crematorium and cars

LEJC

I understand that was the way a couple of generations ago...but in reality how many people would do that these days?
and again are there that many private embalmists around....

Its something that I would love to do a thread about...but I think its a bit unfair to hijack the red devils exisiting thread...

But it really has got me thinking.....

spacey2012

It is only a matter of time before the "old ways" come back.
£4000 for collecting a body, pulling a stern face and driving it to the crematorium is by any stretch of imagination taking the proverbial.

LEJC

spacey2012 wrote: »

It is only a matter of time before the "old ways" come back.
£4000 for collecting a body, pulling a stern face and driving it to the crematorium is by any stretch of imagination taking the proverbial.

I certainly agree....but I think that the DIY route is not the type of thing you can just enter into lightly.
Much as I'm aware of the costs involved in funeral direction...it is hopefully a reasonably slick procedure and at a time when those close to you might not want or be able to search and google the seperate components of a funeral.

I think I like the idea of returning to the old fashioned ways too...but I also think that I would need to consider the feelings of those close to me too...its all very well saying ive come to terms with my death and want to be placed in the front room prior to my funeral but in reality I would need to be convinced that those close to me wouldnt be absolutely appalled by my request whilst also dealing with grief

I recently lost 2 members of my family and to be honest whilst I and they were MSE concious I doubt either of them would have expected someone in the family to do DIY funeral...however much the idea would have appealed....in fact one of them would on reflection have positively loved the idea and had he realised would have probably set each of us a task to google the whole day DIY!

one of the things that particularly puzzled/amazed me when we had to deal with the funeral directors was the cost of a cardboard coffin was quite substantially more than that of a basic wood...but I guess they set a price and its up to the punters to decide to buy or not.

Absolute appologies for hijacking the thread....and sending it off on a tangent

madbadrob

There is no requirement under English Law to use a funeral director. There is also no requirement to use a hearse. The only law that exists is that a body must be buried or cremated

Rob

madbadrob

LEJC,

There are no requirements to embalm a body either. In fact correct me if I am wrong but not many FD's embalm now

Rob

dzug1

Law or no law, would a crematorium accept a body that's not in a coffin?

peachyprice

madbadrob wrote: »

LEJC,

There are no requirements to embalm a body either. In fact correct me if I am wrong but not many FD's embalm now

Rob

But that's because bodies are kept cool at the funeral parlour, if you were keeping the body at home I'm sure you'd want it embalmed to keep it fresh.

Savvy_Sue

LEJC wrote: »

one of the things that particularly puzzled/amazed me when we had to deal with the funeral directors was the cost of a cardboard coffin was quite substantially more than that of a basic wood...but I guess they set a price and its up to the punters to decide to buy or not.

I was very surprised by that too, when arranging Dad's funeral. We'd quite happily have gone for cardboard, but ended up with cheap ...

BTW, I heard on Radio 4 a while ago an interview with a lady who'd driven a caravan around the UK with the body of her dead mother in the back, wrapped up in a sheet. Honestly, I'm not making this up, although google isn't helping me find this story. And it wasn't an afternoon play or anything like that. She took mum to lots of places mum had liked, chatting to her all the while, and to visit old friends so they could say goodbye. I don't know if Mum was unwrapped for that part of the exercise. When she'd finished, she arranged a funeral, but she needed that time to prepare for it.

Apart from the basic story, she sounded perfectly sane ...

HappyMJ

dzug1 wrote: »

Law or no law, would a crematorium accept a body that's not in a coffin?

No...but you can put the body in a cardboard box. For presentation purposes you can put that box in a hired outer coffin that you can return afterwards.

bongonaut

You can use your own estate car/van to transport a coffin to a crematorium. You will of course, have had to first go through the crematorium's booking procedure and collated all the necessary documentation. The coffin will need to be of a type approved by that crematorium.

There are friendly funeral directors who will assist with just the aspects of the arrangements that you want them to, rather than organising (and thereby charging for) everything.

Have a look at the website of the charity The Natural Death Centre. They give genuinely independent and free-of-charge advice on all aspects of funeral arranging.