Mourners Upset By People Having Picnics and Barbeques
Cemeteries and crematorium see funeral processions affected by bad behaviour
Fulham Palace Road graveyard
“Selfish” Londoners have been warned against visiting crematoriums and cemeteries to sunbathe, picnic, or have barbecues.
Signs urging people to “show respect” have also been posted at Margravine Road and Fulham Palace Road cemeteries by Hammersmith and Fulham Council staff.
Residents in Kew and East Sheen have been harangued for bad behaviour that has disturbed funeral processions at Mortlake Crematorium, especially while it has been in high demand due to fatalities from the COVID pandemic.
Adronie Alford, chair of the board of Mortlake Crematorium, said, “Sunbathing and people bringing their children to the lawns is happening quite regularly. We have had trouble with people picnicking.
“We have had funeral processions going on with people mourning their dead while people have been picnicking and letting their children play. It’s just inappropriate.
“What we have instructed the superintendent to do is to call the police and stop it because we can’t have it. Our staff are being very resolute.
“There is a small number of people who think the rules don’t apply to them. We can’t have people congregating at the Crematorium, it’s against the rules. It’s totally selfish.”
Ms Alford, who is also a councillor in Fulham, added: “People are allowed to go in and pay their respects with their families, but they don’t let their children run riot and they certainly don’t picnic.”
Meanwhile, Hammersmith and Fulham Council has been forced to display a series of posters that read “sunbathing and barbecues are not allowed at the cemetery”.
Another council poster reads: “It is NOT a place for picnics or playing games.”
It comes after a bank holiday weekend which saw Londoners bask 24C and blue skies, ahead of a falsely anticipated loosening of the lockdown rules.
This weekend, temperatures look set to hit 20C in London on Sunday, May 17, well above average temperatures for the month.
Owen Sheppard - Local Democracy Reporter