Bereaved Outraged over Crematorium 'Vandalism'

1.44.50pm GMT Tue 21st Nov 2006

Hundreds of personal memorials - seats, bird baths, plaques and children's photographs - have been removed by crematorium officials from the gardens of Hanworth Crematorium and piled up in a dump waiting for disposal in a skip.

Local bereaved residents, who have sought to maintain a link with their loved ones by leaving memorials, are outraged at the way the management of the Crematorium has simply discarded them. They have found expensive benches or birdbaths piled in a heap and the photographs of dead children flying around in the wind.

(The Crematorium is jointly owned by several councils - Ealing, Richmond, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Spelthorne - and the 'clean up' follows a decision by the management board and the appointment of a new manager, Mr Reet.)

Vincent Cable MP said he was "appalled at the crass and heartless way in which grieving families are being treated by the Crematorium. It appears that the previous management had a fairly permissive approach to memorials and, as a result, a lot of objects were left and records were not maintained. But if the policy is to change, it must be done with great care and sensitivity, perhaps by setting aside a restricted area where personal memorials can be left. But to throw objects of great sentimental value into a heap is little more than vandalism. The treatment of dead children, in particular, is heartless. I wrote some months ago to protest at what was happening and the management replied that relatives had been informed. I meet relatives who have not been informed and are deeply distressed."