We recognise that a funeral can mean different things to each and every one of us. As every family has different influences, such as religious beliefs, cultural traditions, cost concerns and personal preferences, each funeral we arrange will be as unique as the loved one who passed away.
Our staff are here to listen to your wishes, discuss and advise you of the options available, guiding you every step of the way.
We will take care of the practical arrangements, assisting you with the completion of all documentation and we will act as your agent between the various services, such as officiating clergy, cemeteries or crematoria, florist, hotel, monumental services and newspapers etc.
You will receive a written estimate and confirmation of all the arrangements.
The funeral arrangement can be made where is most convenient for you, such as your home, our Funeral home, a Solicitor’s office or a friend’s home
The role of a funeral director is to take care of the practical arrangements. This includes: advising you of the options and choices for the funeral and ensuring that arrangements are made in accordance with your wishes and those of the person who has passed away.
The first person to contact is the family GP, they will normally call at the home and once satisfied with the cause of death, will issue a Death Certificate.
In some cases, you may be asked to call at the surgery to collect the certificate.
In some cases, a report may have to go to the Procurator Fiscal. There are a number of reasons for this.
It may be, for example that the family GP has not seen the deceased within a reasonable time prior to death.
In certain circumstances the Police may be involved, there is no need to worry as this is a normal procedure, usually associated with sudden deaths.
In this circumstance you will usually deal with the Nurse or the Ward Manager in charge.
They will have made the necessary arrangements for the doctor to issue the Death Certificate and will inform you when it will be available.
We will ask for information regarding yourself, the deceased and the place of death. It is not essential to have the Death Certificate before making contact.
Whatever the circumstances we will care for your loved one with respect and dignity in our Funeral Home until the time of the funeral.
You may wish to pay your last respects to your loved one, privately and peacefully while they are with us.
Once you have received the Death Certificate you will need to register the death.
Registration should take place prior to the funeral or cremation as they cannot proceed until the death is registered.
For a check-list of other organisations to contact, please click here
You may wish to notify friends and colleagues of the deceased through the columns of newspapers or take advantage of our free online obituary/intimation services which has the option to put the details of the funeral on multimedia sites like Facebook and Twitter if you desire.
Our Funeral Director can attend to this on your behalf.
Registration should always take place prior to the funeral. A relative of the deceased usually registers the death. If no relative is available then the duty may be performed by any person present at the death, the occupier of the premises where the death took place, or the person who is accepting responsibility for arranging the funeral. It may be necessary to arrange an appointment with the Registrar.
If you feel you would like support we can arrange for someone to accompany you to the Registrar’s Office.
The death can be registered by:
Any relative of the deceased, or
Any person present when the person died, or
The deceased’s executor or other legal representative, or
The occupier of the property where the person died, or if there is no such person,
Anyone else who knows the information to be registered.
Any death which occurs in Scotland must be registered within eight days of the date of death by the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. The law allows a death to be registered in any registration district in Scotland. You can obtain the address of the local registrar from the undertaker, the hospital, the doctor, the telephone book (see under ‘Registration of Births, Death and Marriages’) and the Directory of Registrars in Scotland
The opening hours of registration offices varies between local authorities and some operate an appointments system. You should therefore check with the relevant local authority before attending an office. All deaths in Scotland now require to be registered before the funeral can take place.
The date and place of their death
Their full name
The date and place of their birth
Their occupation
Their home address
If they were in receipt of a pension or allowance from public funds
If married, the date of birth of the surviving spouse
You should take with you:
The medical certificate of cause of death;
The deceased’s birth and marriage certificate;
The deceased’s NHS medical card;
Any documents relating to the receipt of a pension or allowance from government funds.
Provided you have the medical certificate of cause of death, do not worry if any of the other documents are not available as the registrar can still proceed to register the death.
When the registration is complete the registrar will give you, free of charge:
A certificate of registration of death for production to the person in charge of the burial ground or crematorium;
A Social Security registration or notification of death certificate for use in obtaining or adjusting Social Security benefits.
An abbreviated extract (i.e. excluding cause of death and parentage details) of the death entry.
You can obtain a full extract of the death entry for a fee.
The Registrar will issue a white certificate of registration of death which is required by us prior to the funeral taking place. If the death has been referred to the Procurator Fiscal, the registration process may vary – we will advise you accordingly.
The Medical Certificate of Death (Form 11). This will be issued by the Medical Practitioner attending the deceased.
You must register the death according to the regulations in the country where the person died. You will be given a local death certificate.
This local death certificate will be accepted in the UK. It may need to be a certified translation of the document if it is not in English.
You can also apply to register the death with the UK authorities. You don’t have to do this, but it means that a record of the death will be sent to the National Records of Scotland and you can order a consular death registration certificate from New Register House.
More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/register-a-death/y/overseas
Following the introduction of new legislation, changes are being made to the way deaths are registered in Scotland.
One of these changes means that, from 13 May 2015, Healthcare Improvement Scotland reviews a random sample of medical certificates of cause of death (MCCDs).
These reviews are designed to check the quality and accuracy of MCCDs and to improve the way that information about deaths is recorded.=
Our reviews are carried out by a team of medical reviewers who are all experienced and trained doctors. The review service is led by Senior Medical Reviewer, Dr George Fernie.
