Warwick District Council

Bereavement Guide

www.warwickdc.gov.uk

Losing a lovedone presentsmany challengesand ourBereavementServices staffwill be ableto give youhelpful guidanceand adviceabout all aspectsof funerals andmemorials.

IntroductionWe know it can be a very difficult time when a family member or someone close to us dies. It can also present

many challenges, with so much to do at a time when we just don’t feel up to it.

AtWarwick District Council, we aim to provide a caring and sensitive service to help you make the process of

registering a death and organising a funeral as simple and straightforward as possible.

Our Bereavement Services staff will talk you through the information available and help you with the important

decisions about your funeral arrangements and putting you in touch with the right people.

Warwick District Council provides a crematorium in a peaceful woodland setting, together with a natural burial site

and four cemeteries. Our burials and cremations are available for all denominations.

You will find more information about our services in this guide, or you can contact the Crematorium Office on

01926 651418, which is open Mon –Thurs 9am – 5pm, Friday 9am – 4.30pm, Sundays 2pm – 4pm.

We close on Bank Holidays, but the crematorium grounds remain open all year.

Set in 150 acres of beautiful natural woodland, Oakley

Wood is tucked away just south of BishopsTachbrook,

Leamington Spa.

There is an abundance of bird and animal life within the

grounds, where the natural beauty gives an atmosphere of

peace and tranquillity.And as you relax in the grounds,

patience and quietness are often rewarded with the sight

of more timid species such as rabbits, grey squirrels, foxes,

badgers and muntjac deer – all of which have made their

home in OakleyWoods.

The Council continually strives to preserve the character

and beauty of the woodland setting and therefore

restricts both memorials and the planting of shrubs, plants

and trees by the public to achieve this.

Every year we hold an open day at OakleyWood to

enable the public to have a look inside the crematorium

building and meet the staff. It is normally held on a Sunday

afternoon from 2pm to 4pm and is advertised locally. For

further information please contact the Crematorium

Office on 01926 651418.

OakleyWood Crematorium

Crematorium ChapelsOakleyWood Crematorium was established in 1971 and, with two chapels available, can accommodate any form of

service.The whole funeral service may take place at the crematorium, or a service can be held at a Church or another

venue, followed by a short committal ceremony at the crematorium.

The South Chapel seats 85 people and the North Chapel provides a more intimate and private atmosphere, seating

65 people.

Music can be an important part of the funeral service and can provide a fitting atmosphere for private thoughts about

the deceased. Each chapel is equipped with an organ and access to a music library which features hymns as well as

modern and classical music. Music can be played on entry and exit to the chapels and hymns can be sung or music

played during the service at either Chapel. Families may also bring their own musicians, but will need to provide their

own instruments.

Services in each chapel are organised at intervals of 45 minutes, but there is the option to extend this by a further 30

minutes if required. Committals are signified by the closing of curtains.The decision regarding the final resting place of

the cremated remains is entirely the choice of the bereaved relatives. Options can be discussed with the crematorium

staff and your funeral director who recognise that this is a very personal and important decision to make.

Facilities available at the chapels include toilets for the disabled, ramped access for wheelchairs, an induction loop

system for the hard of hearing and service books in Braille.

The crematorium is a member of the Federation of British CrematoriumAuthorities and therefore adheres to the

Code of Crematorium Practice, in accordance with the highest possible ethical standards.A copy of the Code is

available from the Crematorium Office.

TheWoodland Garden ofRemembranceThe gardens have been developed to provide a haven of

peace and tranquillity where loved ones can be

remembered with a variety of personal memories.

Choosing where and how to remember someone is an

important and special decision.We wish to present a

peaceful atmosphere where visitors may sit quietly with

their thoughts in theWoodland Garden of Remembrance.

For those who would like a memorial, the following have

been designed to serve a wide variety of preferences and

are available on a ten or twenty year, renewable lease.

