CARING staff at a crematorium have donated thousands of pounds to a Renfrewshire hospice.

The £7,000 windfall for St Vincent’s Hospice was delivered by the Clyde Coast and Garnock Valley Crematorium, in Dalry.

This takes the total amount raised for the Howwood-based hospice by staff at the crematorium to £12,000 since it opened last June.

Funds were raised through the new business’s membership of the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management National Recycling of Metals Scheme.

This is a national initiative that involves sensitively recovering metals and orthopaedic implants following cremation, with the consent of bereaved families.

Philip Ewing, manager of the Clyde Coast and Garnock Valley Crematorium, said: “As professionals assisting the bereaved, we recognise the financial challenges organisations supporting families at their most difficult and vulnerable time face.

“The £7,000 raised through the recycling scheme for St Vincent’s Hospice will directly benefit the families it supports when they are facing a difficult time through bereavement.

“Our heartfelt thanks go to each and every family who consented to take part in the national scheme, without whom life-changing donations such as the one we are making to the hospice would not be possible.”

Carol-Anne Lamont, fundraising manager at St Vincent’s Hospice, added: “I want to say a heartfelt thank-you to the Clyde Coast and Garnock Valley Crematorium for this incredible donation towards our services.”

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