Southern District
Area covered
The London Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston-upon-Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton, Wandsworth and the surrounding areas including north Surrey.
Who should attend
Anyone within the funeral profession – owners, managers and funeral directors, funeral arrangers, administrators – or connected thereto e.g. crematoria, cemeteries, nursing homes, mortuaries, registrars.
Frequency of meetings
Meetings are held quarterly at The Hallmark Hotel, 680 Purley Way, Croydon CR9 4LT on Monday evenings and are followed by supper.
Recent topics have included the operation of a cemetery & memorial gardens, the history of embalming, GDPR and the new FFMA testing protocol.
If you are interested in joining the Association, would like to learn more about it, or are keen to become involved on the Committee, please contact the officers.
Contact details
Email address for the Officers : lafdsouthern@outlook.com
The District Committee is chaired by Tony Pearson;
Vice-chairman – Gary Valentine-Fuller
Hon. Secretary – Frank Meilack
Hon. Treasurer – Barbara Ward
Members’ suggestions for future activities are invited.
Meeting reports
Monday 15th April 2019 – AGM – Hallmark Hotel, Purley Way, Croydon
London Association Vice-President, Adam Ginder, was in attendance at the 2019 Annual General Meeting and provided updates on LAFD/NAFD recent developments and events.
The evening included elections to the Committee.
New Chairman Tony Pearson will be supported by Gary Valentine-Fuller (Vice-chairman), Frank Meilack (continuing as Hon. Secretary) and Barbara Ward (continuing as Hon. Treasurer).
Retiring Chairman Emily Sharma thanked the Committee and members for their support during her year in office, which she had thoroughly enjoyed.
There was discussion of the trial of the Medical Examiner process, conducted very successfully by Croydon Crematorium and local funeral firms.
The evening concluded with dinner, as usual. The next meeting is being planned for early July.
Monday 23rd July 2018
The meeting welcomed Howard Pickard, Managing Director, Resomation LBBC, who gave a presentationon “water cremation”.
As is customary, attendees enjoyed a convivial supper to complete the evening.
Monday 30th April 2018 – AGM
New London Association President, Richard van Nes, was delighted to be invited to attend the Southern District Association’s AGM and to welcome its newly elected officers.
Retiring Chairman Ben Walkling was thanked warmly for his service during the past two years.
Despite then being a recent recruit to the Committee, Ben had picked up the chain of office when the previous Chairman relocated away from the area and had done a sterling job keeping the District organisation flourishing.
New Chair Emily Sharma informed the meeting that the Committee’s focus for the year will be on growing the membership and improving communication and engagement with members across the District.
To this end, she announced the creation of a new, dedicated email address for the District Committee (see above).
The meeting welcomed Dr Chris Rose and Mr Alex Keen, of Ascension Flights, who gave a fascinating presentation, which was very well received.
Monday 29th January 2018
The well attended meeting was pleased to welcome guest speaker Simon Allen, who gave a timely, informative presentation on the new General Data Protection Regulations, being introduced in May.
The evening also included the customary supper.
Monday 16th January 2017
District Chairman Ben welcomes NAFD President Jeremy Field
The meeting was attended by a good mix of people from a variety of funeral services.
Those present enjoyed an interesting presentation from a carriage master and a lively debate covering diverse matters, such as the Social Fund, Coroner services and an update on ME Implementation in England.
The enjoyable evening concluded with a hot buffet supper.