Funeral Costs
 

I know the cost of funerals these days is staggering but it seems it has been a costly business in the past too. I came across a bill while looking through family documents. Heading Accrington Council date 1911. Cost of a grave £5.10s additional cost for non resident 50% of above £2.15s Total £8.5s.
This bill was my great grandfather's for purchasing a plot in the cemetery in Burnley Road but unfortunately he lived in Huncoat. I know my own father earned about £3 per week at the Nori after W.W.2 so goodness knows what his grand father earned in 1911. I would imagine £8 was a heck of a lot of money then. I think there would be an uproar if the same policy was adopted now.

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When I think about it charging extra for a Huncoat resident is a bit rich seeing as the cemetery IS in Huncoat even if they did not come under Accrington council till the 1920s.

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Well they would have no need to bury Huncoaters if they had just left em in the stocks.:D

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Britain 1911 where the working poor couldn't afford to live, couldn't afford to die.....


...Jump forward in time,Britian 2016 where the working poor can't afford to live and can't afford to die :rolleyes:

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Come on Jason, there is far more help and support now than there was back then and you know it.
I grew up in the late forties and early fifties and the welfare support then was far less than it is now. My mum had three jobs to try and feed us.....she got family allowance for one child....there were no tax credits. If you didn't work, it was simple...you didn't eat.
You could try to obtain National Assistance, but for most people this was unacceptable....it reflected badly on them.
We lived from hand to mouth. I lived it so I know what I am on about.

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Also way back, then even poor people paid into funeral plans. I am pretty sure I remember my grandma paying pennies per week for her funeral.....there was a collector came round every Friday evening.
This was so that she would be spared a 'paupers grave'.

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Ditto Margaret

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My point was we (the working class) are,as we were then,being shafted by those with the money.
We are railroaded through social pressures,to use extortionately priced services,in order to try an give relatives that "good send off" so that we are not seen as being tight fisted.

For me,I see no shame in a "pauper's funeral" and when I leave this earth they can chuck me in the boot of the car and dump me on Whinney hill tip :D

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No we are not the same at all. I see people who consider themselves poor, but they smoke, they drink, they have flash mobile phones which connect to the Internet.
Being poor is about having none of those things and nothing at all in the cupboard to eat.

The problem for a lot of today's poor people in this country is.....they consider it is their right to a foreign holiday...a wide screen TV, the latest techno devices.
They spend any money they have on stuff that is not essential to life.
They get into debt because of their deluded opinions that because everyone else seems to have these things, they should have them too.

And that you would not be proud enough to be ashamed of letting the town dispose of your corpse says a lot about you.
It seems to me that there is very little that shames today's populace.......well apart from the treatment of those who have no place in this country and would take from the resources which you already have decided are not suitable for purpose.

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My life and my fiscal ideas were formed by my upbringing.....one in which there were many mouths to feed and not much money to do the feeding.
I can remember going into the pantry to find nothing but a bag of pearl barley and a tin of pilchards. If we had not had good neighbours who fed us porage, if we had not been given free school dinners I (and my siblings)would not have survived.
This has meant that for ALL of my adult life I have avoided debt like the plague. I have worked, I have saved. All to try and make sure that I am not dependent on the state.( I do not want hand outs - they have to be paid for by someone)
I have gone without things that I could have had on credit.....because my maxim is ' if you can't pay for it, you cannot have it'
The only exception is a mortgage......and that was paid off ten years before it's due date.

I want no praise for doing this, I need no recognition for it either....it is just that poverty in childhood taught me these things. So I know what I am talking about.(as I a pretty sure there are many of my generation, will attest to)

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Well said Margaret,I totally agree with you.We were always taught as children if you cannot afford it then you can't have it.

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When someone we love dies, we are consumed by the things we might have done, but perhaps didn't. We think about our loved ones life and we view it through a different perspective.
It is natural to try and give the one we loved the right kind of funeral..one which reflects them and their life.. It is part of the rituals that have been carried out since the beginning of time.
Most of my cohorts have their ideas about the tying up of life's loose ends.....some of them have their funerals planned down to the nth degree...the music is planned the service is planned and in some cases even paid for.

