Plan for volunteers to attend funerals with no mourners

Plans to have a team of volunteers on standby who can attend funerals if it is feared nobody else will have been backed by a council.

Three funerals were organised by Torfaen council last year for people who had died without any next of kin being identified.

Nick Horler, independent councillor for Blaenavon, put forward the idea of having volunteers, at the suggestion of a resident, and the proposal was unanimously backed by the full council.

He said the resident pointed out that, while organisations such as the Royal British Legion would attend services of veterans, they would like to think “it could be done for everyone”.

Mr Horler said there might be “limited need” for the service but talks had been held with council officers on how it could work, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“The cemetery team could call a body of volunteers, headed up by a coordinator, to facilitate attendance,” he said.

He said those that signed up would represent the council “suited and booted”.

Council leader Anthony Hunt said it was “comforting” that two of the three funerals arranged by the authority in the past year had been attended by people “who knew the deceased” but said a progress report on how the proposal would be implemented would be provided at a later date.