Columbarium

The Sanctum 2000 above-ground vault is large

enough to accept two caskets.The granite plaque has

room for two inscriptions plus an individual design and

photo plaque if required.The base has a flower container

and the vault has a granite shelf, if required.

Vase Blocks

The block and vase tablet was designed as a focal point in

memory of a loved one whose ashes have been scattered.

Each grey granite memorial has a flower container and a

black granite plaque for a detailed inscription.

The council’sobjective is thatthe whole of thegrounds shouldaccord withthe originalconcept - thatof a peacefuland permanentwoodland.

The Book of RemembranceThe Book of Remembrance at OakleyWood provides a lasting

memorial of quality and is displayed in the Chapel

of Remembrance.

Each day a page is turned, permitting inscriptions to

be seen every year on the anniversary of the entry

date. Inscriptions in the Book may be of two, five or

eight lines and can incorporate coats of arms, regimental

crests or other emblems. Relatives or friends decide on

which date the entry is to be made; normally the date of

death or a birthday or wedding anniversary.They may view the

inscription on that date each year, or at any other time by

arrangement with the Crematorium Office.

Arrangements can be made for copies of entries in the Book of

Remembrance, which are written by the same calligrapher who inscribes

the book, to be given to relatives or friends.There is a Donation Fund for those

who wish their commemoration to be in a more tangible form and this is used for

maintaining and improving OakleyWoods.

The Chapel of Remembrance remains open during summer weekdays until 7pm and until 5pm

during the winter months.

Natural Burial SiteThere are some whose preference is to return to nature, to belong in a haven of natural beauty, which continually

regenerates and renews and where there is no place for headstones or other man-made memorials, or the formality

of typical cemeteries.

The new woodland burial site will accommodate this way of thinking and will be

developed as a tranquil woodland glade, where trees will not be replaced on

individual graves, but in agreed locations throughout the site.A map located

in the Crematorium Office will indicate where graves are instead of

headstones or memorials, and the usual practice of placing wreaths and

flowers onto graves will not be permitted; instead an area will be set aside

for that purpose.

A service can be provided in the North Chapel, if required, where the use of the

organ or recorded music may be included. Contact the Crematorium Office on

01926 651418 for more information.

Warwick District Council provides four cemeteriesacross the district, each maintained to a very highstandard.

Leamington – Situated on Brunswick Street, it is set insome 30 acres of land and has sections for alldenominations.The first burial took place here on 30October 1868.The two chapels in the grounds are nolonger in use today.

Milverton – Situated on Old Milverton Road, thiscemetery extends to about four acres.The first burialtook place on 7 September 1881 and this cemetery isnow full.

Warwick –This cemetery, covering about 28 acres ofland, is situated on the Birmingham Road.The first burialtook place here on 25 May 1859 and today there aresections for all denominations.

Kenilworth –The newest cemetery in the district, with itsfirst burial taking place on 28 July 1913. Situated on OaksRoad in Kenilworth, it is the only cemetery with a chapelthat is still in use today, seating up to 55 people.

The register of all burials is kept at OakleyWoodCrematorium Office. Searches can be made forinformation, for which there is a fee.

There are guidelines and regulations to follow regardingWarwick District Council’s cemeteries and these aresummarised below.

Visitors• The cemeteries are open to the public 8.30am – 8pm

in the summer and 8.30am – 5pm in the wintermonths.

• Visitors to the cemeteries should behave in a quietand orderly manner and should not interrupt thecouncil employees in their duties.

• Dogs should not be brought into the cemeteries, withthe exception of Guide Dogs. Children under the ageof 12 should be supervised by an adult.

• Bicycles and motorbikes should not be taken into thecemetery and cars can only go in if they areaccompanying a funeral, delivering materials to agraveside or with the authority of the supervisor.

