Latest news
Dear ICF member,
I hope you are doing well.
Please note that ALPAR (Latin American Association of Cemeteries and Funeral Services) has changed the location of their VI International Symposium to Panama City, Panama. The symposium will take place from Friday 14 - Monday 17 October. As previously communicated, the ICF General Council Meeting (GCM) will be held during the ALPAR Symposium! We will inform you with registration options, hotel information and program as soon as possible.
The organizers of the ALPAR Symposium have asked whether it is possible that some of our ICF members, experts in cremation, could give presentations during the academic agenda? If you are available to meet this request, then please let us know before long stating the subject of your contribution. Your presentation will be part of the program in consultation with the ALPAR Academic Committee.
Don’t miss out! Many important topics will be attended and the exchange of information on worldwide developments between the different organisations and countries is a core element. In our industry, urgent issues and inequalities are worth exploring and extensive knowledge is available to be shared in order to achieve a professional cooperation at an international level.
The ICF GCM will address important aspects; the elections for filling the two vacancies within our Executive Committee concerning the position of Vice-president, the formal appointment of the members of our three re-established sub-committees and many more. Also, there will be the opportunity for ICF-members to present a ‘country report’ during the GCM. The ICF secretariat looks forward to receiving applications from members of representatives of their country that are willing to give a short country presentation on the local developments in cremation.
Furthermore, we are happy to have welcomed the following new member:
ITALY
B-CP srl
Mr Marco Baccini, General Manager
Finally for now, ALPAR has invited all ICF members to join the 2022 edition of ‘The World United For Life’ on Sunday 18th September.
Keep an eye on our website: www.icf-worldwide.org. And please let us know when you have news to share. Take care of yourself and others. We look very much forward to see you in Panama City in October next!
All the best, on behalf of the Executive Committee,
Melanie
Dear ICF member,
Now many of the remaining COVID-19 pandemic related international travel restrictions are (being) lifted, we look forward to organizing the ICF General Council Meeting 2022 in-person! It is our pleasure to announce that the GCM will be held during the ALPAR (Latin American Association of Cemeteries and Funeral Services) VI International Symposium which will take place from Thursday 13 – Sunday 16 October in San Juan, Puerto Rico. More details including the program and registration options are to follow soon. Our member ALPAR is a leading association with great recognition in the Funeral Industry worldwide, which brings together the companies of the Funeral Industry in Latin America, promoting cooperation among its members, offering specialized services and channelling to them those provided by other entities, as well as training the employees of the companies to achieve maximum levels of efficiency in operational and excellence in the provision of services to families.
Don’t miss out! Many important topics will be attended and the exchange of information on worldwide developments between the different organisations and countries is a core element. In our industry, urgent issues and inequalities are worth exploring and extensive knowledge is available to be shared in order to achieve a professional cooperation at an international level.
During the GCM there will be the opportunity for ICF-members to present a ‘country report’. The secretariat welcomes suggestions from members of representatives of their country that are willing to give a short country presentation on the local developments in cremation.
We have two vacancies within our Executive Committee concerning the position of Vice-president. The following candidatures were submitted:
- Mr Andrés Aguilar, nominated by ALPAR, Colombia
- Professor Hilary J Grainger OBE, nominated by The Cremation Society, UK
- Mr Thies Heinrich, nominated by the RAL Gütegemeinschaft Feuerbestattungsanlagen e.V., Germany
The elections will be part of the GCM. The Executive Committee recommends the membership to elect Mr Aguilar in relation to the aim of a global spread of the activities and Mrs Grainger for representation of The Cremation Society, being one of the founding members of the ICF.
As communicated we are happy that three of our sub-committees have been re-established. The purpose is to modernise the concepts and set general guidelines in order to enable relevant discussions that address for example the challenges concerning the environment, the technical specification of the equipment and the service to the bereaved. We are grateful for the many applications to take part and the following appointments will be formally confirmed during the GCM:
ETHICAL SUB-COMMITTEE
- Mr Craig Caldwell, The Mazwell Group (UK)
- Mr Svend-Jörk Sobolewski, CremTec (Germany)
suggested issues to raise: general acceptance of cremation / handling of metals remaining from ashes, focus on cultural differences and local customs
LEGAL SUB-COMMITTEE
- Mr Uwe Claußen, REMONDIS (Germany)
- Professor Heather Conway, The Cremation Society (UK)
- Mr Hidde Verberne, Orthometals (The Netherlands)
suggested issues to raise: charting laws and regulations
TECHNICAL SUB-COMMITTEE
- Mr Brendan Day, Federation of Burial and Cremation Authorities (UK)
- Mr Andrew Mallalieu, The Cremation Society (UK)
- Mr Jeff Pickard, FT (UK)
- Mr Slobodan Stojanović, Cremation Association of Serbia ‘OGANJ’ (Serbia)
- Mr Stephen Wright, London Cremation Company plc (UK)
- Mr Tom Wustenberghs, VNOC (Belgium)
- Mr Dieter Zahn, IFZW GmbH (Germany)
suggested issues to raise: research on environmental circumstances and developments worldwide / new technologies
It is with sadness that we are remembering the loss of Mr Harvey Thomas, who was appointed recently in the new ICF Ethical sub-committee and was former Chairman of the Cremation Society among other various positions. Mr Harvey Thomas died on 13 March 2022. We wish his family and loved ones every strength.
Take care of yourself and others. We look very much forward to see you in Puerto Rico in October next!
Executive Committee
Also published in Resurgam.
Here you can read the Environmental awareness report by the FBCA.