VISITORS to Walton Lea crematorium this weekend will have the chance to look behind the scenes and find out more about how staff deal with their very sensitive work.

Members of the public will be welcomed to the chapel, then shown every detail of the job, from how the music is played during the ceremony to how staff make sure that every family receives the ashes of their loved ones.

The new £750,000 cremators will also be on view.

"People often leave a cremation after a funeral worried about what has happened," said Crematorium Manager Angela Dunn. "We want to make sure people know exactly what happens to allay their fears. We always get a lot of interest in our open days. I think people are interested in knowing what actually happens and it helps dispel a few myths.

"We get a mixture of visitors, from elderly people to children. We get a lot of people who have just lost loved ones, too."

Visitors will be able to talk to the calligraphers who work on the book of remembrance and the monumental masons.

Staff are also using the weekend as an opportunity to officially open their new burners and reveal the results of a questionnaire they sent to funeral directors asking about their quality of service.

"The questionnaire was split into two sections, the cemetery and the crematorium," said Angela.

"We asked how easy they found it to complete the documentation, how helpful and available they found staff and what they thought about the standard of the grounds and the two crematoriums."

For more information on the Open Day, which takes place on Sunday, September 6, telephone the Crematorium on 267731, or turn up on the day. Tours will be conducted every 15 minutes.

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