Interments• In the cemeteries, sections have been set apart for

burials according to the rites of the establishedChurch of England, the Roman Catholic Church andthe rites of other faiths. In the sections of thecemetery consecrated according to the rites of theestablished church, burials will only be permitted inaccordance with the rites of a Christian denomination,or without any religious service, provided that anyservice performed is respectfully conducted.

• Interments can only take place on Monday – Friday;between the hours of 9.30am - 3pm in the summerand 9.30am - 2pm in the winter. No interments will bepermitted on Saturday, Sunday, Good Friday, ChristmasDay or on Public Holidays.

• Where an interment is to take place in an earthengrave, then you must give three working days noticeand if it is to be made in an existing vault or brickgrave, then four working days notice must be givenand confirmed in writing.

• A “Notice of Interment” form must be completed anddelivered to the Cemeteries and Crematorium Officeat OakleyWood, containing the information below:-

a. Full name, description of trade or profession, address,place where death occurred, age, date of death. Forchildren, their name, address and occupation of theirparents will be required.

b. Day, date, hour of proposed interment, place wherethe service is to be held, name of the minister, size ofthe coffin.

c. Grave number and section of the cemetery, ifknown, whether in consecrated, unconsecrated,multi-denominational or Roman Catholic ground;where the right of burial is to be purchased, name andaddress of purchaser.

• If a Minister is to conduct the burial service, thenarrangements for his/her attendance and payments forhis duties shall be the responsibility of the personarranging the interment.

• The “Certificate for Disposal” issued by the Registrarof Births & Deaths, or a “Coroner’s Order for Burial”,must be delivered to the Cemetery Supervisor whenthe funeral arrives at the cemetery.

Cemeteries inWarwick District

• Where interment takes place in a grave in which theexclusive right of burial has not been purchased, thegrave shall not be re-opened to facilitate a furtherinterment for a period of five years, unless to inter adeceased member of the same family.

• Every deceased person brought into the cemetery forinterment shall be contained in a suitable coffin ofperishable material.

• All earthen graves will be prepared by councilemployees; however they will not undertake there-opening or re-sealing of vaults.

• After interment, no body may be removed from agrave or vault without the production of the originaldocuments for ecclesiastical faculty and/or license forthe exhumation, which are required by law.

• Ceremonies of a special nature are subject to theapproval of the Cemeteries Manager.

Exclusive burial rights• Graves are available in the cemeteries for the

purchase of exclusive right of burial, in accordancewith these regulations and the table of fees applicable.

• All private graves will be excavated to the standarddepth decided by the council for that particularsection of the cemetery, and the interment fee will becharged accordingly.

• New graves are usually selected in strict rotationwithin each section and for graves selected not inrotation, an additional fee will be charged.

• Plans showing which grave spaces are availableare kept at the Crematorium Office, where they canbe seen during normal office hours.

• All grants for exclusive rights of burial will be madefor a period not exceeding 50 years.At the end of thatperiod, the purchaser or their successors will have theoption of renewing, subject to regulations in force atthe time.Applications to renew should be made within12 months of expiry of the original rights.

• A transfer of ownership of exclusive right of burialmust be registered in the cemetery records and thedeed grant must be produced before the gravecan be re-opened.

Memorials• The erection of memorials is subject to following the

guidelines and the payment of a fee.• Memorials can only be erected where the exclusive

right of burial has been purchased.• The council will grant the right to erect and maintain

a memorial at a grave for the same length of time asthe right of burial has been purchased.

• You must send information about the memorial tothe Cemeteries Manager two weeks before theproposed erection. It should contain a drawing of itsspecification, showing all dimensions including thoseof the foundation slab, any text proposed as well asthe name and address of the person undertakingthe work.

• The specification must meet strict guidelines anddetails of this can be obtained from the council.

Preservation of the goodappearance of the cemetery• The surface of every grave or a vault needs to be at

ground level, unless it has been approved inaccordance with the regulations.

• Small plants may be placed on a private grave, as longas you have agreed this with the supervisor.

