This final stage of committal can be as inclusive or private as you wish. For some the funeral ceremony itself is the main focal point, and so may elect just one or two family representatives to act as escort to the graveside. Others invite mourners to participate in lowering the coffin or perhaps in filling the grave.
We welcome your ideas and our knowledgeable staff are able to offer sound advice on the best way to incorporate them into this parting ritual.
We will advise you about the availability of burial plots throughout the local area to help you select the most fitting location for your loved one.
You will need to bear in mind that some locations require particular memorial styles and dimensions, and, in the case of green funerals, the permitted materials for construction of the coffin will be specified too.
Our staff will make sure you have all the information you need to make the right decision
Cemetery and Churchyard Burial
Once you have selected your preferred plot we can make all the arrangements for the ceremony, the committal and for the installation of any memorial based on your wishes.
If the burial is taking place in an established family plot then any memorial masonry must be inspected, removed and stored safely beforehand. Powell & Family’s skilled monumental masons offer a full range of services including removal, cleaning, re-gilding, repair, modern anchoring and, of course, hand-finished inscriptions for all memorials.
Your chosen memorial will be erected once the ground is sufficiently well-settled, usually between 6 and 12 months after the burial, and we offer our families a Memorial Dedication Service to properly mark this special occasion.
Alternative Committal Locations
Burial at Sea
This traditional, full-body committal is available to anyone and is particularly appropriate for those who have spent their lives at sea. We can arrange the service in partnership with specialists who will give expert advice at every stage about the coffin specification, boat charter and permissions.
Your family may also wish to consider cremation followed by the committal of ashes either to the sea or to a freshwater location.
Woodland
More families are choosing a less formal burial and remembrance style such as Woodland Burials. Attractive burial parks are carefully managed to encourage bio-diversity and remembrance visits become lovely days out in natural surroundings, free from permanent plot markers.
We have a full range of lovely bio-degradable coffins and urns that are perfect for interment in woodland burial parks.
As both the Burial at Sea and Woodland Burial exclude on-site, permanent memorials we find that families seek out personal memorial items for daily remembrance.