Is it just me or is this quite bizarre??

Before cremation was allowed babies would often be buried in the next available cemetery plot that was opened, usually at the foot of an adult coffin. There must be thousands of 'unknown' babies in other people's graves. There is no lack of respect intended in cremating tiny babies along with an adult I am sure, more down to the practicalities of having to clean the equipment used and retrieve the ash/bones for processing. As to visiting - some people may well be interested in the technical side - as a child I always thought that the incineration process was the only thing that happened then you collected the remaining ash. Not so, it is more involved than that.

Once taught in a school opposite the local crem. It was the cause of so much chat and ill informed speculation with one particular year group that we organised a visit for them. The result? Fear and mystery were put to bed and they said it was an experience they were glad they'd had.

As a 10 year old my Dad thought the Victorian Western Necropolis in Glasgow would be an interesting day out for me.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Necropolis

I would be intrigued to go on a tour. In New Orleans, there is a tour of the cemeteries where they practice 'natural cremation', the bodies are sealed in an above ground stone tomb, where the heat of the sun can raise the inside temperature to 400 degrees F. After a year and a day the tomb door is opened, the ashes raked out, and a new one put in, each family has their own. I asked what happened if two family members died within a few months of each other, and apparently the later one was put into a freezer until the first one was removed! Very eco friendly process!

I remember working in hospitals in London, when still born babies were sometimes cremated with strangers, if the family couldn't make other arrangements. I used to think it was lovely, taking someone along on that final journey. I wonder if people would feel differently if they had been given the information before cremation?

I have booked for myself a funeral plan which is just a cremation nothing more, the DD calls it 'mum's click and collect'....but if anyone else needed to share with me, that would be OK too.

The report is already out bags and makes uncomfortable reading. In Dame Elish's words she found there to be "unethical and abhorrent practices" in Aberdeen.

The report is 435 pages. long. Has anyone here (on Gransnet) read it?

If what Aberdeen(?) City Council is trying, by having a crematorium open day, is to reassure people that it is improving the "inner workings" of its crematorium because of recommendations made in the report, why is that seen as macabre? No-one to whom such an open day doesn't appeal need go to it.

Perhaps it is an attempt to show that there are no longer any unethical and abhorrent practices.

As nobody is actually going to witness a cremation I doubt we would be able to comment on the practices. It's only seeing/being involved in the process that would provide reassurances. Perhaps the council will appoint an independent person to audit the process.

Oh, Raf, that's fascinating! I wonder if there any in this country, or perhaps our weather isn't good enough. I do want a green funeral, but I'd envisaged a bluebell wood, not a stone tomb.
I think it's a more attractive invitation than one I had recently, which was to visit the local cancer hospital. I'd been before and found it deeply depressing.

I am glad to have the information about the cremation of babies - and also shocked, both for the parents who were not told their baby would be cremated with an unknown person and for the family of the unknown person who did not know that their relative's ashes would be mixed with another. Could this happen to any of us? If this is a necessary procedure for practical reasons it needs to be openly discussed - particularly the fact that the baby's family will get no remains returned.

I recently watched a programme on TV about Crematoriums and was heartened to see the care the staff take in making sure the ashes belong to the person who has deceased,

I used to think you were just given an urn of general ashes but this isn't the case.

Also the staff were really kind, caring and compassionate.

New crematorium just built near my family home Looks like a large bungalow ..
I don't think I"d mind having s dead infant in with me or mine but as a parent I would have wanted a separate cremation think .Something to scatter or bury and provide some sort of 'closure' Awful word but it does convey something

I don't see as disrespect either- and I hesitate to comment, as I am aware it is a very sensitive issue.

From dust to dust, ashes to ashes- for me personally, the body is not important after death. The practicalities of cremating a tiny body are complex- and we all know that there are huge pressures on crematoriums and very long waiting lists in some areas. There are also wide environmental issues- energy use and pollution. I wish people were given an honest choice- and that those like me who do not feel what happens to the body after death would be given the choice of group cremation.

And I certainly am not interested in having ashes returned from any loved ones- and would not expect my loved ones to have mine unless they have to. Again, sorry if that offends, but I find keeping ashes macabre and bizarre.

