The Park Crematorium in Aldershot is undergoing a major refurbishment in summer 2024. From 7 May, funeral services will be taking place at the Redan Road cemetery chapel. The crematorium grounds will still be open for visitors to pay their respects to loved ones.

About the crematorium

The Park Crematorium is the

crematorium A crematorium, crematory or cremation center is a venue for the cremation of the Death, dead. Modern crematoria contain at least one cremator (also known as a crematory, retort or cremation chamber), a purpose-built furnace. In some countries a ...

for the town of

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

and surrounding districts, including North East Hampshire and parts of Surrey and Berkshire. It was designed by Frank Taylor, the Aldershot Borough Surveyor, and opened in July 1960. Today, it is operated and maintained by

Rushmoor Borough Council Rushmoor is a local government district with borough status in Hampshire, England. It covers the towns of Farnborough and Aldershot, the former of which is the location of the council. The neighbouring districts are Hart, Surrey Heath, Guildfo ...

Facilities

Located near

Aldershot Park Aldershot Park is an urban park in the town of Aldershot in Hampshire. The park is located on Guildford Road near Aldershot#Cricket, Aldershot Cricket Club and the Lido and is owned and maintained by Rushmoor Borough Council.

and between Aldershot Cricket Club and the Lido, in addition to the crematorium the facility also has 16 acres of grounds in the Gardens of Remembrance which was formerly Kiln Copse, a woodland at the edge of Aldershot Park. Here ashes can be interred. The hall holds about 80 people in addition to an organ. The complex was renovated in 1996–1997 and includes a memorial room containing Books of Remembrance. The Park Crematorium is able to live stream funerals around the world.

Sir John Betjeman

After the Poet Laureate

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...

attended a service there he wrote the poem 'Aldershot Crematorium':

Notable cremations

Pauline Baynes Pauline Diana Baynes (9 September 1922 – 1 August 2008) was an English illustrator, author, and commercial artist. She contributed drawings and paintings to more than 200 books, mostly in the children's genre. She was the first illustrator ...

, illustrator, author and commercial artist who was the first illustrator of some of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

's minor works and of

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

's ''

Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven portal fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, the series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia, ...

''. * Comedian

Arthur English Arthur Leslie Norman English (9 May 1919 – 16 April 1995) was an English television, film and stage actor and comedian from the music hall tradition. Early life English was born at 22 Lysons Road in Aldershot,'Arthur English, ''Aldershot H ...

was cremated here and his ashes buried in the crematorium gardens with those of his first wife. * Aldershot-born

Norman "Dinky" Diamond Norman Victor "Dinky" Diamond (15 December 1950 – 10 September 2004) was a British drummer who played with the rock band Sparks at the height of their fame in the UK in the early 1970s, playing on the albums '' Kimono My House'' (1974), ''Pro ...

, drummer in the 1970s with the band Sparks was cremated here. * Elaine Batt, mother of songwriter and musician

Mike Batt Michael Philip Batt (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director, and conductor. He served as the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. Batt created the novelty pop band T ...

, who designed the costumes for his

The Wombles ''The Wombles'' are fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures created by Elisabeth Beresford and originally appearing in a series of children's novels from 1968. They live in burrows, where they aim to help the environment by collecting and recycl ...

band. *

Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (Air Vce Mshl or AVM) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometime ...

Frederick "Freddie" Hurrell,Hurrell's obituary in the ''Militarian'' (2008)
/ref> Director-General of the

RAF Medical Services The Royal Air Force Medical Services is the branch of the Royal Air Force that provides health care at home and on deployed Military operation, operations to Royal Air Force, RAF service personnel. Medical RAF officer, officers are the Physicia ...

from 1986 to 1988.

References

External links