Princess' crematorium wins praise

Crematorium staff meet the needs of ethnic minorities

The cemetery where Princess Margaret was cremated has been awarded a mark of excellence for its quality of service.

Inspectors praised staff at Slough Borough Council's cemetery and crematorium for their work with bereaved relatives and their response to the needs of ethnic minority groups.

The cemetery was also praised for extending its opening hours to Saturday.

It has retained a Charter Mark for quality of service to the public.

Meeting need

The government inspectors' report stated: "You have changed your service to make life easier for users, including providing for burials outside of your normal business hours to meet the needs of the Muslim community.

"Your users told our assessor that you went out of your way to meet the needs of the bereaved, providing an out-of-hours service if necessary."

Roger Parkin, registrar at the cemetery, said: "We are proud that our level of service to the public and bereaved of Slough has again been recognised in this special way."

Princess Margaret was cremated at the cemetery in Stoke Road, Slough, on 15 February 2002.