How Long After Death Is A Funeral?

[shivvy]

I live in Northern Ireland and a funeral takes place here within 3 days of a death but I have noticed that it can often be much longer for funerals in England.
I'm interested to know the reason for the difference.
Thanks.

[atalanta]

This may sound cynical, but I don't think the funeral directors mind waiting for a funeral to take place. When my father died, we had to wait nearly a fortnight for a slot at the crematorium.The bill from the funeral home for storing his body for that time was staggering.

[EDDIE51]

^^ You have just put what I was going to say. Funeral directors are cheating bar-stewards in my opinion.

[woofgang]

Just because some are doesn’t mean they all are. There are bad apples in every walk of life.

[EDDIE51]

On the other hand funerals taking place within a day or two do not leave much time for relatives to make travel arrangements. Many have to travel from all over the country or even as far as Australia and New Zealand.

[ummmm]

My uncle died not so long ago and would have been buried within a few days (Ireland) if it wasn't for family having to travel.

[grasscarp]

3 days? To tell everyone. Register death. Consult funeral director. They get body and embalm if required. Arrange funeral service. Bidding prayers, hymns, book organist. Print order of service. Find cemetery with diggers available on same day as service. Book somewhere to eat afterwards. Rearrange everything as some people can't get there that early. Finally when all the planets are aligned it happens.
Did all this recently so I know. 3 days - closer to (as PP said - 3 weeks)

[murraymints]

22 days for dad's...

[ummmm]

Grass...In Ireland they do it in about 3 days.

[EDDIE51]

Is it Hindus who have to be cremated within 8 hours of death?

[grasscarp]

Blimey!

[murraymints]

muslim ?

[ummmm]

I assume the funeral director organises much of it.

[Dogsbody2]

Blaming a lack of slots at crematorium for these delays in England is simply rubbish. The rate of deaths must equal the rate of crematorium events, otherwise bodies would continue to build up.

No, this is something to do with the inefficiency by which funeral directors and others involved deal with this process.

[murraymints]

dog ..the waiting list for slots in Edinburgh are very real !

[ummmm]

And family convenience, Dogsbody.

[Dogsbody2]

I'm not disputing that.

But it isn't because of the lack of long term capacity, otherwise bodies would continue to build up.

[EDDIE51]

It is Hindu's , just Googled it, they have to be cremated by dusk on the day of death.
This is because they believe the soul is trapped in the body until it is set free by fire.
Are their special arrangements for Hindu cremations in the UK ?

[murraymints]

as they do here dog...some families resort to out of area facilities !

[woofgang]

I suspect there is not a lack of slots per se but a lack of slots that are acceptable to the family or that fit in with other things such as medical certification.

[Electrochem]

Eddie51, Your statistics on cremation are nonsense. The average time in the cremator is 2.0 to 2.5 hours, after which the remains are raked down into the bottom chamber where they cool off before being put in a cremulator to reduce them into the cremated remains. Each cremation is carried indvidually (two coffins won't fit in a cremator). The highest number of cremations for one crematorium in the year 2014 is 3,055(Eltham), so your figure of 396 per week means that in in only 10 weeks 3,960 would be carried out. They do not work round the clock!