The Daily Mail spoke to our customers about the increasing popularity of direct cremation and their preference for being able to hold a private, informal service in their own time.
Increasing numbers of families are choosing to keep things as simple as possible. Roger and Lyn Webber, 70 and 68, from Wellington in Somerset, opted for a cremation without an official ceremony when Roger’s brother Martin died from a heart attack at the age of 79 in May.
Instead, a close-knit group of friends and family gathered on a hillside to share memories of Martin, who had been a farmer all his life, and scatter his ashes.
The couple say that the arrangements they made through direct cremation service DirectCremation.co.uk cost around £1,300, while friends of theirs have spent as much as £6,000 on send-offs for their loved ones.
Roger, 70, a retired engineer, says: ‘My brother was not into fuss, so we didn’t want horse-drawn carriages or that type of thing. We prefer to do our grieving in private.’