What happens in an unattended funeral?

Unattended cremations, also referred to as pure or direct cremations, are a cremation without a service, allowing you to focus on your own way to remember and celebrate the life of your loved one.

The main difference from a traditional funeral is that there is no service, and no mourners attend the crematorium. The level of care we provide is the same regardless of the funeral type, and if you want, you can visit the person to say goodbye before the direct cremation.

What happens if I arrange the unattended cremation online?

• Fill in the form online, telling us about the person who’s died, and some details about you.

• Pay the £1,450 online with a credit or debit card

• We’ll come and collect the person who’s died and bring them into our care within 2 hours. If you tell us you’re not ready for them to be collected, we’ll give you a call to arrange it.

• We’ll look after the person who’s died, washing and dressing them in a simple robe and placing them in a simple coffin. We’ll also take their fingerprint, which you’ll be able to use if you decide to get any memorial jewellery, or just keep it with you. If you want to visit them to say goodbye, we’ll arrange that for you in the local care centre.  

• We’ll drive them to Bretby, our crematorium, ready for their cremation. We’ll let you know when we do this.

• Our colleagues at Bretby walk with the coffin through one of our service rooms, they’ll pause, bow and say the name of the person who’s died before taking them through for their cremation.

• After the cremation, we can inter their ashes at Bretby, you can come and collect them from there, or we can deliver them back to your local funeral home for you to collect (£45). We’ll let you know when they’re ready for collection.

You can get in touch with us at any time if you’d like some help remembering them with any of our memorial items like jewellery, urns or scatter tubes.