Cremation

Towards the end of the service, curtains will be drawn and the coffin will be hidden from view.

At the end of the service, the coffin is moved into the committal room and the mourners leave.

After the committal service, the coffin is taken from the committal room to the crematorium building. The body, along with the coffin, is cremated usually on the same day as the service or within 24 hours. Crematorium regulations require that only combustible materials are used in the manufacture of coffins for use in cremation. The Code of Cremation Practice requires that the coffin is placed in the cremator in exactly the same condition as that in which it arrived at the crematorium.

Today, all of the Christian denominations, including the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, allow cremation. It is also the normal method used by practically all Eastern religious sects for disposing of human remains after death. Orthodox Judaism and Islam forbid cremation.

Each cremator is only large enough to take one coffin. When a cremation has finished the cremated remains are placed into an individually identified container. For further reassurance family members may observe the cremation taking place or nominate a person to do so on their behalf.

The ashes are typically available within 3 to 4 working days after the cremation. You can make arrangements through the funeral director or the crematorium to organize the collection of the ashes.

The remains are sometimes buried in the crematorium’s garden of remembrance or placed in a niche in a columbarium wall if there is one. (A columbarium wall is a structure containing small spaces where you can place cremated remains in urns, etc.).

Alternatively, the ashes can be removed in an urn which can be supplied by the funeral director or the crematorium. You can then bury the remains in the family grave or disperse them. If the dispersal is not on private ground, permission should be obtained from the appropriate authority, for example, the local authority.