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Spencer Lee is a senior crematorium technician at the City of London cemetery and crematorium. He is involved in all aspects of the service and actual cremation.
I ensure that funeral services and cremations of the deceased are carried out in a dignified and professional manner and that the cremations comply with all relevant regulations. For instance, the Code of Crematorium Practice, which deals with the ethical standards, stipulates that cremation is always carried out on the same day as the service.
There are three parts to my job, the first is working in the chapels and acting as a chapel attendant, looking after the deceased's relatives and friends, and organising the music. The second is overseeing the cremation itself and the third is helping people receive and dispose of the deceased's ashes; they may wish to scatter them in the Garden of Rest. After the cremation operation, I recover the remains and put these into a suitable and carefully identified container to await dispersal or collection.
I work roughly 40 hours a week, either 7.00am to 4.30pm, or 9.30am to 6.30pm.
People might think a crematorium would be a dark and depressing place to work, but this is not true. It's clean and bright, even below ground level in the crematory itself. The grounds are also very peaceful and the whole atmosphere is one of calm and compassion.
I work with seven other members of staff and I am the youngest in the team. There are five technicians, one other senior technician and the crematorium manager.
The most important skill is dealing sympathetically with people who are in mourning and experiencing one of the most difficult times in their lives. It is necessary to understand how the cremation equipment works and you need computer skills for logging all the information.
I'd had experience working with the public, in customer services. I enjoyed that and saw this as a job where being sympathetic with people was both important and rewarding.
My training has been mostly on the job, supervised by the manufacturers of the cremation equipment. There is a crematorium technicians training scheme run by the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM) and this involves a written and practical test.
Yes, the cremator (used in the cremation operation) is a large piece of equipment. We have four of them below floor level and they need weekly maintenance using a variety of hand tools.
I like helping people get through a difficult time, but I sometimes find it hard to separate myself from the grief people are expressing around me. The other drawback is that it's not the kind of work you can chat about openly with family or friends, because it's an exoerience most people don't like to think about.
My biggest challenge is simply trying to make sure all the funeral services run as smoothly as possible. For instance, on a busy day we can be involved in more than 30 cremations.
I get satisfaction from my work and would like to be manager of a crematorium one day.
Salaries are between £10,000 and £12,000, rising with experience to around £15,000. Senior staff in supervisory roles can earn £20,000.