After dinner conversation (as it does) got round to discussing cremations. The one big question that remained unanswered was whether the coffins actually get burnt or is the body tipped out, so that the coffin can be recycled? Nice little earner for someone.
As an incidental question is do the metal fixtures and fittings, (or plastic for the cheapskates), get removed?
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>> As an incidental question is do the metal fixtures and fittings, (or plastic for the cheapskates), get removed?
Having recently lost my father, I can tell you that the price of death is anything but cheap. Total bill for the undertakers fees, crematorium, church service, casket for the ashes, ministers fee, the wake, etc came to over £4000. And yes, the coffin had plastic handles, as well as a plastic cross at either end of the coffin.
Actually, after googling for the answer to your question:-
What happens to the handles and other coffin fittings?
Cremation regulations require all fittings to be of combustible material. The handles and nameplate are usually made of hard plastic. Ferrous nails and screws do not burn and stay with the ashes until they are removed by means of a magnetic field.
What happens to precious and other metals?
The temperature at which a modern cremator operates is so high that such metals are fused with other material and are not recognisable. The Code of Practice states that any metallic material resulting from a cremation should be disposed of in accordance with the instructions of the Cremation Authority and recommends burial within the cremation grounds.
www.funeralcare.co.uk/Resources/Downloads/Cremation_FAQ.pdf
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 14 Oct 10 at 01:07
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>> >> The Code of Practice states that any
>> metallic material resulting from a cremation should be disposed of in accordance with the instructions
>> of the Cremation Authority
>>
>>
>>
Translated, that means your gold fillings and platinum hip joints will be a nice perk for the crematorium workers.
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>>and platinum hip joints will be a nice perk for the crematorium workers<<
I thought they were made of Titanium Clifford.
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>>Total bill for the undertakers fees, crematorium, church service, casket for the ashes, ministers fee, the wake, etc came to over £4000>>
Sadly I lost my wife nearly a year ago. The funeral service was at the local crematorium and the entire bill from a local family run funeral directors (not part of one of these national organisations) amounted to just under £2,200. The cost of the wake was around £230.
Last edited by: Stuartli on Thu 14 Oct 10 at 14:55
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A friend's father was an undertaker, and it's not like you might imagine ~ or hope. It's just a job to an undertaker. Dead bodies aren't necessarily handled carefully or treated with respect. If a body hasn't been fully prepared when it comes to tea break etc, the job temporarily ceases and sandwiches might be unpacked directly on top of the body. Major airports have a large stock of hermetically sealed metal coffins to deal with plane crashes. They have to be hermetically sealed to guard against diseases escaping when the body is transported to it's country of origin. If rigor mortis has set in before a body is dealt with, where necessary limbs are broken to get the body into the coffin.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Thu 14 Oct 10 at 09:59
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I thought rigor mortis was a temporary state?
My mother's coffin was veneered something or other with plated plastic fittings, sold as suitable for cremation. That was nearly 30 years ago.
Last year my friend was cremated in one of those new-fanged wicker coffins. Seems even more sensible.
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rigor mortis sets in a few hours after death and lasts about 3 days
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I had a chat with the undertaker when he came to arrange MILs cremation..
Handles and bits are plastic and the box is veneered MDF. All burnt.
Thought it was expensive at £2800....must have been a bargain !
When my mum went, we asked for her wedding ring and the young trainee undertaker forgot about it....no going back ! I wasn't bothered but he must have told his boss and he was brought round to apologize. I told him it wasn't an issue as it had been a replacement ring.
We had a pleasent hour over tea and bikkies and he knocked £100 the costs.....result !
I spent quite a few hours at the old Manchester Central Mortuary....there wasn't a lot of respect shown by the staff or pathologist. He chainsmoked over the post mortem, dropping ash into the chest cavity........I think it was the smell when a smoker was opened that kept him smoking....it certainly needed masking !
Some strange and interesting things were kept in glass jars of formaldehyde around the place.
The mortuary was pupose built near the railway arches is Ardwick...only one reseidence nearby, and that was the senior morticians house, on site. Must have been a creepy place to live.
The whole complex was closed and became vandalised. I always though it would make a great place to live, two huge garages for the vans, a secure courtyard, plenty of fridge space and a three bedroom house with garden. All built in the 1960s. All demolished now, with it's many ghosts.
Ted
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Wow. This has brought out the ghouls, hasn't it.
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As well as the usual wood effects coffins can be customised with vinyl prints.
My SIL died about this time last year and of course we had to go to the Crem inthe Potteries to sort out music etc. Arrived just after last funeral of day; deceased's coffin was still in place on the catafalque.
Evidently he was a pigeon keeper and the coffin was decorated with pictures of homing pigeons in flight etc.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Thu 14 Oct 10 at 13:01
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Not the most jolly of topics eh ?
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>>Not the most jolly of topics eh ?<<<
Maybe not, but it has answered my original question!
