Pure Direct Cremations

Dedicated Local Family-Run Business

Compassionate Funeral Planning

Available 24/7

Funerals Created To Your Personal Wishes

The history of direct or pure cremations. 

The last few years has seen a huge increase in the number of people choosing a Direct cremation over a traditional funeral service.  This was started by a great company called Pure Cremations who have a crematorium down on the south coast of England, in Andover. 

If you have seen the adverts for a Pure Cremation, you may recognise that sometimes a funeral service isn’t what is wanted or even appropriate to the person who has passed away. That may be down to a personal request from the person who has died, or a preference for a celebration and party rather than a traditional funeral service.  On those occasions, a direct cremation may be the answer.

We offer the very same service that you may have seen advertised, only we take care of things locally.  When we first opened our funeral home in 2020, we did oversee a small number of ‘Pure Cremations’ as a trade account.  The service was good and met the needs of our clients.  We had one concern though, and that was the distance from Cheshire to Andover. At almost 170 miles it wasn’t really a local service that we wanted to provide.  We had conversations with our colleagues at Birches Crematorium in Northwich and they offered us the same service as ‘Pure’ but with the advantage that it could be done locally and overseen by our trusted family team. 

So how does this work?

Our direct cremation is a very simple, unattended funeral service without any fuss and takes place locally at Birches Crematorium. Although no family or friends are in attendance,  a direct cremation is still a dignified event, treated with as much care and respect as any other type of funeral.

Whether you want a direct cremation because it better reflects the character of the person whose life is being celebrated or as a cheaper alternative to a traditional funeral, our family are here to help.  We will collect your loved one from either home or hospital and arrange for all the necessary paperwork to be completed. We then oversee the cremation, before then returning their ashes back to your family.

Our Direct Cremation service costs £1200 including all disbursements and cremation fees.  Normally, there will be no additional fees to pay.*

* Please note that where the deceased is over 24″ wide (measured across their elbows) it will be necessary to place them in an oversized coffin with an additionally strengthened floor.  There will be an unavoidable surcharge for the larger coffin as we have to source it direct from the manufacturer and have it shipped to our funeral home.

 

The negatives and some hard truths. 

It’s important to have all the information when making a balanced decision. As with all great ideas they are soon copied and with the rise of direct cremations, there has been an explosion of ‘online’ companies. These are mainly marketing companies or groups that privately own crematoria and want to take advantage of a new business opportunity.  Sadly like all businesses who exist purely to make profit, with efficiency driving everything, there has to be someway of maximising earnings.   

Despite very family orientated web sites.  The deceased are treated as commodities and are often transported across many counties, to a central mortuary which are often built in Industrial estates, or worse still in the cold rooms at the back of crematoria.  As a professional N.A.F.D regulated funeral company this makes us feel very uncomfortable.  We certainly wouldn’t want our clients treated like products. 

The other thing to look out for is pricing.  As with all competitive markets the ‘online’ companies want you to believe their price is better than anyone else’s.  Which is why they display prices as ‘from’.  We have seen additional fees for collection of the deceased from a home address and even the return of ashes. Another point which is not discussed is the increasingly common problem of people getting much bigger.  The ‘online’ companies won’t tell you that if the deceased is a large person and will not fit into a standard coffin, there will be a surcharge to pay.  The surcharge could well be over £600.  Before you know it, you have spent significantly more money than that low price they were advertising. 

So our advice, as with all things is to do your research and ask your questions.  Direct Cremations are a great idea and work so well for many families.  But chose your provider carefully.  Because not all levels of service are the same.  Whether you want a direct cremation because it better reflects the character of the person whose life is being celebrated or as a cheaper alternative to a traditional funeral, then our family is here to help. 

 

Registered Number:

12291495 & 16051991

VAT Number:

337 051519

National Association of funeral Directors
IFSO Logo

Registered Office

20 Antrobus Street

Congleton

Cheshire East

CW12 1HB

Branch Contacts

Congleton: 01260 297963

Sandbach: 01270 445963