St Mark's Church Garden of Remembrance

The only place in Bedfordshire offering people the choice

of burial of cremated remains in consecrated ground. 

Download a copy of our Garden Booklet with current information (printed August 2007)

We are especially proud of our Garden of Remembrance at St Mark's Church. This provides a place for interment of cremated remains in a consecrated place of rest. We also have a beautiful memorial wall upon which plaques are fixed commemorating the lives of loved ones. This page describes our garden and gives details about interments, memorials and flowers. Another page gives helpful information for those who have suffered bereavement, including prayers and readings as well as practical advice. There is also advice for those wishing to establish a Garden of Remembrance in their own church.

The Garden is always open and we welcome visitors. Security lighting illuminates the whole garden during the hours of darkness. CCTV covers the site, with infra-red monitoring at night.

St. Mark’s Churchyard Committee
Enquiries: Mary Stubbs, tel: 01234 406784, or Church Office, tel: 01234 342613
 

These pictures show the Garden of Remembrance at St. Mark’s. Built in 1992 after careful consultation with experts and landscaping contractors it is now a place specially designed for interment of ashes. With a fountain and many beautiful plants the Garden is a welcoming environment for those remembering a loved one. Access is easy for wheelchairs throughout the Garden.

	Development Over the past few years we have seen the Garden at St Mark's grow and develop and become a treasured place. Many people have valued the opportunity to be buried in consecrated ground and the security which this gives. Once buried in consecrated ground your remains will not be removed after a number of years and the land will not be used for another purpose. Consecration provides the most protection available in English law that your loved ones will not be disturbed.
	St Mark’s Church has built a magnificent granite columbaria to offer interment in a consecrated vault. Each vault will accommodate up to four sets of ashes and a plaque can be inscribed with a suitable words in memory of the person who has died. The columbaria was consecrated in June 2007 and offers the unique quality of exclusive rights of burial in perpetuity. In commercial cemeteries families are usually offered rights for a period of time, perhaps 40 years, after which the ashes are removed and the vault sold to somebody else. St Mark’s can guarantee that the remains of our loved ones will rest undisturbed for all time. Now our loved ones really can Rest in Peace.
	The picture shows the inscribed granite plaques on which the names are recorded of people whose ashes are buried at St Mark's. The individual plots are sufficient for the burial of two wooden caskets. Once buried they will remain in place for ever. There is no lease arrangement of 50 or 70 years as this is consecrated ground.
	The Garden has been designed to produce quiet reflective areas of beauty, where you can stop and sit on the benches.
	The Garden has some special features, often donated in memory of a loved one. This beautiful fountain shares the same technology provided for our other water features, it is activated as you pass, so that it is 'always on.'
	Water features are a special part of our Garden. This one holds a secret, it is home to frogs which are welcome friends in our Garden as they eat slugs. We provide a special frog ladder to help the frogs in and out of the water tank under the huge Sandstone millstone which was imported from India.
	The Garden is never closed and there is always a quiet corner in which to sit
	The memorial wall is located in the garden extension which was consecrated in 2003.
	You may have a plaque inscribed in memory of a loved one who has died. Even if a person is buried They may be buried elsewhere, we will be pleased to arrange an inscription. Contact memorials@thisischurch.com
	You are invited to leave floral tributes on the individual memorial stones. These are taken in each evening to avoid the Garden becoming overcrowded or untidy. The flowers are placed on our prayer table in the foyer of the church.
	St Mark's has now also established a woodland burial site at Keysoe in Bedfordshire. Click here for more details

More photographs

The Church Council at St. Mark's decided in 1991 that it would be of great benefit to build a Garden of Remembrance at the church. There are large grounds surrounding the church which offered the opportunity for landscaping and the creation of a Christian churchyard for burial. The location of the church is good, on major bus routes and with excellent parking. The present site is an ideal location and the grounds continually benefit by the addition of new plants, trees and shrubs, often donated in memory of a loved one. We are indebted to Arnold's Funeral Directors who made an extremely very generous grant to enable the work to take place. Following the initial construction the garden has received wide support and every funeral director in Bedford contributed towards the final cost to enable it to be constructed within one year. Several local charities and individuals also made generous donations. The garden was consecrated by the Bishop of Bedford on September 14th 1992 and now provides a specifically Christian place of burial to the local community. There are facilities for interment of ashes with or without memorial stones.

Book of Remembrance

A Book of Remembrance is kept on view at the church in memory of those whose names are recorded on the date on which they died. If you would like an entry recorded following an interment then please contact the Church Centre Manager with the details. We will be able to help advise you over a suitable inscription.