'According to the Federation of British Cremation Authorities, there were 424,956 cremations held in the UK in 2004. This figure represents 70.8% of all deaths. Consider that a cremator needs to operate at 760-1150C for 75 minutes per cremation and it's easy to see how much energy is required. In fact, a cremator uses about 285 kiloWatt hours of gas and 15kWh of electricity on average per cremation - roughly the same domestic energy demands as a single person for an entire month.

Aside from the considerable amount of greenhouse gas emissions this creates, cremation is also responsible for 16% of the UK's mercury pollution (via our dental fillings), according to the Environment Agency. The industry has been told that all 650 crematoria must halve mercury emissions by 2012, but, ironically, one way to do this is to cremate at a higher temperature, thereby leading to more emissions.

Then there are the materials used to make a coffin. Wooden coffins are either made from solid oak or pine, or more likely (89%, in fact) from veneered chipboard, which is bonded with a formaldehyde resin. All of which, of course, will end up being burnt and entering the atmosphere.

But these materials also enter the ground if burial is the preferred option, as do embalming chemicals - also formaldehyde-based - which can, over time, enter the watercourse. So even in death we're not let off the hook when it comes to considering our environmental impact.,

From the Guardian 2005.

Sorry if I offend, but cremation reminds me of older times and my heritage.

"People like looking round graveyards and the churches associated with them, both for the human stories and the architecture. Why not crematoriums (crematoria?) too? Could be interesting."

I agree. As someone who likes to nosey around churches and churchyards when out and about - I find them interesting and love their architecture, and some old gravestones are fascinating - I'd also like to know what goes on behind the scenes in a crematorium.

I have had to attend cremation services quite a lot recently and I do find myself thinking about the spaces, the way they're lit, the windows, the speakers and their attire and the way the curtains come around the coffin, and what the curtains are like. There was also a morbid fascination for me years ago at the way the conveyor belt moved the coffin towards what I used to think was a furnace, and THEN the curtains came around. They don't seem to move the coffin any more. A strange fascination, I agree, but I as a bit of a painter I am always alert to detail, some of it odd.

I'd like to visit a crematorium and go behind the scenes. I think there was a programme about crematorium workers, or maybe a funeral company on TV a while ago. I found the boxing of the ashes bit quite interesting when they used magnets to retrieve all the bits of metal left behind after the cremation.

One person's idea of interesting, but I can appreciate that it might not be everyone's cup of tea.

A crematorium is also listed on the Glasgow Open Doors site Katek. I'm considering booking a place as I think it would be interesting but then I visit cemeteries wherever I go.

It wouldn't be for everyone, I realise.

Wish I'd not said anything. ?

I would be intrigued to go on a tour. In New Orleans, there is a tour of the cemeteries where they practice 'natural cremation', the bodies are sealed in an above ground stone tomb, where the heat of the sun can raise the inside temperature to 400 degrees F. After a year and a day the tomb door is opened, the ashes raked out, and a new one put in, each family has their own.

RAF that is fascinating.

As a 10 year old my Dad thought the Victorian Western Necropolis in Glasgow would be an interesting day out for me.

Daphne that's one of my favourite spots in Glasgow. I can see that a ten year old mightn't be enthralled at the prospect of a tour.

My son is in charge of the construction of a new crematorium locally. He shows me pictures of the site and what they are building and how and it is very interesting. It is not something that bothers me too much as I feel it is part of life's rich cycle? I have not, however, dared to mention to him that his father and I will likely be using the facility in the the future.

Disgruntled, that is worrying you found your local cancer ward so depressing. Cancer patients are usually better looked after those with other life threatening illnesses, and the hospice where I volunteer is inspirational in the way patients are valued and supported.

Yes, I also love the Glasgow Necropolis. My family are buried in the Birmingham equivalent [I say equivalent but it's all run down and falling to pieces now ].

I think the issue with the babies is that parents were lied to.

I don't really equate a crematorium with a graveyard, which I do quite like to wander round. For me, there isn't the personal side of it, crematoria are just big processing plants, and I can't imagine going to one to contemplate on life.