Funeral Costs

Rowlf · 24-10-2016, 14:04

I know the cost of funerals these days is staggering but it seems it has been a costly business in the past too. I came across a bill while looking through family documents. Heading Accrington Council date 1911. Cost of a grave £5.10s additional cost for non resident 50% of above £2.15s Total £8.5s.
This bill was my great grandfather's for purchasing a plot in the cemetery in Burnley Road but unfortunately he lived in Huncoat. I know my own father earned about £3 per week at the Nori after W.W.2 so goodness knows what his grand father earned in 1911. I would imagine £8 was a heck of a lot of money then. I think there would be an uproar if the same policy was adopted now.

Rowlf · 24-10-2016, 14:52

When I think about it charging extra for a Huncoat resident is a bit rich seeing as the cemetery IS in Huncoat even if they did not come under Accrington council till the 1920s.

cashman · 27-10-2016, 16:34

Well they would have no need to bury Huncoaters if they had just left em in the stocks.

Accyexplorer · 27-10-2016, 18:11

Britain 1911 where the working poor couldn't afford to live, couldn't afford to die.....

...Jump forward in time,Britian 2016 where the working poor can't afford to live and can't afford to die

Margaret Pilkington · 27-10-2016, 19:51

Come on Jason, there is far more help and support now than there was back then and you know it.
I grew up in the late forties and early fifties and the welfare support then was far less than it is now. My mum had three jobs to try and feed us.....she got family allowance for one child....there were no tax credits. If you didn't work, it was simple...you didn't eat.
You could try to obtain National Assistance, but for most people this was unacceptable....it reflected badly on them.
We lived from hand to mouth. I lived it so I know what I am on about.

Margaret Pilkington · 27-10-2016, 20:23

Also way back, then even poor people paid into funeral plans. I am pretty sure I remember my grandma paying pennies per week for her funeral.....there was a collector came round every Friday evening.
This was so that she would be spared a 'paupers grave'.

Aussie Irene · 27-10-2016, 23:53

Ditto Margaret

Accyexplorer · 28-10-2016, 06:05

My point was we (the working class) are,as we were then,being shafted by those with the money.
We are railroaded through social pressures,to use extortionately priced services,in order to try an give relatives that "good send off" so that we are not seen as being tight fisted.

For me,I see no shame in a "pauper's funeral" and when I leave this earth they can chuck me in the boot of the car and dump me on Whinney hill tip

Margaret Pilkington · 28-10-2016, 06:38

No we are not the same at all. I see people who consider themselves poor, but they smoke, they drink, they have flash mobile phones which connect to the Internet.
Being poor is about having none of those things and nothing at all in the cupboard to eat.

The problem for a lot of today's poor people in this country is.....they consider it is their right to a foreign holiday...a wide screen TV, the latest techno devices.
They spend any money they have on stuff that is not essential to life.
They get into debt because of their deluded opinions that because everyone else seems to have these things, they should have them too.

And that you would not be proud enough to be ashamed of letting the town dispose of your corpse says a lot about you.
It seems to me that there is very little that shames today's populace.......well apart from the treatment of those who have no place in this country and would take from the resources which you already have decided are not suitable for purpose.

Margaret Pilkington · 28-10-2016, 07:21

My life and my fiscal ideas were formed by my upbringing.....one in which there were many mouths to feed and not much money to do the feeding.
I can remember going into the pantry to find nothing but a bag of pearl barley and a tin of pilchards. If we had not had good neighbours who fed us porage, if we had not been given free school dinners I (and my siblings)would not have survived.
This has meant that for ALL of my adult life I have avoided debt like the plague. I have worked, I have saved. All to try and make sure that I am not dependent on the state.( I do not want hand outs - they have to be paid for by someone)
I have gone without things that I could have had on credit.....because my maxim is ' if you can't pay for it, you cannot have it'
The only exception is a mortgage......and that was paid off ten years before it's due date.

