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work is due to start next month on a development project which experts believe is a first for the UK. Houndwood Church, near Grantshouse, has been redundant since its final sermon in 2003. But from next month Edinburgh-based Carlton Group will oversee conversion work to transform part of the 175-year-old building into a crematorium. Forecasts suggest it would host two cremations each working day from the Berwickshire, East Lothian and Northumberland areas.

HIP and knee replacement joints are being recycled from the deceased who have been cremated in Hereford. The proceeds from the new project have so far raised more than £4,000 which has gone to MacMillan Cancer Support. “We only recycle metals resulting from cremation after receiving written consent from each bereaved family,” said John Gibbon, Herefordshire Council’s bereavement services manager.

FOLLOWING a spate of metal thefts from a cemetery, Bromley police are taking steps to try and stop it happening again. Around 80 bronze memorial plaques were stolen from Beckenham Crematorium and Cemetery in September, as reported by News Shopper. Now the Clock House Safer Neighbourhood Team [SNT] have ensured every plaque in the cemetery is marked with a special liquid known as SmartWater.

A crematorium in Hereford has raised thousands of pounds for charity by recycling metals such as hip and knee implants left behind after cremations. Herefordshire Council said it used to bury the metal in its crematorium grounds but had started recycling the metal for charity instead. It said it had so far donated £4,485 to MacMillan Cancer Support.

Funeral services provider Dignity reported an increase in underlying profit for the nine months ended 30 September as it acquired new funeral locations. Underlying operating profit rose to £48.4 for the 39 weeks to September from £45m the year before. Revenue for the period rose 7.3% to £155.8m. Dignity said it has acquired three funeral locations and seven new satellite locations have been opened since July.

BOSTON Crematorium looks set to continue to be operated by the borough council. The authority had been considering privatising the service in a bid to save money. But despite receiving two bids to take over the facility the council's cabinet voted to keep the service in-house.

COUNCIL chiefs in Kirklees will meet this week to decide whether to invest £1.7m in improving and refurbishing crematoria in the district. A proposal drawn up for a contemporary stone and glass building to replace Dewsbury Crematorium has been postponed but council chiefs are proposing that improvement works are carried out at the site. They are also proposing a series of works at other cemeteries and crematoria including Huddersfield, Lockwood and Batley.

AN innovative community team are ‘dead chuffed’ to be on the receiving end of a £9,375 grant from National Lottery’s Awards for All scheme. The Friends of St Helens Cemetery and Crematorium applied for the grant to run an 11 month activity programme that includes four educational talks, a Christmas wreath making workshop and community horticultural activities. The group also plans to run workshops on tracing family trees, conservation and natural history photography.

The first ever article I wrote for the then brand new Malta Independent on Sunday more than 20 years ago was about the crying need for cremation services on a small island slowly but surely being turned into one massive cemetery. We are still without a crematorium, though there is the comforting feeling that, today, more and more people agree that the burial situation has since become untenable.

AN angry Perth resident yesterday expressed dismay at the latest council cuts aimed at the city’s crematorium. Hard on the heels of criticism directed at the local authority by funeral directors James McEwan and Son in last Friday’s PA, a local householder said it was the latest in a long line of “ridiculous” steps which are impacting on costs and services.