• Artificial wreaths are permitted at Christmas only.Items of pottery, glass jars, solar lights, glass lanternsand tins are strictly forbidden and any such items willbe removed by the council.Wooden crosses arepermitted for one year from date of burial only.

What to do when someone diesYou won’t be able to do everything straight away, but in the first few days you will need to inform a number of people

and organisations and complete certain documents required by law. If you are a relative or friend you can do some of

these things yourself, others will need to be done by the executor of the estate, but we will try to help and support

you through this process.

• Tell the family doctor.

• Contact a funeral director, if you intend to use one, and if the death occurs at home or in nursing home

the funeral director will need to move the deceased to the Chapel of Rest.

• Think about the funeral arrangements, finding out about any special requests.

• Obtain a Medical Certificate which will be signed by a doctor or, if the coroner is involved you will need

to take their instructions regarding registering the death.

• Register the death at the Register Office with the Registrar of Births and Deaths.

Registering a DeathYou must register a death within 5 days, unless the Registrar has agreed to extend this period, and you must register

the death in the district in which it occurred.

InWarwickshire you will need to make an appointment to attend the Register Office as soon as the Medical

Certificate of Cause of Death has been issued, taking this certificate with you.

In a small number of cases, where the cause of death is unclear, it will be referred to the coroner by the doctor or

registrar, who will do one of three things:

• decide no action is necessary and inform the registrar accordingly;

• decide to hold a post-mortem examination, in which case a form will be issued by the coroner to be used instead

of the Medical Certificate;

• decide to hold an inquest.This occurs when the death appears to be violent, unnatural, sudden and of unknown

cause, or if it occurs in legal custody.An inquest is not a trial, it is an enquiry to establish who the deceased was,

when, how and where they died.The Coroner’s Officer or the registrar will then advise you about obtaining the

Death Certificate.

Who can register a death?Who can register a death?• A relative.

• Someone present at the death.

• An occupant of the nursing or residential home where the death occurred.

• An officer from the hospital where the death occurred.

• The person who is making arrangements with the funeral directors.

• The person who found the body.

• The person in charge of the body.

Most deaths are registered by a relative of the deceased and it usually takes about 30 minutes for the registration,

unless the registrar has to refer to the coroner, which might take longer.

What information will you needabout the deceased whenregistering a death?• Their full name (and maiden name, where appropriate).

• The date and place of their death.

• The date and place of their birth (birth certificate).

• Their last occupation (if the deceased is married, widowed or has formed a civil partnership, the full name and

occupation of their spouse or civil partner).

• Their usual address.

• Whether they received a pension from public funds.

• The date of birth of their surviving spouse or civil partner.

• Their national health service number or their medical card.

• You will need to take with you the Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death, signed by the doctor.

What information will you needto give about yourself as theperson registering?• your relationship to the deceased, for example son, daughter, widow, surviving civil partner.

• your full name.

• your usual address.

After RegistrationYou will be given two certificates:

1. A Certificate for Burial or Cremation which you can take to the funeral director.

2. A Certificate of Registration of Death (Form BD8/344) for social security purposes.You will need to complete it

and return it to your local Social Security Office.

You might need to purchase some copies of the Death Certificate and the registrar will advise you as to the type and

number of certificates you may need.

You might also need to purchase Standard Death Certificates to send to banks, building societies, solicitors or pension

and insurance companies and it is probably easier to purchase a few at the same time.

The registrar can also help you with any queries you might have about registering the death as well as providing you

with information and contacts regarding benefits and help with funeral expenses.

How to register a stillbirthA stillbirth is defined as a child born after the 24th week

of pregnancy, who did not show any signs of life at any

time after they had been born.

Stillbirth registration began on 1 July 1927 and as well as

being an important source of historical information, it

also gives parents the opportunity to give their child

names if they wish and to have them officially

acknowledged.