There is no social pressure to use extortionately priced services......those who spare no expense in organising a funeral for a family member maybe doing it because that is what they want to do( and it maybe out of love or it maybe out of guilt.Like everything else in life you can shop around for the best deal...you are not FORCED to use expensive services...though some costs cannot be cut..the cost of cremation or the cost of a plot I think are set by the council...I'm sure if this is wrong someone will enlighten me)
A 'good send off' is very subjective. Do not buy me flowers when I am dead and cannot see them or enjoy them...if you didn't bother in life, then my death is not a time to do it either.
I do not care what other people think of me....my self esteem does not rely on someone else's opinions of me......and that is how I conduct my life.....I hope that when I die it will be just the same. My family know my wishes and I have told them that if they are not followed they can expect a dig in the ribs from the spirit world.

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Retlaw that was a real DIY job.
There are many kinds of funeral which do not cost a lot of money and if the deceased wants to be cremated then spending a lot on the box and the knobs and do dads makes no sense at all.Death is like life...it can be expensive(if you can afford it then that's OK)but it can also be done on a shoe string you just have to put more time/effort into the shoestring jobby......and that is something that many people do not have..time.

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I can always find time to save a few quid, I call it Priorities,;)

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I take my hat off to you and your father got his wishes which is what really counts. A paramedic pal of mine mentioned to me some years ago you could do a DIY job and it seems you did just that so long as you have death certificate.

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This is getting too morbid. Time to lighten it up folks;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug5cML5O1qc

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I think I might have that played at my funeral Eric :D

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Or maybe get planted on Ilkley moor baht'at:alright:

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Hell no Eric....I'm not defecting to Yorkshire.
Dying will be bad enough, buy dying and being ferried and buried in Yorkshire is just too, too much.

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Ah, but if you change your religion on your deathbed (and become a Yorkshireist) then that'd mean one less Yorkingshireist! Not all bad eh? :D

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I don't want to be consigned for eternity in the afterlife as a yorkshire pudden.

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But in your will there'd be a clause to reclaim Lankyness. ;)

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I didn't know you could do that!

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In my little world, the possibilities are endless! :D

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My original point was that the cost relatively has not change since the early 1900's. I certainly agree with Margaret that today's 'poor' are not poor like folk in the 20s 30s and 40s. and they do not seem to be able to do without what they cannot afford.

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An old guy who I used to drink with in Read Con willed his body to research. When he died nobody had to pay a penny. No funeral or cremation. They just carted his body away.

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That is what my Ma is doing.
She doesn't want a grave or a gathering,or any kind of funeral....she just wants it all to be uncomplicated. After all she is a 'no fuss' sort of lady.

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You are probably right ... Back in the 40s in Saskatchewan, when combines were replacing binders, stooking, and thresher crews, a brand new combine cost about as much as a quarter section. When I was farming out there in the 70s, a brand new combine cost about as much as a quarter section. Probably still the same today.

Feel free to google "binder," "stooking," and "threshing crew.";)

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Over here, that's kinda simple. Every time you renew your Ontario drivers licence, you can check off the boxes for what part of your body you wish to donate ... including, of course, all of it. I went for the whole damned thing, apart from my liver, which is going to The Smithsonian.:alright:

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Then folks will pelt you with black puddings.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re7kGQTshaA

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Well, when my Ma in law died we got an itemised bill with all the costs outlined.
Her funeral was simple.....and I do not recall it costing a fortune.
Not everyone could do as you did.....especially for a dad. Grief can make us inept.
You are right that undertakers don't go broke, and hardly ever go out of business, but it is a business that not everyone could do.....and most of us would prefer that someone less emotionally involved deals with the nuts and bolts of the process. It takes away some of the stress of such an event.

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What most people do with a funeral is they just pick the undertaker and have to accept his price, but if you ask the price from a few undertakers you will find the price will drop dramatically.
Also as one who worked at the crematorium for a number of years I can say that the practices suggested never happen and the whole situation is treated with the utmost respect, and anyone who suggests any different is talking out of an orifice not designed for conversation.

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Dave, I somehow thought that the people who work at that job at the Crem would be more honest than that. I could not see them 'recycling' coffins.
It would be against the morals of most people.....And it isn't like something like that can be done by just one person.
I have respect for those who do this job....the funeral directors and also those who work at cemeteries and crems. That kind of job would get me down. It would be difficult to find any joy in doing it.

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Oh i dont know, i could get a bit of pleasure burning Yorkies @ Dingles.:D

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You might Cashy, but I know you would wait until the rallies were at the wake before rubbing your hands.....and you wouldn't try to make a fast buck by recycling coffins.

