What happens to your body when you're cremated? Crematorium holds open day

Nottingham's Bramcote Crematorium held an open day for residents to walk through in the hope of busting myths about cremation. Photo / 123rf

While there are many theories as to what happens to us when we die, one crematorium has lifted the lid on what exactly happens to your body when you get cremated.

Nottingham's Bramcote Crematorium held an open day for residents to walk through in the hope of busting myths about cremation.

"There are so many myths about what happens at a crematorium. People think we resell the coffins or mix the ashes so today is to show we are transparent and we care," Louise Singer, manager of Bramcote Bereavement Services told Nottinghamshire Live.

"We just want to reassure them through the process. We are also finding more people are planning their own funerals, choosing the chapel and music, and they want to look around."

THE PROCESS:

In UK law, cremation must take place within 72 hours of the funeral service, but many aim to have the bodies finished within 24 hours.

According to the crematorium, they first check nothing has been left in the coffin that shouldn't be there, and they double check to make sure the deceased didn't have a pacemaker.

The company say if a pacemaker explodes, it will be strong enough to move 20-tonne crematory machines.

After this, the bodies are wheeled into the first machine where gas-fuelled flames heat the chamber up between 800-1200C.

Once the body is in ash form, they are collected with a rake and left to cool down for an hour. Photo / 123rf

The body is burned for 90 minutes and staff use a peeping hole to check the process is finished.

While the body is burning, waste particles are sucked away and filtered to stop mercury from teeth fillings entering the atmosphere.

Once the body becomes ash, the ashes are collected with a rake and left to cool down for an hour.

After the ashes have cooled they are put through a machine that sieves them to remove any metal such as wedding rings.

Relatives can then choose whether they want to scatter the ashes at the crematorium or take them elsewhere.

More than 100 people came to the crematorium's open day.