THE Association of Burial Authorities was formed in 1993 to fulfil the need for a consumer orientated organization to co-ordinate the activities of burial grounds and provide a tangible link between them and the public. It is a not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee.

The “Death Care Industry” is fragmented among municipal cemeteries and crematoria; privately owned cemeteries and crematoria, churchyards and parish council burial grounds, funeral directors and memorial masons. There are long established trade associations and organizing bodies representing all of these groups with the exception of the 25,000 or so burial grounds. The ABA was formed by a group comprising cemetery managers, friends of cemeteries, the Church of England, memorial masons, landscape architects and service and product suppliers. Public relations professional and author of the Daily Telegraph Guide to Funerals and Bereavement, Sam Weller, who has specialised in this subject for some 20 years, was elected chairman.

Its membership, generally corporate, comprises the management of public and private cemeteries; Metropolitan, Unitary, City, Borough and District Councils; Joint Burial Boards / Committees; Town, Parish and Community Councils with responsibility for burial grounds; Parochial Church Councils, Dioceses and church incumbents; Green / Woodland burial sites; the Association of Private Pet Cemeteries and Crematoria; suppliers of services and equipment for the care of burial grounds, and interested individuals.

The ABA is entirely independent from any other trade or professional association and acts essentially as a national group co-ordinating plans and actions to achieve the following aims:

- To raise awareness and appreciation of our cemeteries and churchyards as places of commemoration, heritage and amenity value

- Promote the importance of burial grounds as places of remembrance for our communities and the long-term care of the bereaved

- Protect and promote the interests of organizations engaged in the management and operation of burial grounds and provide them with guidance

- Monitor and improve legislation and regulations affecting burial grounds on National and European Union levels.

CURRENT AFFAIRS

THE ABA has submitted to consultations by numerous official bodies including the Government’s consultation on burial law reform, House of Commons Select Committee Inquiry into Cemeteries, review of Coroner’s Service, the Shipman Inquiry, the Treasury inquiry into pre-paid funeral plans, the Office of Fair Trading about funeral directors’ trading practices and prepaid funeral plans; the faculty jurisdiction review committee of the Church of England; the General Register Office about registration of births, marriages and deaths; the Home Office about reuse of graves and other matters, the BSi about memorial standards.

The ABA is represented on the London Churchyards and Cemeteries Habitat Action Plan working group. The ABA is a member of the Government’s Burial and Cemeteries Advisory Group, the Welsh Assembly BCAG, and the BCAG Memorial Safety subgroup and Cemetery Management subgroup. The ABA was instrumental in contributing to the Local Government Ombudsmanís Special Report on Memorial Safety in Local Authority Cemeteries, published in March 2006.

The ABA has organized various conferences on specific issues including how a burial ground can be operated at a profit, the reuse of graves, memorial inscriptions, vandalism and product liability, conservation of our memorial heritage, design and memorial landscaping, communications between the funerary factions and to the public, churchyards and consecrated areas, and public and managerial responsibility for safety.

The definitive Guide to Management of Safety in Burial Grounds is published by the ABA, with sponsorship and advice from Zurich Municipal and advice from the Health and Safety Executive.

The Phoenix Awards competition to encourage creativity in cemetery and memorial design, is organized annually by the ABA.

In July 2008 the ABA was involved for the first time as a co-sponsor, along with the Federation ofBurial and Cremation Authorities, the Cremation Society of Great Britain and the Association of Private Crematoria, of the Joint Cremation and Burial Conference, held in Newcastle upon Tyne. Previous Grounds for Burial Conferences organised by the ABA have included in 2007 ëReuse is the futureí hosted by the City of London Cemetery; in 2006 the Conference theme was ëManaging change for the betterí with keynote speaker the Local Government Ombudsman talking about memorial safety issues and with a tour of Highgate Cemetery.

The 2005 Grounds for Burial Conference in May majored on church and local authority responsibilities, and included a tour of the Stoke Poges memorial gardens. The 2004 Conference was opened by the Minister responsible for burial grounds, and the Chair of the Select Committee Inquiry into Cemeteries was keynote speaker. It focussed on the Government’s plans for burial law reform. ABA representatives also participate in national and international conferences. They have exhibited and lectured at the Funeral Services Exhibition in the NEC; Tanexpo in Modena, Italy, Funexpo and Funeraire in Paris, France and the ASCE conference in Bologna in 2004.

The ABA publishes regular news of its activities and developments of interest to the profession in the ABA Info newsletter (circ 2,300); offers a design and planning service for burial ground development - including if required on-site consultancy; researches and publishes instructions and guidelines; operates an advisory bureau and helpline for both burial authorities and the public, and implements a proactive PR and government lobbying campaign.

The ABA is a member of the Council of British Funeral Services (CBFS); the European Federation of Funeral Services (EFFS) the International Federation of Thanatologists Associations (FIAT/IFTA) and the Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe (ASCE).

REFERENCES:

Association of Burial Authorities (ABA), (http://www.burials.org.uk)

Association of Significant Cemeteries of Europe (ASCE), 
http://www.significantcemeteries.net

Ministry of Justice (BGAG Secretariat, http://www.?

International Federation of Thanatologists Associations (FIAT-IFTA), http://www.thanos.org

Federation of Burial and Cremation Authorities, http://www.fbca.org.uk

The Cremation Society of Gret Britain, http://www.cremation.org.uk

BACK TO TOP

Our patron: Dr Sheila Cameron CBE, QC, Dean of the Arches and Auditor

Photograph by Sam Weller

Background picture: Kensal Green Cemetery, opened in 1833, was London's first large, purpose-built commercial cemetery. Photo by Robert Stephenson.