Bandon Hill Cemetery
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Page 5 Agenda Item 6 BANDON HILL CEMETERY Bandon Hill Cemetery was opened in 1900 by the Croydon Rural District Council and later, due to boundary changes, became a joint burial authority for the Corporation of Beddington and Wallington and the Coulsdon and Purley Urban District Council. With the formation of the London Boroughs in 1965, the Cemetery became jointly run by the London Boroughs of Croydon and Sutton. The management of the Cemetery is overseen by a Joint Committee comprising elected members from Croydon and Sutton Councils. Deficits were apportioned to the constituent boroughs based on annual usage. However, since 1994, the cemetery has been in surplus. The annual surplus is transferred into reserves. The Joint Committee – consisting of five members from Croydon and four from Sutton – meets at the cemetery chapel twice a year. As the Cemetery is situated within the Borough of Sutton, central support services are provided by the London Borough of Sutton. In 1965, the Joint Committee agreed that Sutton’s Town Clerk, Borough Treasurer and Borough Engineer should be the Joint Committee’s Clerk, Treasurer and Surveyor respectively. This arrangement has continued, with necessary modifications, with, currently, LBS’s Committee Support Team responsible for Clerk to the Joint Committee and LBS’s Parks Management responsible for the day-to-day running of the cemetery. The area of Bandon Hill Cemetery is approximately six-and-a-quarter hectares. The Cemetery has consecrated (Church of England) ground and un-consecrated or general ground (where each grave plot is individually blessed by the appropriate minister on the day of the first interment.) The first interment in Bandon Hill Cemetery took place on March 7th 1900 and was in grave number L 379. The chapel complex, shown above, houses the cemetery office and a small funeral chapel. The chapel is available for funeral services. There is currently no additional charge for the use of the chapel for funerals (excluding cremated remains interments) within Bandon Hill Cemetery. On the 24th March 2006 the cemetery carried out the 30,000th interment. There are approximately 14,000 grave spaces. Since 31st March 1995, with the exception of graves for cremated remains only, new burial rights have only been available for RECLAIMED graves – these being very old graves which have burial space remaining but have not been used for at least seventy-five years. The original rights to these graves are reclaimed by the Joint Committee by virtue of Section 9 of the GLC (General Powers) Act 1976. This page is intentionally left blank.