Letter: Please open Mansfield Crematorium Book of Remembrance at weekends

On Saturday, December 11, 2021, I visited the crematorium with my father on my mother's anniversary and we were very upset to find the room containing the book was locked.

There were other families there who were also upset and angry about the situation.

On returning home, I emailed the council-run crematorium to complain on behalf of all the families affected deeply by the closure.

I never received a reply.

One year later, now Sunday, December 11, 2022, my father and I visited the crematorium again to find there was still no access to the Book of Remembrance.

Another lady was there to view the inscription for her father and was very upset, as she had travelled a long way.

My father is 87 and will have to wait another year to see the open book – that will be three years since we last saw the inscription to my mother.

He may not even live that long himself.

It costs money to have the inscription in the book, so to not be able to see it on the one day of the year the book is open on the correct page is heartbreaking.

Apparently, it can be accessed online for those who have computers, which many of the older generation do not.

Please, Mansfield Council or Ben Bradley MP, rectify this unnecessary weekend closure of the Book of Remembrance and give back to many grieving families the precious moments they need, and deserve, to help in their times of sadness.

Pamela Fairhall

Submitted