I want no praise for doing this, I need no recognition for it either....it is just that poverty in childhood taught me these things. So I know what I am talking about.(as I a pretty sure there are many of my generation, will attest to)

maxthecollie · 28-10-2016, 08:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

No we are not the same at all. I see people who consider themselves poor, but they smoke, they drink, they have flash mobile phones which connect to the Internet.
Being poor is about having none of those things and nothing at all in the cupboard to eat.

The problem for a lot of today's poor people in this country is.....they consider it is their right to a foreign holiday...a wide screen TV, the latest techno devices.
They spend any money they have on stuff that is not essential to life.
They get into debt because of their deluded opinions that because everyone else seems to have these things, they should have them too.

And that you would not be proud enough to be ashamed of letting the town dispose of your corpse says a lot about you.
It seems to me that there is very little that shames today's populace.......well apart from the treatment of those who have no place in this country and would take from the resources which you already have decided are not suitable for purpose.

Well said Margaret,I totally agree with you.We were always taught as children if you cannot afford it then you can't have it.

Margaret Pilkington · 28-10-2016, 12:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Accyexplorer

My point was we (the working class) are,as we were then,being shafted by those with the money.
We are railroaded through social pressures,to use extortionately priced services,in order to try an give relatives that "good send off" so that we are not seen as being tight fisted.

When someone we love dies, we are consumed by the things we might have done, but perhaps didn't. We think about our loved ones life and we view it through a different perspective.
It is natural to try and give the one we loved the right kind of funeral..one which reflects them and their life.. It is part of the rituals that have been carried out since the beginning of time.
Most of my cohorts have their ideas about the tying up of life's loose ends.....some of them have their funerals planned down to the nth degree...the music is planned the service is planned and in some cases even paid for.

There is no social pressure to use extortionately priced services......those who spare no expense in organising a funeral for a family member maybe doing it because that is what they want to do( and it maybe out of love or it maybe out of guilt.Like everything else in life you can shop around for the best deal...you are not FORCED to use expensive services...though some costs cannot be cut..the cost of cremation or the cost of a plot I think are set by the council...I'm sure if this is wrong someone will enlighten me)
A 'good send off' is very subjective. Do not buy me flowers when I am dead and cannot see them or enjoy them...if you didn't bother in life, then my death is not a time to do it either.
I do not care what other people think of me....my self esteem does not rely on someone else's opinions of me......and that is how I conduct my life.....I hope that when I die it will be just the same. My family know my wishes and I have told them that if they are not followed they can expect a dig in the ribs from the spirit world.

Retlaw · 28-10-2016, 13:20

My fathers funeral cost less than £100. He asked me about 5 or 6 years before he died to make him a coffin, asked what kind, he said get some chip board an knock a simple box together ids gonna get burnt anyway. I made hin his box out of mahaogany faced chipboard. it stood in our front room for all that time after, every so of he would stand in it and say thad'l do. When he died in that place across from Accy Vic, got the death cert, went to cem, filled in all the paper work got a date & time of day, hired a white van, went tut crem at Accy Vic, managed wi a struggle tio get him int box, nailed the lid down and drove to crem, put him on the trolly wheeled him inside, and there was a god botherer stood at the lecturn wit back ground music playin, Ignored the lot and pushed fayther ontut conveuor belt, and was puttin the trolley away when mother, sisters, and an aunty came intut foyer, she geet angry an played ell because I hadn't told her, I towd her tu shud up, Im doing what he asked, an youv'e hated fayther for years, and if I had followed his wishes to the letter he would be sliding down tip up Whinney Hill, All the time the god botherer is stood there gob smacked, he didnd know what to do, I just climbed int van and took id back to firm an geet my deposit returned

Margaret Pilkington · 28-10-2016, 13:49

Retlaw that was a real DIY job.
There are many kinds of funeral which do not cost a lot of money and if the deceased wants to be cremated then spending a lot on the box and the knobs and do dads makes no sense at all.Death is like life...it can be expensive(if you can afford it then that's OK)but it can also be done on a shoe string you just have to put more time/effort into the shoestring jobby......and that is something that many people do not have..time.

cashman · 28-10-2016, 13:51

I can always find time to save a few quid, I call it Priorities,