Cremated Remains

It is important for families to know that the cremated remains brought to the church for interment are those of the person who has died. The ministers frequently visit the crematorium and can assure you that this is the case and that the highest code of ethics is observed. A special form issued by the Federation of British Cremation Authorities can be obtained from the church which outlines the procedure in some detail if you should wish to know more.

Service of Interment

All interments which take place as St. Mark's do so in the presence of one of the ministers and a short burial service of prayers and a reading takes place. Although we believe that our loved ones have departed to God's merciful keeping, we treat their bodily remains with the respect and dignity required for those whom God created. Families and relatives may decide to attend at the interment or you may prefer for this to be done quietly at the church by the minister some time after the service.

The Cost of Interment

The costs shown are for 1998 and may increase slightly each year. We have tried to ensure that interment at St. Mark's is as inexpensive as possible. Our costs should not exceed charges made elsewhere and are usually about half the cost of local crematoria. It is our desire to make only those charges necessary to cover the cost of memorial stones and to ensure that the garden is properly kept, and developed. All charges include burial fees, service of interment, verger, grave digging, fitting of stones, legal records and entry in the Book of Remembrance. The only charge not included is that of lettering on the granite stones. The cost for this is £1.90 for each letter to be cut and blacked, then to polish the stone afterwards. We are obliged to ensure that the lettering on the stone be fairly simple in a style which records only the name of the person who has died and their date of birth and death or alternatively age. This lettering style allows sufficient space on the stone for two interments. (VAT is also included in all charges)

Gravel plot with granite stone. Interment of casket in plot to accommodate two caskets. Marked by granite memorial stone 16" x 12" £250 (Also £2.00 per letter).  Plaques: In order to prevent any reflections, plaques will be of natural granite stone and will not be polished.
Lettering will be in a simple style, which records the name of the person who has died and their dates of birth and death.
Stones can be cleaned by regular washing with cold water (no additives) and a clean sponge. After 10 years, we can arrange for the stonemason to re-black the lettering and figures, at a cost of 50p per letter/number.
 

Subsequent interment in same plot £50 (Also £2.00 per letter)

Unmarked interment. This is often called a scattering of ashes. No Charge.

Entry in Book of Remembrance. You may ask for a personal entry of any reasonable length No Charge

The Church Council has placed no restrictions as to who may be interred
in the garden and reservations of plots may be made.

Flowers in the Garden

Understandably relatives often wish to leave flowers in the garden near to the place where a person has been buried, please feel able to do this. A single small arrangement can be placed on the stone, which will be taken inside each evening. We have a tap fitted in the garden for your use and rubbish bins are also provided. Floral tributes left in the garden are collected at the end of each day and taken inside the church. They are placed by the prayer board and sometimes used in arrangements for the Sunday service. This will ensure that the garden is always kept tidy and your flowers are used in a way that is honouring to the one you wish to remember. For best appearance the flowers are displayed in Portmeirion vases and we always appreciate additional donations for our collection.

Please not we ask that only small floral arrangements be placed on the plaques, small enough that they do not blow over easily and the view of other plaques is not blocked. Artificial flowers and objects are not permitted.

Memorials

You may wish to donate a tree, shrub or some other plant for the garden as a continuing reminder. We will be pleased to discuss a suitable choice and location in keeping with our plans for the future development of the churchyard. Occasionally we receive requests to donate some other kind of memorial either in the garden or the church itself, perhaps a bench or some other kind of furniture. We are always grateful to receive such kind gifts as a lasting memorial; however, in such cases the ministers will be required to obtain authorisation from the Church Council and the St. Albans Diocese.

Opening Times

You may visit the Garden of Remembrance at any time. Access to the garden is through the gate at the side of the church. If you would like to telephone before coming, we will arrange for the Administrator to show you around. Security lighting is active during the hours of darkness and our premises are covered by Video recorded CCTV

Light In Our Darkness

Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life. John Chapter 8:12

Lighting a candle of prayer

Each Sunday we light a candle and remember in prayer people who have died and pray for them and their loved ones. Why do we light a candle? The candle represents the light of Christ which eternally shines and brings hope. Jesus Christ is the light of the world, a light which no darkness can quench.

• Lighting a candle is a prayer: When we have gone it stays alight, kindling in the hearts and minds of others the prayers we have already offered for them and for others.
• Lighting a candle is a parable: burning itself out it gives light to others. Christ gave himself for others. He calls us to give ourselves.
• Lighting a candle is a symbol: of love and hope, of light and warmth. Our world needs them all.

You turn our darkness into light, in your light shall we see light.

If you would like us to light a candle in our chapel for you in remembrance of a loved one please email us and we will be pleased to pray for you. You are also welcome to attend our service of commemoration of the souls of the faithful departed each year on the first Sunday in November. Please contact us for further details.

e-mail us at: office@thisischurch.com