News Maidstone Crematorium £11,600 charity donation funds caravan holidays for critically ill children
Local charity Family Forever JP, which aims to help families of seriously ill children to create special memories, has achieved its goal of purchasing a holiday caravan, thanks to an £11,600 donation raised through Maidstone Borough Council’s (MBC) Crematorium Metal Recycling Scheme.
The funds were raised through the recycling of metals recovered after cremations. At Vinters Park Crematorium, the process begins with obtaining written consent from bereaved families. After cremation, metals such as those from knee and hip implants are carefully collected, securely stored, and picked up on a quarterly basis. These metals are then sent to OrthoMetals, a specialist company in Sheffield, where they are separated, sorted, and smelted. High-grade cobalt steel is repurposed for the production of new orthopaedic implants, while lower-grade metals are recycled through traditional methods.
Family Forever JP was founded by Hayley and Steve Powell in memory of their son Jayden who sadly died from an aggressive brain tumour aged 17 on 16 August 2018. They relaunched their charity in 2022 after the initial launch in 2019 was halted by Covid.
The charity supports critically sick children and young adults. They focus on the whole family to make precious, everlasting memories, just as they did with Jayden.
The ultimate fundraising goal was to purchase a static caravan, which the charity is now able to do thanks to the scheme. They will be taking bookings for three months at a time starting March, April and May.
Jayden’s mum, Hayley Powell said:
“We are simply speechless, as a small charity we do all our own fund raising and we solely rely on the help of volunteers and the kind people who make donations.“So to receive a £11,600 donation was a very big shock to us. For us to raise this amount would have taken us a whole year. From the bottom of our hearts thank you to all the bereaved families, Maidstone Crematorium and everyone else involved in the scheme.
“We have now purchased our static caravan with decking, on a premium pitch at Camber Sands in Rye. Our next project is to purchase a chalet so we can adapt it for wheelchair and disabled access.”
Cllr Clive English, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services at Maidstone Borough Council said:
“Once again, we are amazed by the generosity of the bereaved families who choose to donate the medical implants from their loved ones’ ashes. It’s wonderful that their choice at such a sad time can be turned into a positive, making a huge impact on the families of the charities supported by this scheme.“We are delighted to have been able to help Family Forever JP to achieve their goal of purchasing a caravan and hope it helps many families to create treasured memories.”
Find out more about the charity and the families they have helped here: https://www.familyforeverjp.co.uk/
The scheme is run by the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM) https://iccm-uk.com/iccm/?pagename=recyclingmetal. Since joining in 2013 the Council has donated £172,676.00 to bereavement related charities. The donations started out as £5,000 and have steadily grown.
MBC joined the scheme in 2012, prior to this, implants from loved ones used to be stored at the crematorium until there was a sufficient amount and would then be buried within the Gardens of Remembrance.
As this method of disposal has become less acceptable and like many other crematoriums in the UK and the continent, any metal residue found will be recycled unless the family wish to make alternative arrangements.
The metals used for implants are special medical grade stainless steel, titanium and cobalt chrome, which are all produced from non-renewable resources. In the future, these resources will become depleted and such metals will become less available for operations. Therefore, this recycling scheme helps to protect the environment as well as saving resources and providing potential benefits for the living.