CONVINCING Bathurst residents to move away from the traditional burial option at the cemetery has taken time, but now 70 per cent of funerals in the city are held at the local crematorium.
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It’s a statistic that has vindicated Norwood Park general manager Stephen Beer’s faith in establishing the facility in the grounds of the Bathurst Cemetery.
Norwood Park took the gamble almost three years ago to invest in Bathurst’s first crematorium and some $2 million later, that investment is paying off.
Major landscaping of the crematorium’s garden is finally coming to fruition for Norwood Park, which has been given a 50-year lease from Bathurst Regional Council to take over the running of the local cemetery.
In recent days the finishing touches have been put on the gardens near the crematorium where ashes can be interred.
Mr Beer told the Western Advocate that it will be three years in August since they embarked on their Bathurst development.
“It’s all starting to come together very nicely,” he said. “To see the vision we had right at the start come to reality is very gratifying.
“Before we came to Bathurst the traditional Catholic burial was the preferred burial option, but that’s all changed.
“Now 70 per cent of funerals here are held at the crematorium which shows an acceptance and change in attitude from residents.”
Some of the main features of the landscaping project are various water features, including a large reflection pond, a rotunda and gazebo, box hedge borders, evergreen shrubs, masses of standard roses, shrubs, flowering blossom trees and spectacular Manchurian pear trees.
There are also new paths, built using hundreds of tonnes of concrete, winding through the memorial gardens to what Mr Beer describes as various vista points.
“We’ve worked with professional designers to come up with the master plan,” he said. “Naturally, it will be expanded over coming years, but at least what we have completed gives us a great starting point.”
Mr Beer said at this point about 25 positions in the memorial gardens have been taken for interments.
Cr Bobby Bourke, who was instrumental in the push for the establishment of a crematorium in Bathurst, said the success of the transformation of the cemetery was confirmation that council made the right decision.
“In many ways the Bathurst cemetery has never looked better and is recognised within the industry as one of the best-kept cemeteries in NSW and that’s something we can all be proud of,” he said.