Report of proceedings of the Cremation Conference : held at Friends House Euston Road., London ... July 18, 19, 20, 1946.

  • Cremation Conference (1946 : London)
Date:
[1946?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of proceedings of the Cremation Conference : held at Friends House Euston Road., London ... July 18, 19, 20, 1946. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Cremation Society over the past three or four years, seeking information, which was readily given, Realizing this growing demand, and with the view to making the desired information avail- able in a permanent form, the Cremation Society, in furtherance of its policy of encouraging the establishment of ideal crematoria, published at the end of last year a new handbook: ‘‘Cremation in Great Britain.”” The book has achieved a large sale, and I understand that copies are now avail- able at the Conference Exhibition. A HELPING HAND We are now going a step further and we are inviting you to discuss your problems with us through the medium of a Conference. Many of you represent authorities that are hoping to establish crematoria and we wish to help you to overcome your initial difficulties. The Cremation Movement is growing not only in terms of the number of cremations taking place ; it is a pro- gressive movement in which thought and experi- ment are continuously striving to improve technique. It is plain, therefore, that Cremation Authorities, and those who seek to become Cremation Authorities, must maintain constant association for the expression of opinions and the interchange of ideas if the public is to get the fullest benefit of the advantages resulting from the supersession of a wasteful and antiquated burial system by the more increasingly popular, economical and hygienic system of Cremation, THE IDEAL CREMATORIUM But it is not sufficient merely to provide cremation services. These services must take into account the accumulated experience of seventy years of cremation development, experience upon which local authorities can freely draw. Let me develop this theme a little. (i) We have learnt that a crematorium must be planned by a com- petent architect and that it must be of a pleasing appearance. There can be no compromise with the pseudo-Gothic of the cemetery chapel. There is, indeed, a great opportunity here for the creation of original crematorium designs, and we nope that authorities will not be slow to realise their responsibilities to the public in this regard. (ii) With the extension of the practice of scattering the ashes, the Garden has assumed much greater importance. We hope that prospective cremation authorities will realise this fact and that they will appreciate the value of a proper site upon .which the garden and the buildings may be planned in unison.. (iii) The crematorium must be efficient in its technical equipment and in its administration, Having attended to all these matters, and having established the ideal crematorium, we hope that you will not rest content, but that you will have in mind the purpose for which you have planned. themselves of the services you have supplied, you must ensure that the public is made aware of these services by taking every opportunity to publicise them. On this, as on other aspects of Cremation, we shall always be pleased to help you. NEED FOR PROPAGANDA I have referred to the fact that the Cremation Society has been in operation for more than seventy years. Throughout these years a persistent propaganda has been maintained with the object of bringing to the notice of the community the advantages of cremation. The task is far from complete. There are many people who are daily learning of these advantages for the first time, and there must be many more who have yet to learn them, If each new cremation authority becomes a centre for the dissemination of knowledge on the subject, the task of educating the people of this country will be rendered considerably easier, and will be completed more speedily than was possible in the early years when London was the only centre of enlightenment. Some authorities may take the view that it is not their function to conduct propaganda on behalf of cremation, but I would remind them that much of the progress that has been made in modern times in the realm of public health has resulted from educational and propaganda methods adopted nationally and locally in order to bring to the notice of the people the services at their disposal, and the advantages to them of co-operating in these services. Once we are agreed—and I think most of us are agreed—that cremation is a desirable hygienic reform and that from several points of view it is advantageous both to the community and to the citizen, it should need little to convince us of the desirability of bringing about this reform as soon as possible, and of using every reasonable method to achieve this end, I therefore hope you will not hesitate to accept our invitation to discuss this aspect of the case so that we may co-operate with you in the carrying out of agreed plans calculated to educate the citizens to understand the value of the cremation services that you are about to establish on their behalf. A feature of this Conference will be the amount of time at each session which will be at the disposal of the delegates. Frequently, the platform tends to dominate a Conference, but this time we have sought to prevent this by bringing to the Conference various experts, who will open discussions on the subjects on which they can speak with authority, and then delegates will have every opportunity to put their own points, and to ask their questions, which will be dealt with by the experts as far as may be possible,
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