Crematoria generally hire out their chapel for half hour periods. The general package offered by the crematoria usually consists of the cremation plus the use of the chapel for half and hour and can cost anything from £425+. However it is possible to extend the use of the chapel to one hour or more; for a relatively small increase in cost. For example a cremation plus use of the chapel can cost anything from £500.

Depending on the expected length of the service you may wish to consider booking a half hour or hour, but for a large funeral you may wish to book an hour and a half. When considering:

• Do you want to be queuing before you enter?
• Time required to process the congregation into the chapel
• The service itself may require:
  • Time for religious ceremony
  • Time for tributes
  • Time for appropriate music / hymns
  • Time for silence/reflection
  • Time for guests to speak
• Time to process the congregation out of the chapel
• Do you want to exit onto the previous funeral congregation?

For a funeral service where 35/50 people attend, their entrance and exit will take some time, 2 - 4 minutes going

in and the same going out which would leave 22 minutes for the service (worst case). The more people coming to the funeral the longer it will take to enter and exit so beware. Consider the type of funeral service you want and the number of people coming, from this you will be able to work out the time required.

There will be times when acquiring longer periods than 30 minutes will be difficult but if you are sure you need a service that is longer than available then other venues might suit, for example, your local church, community hall, your own home, your garden… in real terms any place that will support a service and the placement of a coffin that supports both your emotional needs and the practical aspects of fitting in a congregation while allowing the coffin to enter and exit in an appropriately dignified manner. Memorial Woodlands' experience of doing this has found that in general most families will choose to say good bye at the venue allowing the deceased to be taken on for cremation, sometimes the immediate family and/or the celebrant may follow to see the deceased off at the crematorium and in a few cases the entire congregation follows. Each family finds their right way of doing this.

Remember you are the customer and your funeral director should be looking to help you to say good bye in your own way. If you are arranging the funeral yourself or are not sure you are getting the information you want, you can contact the crematorium directly please see information below:

• Westerleigh Crematorium
  
  (Westerleigh Crematorium, Westerleigh Road, Westerleigh, Bristol, BS37 8QP, Tel: 0117 937 4619, Fax: 0117 937 4573, Email: jharper@cemcrem.com)
• Canford Crematorium
  
  (Canford Lane, Bristol, BS9 3PQ, Tel: 0117 903 8280)
• South Bristol Crematorium
  
  (Bridgewater Rd, Bristol, BS13 7AS, Tel: 0117 963 4141)
• Haycombe (Bath) Crematorium
  
  (Whiteway Rd, Bath, BA2 2RQ, Tel: 01225 396 020)
• Looking for a different crematorium try here