Death Certification Review Service information leaflet
There are two main types of review. For Level 1 reviews the medical reviewer will check the MCCD and speak to the certifying doctor. This should take one working day. In addition to these reviews, there will be a smaller number of Level 2 reviews where the medical reviewer will speak to the certifying doctor and also check relevant medical records. This should take up to three working days.
The system randomly selects about 10% of all deaths for Level 1 review, with additional Level 2 reviews. This does not include sudden or suspicious deaths, which are reported to the Procurator Fiscal, or stillbirths. This means that we review around 6,000 MCCDs a year out of the approximately 55,000 deaths that occur in Scotland annually.
Advance registration
If the MCCD you bring to the registrar is selected for review, but the funeral has to take place within a certain timescale, you can apply for advance registration.
More on how to apply for Advance registration
Interested person review
If you have questions or concerns about the content of the MCCD after speaking to the doctor, or if these occur to you at a later stage, you can ask us to carry out an interested person review.
More on how to apply for an Interested person review
Deaths abroad
The arrangements for burial and cremation of a person who has died outside of the UK, and will be returned to Scotland, changed on 13 May 2015.
More on the changes to arrangements for deaths that occur abroad
Clydebank
10 Sylvania Way South
Clydebank
G81 1EA
Tel: (01389) 738350
Monday to Thursday 09:00 – 12:00, 12:50 – 16:00
An appointment must be made for this registration office
Glasgow City Council
Service Desk
45 John Street
Glasgow
G1 1JQ
Arrange appointment
Book Online
An appointment must be made for this registration office
After the arrangements have been made, you will be given a written and itemised estimate explained in full, so that you are aware of all costs involved. It will be highlighted to you that there will be some monies that have to be paid before the day of the funeral, these are called the disbursements.
The disbursements are fees that we pay on your behalf to third parties such as, for example, doctors, florists, local authorities, newspapers and clergy. An itemised invoice for our services will be posted to you one week after the funeral takes place. You have 28 days to make payment. Payment can be made by cash, bankers draft, debit or credit in person or by phone at our funeral home. If required the invoice can also be referred to your solicitor.
We recognise that the death of a loved one can find families totally unprepared not just emotionally but financially. As a result many families are unable to immediately find the resources to fully pay for a funeral. At Clydebank Co-operative we offer a range of services and advice to help with individual circumstances.
There a numerous ways that a funeral can celebrate the individuality of a person whom has died. We will discuss the options available to personalise the funeral and create this unique ceremony.
Many bereaved people take great comfort from placing personal items, for example photographs or letters, in the coffin with the deceased.
We place no restrictions on what may be placed in a coffin while the deceased is in our care. However, there are restrictions placed by crematoria, for example, metal or glass objects.
Where appropriate, we will give advice.
Bearers may be relatives, friends or colleagues of the person who has passed away. There would usually be four or six coffin bearers. We can provide bearers if required.
If you wish for the deceased to be dressed in their own clothing, please seek our advice.
While this is normally acceptable, there are some circumstances, particularly where cremation will take place, where we are bound to comply with regulations which restrict certain materials.
We are able to supply a wide range of dressing or suiting robes, which are acceptable to the relevant authorities.
The decision of whether to visit the deceased is a personal one. We cannot advise you about your preference, but many people take comfort from seeing the deceased at rest.
We have private resting rooms available at our Funeral Home, or you may wish to have the deceased at home. We are happy to discuss arrangements with you.
There is the facility to play CDs with a favourite piece of music in our resting rooms. You may wish to display a photograph or a small selection of possessions or keepsakes, many families have said this helped to make this aspect of the funeral more personal to them.
Things to consider:
We can arrange different types of Hearses if required for example a horse drawn hearse, motor cycle hearse, camper van hearse there are many options just tell us what you would like.
It is possible to play a specific piece of music during the service; this is an opportunity to add a personal touch.
The music chosen can usually be anything from traditional organ music to a CD supplied by you. Alternatively, you may wish to have a musician playing at the service.
Depending on the location of the service, there may be certain restrictions.
A friend or relative may wish to say a few words during the service about the person who has died, you can prepare this yourself, or you may prefer a favourite poem or other reading.
This is an opportunity to not only publicly announce the death and funeral details, but can also be used to pay tribute to the deceased in your chosen newspaper.
We offer a free online Clydebank obituary and intimation service which has the facility for mourners to make a donation on line to your chosen charity and leave tributes and messages of condolence.
Flowers are a simple and beautiful way to create a personal tribute. We are able to help you choose your flowers and offer advice on special orders. When ordering flowers it is advisable to give as much notice as possible.
Following the funeral you may decide that suitable floral tributes could be used to benefit others, such as a hospital, nursing home or another organisation (subject to them wishing to receive them). We will be happy to arrange this for you.
Many bereaved families wish to restrict the sending of floral tributes to immediate family members only and request that, as an alternative, donations are made to a charity or other organisation. We can arrange for a donations basket at the service or alternatively we can set up a just giving page for your chosen charity so that mourners can donate on line.
You may wish to offer guests refreshments after the funeral. You will need to take into consideration:
We have menus and prices for all the local hotels and providers and will be happy to make the booking on your behalf.
Should you chose to have an order of service printed for the funeral, we will be happy to advise on layout and content and have these produced for you.
We offer a wide range of memorial stationery mass cards, personalised condolence books, book markers and keepsake cards.