ARRANGEMENTS FOR BURIAL OR CREMATION
Registration The Funeral What will we do? Methods of Payment
Registration
Before a funeral can take place, the death has to be registered at the Registrar's office for the District in which death occurred. Click here to see details of the Offices of Registration within our area. Please note that some Offices require an appointment to be made.
You do not have to wait until the death has been registered before contacting us about arrangements for the funeral.
The Funeral
The funeral service may take place in a church or other place of religion, but most are conducted at a cemetery or crematorium. You do not have to have a minister of religion to conduct the funeral service at a cemetery or crematorium. Any member of the family can do it, but remember it will be an emotional time for you and this will be something else to worry about.
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Cemetery/crematorium: We will contact a cemetery or crematorium to book a date and time for your ceremony. Click here to see which cemeteries and crematoria are in our area
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Chapel of Rest: We will remove the deceased, care for him/her according to your wishes, prepare him/her for burial or cremation and provide opportunities for viewing at our Chapel of Rest. We offer full facilities to meet the customs of all faiths, including bathing facilities
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Coffin: We will provide a coffin suitable for burial or cremation. Click here to see our standard range. If you require something different we will be happy to discuss this with you. We also provide caskets for burial of ashes following cremation. Click here for details.
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Minister: We can arrange for a minister from any religion to conduct the service for you. Click here to see details of places of worship in our area. Alternatively, if you prefer, we can arrange for an experienced person to conduct a non-religious ceremony for you. Click here to visit the site of the British Humanist Association for more information.
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Vehicles: We will provide a hearse and other vehicles as required.
Our modern fleet of vehicles is at your disposal, or, if you prefer, we can also arrange for a traditional horse drawn hearse, or perhaps a Rolls Royce, 4x4 or even a motor-cycle. Just let us know what you want and we will endeavour to arrange it for you. You may also find further information by visiting the following websites:
www.motorcyclefunerals.com
www.4x4funerals.co.uk
If it is your intention to convey young children, please speak to us regarding legislation changes. -
Music: If you wish your ceremony to include music, we can organise this for you. We try to cater for many different tastes in music. We can arrange for an organist, a singer, a piper or even a string quartet to play for you, but you may prefer just to listen to recorded music. We can play your CDs during the service, or, if the service takes place at the City of London Crematorium, you can choose from their extensive music library. Please note that for copyright reasons we can only play original CDs during the service. We cannot use recorded CDs.
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Orders of Service: We can arrange for orders of service to be printed for you where time permits. You may download examples by clicking on the appropriate text:
A simple order of service
A more detailed order of service
This requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.
To download a free copy, click here.
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Flowers: We can arrange for a local florist to take care of flowers for you. Please note that we have to charge VAT on flowers which may not be payable if you contact a florist direct. You may find more information by visiting www.flowersbykaren.co.uk
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Donations: If, in lieu of flowers, you would like relatives or friends to give donations to charity we can arrange it for you. We will collect the donations, send them to a charity of your choice and send you a list of those who have contributed. In order to increase the value of your donation at no extra cost to yourself, please consider using Gift Aid. Click here to download a Gift Aid form.
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Doves: We can arrange for you to release one or more doves at the end of the service. For more details click here.
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Newspaper announcements: We can arrange for announcements to be placed in local or national newspapers.
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Documentation: We will organise all the legal documentation required for a burial or cremation.
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Catering: The City of London Cemetery and Crematorium Gate House hosts a café with function room available (The Gatehouse Pantry). Tel 020 8989 3438. The Gatehouse Pantry is open 10.00am to 3.00pm, seven days a week. There are also a number of pubs in the area who will arrange refreshments. We will be pleased to advise you.
Methods of Payment
When you make arrangements for the funeral we will give you a written estimate of the costs. This will be split between our fees and the expenses we incur on your behalf, such as burial or cremation fees, minister's fees etc. These expenses are known as
"disbursements" and we will normally ask you to pay us for them no later
than 24 hours before the funeral takes place. We will then send you an invoice
for our fees approximately one week after the funeral. We accept payment by way
of cheque, cash, debit or credit card.
