At the beginning of June, Niederrhein Willich Crematorium organised an early summer regional meeting for funeral directors and their personnel. This informal meeting was very well attended. Many funeral directors were surprised by the many unique options available at Willich, which very few crematoria in Germany are able to offer.
Niederrhein Willich Crematorium provides the option of expressing condolences after a ceremony. The crematorium has a number of very stylish areas for this purpose with extensive gastronomic possibilities, including catering for larger groups.
After a tour of the crematorium, visitors were introduced to a number of the gastronomic possibilities and stayed to chat with business contacts and colleagues.

On 24 March, De Boskamp Funeral Centre & Crematorium organised its first Open Evening. Many visitors came for the extensive guided tour. Reactions were extremely positive.

The need is there
Alex de Fretes, general assistant at De Boskamp Funeral Centre & Crematorium, looked after one group of visitors: “People approached me very directly this evening. They had personal wishes they wanted to discuss, or questions that had been bothering them for some time. I truly noticed a need for evenings like this, a time to discuss matters in an open conversation, in peace. Both visitors and ourselves went home feeling satisfied.”

Very diverse
“It was a very diverse crowd”, says Sietse de Vries, site manager. “There was one gentleman who asked a number of critical questions about our facilities. During our conversation it transpired his wife is ill and that he was obtaining information. He thanked me for the sense of peace I was able to give him during his quest. Other visitors were here just because they were curious about De Boskamp and one of them was a trainee funeral director who wanted to know how we work.”

Sietse de Vries is very satisfied with how the evening went: “We didn’t know what to expect, but it has been tremendously valuable. The set-up of the event in particular, small and informal, created a very pleasant experience. People immediately felt at ease and were not afraid to ask questions. It was very useful for us too. It enabled us to get personal accounts from people, and to learn about their wishes and uncertainties. This is certainly not the last Open Evening we’ll be organising!”

Dieren Crematorium, part of ‘the Facultatieve Group’, organised its first public participation evening on 17 February 2016, so that anyone who was interested was able to come to the Crematorium without having to make an appointment. There was a lot of interest and visitors were positive about this new initiative.

Personal consultations
Dieren Crematorium had organised this event in order to answer the questions that are important to people. “I wanted to know if Dieren had the music I would like to have played at my own funeral. I had a look with one of their members of staff and it turns out they do have it. So that’s one concern less for me. I’m so happy with this”, says one of the visitors. This type of evening is very important to another lady: “I wanted to view the auditorium without being disturbed and take some pictures. I want to show them to my husband, who’s seriously ill. It’s extremely sad, but I’m glad we can organise his goodbye like this. And this is something you want to do in a personal consultation and when it’s quiet, like tonight.”

The Noord-Holland hiking network recently compiled a new route in the area of Driehuis. This also takes hikers along Westerveld Cemetery & Crematorium – part of ‘the Facultatieve Group’ – which, in addition to a memorial park, is also a beautiful walking area.

A walk through Westerveld Memorial Park is very special. This former ‘country place’ was purchased by a number of prominent residents of Amsterdam who set up a cemetery in this location. Famous landscape architect Zocher was responsible for the design. These days, you can walk along beautiful paths, surrounded by a green oasis of tranquillity. Allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the lush vegetation and special monuments. Nearly one hundred and fifty years of cultural history in a unique, hilly dune area; worth exploring.

Petit Café Westerveld
Petit Café Westerveld, a pleasant café where visitors and hikers can have a drink and a bite to eat, can be found at the entrance of Westerveld. The café offers a special hiker’s menu, which you can enjoy just before your walk across Westerveld, or when you want to take a well-deserved rest afterwards.

Route
The walk is 6.25 km and starts and ends at Driehuis station. You can find the walk here. This website also provides more information about the route and the hiking network – an initiative of collaborating municipalities and site managers in the province of Noord-Holland.

Some 130,000 visitors from more than 120 countries attended the world’s largest medical trade fair – Medica – which was held in Dusseldorf from 17th to 20th November. Over 5,000 exhibitors from across the globe presented a wide array of medical products and services.

There was a great deal of interest in the sophisticated dissection tables displayed by Funeralia, particularly the ergonomic design and wide range of options available. This applied also to their body tray lifters for transporting the deceased. With over 45 years of experience, and with its own in-house design and production facilities, Funeralia ensures they provide that ‘Made in Germany’ quality.

Funeralia, part of ‘the Facultatieve Group’, supplies a wide range of medical products, including dissection tables and body tray lifters for pathology, anatomic and judicial medical organizations, and for caring for the deceased in hospitals and care homes.

At the end of November, Niederrhein Willich Crematorium organised a regional autumn meeting for funeral service providers and their staff. This informal meeting was well-attended. Many service providers were curious about the various options which are available at the crematorium.

The guests were treated to a detailed guided tour of the monumental crematorium and were of course given the opportunity to have a look around in the cremation area, where they were given an explanation of the environmentally-friendly system. Reactions were positive. After the guided tour, guests had the opportunity to talk with each other and the crematorium staff, while enjoying winter dishes such as pea soup and glühwein.