Cost of my cremation (with or without an urn on the mantelpiece)

ALTHoUGH currently feeling immortal, I decided last week to see how much it would cost loved ones to arrange my funeral, writes JEFF PRESTRIDGE.

Typing my home postcode into the Beyond website and opting for a ‘traditional’ cremation, I was presented with details of five local funeral directors.

All were within a distance of five miles, ranging in price from £3,414 to £4,182 – a 22 per cent difference.

Whichever director I chose, I would be cremated at East London crematorium in a wood veneer coffin and my ashes stored in a wooden urn. Close family would travel in a limousine (room for six, plenty) and the hearse, adorned with a spray of flowers, would be open glass, allowing mourners to view my final journey.

The celebrant’s costs would also be included as well as doctor’s and cremation fees. If close family wanted to skimp on costs a little (I would not be offended in the slightest), they could opt for a ‘simple’ cremation at East London, offered by all five directors.

ranging in price from £2,799 to £3,614 (more expensive than one of the five ‘traditional’ packages), there would be no flowers, no limousine and the coffin would be wood ‘effect’.

Also, no hearse – either a ‘repurposed’ van or estate car – and the price would not include an urn.

That would not be a problem. After all, who would want Jeff Prestridge sitting on their mantelpiece?