Langmead Memorials News

For the last 18 months, Langmead had been adding specialist products to its extensive range of memorials to enhance their client’s choice when remembering their loved ones.

Without a shadow of a doubt, the most popular of these products has been the very first Ceramic Photograph tile called ‘Immortile’.  This is a radically new product which recreates a photograph three dimensionally in ceramic.  Classical elegant and very tactile it will last forever without fading.

Langmead’s Andy Brooker says: “Clients who wished to adorn their memorials with an everlasting image of their loved one have been absolutely delighted with their choice of an Immortile plaque  We set the plaques into the headstones and they look very good indeed.”

Immortile’s inventor, Julian Dakowski, has recently perfected another exciting product which Langmead has in their showroom in Pinhoe Road.  Another ‘world first’, the Wooden Photograph again recreates any photograph three-dimensionally.  Wonderfully warm and tactile, the Wooden Photograph may be cut into any timber product and Langmead are using the technique to allow clients to have their loved one’s photographs on wooden cross memorials.

“It has taken a very long time to perfect these processes” says Julian, “but to be able to two world firsts is very exciting”.

Both products fit well into Langmead’s business but they have a much wider appeal in all areas where being able to keep memories is important.  Whether it is a memory box with a Wooden Photograph of the new baby cut into the top for keeping a lifetime of memories, or a beautiful Immortile set in a silver frame to celebrate a wedding or an anniversary, the everlasting, tactile and non-fading properties will appeal universally.

“Watch out for our new website, ‘The Memory Button’, it will be on line very soon”, says Julian.

Admission Free - Refreshments available.

Exeter City Council Bereavement Services is hosting an open day in Higher Cemetery on Saturday 5th of September from 11am - 4pm.
The day will feature displays of unusual hearses, memorials, hand letter cutting etc as well as fascinating talks and presentations.  Langmead Memorials’ Keith Marsh will give a talk on the history of memorials at 2:00pm in the cemetery chapel and Andy Brooker, Langmead’s letter cutter will be demonstrating his art outside.

Groups exhibiting include…

• Stonemasons
• Funeral directors
• Estate planners
• Coffin providers
• Hearses and limousines
• Probate researchers
• Charities offering bereavement advice
• Local history specialists
• Florists

The Exeter Higher Cemetery at Heavitree was opened in 1866 and has been expanded on at least three occasions since then. Over 70,000 people are buried in the cemetery and there are currently over 12,000 memorials. The cemetery chapels were designed in the 19th century by the architect Edward Ashworth who is also buried here. The grounds were landscaped by Robert Veitch and Son, and today it is home to many fine trees, shrubs and varied wildlife. The cemetery has a number of historic monuments including the 1887 Theatre Royal Fire memorial and a World War 2 memorial.

For futher information please contact: Bereavement Services, Exeter City Council, Civic Centre, Paris Street, Exeter, EX1 1RQ

Telephone: 01392 265370 Fax: 01392 265795
Email: bereavement.services@exeter.gov.uk
Website: www.exeter.gov.uk/bereavement

The Garden of Remembrance in Exeter’s Higher Cemetery that was built by Langmead in partnership with the City Council is proving extremely popular.

Many people are choosing to inter their loved one’s ashes in this delightful spot in one of the country’s most beautiful cemeteries and, although the blue pearl granite desk tablet memorials and the green granite ‘leaf’ memorials with rose bushes are very popular, more people are taking the opportunity to purchase an individual garden plot which gives them more scope for personalizing their memorial.

For more details of the packages available  either contact Langmead or Exeter City Council Bereavement Services on Exeter (01392)265707 or email:bereavement.services@exeter.gov.uk the website is www.exeter.gov.uk

Announcing substantial reductions on selected headstones, cremation tablets and vases.  For example, a Dark Grey Lawn Memorial, 30″x 24″ overall, including…

• Erection within 30 miles of Exeter,
• 80 letter inscription,
• Fully guaranteed,
• VAT.

Now only £460-00

January 2009 only.
Cemetery and church fees not included

For more information please email us, or call our showrooms.
(Please quote offer WJ09).

Langmead Memorials has introduced a new range of granite sundials and birdbaths for use as a home memorial in your garden.

Designed to hold one, or two sets of ashes if required, these memorials are available in a range of colours and are made of solid granite with the central column bored to take the ashes containers.

These beautiful Memorials mean that the memories of a loved one can be kept close at hand, perhaps in a favourite spot in the garden or on the patio. It also means that, as with other garden ornaments, the Memorials can go with you when you move thereby solving the sometimes upsetting problem of having to visit and maintain a loved ones permanent resting place at a distance.

Inscriptions may be either carved around the top cover or on the central column.

These high quality memorials stand some 94cm high with the central column 31cm x 31cm and can be supplied and fitted anywhere in the West Country.

Please contact either of our showrooms for more details.

On Saturday 8th November the Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors asked all their Funeral Directors to open their doors to the general public for a National Bereavement Awareness Day.

Langport and District Funeral Services opened their Langport parlour and their new parlour at Townsend, Curry Rivel between 0900 and 1500.  The new parlour is shared with Langmead Memorials, therefore offering all the services the bereaved require under one roof.  To celebrate the opening and to give the public an opportunity to see more of what goes on,  Philip Peppard of Langport Funeral Services and Keith Marsh of Langmead Memorials,  arranged displays and demonstrations throughout the day.

Traditional horse-drawn hearse

There was a display of ‘Hearses and Coffins through the Ages’ at Curry Rivel with a traditional horse drawn hearse with a wicker coffin,  a modern day Mercedes hearse with an oak coffin and an immaculate motorcycle trike and hearse which was designed by the set designer of the Harry Potter films.  The trike and hearse will carried a very modern painted coffin.

There was also a demonstration of hand letter-cutting in stone by Langmead Memorials’ Andrew Brooker.  Andy is a very well known letter cutter whose work has featured in a number of television programmes. 

Keith Marsh.

• Headstone size: 27″x21″x 3″,
• Base size: 24″x12″x3″
• Available either polished or honed (see FAQ’s)
• Includes up to 80 letters,
• Includes fixing anywhere in the Westcountry,
• 10 year warranty
• VAT inclusive.