The doctor or midwife will issue a medical certificate of

stillbirth, which must be taken along when registering the

stillbirth. Registration should take place in the district it

occurred and within three months of it happening.

Who can register a stillbirth?

If the parents of the child were married to each other at

the time of the stillbirth, then either the mother or father

can register.

If the parents of the child were not married to each

other at the time of the stillbirth, then information

about the father can be entered in the register in the

following circumstances:

• If the mother and father go together to sign the

stillbirth register, or

• Where the father is unable to go to the register office

with the mother, and makes a statutory declaration

acknowledging his paternity which the mother must

show the registrar, or

• Where the mother is unable to go to the register

office with the father, then she must make a statutory

declaration acknowledging the father’s paternity which

the father must show the registrar.

If the parents of the child cannot register the stillbirth the

following are qualified to do so:

• The occupier of the house or hospital where the child

was stillborn

• A person present at the stillbirth

• A person who is responsible for the stillborn child

• The person who found the stillborn child (where

date/location are unknown).

What information will youneed to provide whenregistering a stillbirth?For the child:

• Date and place of stillbirth

• Forename/s and surname, if the parents have named the child

• Sex of the child

For the father, if this information is to be entered into the register:

• Forename/s and surname

• Date and place of birth

• Occupation at the time of the stillbirth, or if unemployed, their last occupation

For the mother:

• Forename/s and surname

• Maiden surname if the mother is, or has been married

• Date and place of birth

• Current occupation, or if unemployed, their last occupation

• Usual address

• Date of marriage, if married to the child’s father at the time of the stillbirth

What certificateswill be issued?Certificate of Registration

This will be issued to the person registering the stillbirth.

Stillbirth Certificate

After a stillbirth, certificates may be purchased at the time

of registration, or at any time afterwards.

Certificate for Burial or Cremation

This will be issued by the registrar and will usually be

given to the funeral director who is making the

arrangements.A funeral cannot take place until this

certificate is given to the burial authority or the

crematorium.

RepatriationIf a death occurs abroad, the death should be registered according to the local regulations of that country

and a Death Certificate should be obtained.To bring a body back to England orWales you will need

either the Death Certificate or an authorisation for the removal of the body from the country of death.

To arrange a funeral in England orWales you will need an authenticated translation of a Death Certificate showing the

cause of death and a Certificate of No Liability to Register from the registrar in England andWales.This certificate

must be obtained from the registrar in whose area it is intended to bury or cremate the deceased.

To arrange a cremation, a Cremation Order from the Home Office or a Form Cremation 6 from the coroner will be

required. If the death was from natural causes, the Home Office will require the following documentation:

• application for cremation;

• all original documentation from the country where death occurred;

• translation of documents if necessary;

• if the death was not natural, it will be referred to the coroner who will open an inquest to investigate the

cause and circumstances of death. In this case the coroner will issue Form Cremation 6 for cremation.

Charter for the BereavedIntroduced by the Institute of Burial and Cremation Administration its aim is to improve funerals, by

establishing standards of service and setting out the rights of the bereaved when organising funerals.

The content of the charter is based on the experiences of cemetery and crematorium managers and

bereaved families, as well as professional and charitable groups involved with bereavement.

Full details of the charter can be obtained from the Crematorium Office, but it means you can expect

a certain level of service and an open approach to your situation from the staff.

In general, it advocates the following:

• a commitment to improving the service by confronting rather than disguising the death experience,

and by reducing ignorance;

• to define the rights of every individual who experiences bereavement;

• to set standards of service related to burial, cremation and funerals;

• recognition that bereavement services are critical to the health of the nation, in that the benefits of a

meaningful funeral are immeasurable, influencing both the physical and mental well-being of us all;

• to give the bereaved greater influence over the arrangement of funerals, controlling costs and

offering more satisfaction.

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Alexander Burn (Evesham) 80 High Street Evesham Worcestershire WR11 4EU

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Photographs courtesy of Nigel Bishop