Which Topic Should This Question Be Asked?

[Stargazer]

I want to fin d out the cheapest way ones body can be disposed of after death
to save my family being charged extortionate costs to go through a lot of palaver?

[hc4361]

Eddie, my council insists that the container is solid enough to push the body into the crematoria and will not accept just a body bag, although a body bag is a good idea in a cardboard coffin

[atalanta]

I've been thinking about going to evening classes in basketwork to make my own coffin

[Cloverjo]

Talking to a funeral director recently, he said wicker coffins could be quite distressing as you could easily see the body through the gaps, and cardboard coffins are very flimsy. He might just have been persuading us to go for a wooden one so more profit for him, I don't know.

[gness]

Mr G's wicker coffin was lined with a thick material.....no gaps........x

[Cloverjo]

That makes more sense, Gness. I wish we'd thought of that. But is it true they are more expensive than a basic wooden one?

[gness]

I didn't compare at the time, Clover...but when we were sorting out the funeral for my mother recently the wooden coffin was quite a bit more expensive than the wicker one.
I do recall being surprised that MrG's was as inexpensive as it was.

[Cloverjo]

Going back to previous answers, how can it cost £300 to put a body in the furnace when it's already up and ready for another (paying) body?

[gness]

Blimey....just had a look at a site....Creative Coffins.....some gorgeous ones there.....☺

[ducksie]

I dunno the cheapest way, but before Christmas the father of my BiL died, there was no announcements on radio, no funeral prayers or service, no coffin, just straight up to the crem and job done before Christmas day. didn't cost the family and I think his weekly pension and a bit of saving s covered the cost

[janbee]

Leave it to medical science and spare parts departments ! I don't agree with funerals, graveyard visits, urns on mantlepieces etc. etc

[EDDIE51]

hc4361 You can put a board under the body in the body bag to make it easier to handle .
Cloverjo Undertakers will tell you anything to try to persuade you to buy a coffin from them, as I said it is their main profit. They will not tell you that you do not have to buy the coffin from them at all , if you have your own coffin they HAVE to allow you to use it. Wicker coffins are lined as said so the undertaker was talking bull ***
They do not like it if you ask for a quote and then go to another undertaker and ask them to beat it. A friend of mine got the quote for her fathers funeral down from £1850 to £900 by doing that she went to and fro between 3 undertakers and kept asking them to beat the last quote. Only took an hour.
The fee is to cover the cost of the cremation, it takes 5 to 8 hours to fully cremate a body then 3 hours cooling time and another 2 hours to crush the bones into ash, uses a lot of fuel and there is the staff cost to consider.

[Cloverjo]

Thanks, Eddie. That's interesting. I had no idea it took so long to cremate a body.
I might sound naive here, but I suppose when you get the ashes of your loved one, it's likely to be someone else's in there too.

[hc4361]

No, cloverjo, it is only one person's remains you get (or cremains as some people call them these days).

[jno]

gness, for the best coffins, go to Ghana

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ghana+coffins&biw=1708&bih=942&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=ezS6VOnVGaSt7gbP7oCQAg&;sqi=2&ved=0CCAQsAQ

[Cloverjo]

hc, so if it takes hours to cremate a body, how do they manage to do so many cremation services in a day? They must put several in at once.

[roopower]

Janbee, I agree with you over graveyard visits but not on some sort of sending off - a service, or whatever. My dad left his body to science but died of cancer and they didn't want him. He was taken off by the undertaker and cremated before a lot of people knew he had died. It was only because his wife realised how important it was for me to say goodbye to him that I was told where he was and allowed to see him. It's what dad wanted but not what his friends and family needed and I believe they have to be considered in some way.

[hc4361]

The crematorium will have several crematoria, Cloverjo, so whilst several bodies are being cremated at the same time they are each in their own 'oven'.

I suggest you look at your own council's website which should give lots of information and reassurance. My local crematorium has an open day once a year, on a Sunday, where any interested person can have a tour. Obviously there will be nothing burning.

[Cloverjo]

Thanks, hc. I'd never thought they might have several "ovens". That's reassuring.

[EDDIE51]

^^ Work out the maths!
The 3 crematoriums in my area each have 2 chapels, each chapel has 4 cremations an hour from 9 am to 5 pm without a break, 36 cremations per chapel per day = 72 cremations per day for each 'crem'
A cremation takes 5 to 8 hours plus 3 hours cooling time then another 2 hours in the bone crusher to reduce the bones to 'ash'
They are not going to have 72 ovens! What they have is 3 or 4 large ovens per chapel, each of there has several 'slots' each of which can hold 1 body