For years I have proposed that somebody should enter the low cost, flat pack coffin market. It could have been the saviour for MFI! Most would probably not been used and ended up as loft flooring, so nobody would have complained when they found it would not go together. I suppose that IKEA would be the obvious choice nowadays. At least it would go together.
Selling a £50 chipboard box for > £ 2000 is rip of Britain to the very end. Has anybody entered the lowcost market as a supplier, possibly with an easy read DIY guide? Maybe not for everybody. Do undertakers supply cardboard coffins or are they reserved for mass burials and disaster zones?
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www.funeralsearch.co.uk/cardboard-coffins.php
There we are, I have instructions to do this for mr pda and then plant an oak tree in his memory.
Pat
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My late mother-in-law was buried (in a Catholic cemetery although not herself a believer) in one of those cardboard jobs, at her request, Pat. Seemed perfectly OK and dignified to me, as do those wicker coffins.
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I'm pleased you've told me that AC, I'm always a little bit uneasy about it.
I'm going to the local crematorium on the back of Brett's vintage Bedford then my ashes will be scattered in the sea at the back of Looe Island.
There's a spot where you can only see the coastline with no houses or people anywhere. The family have instructions to stand in the boat and send me off to finally be at peace with the world to a rousing chorus of Forever Free by W.A.S.P:)
And they'll do it!
Pat
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I recall, in the mid 1990s, going to a "green" funeral In Yorkshire in which the deceased was buried in a cardboard box and we had to dig the grave prior to the ceremony (on a very hot July day).
It was at his request and the "reward" was a top notch meal and drinks at a nearby pub to, as he put it, to celebrate his life to the full i.e. a cheap funeral but nothing spared where it truly mattered.
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I would not want to be invited to a "dinner party" like *that*. The guests, if not the host, should be able to deflect the conversation.
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Nothing wrong with discussing death. AFter all as we all get older, it gets closer and more relevant .##
My wife is an usher at funerals and goes to 2 a week on average...
## (except for me who will live untill 2050 as a minimum)
Last edited by: madf on Thu 14 Oct 10 at 15:52
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"Nothing wrong with discussing death."
Absolutely, I can't stand pansying around on the subject. People die. They don't pass away or cross over.
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>> Nothing wrong with discussing death.
However, there are things such as this that are not discussed at dinner parties.
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>> things such as this that are not discussed at dinner parties.
Death, religion and politics don't put most people off their food Fothers. The only things that really do are disgusting medical stuff and genuinely unpleasant personal abuse of those present.
I feel you may be a tiny bit old-fashioned. Nothing wrong with that of course. I am myself.
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>> things such as this that are not discussed at dinner parties.
Maybe it is an age thing - once you are retired, and have time to reflect on the inevitabilities of life, discussion can become far-ranging.
Dinners out this week (with different hosts) has also covered symptoms and treatment options for prostate cancer, Lymphoma, dementia - need I go on?
Maybe, as a guest, I am just a bundle of fun ;)
Last edited by: pmh on Thu 14 Oct 10 at 16:54
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>> Maybe it is an age thing - once you are retired, and have time to
>> reflect on the inevitabilities of life, discussion can become far-ranging.
The suitability of topics for discussion depends on lots of things.
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>> >> things such as this that are not discussed at dinner parties.
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>> Death, religion and politics don't put most people off their food
One should have consideration for other people's sensitivities at such events, as well as in general.
If it was not a dinner-party, but merely some sort of booze-up with food, then the case is (perhaps) altered. It is generally wise and considerate to ascertain acceptability of a topic before launching into discussions willy-nilly.
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"It is generally wise and considerate to ascertain acceptability of a topic before launching into discussions willy-nilly."
I'll remember that when next down the pub.
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>> "It is generally wise and considerate to ascertain acceptability of a topic before
>> launching into discussions willy-nilly."
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>> I'll remember that when next down the pub.
It's what people normally do "down the pub"; people who do not bceome pariahs.
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Ahh - I wondered why no one was talking to one another down the local - They've all become pariahs after their willy nilly discussions:-)
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>> However, there are things such as this that are not discussed at dinner parties.
"The salmon mousse!"
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This has all got me wondering, what's happened to Zero?
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Mr. Z is 5,437.82 miles away (approx)
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...Mr. Z is 5,437.82 miles away (approx)...
He might have been arrested - I emailed his rude remarks about America on here to the CIA.
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...In America is he?...
Far as I know.
His last post was from T3 at Thiefrow.
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You 'may' have missed the CIA 'joke' Iffy.
Just my sense of 'umor.
IN AMERICA is he?
Oh! never mind. It's been a hard day.
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When I was a teenager my best pal's dad was a funeral undertaker and he had to go down to Lockerbie to help out with the disaster there.
However many a game of hide and seek was played round the coffins and when I got older and got my first cars, they had everything you needed for making your car gleam!!
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Coffins and creatoriums - R.P.
