18 December 2024
Multi-faith and non-faith services held at Jersey Crematorium will be temporarily
relocated to a new facility to ensure services can continue to be conducted with dignity
and respect during the construction phase of the new Acute Hospital at Overdale.
Given the Crematorium's immediate proximity to Overdale, where construction activities
will continue to increase through 2025, a temporary facility located in the Members' Room
at the Royal Jersey Agricultural & Horticultural Society (RJA&HS) Showground has been
selected. This followed a careful review of the requirements and multiple criteria that had
been agreed with key stakeholders.
Cremations, interments and the use of the Garden of Remembrance will remain at the
existing Overdale location.
Services will be relocated to the RJA&HS Members’ Room in Spring 2025, with exclusive
use of the space, ensuring privacy and dignity for mourners. Services will continue to be
delivered there until the most potentially impactful elements of construction have been
satisfactorily progressed.
While some minor works will need to be carried out in advance of the relocation, the
RJA&HS Members’ Room will maintain the dignity and functionality of the current
Crematorium facility, while also providing some additional benefits:
- up to 50 parking spaces, including accessible parking
- capacity for services to hold up to 100 mourners
- accessibility for wheelchair users and accessible for hearse and funeral cars
- ensures exclusive use of the space, allowing mourners the same level of privacy
that the current facility provides
- offers a private, off-road area for mourners to privately gather before and after
services
- is within a 15-minute drive of the current Crematorium site.
Services at the RJA&HS Members’ Room will continue to be held four days per week in line
with the current schedule of services.
Events at the RJA&HS will continue to take place as normal and there will be coordination
between the Crematorium team and the RJA&HS to ensure the smooth running of both
operations.
There is already a good working relationship between the Crematorium and the RJA&HS
since larger services already take place at the facility.
The Minister for Health and Social Services, Deputy Tom Binet, said: “A key priority for the
New Healthcare Facilities Programme has been to ensure that the Crematorium services
can continue to be delivered with privacy and dignity during the construction of the Acute
Hospital. I would also like to emphasise that, while the service aspect of the funeral
proceedings will be temporarily relocated, interments, cremations and the use of the
Garden of Remembrance will remain at the existing Overdale location.
“Unlike the demolition phase, where work could be paused at the Overdale site during
funeral services to minimise disruption, construction activities are much more difficult to
stop due to the scale and complexity of the work involved.
“I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in getting us to this stage,
specifically the Crematorium staff, the members of the Crematorium User Group, and the
RJA&HS members for their cooperation in finding a collective solution.”
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