Crematorium recycling funds support for two charities
Two charities that help grieving parents and young people at risk of heart abnormalities in the local area will receive a financial boost thanks to bereaved families in the borough.
The Child Funeral Charity (CFC) and the Nathan Butler Memorial Fund will each receive £6,250 from the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM) after Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council nominated them to benefit from the latest round of its metal recycling initiative.
The ICCM runs a scheme for its members where metals retrieved from the cremation process are recycled with the consent of the families involved. It’s operated on a non-commercial, open accounting basis, with surplus monies shared among selected charities.
A spokesperson said:
It’s great news that the ICCM has accepted our nominations and is donating a nice sum of money to two good causes. This has been made possible by bereaved families who have agreed for metals retrieved from Bradwell Crematorium to be recycled in this way.
Both charities are doing excellent work locally so it will have a big impact. We’ve seen an increase in the number of burials, and cremations, for babies during the last year and witnessed first-hand the excellent support provided by CFC during the saddest time of residents’ lives. They can provide flowers, orders of service, a memory bear and a plaque for free and can cover the cost of an urn and some other items as each case is assessed on its need. I’m also pleased to support the Nathan Butler Memorial Fund again.
I hope this provides bereaved residents who have lost a loved one, and consented to the scheme, with some level of comfort.”
The CFC – a first-time beneficiary – provides financial help, and practical advice, to families who have to arrange a funeral for a baby or child from 12 weeks of gestation up to the age of 18. While many funeral directors and local authorities – like Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council – don’t charge families fees for children, there are often other expenses that bereaved parents can struggle to find.
Anne Barber, Trustee at the Child Funeral Charity, said:
We are so very grateful for this wonderful donation. Arranging a funeral for your child, or baby, is something most parents never want to think about, let alone pay for. We know we make a huge difference to the families we support and we can’t thank residents enough for their generosity.”
Meanwhile, the Nathan Butler Memorial Fund – within the Cardiac Risk in the Young charity – provides cardiac screening for the local community. The fund, launched by parents Angela and Phil, is named after a talented young sportsman from Porthill who died in 2006, at the age of 16, from an undetected heart condition. It received £14,000 from the recycling scheme last year.
Angela Butler added:
I’m so pleased that Nathan’s memorial fund is benefitting from the recycling scheme again. I think it’s marvellous. The money will make such a difference; our annual screening takes place in Wolstanton this weekend and it will pay for 100 people to get tested. It can’t change what happened to Nathan 19 years ago – and it doesn’t get any easier – but we can prevent families from suffering like we have.”
Reusing metal, which would otherwise never break down, is also environmentally friendly as it preserves non-renewable resources.
The ICCM, founded in 1913, provides policy and best practice guidance to burial and cremation authorities in the UK as well as representing them at Government level.