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Thanks Mrs P. its these reports from people who haven't a clue how things are who fuel the rumors that link into peoples fears of the whole situation. I used to offer a walk around the facility for those who wanted to know how things worked, and after that they were more at peace with the process. But to suggest I am possibly taking a "back hander" to remove a body from the coffin is offensive to me, or in fact that any underhand process is taking place.

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My choice -
Direct disposal | The Good Funeral Guide

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That is good information Margaret.
I have never heard of this, but It will fit the bill for many people.
If relatives want something formal to celebrate the life of the deceased then it can be organised after the event....and it doesn't have to involve religion.

There has(I think) always been the human desire to ritualise the ending of a life, a tying up of the loose ends so to speak. So funerals will still continue, it is good to know that you don't have to have one though.

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My mum always said she didn't care what we did with her when she dies as long as we were right with her while she lived. She said we could put her in the dustbin. She dies on a Wednesday and the following Monday the bin men did not empty her bin for the first time ever. I think that would have tickled her. We said they must have known what she said and thought it would be too heavy that week. They never missed it again. Strange,

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I know it's a little premature (not to mention dangerous),but this topic has got me thinking...what are my choices? Hmmm

For me,I'd like to think my body or parts of have helped give someone a chance of life so I'm swayed towards donating it....


...Or I could always get my remarkable example of the human form embalmed (with my finger to my lips) then I could be placed on the Clayton bus route....Day after day I would sit there rocking back and forth,like a model for the unwritten rule of 'No talking on public transport' that is allegedly broken by the older generation in that neck of the woods.

Whatever the scenario,having no religious views,I don't want a "God botherer" who under different circumstances could be given a restricted holiday for talking to his imaginary comrade in the sky.

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well now you know you do not have to have a 'god botherer' to say any words over you...but that has been so for a very long time. There have been humanists and woodland burials for a long time(with the righ permission and observed rules for disposal of course).
I don't really like to countenance seeing you on the Clayton bus with your finger to your lips.
I don't reckon you would rock about much, but we(the travelling public) might have to step over you. the brakes on those new buses are fearsome and I would bet you'd spend most of your time on the floor :D

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Aye well, if young fella me lad face plants on the bus at least there'll be a bonus bike rack! :s_aim1:

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I too have worked in the back of the crematory and fully back what Dave Mac has said

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Thats very commendable as long as yeh dont leave yer brain to someone.:D

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If there's no money in the deceased's estate and the person(s) responsible for arranging the funeral are on a means-tested benefit, then they can apply for help toward the cost of a basic funeral from the social fund.

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Thanks Frank.

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I was looking at the book in the entrance to the cream one Sunday and the attendant, who seemed bored just hanging around, invited me for what he called "his two bob tour"
I spent a pleasant hour having every last detail of the operation explained and came away with a clearer idea of the procedure.
I also drive for my father with his funeral limousine business in the 60's when I was on leave and never saw anything illegal or immoral going on.
One thing I do know, Funeral directors and assistants including drivers have to be good actors. We may have had a bit of a chuckle about other things but when with the deceased family it was all straight and sad faced.


My tour of Accy crem was about 8 years ago so maybe one of you chaps could be the one who showed me round. I know he's retired now.

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Russell, I am sure the chuckles that you had with your colleagues when you were dealing with sad things were the way to keep sane.
I know that in nursing we dealt with some tragic things and the way we coped was our very black humour. It wasn't that we were being disrespectful with the things we laughed at, it was just our way of dealing with it...stopping it from corroding our emotions.....and if you couldn't do that, then the job was not for you.

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We once had the stub axle of the hearse break just before the long downhill to the cream at Rise Grove.
My father told us to carry on with the mourners while he sorted it out.
Ten minutes later the drivers were stood around outside with the mourners sat inside the Crem.
Suddenly a big Ford Estate car came round the bend. The coffin was in the back with a bit hanging out. The undertaker was sat alongside it with his black coat covering it.
We got it out and as we were carrying it in the vicar who was leading turned and said "I bet he's never been as fast as that in his life".
We had to walk down the aisle carrying the coffin with that silly face you make trying not to laugh. We pulled it off though and everything went according to plan.

