'Superb' Crematorium wins national award

West Herts Crematorium in Garston has won the prestigious Crematorium of the Year Award 2008, which recognises its excellent service to the local community.

The nationwide competition, organized by the Memorial Awareness Board, aims to raise standards in burial grounds and crematoria and encourage choice for the bereaved. The Award, now in its 11th year, recognises crematoria that are user friendly, provide good customer service, are easily accessible for all and have well maintained, pleasant surroundings.

On visiting the Crematorium, which is run by a Joint Committee including Three Rivers District Council, Dacorum Borough Council, Hertsmere Borough Council, St Albans City and District Council and Watford Borough Council, the judges were impressed with the site and its staff team:

"It was a privilege to visit the West Herts Crematorium and to see some of the very many aspects of best practice being implemented. Clearly there is an excellent management team encouraging the development of skills for all their staff. Over the years the buildings have clearly been sympathetically developed to meet today's requirements. The refurbishments and developments provide a superb facility that embraces excellent provision of service and care."

Crematorium Manager Stephen Brown is delighted that the site has been recognized with this prestigious award:

"Staff are extremely proud that the services they provide to the community have been celebrated in this way. We have a fantastic team of dedicated people here, which has enabled the Crematorium to grow and develop to deliver a first class service to customers. The Joint Committee has always been very supportive and very forward thinking and this has contributed towards the Crematorium being recognized as an exemplar to the industry. I wish to add a personal thanks to the Joint Committee for their support over the years as well as the customers and users of the Crematorium; however most of all I would like to thank my colleagues for their involvement and contributions in making the Crematorium so successful."

The award comes at the end of a year full of achievements for the Crematorium, which was also awarded a Green Flag Award in 2008.

For more information on West Herts Crematorium, residents can ring 01923 673285 or visit www.westhertscrem.org .