Baby ashes scandal hits Edinburgh
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, […]
Wounded knee
Shrapnel retrieved after the cremation of World War 2 vet Ronald Brown. He stepped on a landmine in 1944 and had been carrying it around in one leg ever since. All 6oz of it. Full story here.
How many of our crems are fit for purpose?
It’s extraordinary how biddable bolshy Brits can be when they get to a crematorium — amazing what they put up with. Presumably it’s a matter of low-to-zero expectations. You expect it to be awful. It is. Whatever. Up in Jarrow, some people have had enough. Resident James Southern rates South Shields crematorium “wholly inadequate”. He said: […]
Crems on wheels
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
Worcester crematorium not for sale
Worcester City Council is, laudably, not inclined to sell its crematorium to one of those predatory sharks we all know and love so well. The council needs to spend up to £2 million to upgrade it. But read on and see what the jostling sharks are prepared to buy it for. Moral: when you’ve done […]
Dove release inadvisable
Hawks have come to the rescue of mourners at a crematorium plagued by aggressive seagulls. The birds of prey were used to scare away gulls at Eastbourne crematorium after complaints that mourners were being dive-bombed as they left the chapel. Whole story here.
One planning problem we don’t have over here
Authorities in an eastern Polish city are trying to stop a funeral company from building a crematorium in the same neighborhood as the former German Nazi death camp of Majdanek. Full story.
Is ceremony dying?
Posted by Richard Rawlinson This seems a strange question just after economically-challenged Britain has hosted the Olympics, a no-expenses-spared ceremonial games that unites nations in celebration of sporting prowess. But as the cult of individuality nibbles away at established social conventions, more and more people seem to be caring less for ceremony on a more intimate […]
No stripping of the altars here
By Richard Rawlinson The row at Haycombe crematorium in Bath over the replacement of the cross-etched 1960s window with a clear pane – offering a neutral blank canvas for visitors of different faiths and none – is contextualised by this example of tolerance and diversity. The pictures here are of North London’s New Southgate Cemetery and Crematorium, […]
West Grinstead says not in our back garden
A little over a week ago we glanced at a growing furore in Sussex over a proposed new crematorium. Here’s the latest news from the front line: More than once West Grinstead residents were told to ‘be civil’ as they grasped with open arms an opportunity to voice their opinions. Patrick and Matthew Gallagher, […]
