Saturday funeral service to go ahead

A grieving family who was denied a Saturday funeral service because their religious beliefs don’t require it have now been granted their wishes.

The family of Ronald Rigg, who passed away on Friday aged 89, are travelling from as far as San Diego and Spain to pay their respects and requested a Saturday funeral service so that everyone could attend.

To their surprise, Rochdale crematorium informed them that only Muslims can have such privilege, as their religion requires them to bury a body within 24 hours of death.

Rochdale Online carried out some research and discovered through Rochdale Borough Council that the Saturday service is also available to families with “exceptional circumstances”, but where possible, they try to hold the service on a weekday to avoid paying staff overtime.

Mr Rigg’s was going to be held in Radcliffe, Bury, on Saturday, so that all the family can attend, but after the story was published on Monday, his son Dennis Rigg, from Shawclough, received a call to say the Saturday service can indeed go ahead in Rochdale.

He said: “If there is a rule it should be across the board, I am just glad we are able to all get there and meet in Rochdale”.

Derek Mack, cemeteries manager at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “We don’t provide routine funeral services at weekends, but in exceptional circumstances where a burial or cremation is required on a specific day we will consider the case put to us by the family. In the past we have accommodated such requests but we will look at the circumstances on an individual basis.

“We have an agreement with the local Muslim community that burials can take place at weekends to meet the needs of their faith and cultural customs”.