Charges At Golders Green Crematorium

EDM number 480 in 1996-97, proposed by Ken Livingstone on 04/02/1997.

That this House notes with amazement that while the cost of a cremation at Kensal Green Crematorium is only ú150 the Golders Green Crematorium charges ú225 and in addition demands payment for 'extras' such as a further ú20 to scatter ashes and a further ú20 simply to play a tape of the deceased's favourite music; notes that the London Cremation Company, which owns Golders Green Crematorium, further preys on the grief of relatives by demanding ú850 for a 10 year dedication for a flower vase on an enscribed polished granite tablet whilst the West London Crematorium charges only ú175 for the same item; deplores the fact that Golders Green refuses to allow relatives to use the cheaper memorials that they could purchase from other crematoria; further concludes that the London Cremation Company is cynically exploiting the celebrity status of the Crematorium because it is the resting place of Sigmund Freud, Anna Pavlova, Peter Sellers, George Bernard Shaw, Bram Stoker, H.G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, T.S. Eliot, Vivienne Leigh, Marc Bolan, Ronnie Scott and last but not least, five prime ministers; finally notes that the largest shareholder in the London Cremation Company is the Cremation Society; and calls on the Charity Commission to revoke the Cremation Society's charitable status unless these outrageous charges are reduced to something closer to the London average.

This motion has been signed by a total of 17 MPs.