The Centre for Natural Burial

By Danny Law, Deeside Piper and Herald

FINZEAN residents are hoping to get permission to build a new graveyard near to the Birse and Feughside Church. The new cemetery would include a “green” graveyard allowing more environmentally-friendly burials.

John Forster, member of Finzean Community Council, believes it is about time the area had its own cemetery.

“People feel that it would be nice to have a graveyard in Finzean as our nearest cemeteries are in Birse and Strachan, which are both about four miles away. Most people want to be buried close to where they have lived their lives,” he said.

The “green” graveyard would allow people to be buried in the more natural se
tting of a meadowland with wildflowers, trees and shrubs. It would also use more biodegradable coffins than the regular versions to prevent harmful chemicals entering the soil.

John feels that the local community are fully behind the project, which would cost approximately £60,000. Most of that figure has already been raised or covered by fundraising and local residents who have volunteered to help out.

He said: “We carried out a survey in the local community and just under 50% of the local residents would prefer to be buried in Finzean. About one-third of them said that they would also prefer to have a green burial. It would be the first non-private green graveyard in Aberdeenshire.”

“I hope we get a decision by April so that we can start work in May. We have nearly 50 people who have volunteered to help us with the project and we would like to start as soon as possible.”