THE team at Vale Royal Crematorium in Northwich were delighted to be the first to receive a post-lockdown visit from the President of the Federation of Burial & Cremation Authorities (FBCA).

Vale Royal Crematorium is part of Westerleigh Group, the UK’s largest independent owner-operator of crematoria, with 35 sites in England, Scotland and Wales.

Councillor David Marren, Deputy Mayor of Cheshire East Council, became FBCA President on October 19 2020.

He took over the role of President from Alan Jose, who has also been holding the role of Westerleigh Group Ambassador since 2016.

Shortly after taking office, Councillor Marren was forced to curtail his presidential visits because of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

As those restrictions have been eased, he is once again able to go out and visit sites all over the country, and his first port of call was Vale Royal Crematorium last month.

The FBCA represents approximately 85 per cent of all cremation authorities in the UK.

It provides a range of services to support its members – both cremation and burial authorities – to care for more than 370,000 funerals every year.

Cllr Marren said: "An important part of the role of FBCA President is to go out to visit members, to offer support and to acknowledge all the hard work they have done, and continue to do, to deliver a caring and professional service.

"It was a pleasure to be able to resume my presidential visits at Vale Royal Crematorium where I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Dave Haslam, Crematorium Manager, and his team.

"I was able to tour the site, taking in the trees, lawns and flowerbeds which help provide a beautiful, natural and peaceful setting for families to reflect, mourn and celebrate lives of their lost loved ones.

"The pandemic restrictions on numbers of people able to attend funeral ceremonies has been extremely hard for the bereaved but I know Dave and his team have worked tirelessly to ensure they provide sympathetic support and professional services during these difficult times.

"I was also impressed by the various fundraising activities that the team members have undertaken, all of which have helped them build strong relationships with their local communities."

Dave Haslam, site manager at Vale Royal Crematorium, said: "It was an honour to welcome the FBCA President to our site and it was gratifying that he recognised the commitment and dedication of my team during what has been an extremely challenging period.

"We’re proud of the positive feedback he provided to us and look forward to welcoming him back in the future."