Cremations
There are three types of cremation service that we offer:
- Direct cremation, where the Funeral Directors deliver the coffin without any service in the chapel
- Committal service, where the family is allowed up to 15 minutes in the chapel
- Full service, where the family is allowed a 45-minute service in the chapel
Committal services are often held after church services at local parish churches, where the closest family members follow the coffin to the Crematorium before joining the rest of the mourners at the wake.
Most mourners opt for a full service, including music and visual tributes. Our media supplier is Wesley Media; Funeral Directors select your choice of songs from our vast library and upload any visual tributes to their portal on your behalf. If you would like a specific version of a song that isn't already in our library, your Funeral Director can email the request to Wesley Media and it will be added. They can also add audio files of your personal voice recordings upon your request, for example if someone wanted to pre-record a eulogy so they didn't have to speak aloud during the service, or if you have a voice recording of a family member performing a song. All audio tracks are free of charge at Eastbourne Crematorium; the fees and charges for all visual tributes, webcasts and recordings can be found at the bottom of this page. There is the option of extending a full service to a double slot at an additional cost at certain times of day. Please speak to your Funeral Director about this option if you feel there will be an especially large attendance or a long service with lots of tributes.
Our two chapels will suit your guest requirements; a smaller Family Chapel and the Main Chapel.
The Family Chapel
The Main Chapel
Both chapels have their own dedicated waiting room, located adjacently, with chilled filtered water available.
There are three options for what to do after a cremation:
- Collect the ashes
- Inter the ashes
- Scatter the ashes
One of these options will have been picked during the cremation application process. If you wish to authorise a change of instruction, you can do so by email. At any point after collection, you can organise an interment (a burial) or a scattering, whether your loved one was cremated here at Eastbourne Crematorium or not. There is always a space for them to rest here. For information on burials, please select your cemetery, and then contact us directly to arrange a date.
For scatterings, please read the following information and contact us directly to arrange a date.
Ashes can be scattered by our staff with you in attendance, known as witnessed scattering, or unwitnessed, by our ground staff and without family or friends. The fee for scatterings depends on whether it is witnessed or not, and whether your loved one was cremated at Eastbourne Crematorium. Our current fees are as follows:
| Scattering of ashes cremated at EBC | Scattering of ashes from away | |
| Unwitnessed | No Charge | £75 |
| Witnessed (Monday to Friday) | £50 | £125 |
| Witnessed (Saturday) | £100 | £150 |
Witnessed scatterings take place Monday to Friday around 11:30am and 2:30pm and on selected Saturdays around 12:30pm. All witnessed scatterings need to be booked in advance. The more notice we have, the more likely it is for your chosen date and time to be available, although we will always do our best to accommodate your wishes.
All scatterings are carried out by our staff using a polished bronze scattering urn. If you would like to scatter the ashes yourself during the appointment, we will show you how to do this. You can spend as long as you like during the scattering, and are welcome to say a few words or read a poem, sing a song, etc, whatever feels appropriate for you and your attendees. You are welcome to appoint a celebrant to officiate the service; this would be your responsibility to arrange at your own cost, agreed directly with them. You may wish to leave flowers on the ground before you leave; we just ask that you remove all the plastic wrapping from these beforehand.
All scatterings are legally recorded into our system, so future generations can know where their loved ones were laid to rest. We record the general scattering area, not the exact location within the area, so it is down to family members to pass on that specific information should they wish. Ashes are scattered in set locations throughout the Gardens of Remembrance, on the grass, not in flower beds. These locations are marked on the map below, in the area marked with white letters and numbers. If you wish to lay your loved one's ashes to rest with other family members previously scattered in the Gardens, we hold records dating back to when we first opened in 1960 so can find out that information for you and link it on the records so future generations know why that area was chosen.