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When I was a student nurse working at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, I came off duty and was waiting for a bus on the main road.
There were four of us waiting...all students. One of Scale's hearses turned up. It was going back into Blackburn. It didn't have a coffin in it. The driver offered us all a lift into town. (anything to save fourpence) Three of my colleagues managed to squash into the front seats. No room in there for me
I told the driver that I would wait for the bus.
'No, don't do that...you can ride in the back' he said.
He jumped out and opened the back door.
I sat where the coffin would go and my legs were down into a little sort of well.
It was one of the most uncomfortable lifts I had ever had.
When we got to Mincing Lane the driver asked if he could drop us off there.....of course we all said 'yes'.
My friends got out, but I was stuck in the back...no handle on the inside of the door(well anyone riding back there would not be needing a handle to get out would they?).
I said to the driver 'don't forget about me'. He came round the back and let me out. I told him that it was one of the most uncomfortable rides I had ever he had. He laughed and said that I was the first person ever to tell him that and it was the one and only time I would climb out of the back of one of those and get to talk about it.

It still makes me chuckle when I think about it.

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Not me Russell, I have been retired longer than that.

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I think the bloke who showed me around has had a stroke either just before or after he finished.
He told me he had seen some funny goings on with courting couples in the warm area behind the crem when he rewound the CCTV.
So beware you courting couples, you never know who sees you.
The boss there now is a lady by the way.

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We expect things to go smoothly at a funeral, and for the most part it does, even when it does go slightly awry the mourners don't see the problem. In my time in charge I witnessed a few slight deviations from the norm, leaving the funeral home without the coffin, a funeral director nipping home whilst the service was being undertaken, this give a 20 minute window, trouble was he sat in the chair at home and fell asleep. One incident that still makes me smile, but only after the event, was a day when no burials or cremations were booked, this gives a clear day for external maintenance of the grounds. So everyone was togged up for weeding digging and other dirty jobs, myself included. It was a nice sunny day and we were getting stuck into cleaning the area around the outside of the crem. Suddenly through the main gates entered a hearse, nothing unusual as it could have been going to the office with paperwork, however it was followed by the limousine containing the family, then the rest of the family in their own cars. At this point a part of my body tightened, as we knew we had nothing booked for that day, but here was a funeral cortege heading down the hill for the crematorium, and nothing had been prepared and we were stood there with spades, rakes and forks at the crematorium entrance like an honor guard for a gardeners funeral. We could do nothing but watch it slowly proceed down the drive and contemplate what was about to happen when it arrived at the large glass doors, I did consider early retirement at this point. Slowly, so very slowly it headed in our direction and all we could do was wait by the doors, and arrive by the doors it did, the driver of the hearse gave us a look of panic, he then kept driving followed by the rest of the funeral cortege, he drove to the end of the drive and took a right turn up the exit drive and exited the cemetery. At this point he turned left and headed for Burnley Crematorium, the muffin had arrived at the wrong cemetery, some days later we had the driver arrive at the crem when he should have been there, his excuse was he was heading up Burnley Road and took a left turn automatically without thinking, having done so he had no alternative but to carry on down the drive as the rest of the family had followed him in.

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You should have Presented Arms with you rakes and shovels Dave.

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and not me, I didn't work at the crem. I was on the electrical side of the then Accrington Council and had to repair the cremulator once.

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(CREMULATOR),that's one for the Scrabble enthusiasts.

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I couldn't for the cold sweat.

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[QUOTE=Margaret Pilkington;1180105]When I was a student nurse working at Blackburn Royal Infirmary, I came off duty and was waiting for a bus on the main road.
There were four of us waiting...all students. One of Scale's hearses turned up. It was going back into Blackburn. It didn't have a coffin in it. The driver offered us all a lift into town. (anything to save fourpence) Three of my colleagues managed to squash into the front seats. No room in there for me
I told the driver that I would wait for the bus.
'No, don't do that...you can ride in the back' he said.
He jumped out and opened the back door.
I sat where the coffin would go and my legs were down into a little sort of well.
It was one of the most uncomfortable lifts I had ever had.
When we got to Mincing Lane the driver asked if he could drop us off there.....of course we all said 'yes'.
My friends got out, but I was stuck in the back...no handle on the inside of the door(well anyone riding back there would not be needing a handle to get out would they?).
I said to the driver 'don't forget about me'. He came round the back and let me out. I told him that it was one of the most uncomfortable rides I had ever he had. He laughed and said that I was the first person ever to tell him that and it was the one and only time I would climb out of the back of one of those and get to talk about it.

It still makes me chuckle when I think about it.


We have a friend who is a funeral director and we both have funeral plans in place with him for cremations. We were asked for choice of music for the committal and I jokingly said "Burn baby burn" and he came up with "Smoke gets in your eyes"

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For the first time today I have seen an advert(on TV) for one of the companies on the list that Margaret gave us a link to.
I am sure it will be of interest to those who want the simplest form of disposal.