “mourners” the trouble of attending a funeral. 

5. To avoid the hypocrisy of troubling the Anglican church to participate in a service when I have attended so few other services since I left school.

6. There is nothing that could be said or sung at a church funeral service that would reflect my views (such as they are) on life, death and fate. Anyone curious about my life can be sufficiently informed by my detailed and intimate diaries (currently 76 volumes).

7. To avoid anyone having to trouble to say anything interesting or pleasant about a life distinguished only by its lack of significant distinction – or disgrace.

Typically self-deprecating and, perhaps, peculiarly British. Anthony Greenstreet may be 83 but he’s in tune with the zeitgeist. Like an ever-increasing number of people, he can’t see the point of a conventional funeral, and his daughter is catching on to the attractions of a funeral without a body. 

Greenstreet concludes:

It’s hard to think about what we will do to remember my father when he has gone up to Cambridge for the last time. Fancy restaurants have never been his thing – he has always preferred home-cooking. Nor does he drink much – his preferred tipple is tea, taken without milk, harking back to the days when he started his career as a “humble clerk” in India. So, perhaps, when the time comes, we will sit around the kitchen table with a cuppa, make a start on those 76 diaries, and really find out what made the old man tick!

The comments under the article are worth reading. Here are some:

Mrs PunkAs

When my father in law passed away recently we respected his wishes not to have a funeral – he was non religious and wanted no public gathering so instead we hired a room at the crematorium and gave the four grandchildren an assortment of multi coloured vivid markers each. They spent a lovely half an hour drawing all sorts of stuff all over his coffin, pictures, words, memories etc. It was really good for them. It was the best send-off I’ve been to.

 Mykeff

I’d like to be stripped of all useable parts and then squashed into an old cardboard receptacle and ploughed under at a random beauty spot.
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

Sandyr9 (whose father donated his body)

For my father, we reserved a chapel, placed an obituary with time and location of service, called distant friends and relatives, and had a lovely service: A minister friend presided, biblical passages were preached and discussed, and traditional hymns were played. After the service, there was a reception wherein attendees met and conversed with family. To my thinking, we had a funeral for my father.

 These sentiments are as common among Guardian readers as they are among the readers of any other paper. Each inspires the others to do something minimal or creative or alternative or all of the above. And of course, the more people exchange these sorts of views, the more they empower themselves, so that when the time comes, the more likely they are to have the clarity of mind to reject a funeral director’s conventional  offer. 

The message to funeral directors is one that Bob Dylan set to music all those years ago: better start swimming. 

Full Guardian article here. 

 

Different cultures, different customs

20 June 2012
Charles
1 Comment
Categories: cremation, funeral customs, funeral pyres, open-air cremation

Very interesting photo-essay here about the ghats at Varanasi. Good text, too. 

Sometimes poorer people cannot afford enough wood to completely burn a body. In this case charred body parts are simply flung into the river with the ashes. Certain people, such as small children, pregnant women and holy men, are not cremated at all, but instead simply have their bodies weighted down with stones and are dropped into the Ganges. Not too pleasant for the many bathers around the ghats.

As a solution to the problem of human remains clogging up the Ganges, snapping turtles were bred and released into the river specifically to eat the corpses and bones. A good idea, maybe, but since bodies and body parts are still seen floating around the river today, perhaps not as effective as originally hoped. 

Pyre appeal, Ghana

24 April 2012
Charles
1 Comment
Categories: cremation, funeral pyres, music

In Ghana the famous xylophonist Bernard Woma is appealing for money for a new funeral pyre for the people of his village. Here’s what he says:

Due to centuries held traditional practice, the Dagara people perform funerals in a public setting. This public funeral ritual means that the deceased is displayed in a pyre mounted on woods and covered with a large cloth for public viewing and mourning. Funerals are the most important rites of passage for humanity on earth and the way cultures celebrate funerals serve to satisfy their beliefs in honoring their dead.

Due to the deforestation in the area and no more trees to cut and mount a funeral pyre, people are moving toward better ways to get a funeral pyre. Majority of Dagara communities have began using metal framework designed by the local metal workers at the Nandom Technical School to make permanent funeral pyres in which communities in one area can come together to purchase one for use when there there is a funeral in their villages. The cost is not cheap especially for these poor communities, but it is a good lasting investment and it helps to save the already poor environment in terms of cutting down the trees to make pyres anytime death occurs.

In line with these changes, the villagers of Hiineteng have approached me to help them acquire a community pyre. They have demonstrated their seriousness and commitment by contributing a meager amount of 150 Ghana cedis equivalent to $100. This contribution has been going on for two years due to their poor financial capabilities. The pyre, made in three sizes, cost between $800 and $1200. When I asked at the NandomTechnicalSchool, the small size of funeral pyre costs 1,200 Ghana cedis about $800. The medium one costs 1, 400 Ghana cedies about $950 and the large one cost 1, 600 Ghana cedis about $1100.

Because of their passionate appeal to me and their commitment to get one for the village I am appealing to you to support us with whatever you can afford. We are looking to purchase the medium size pyre and we hope to get it this year if we can come up with the money.

I emailed Bernard and asked him what he reckons is the best way to get money to him from the UK. This is what he said:

Dear Charles

Thank you so much for the note. I went on your funeral website and saw what you are doing. These things sometimes considered little do contribute significantly to the social well being of society and I appreciate your work and willingness to help out my community. I am currently in the US and will be going back to Ghana on May 17th to be there for the entire summer. One way to send money to Ghana is by western union or if you want to send the donation by check to avoid the wiring charges at western union, then you can just mail a check in my name to my US address. So please let me know how to want to send it.  Thank you again and this means a lot to me and my village.  My address here is

Bernard Woma
800 N Smith Road
Apt K 5
Bloomington, IN 47408
USA

The GFG, skint as it is, will be sending Bernard a cheque, and we hope you will, too.  One for you, GM? 

Find Bernard’s website here.

What does it cost to run a crematorium?

24 April 2012
Charles
8 Comments
Categories: cremation, crematoria, funeral cost

Here’s an extract from a feasibility review conducted by Rugby Borough Council Jan 2010, which plans to build a new crematorium. The review gives us useful info about how these things are costed:

Staffing:

“It is proposed that the number of staff recommended would be: 1 Manager, 1 Administration Officer, 1 Operative

“With on-costs this would be in the region of £99,450 per year, so based on 1,000 cremations a year this would equate to £99.45 per cremation.

“An additional personnel cost at crematoria has been the organist, however there is an alternative system, called the Wesley Music System which is PC and internet based and could be operated by staff and would cost approximately £5,000 per year. Allowing £1,000 for equipment purchases etc the cost would work out at £6.00 per cremation.”

Equipment operating costs

4 cremations a day for 50 five-day weeks of the year (ie, 250 days out of a total 365) in a single cremator @ 90 mins a funeral = 6hrs’ cremator use per day.

Gas — £7.50 per cremation

Electricity — £4.00 per cremation

Reagent and disposal — £4.75 per cremation

TOTAL — £16.25

So: staffing and operating costs as per Jan 2010 stood at £99.45+£6.00+£16.25 = £121.70

The rest of the money goes on maintenance of plant, grounds and building together with capital costs.

Go figure.

Rugby’s plans go to the Planning Committee any day now.

Read the full document here.