Cheap, green and 'DIY' funerals
Green, no-frills burial ground
Nick Evans, a gardener and builder and ex-sales manager in Shropshire, is seeking to purchase a two or three acre field near Ludlow, subject to planning permission that will allow him to turn it into a green, no-frills burial ground for 100 plots. Disgusted by all the trimmings and waste at a family funeral he attended, he is trying to encourage funerals without hearses etc, where the body will be buried in the simplest coffin, and with only trees and memorial plaques on the trees, and no gravestones, so that the site will look as natural as possible. The aim is to cut the expenses involved in funerals, to have funerals 'without fuss but with dignity', and to make it a burial ground suitable particularly for people who want a non-religious burial and for Greens.
'Memorial plaques on the trees'
Nick Evans, The Bell House, Wooferton, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 4AL (tel 058472 342)
Fruit tree planted over body
Steven Levine
Extracted from 'Who Dies' by Steven Levine (published by Gateway Books, Bath) and quoted in 'Funerals and How to Improve Them' by Dr Tony Walter (published by Hodder and Stoughton).
Often, in the back country of Montana, a hole will be dug and the body, in a plain pine coffin or perhaps just wrapped in a tie-dyed cloth, will be lowered into the ground. Instead of a tombstone, a fruit tree is planted over the body. The roots are nourished by the return of that body into the earth from which it was sustained. And in the years to follow, eating the fruit from that tree will be like partaking in that loved one. It touches on the ritual of the Eucharist.
Memorial groves
Jonathon Porritt
Adapted extract from the Daily Telegraph.
My recommendation to the DoE would be to think laterally. There has been a lot of talk about new community forests since the government recently committed L70 million to support a new scheme from the Countryside Commission. The obvious answer is to set aside special 'memorial groves' where every new burial plot would be planted with three or four hardwood saplings, provided free by the Forestry Commission. The combination of built-in fertiliser, plus unlimited tender loving care from the relatives, would pretty well guarantee a thriving woodland in next to no time.
Making our own coffins
Barbara Huellin
My husband, aged 77, has recently finished building our coffins. We have spent a most enlightening few months organising and preparing for our deaths.
The coffins are made in blockboard at a cost of about L50 each (not including our time). They are painted green and have nautical-looking rope handles (from the ship-chandlers). The coffins are stored in the workroom. We have booked a double-decker site in the local Council cemetery for L100 to which we intend that family and friends shall physically bear us. We are leaving the commemorative gravestone for our survivors to add if they wish, so that they have something they can do.
Barbara Huelin, 69 Kingston Road, Oxford OX2 6RJ (tel 0865 511527).
A cheap coffin by mail order
James Gibson is an independently minded funeral director in Bolton who specialises in lavish funerals with horses and glass-sided carriages. But he is also about the only funeral director prepared to sell coffins to members of the public without too outrageous a mark-up. His cheapest version costs L45 including handles and lining, plus L21 extra for delivery in a large cardboard box anywhere in the UK. One person has complained about very slow processing of her order by Gibson, so plan well ahead!
James Gibson (tel 0204 655869). More expensive, quoting about L60 for their cheapest coffin, are the funeral directors Hartley and Near, in Grimsby (tel 0472 250150).
Cheapest funerals in the UK
T. Finn in Plymouth is a retired insurance agent and ex-Royal Marine. He gets his coffins from James Gibson (see above) and will sell these on to local people, or he will arrange a very basic funeral for those who do not want DIY. He will merely add 10% to the final total for his services. So with L76 for a coffin, L127 for a cremation fee, L57 for the medical fees, L50 for the estate car, and L77 for catering, coffin carrying and flowers, the total with his percentage would come to about L300. And at a simple L10 per hour rate he can also help with wills and probate.
T. Finn, 21 Alfred Road, Plymouth PL2 1QB (tel 0752 560819). Readers are invited to let the Natural Death Centre (tel 081 208 2853) have their evaluation of Finn's services, if used. Which? magazine say the average funeral costs L920, all-in.
Burials on your own land
It is possible to arrange burials on your own land. One of the directors of the Institute for Social Inventions did this by setting aside a part of her large back garden in perpetuity for her husband's grave, so that this part was not sold with the rest of the house and grounds. In practice, unusual burials like this are only likely to be allowed if there are no neighbours within a hundred yards and no objections from them, and no nearby watercourses. You will need to make contact with your local planning authority and environmental health department.
For further information about any of the above, or about sea burials, contact the Natural Death Centre, 20 Heber Road, London NW2 6AA (tel 081 208 2853; fax 081 452 6434).
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