Clareville Crematorium
Plant a tree program
The crematorium at Clareville is a local cremation facility owned and operated by Richmond Funeral Home.
Between April 2014 and March 2025 the Funeral Home provided funding to plant a native plant/seedling for each cremation carried out at the Clareville Crematorium during that period.
In early years there was an arrangement with the Carterton Council Parks and Reserves team for plants to be provided once a year in line with their planting program to be used in planting up areas at the Clareville Cemetery that were been prepared ahead of time for future use.
Some were also provided through the “Trees that count” program which has seen trees provided to some wider Wairarapa community projects.
Importance of a meaningful farewell
Across all our relationships we focus on hello – we greet our grandchildren with arms wide open, we give Mum a hug when we see her and we smile and wave to our friends.
Goodbye is just as important as hello.
That’s why the Funeral Directors Association on NZ Take the Time to Talk awareness week each year focuses on the importance of a meaningful farewell.
The FDANZ vision is a New Zealand where meaningful funerals are valued as an essential part of healthy grieving and the Richmond Funeral Home team support that vision.
This year our campaign is highlighting to families that a meaningful funeral experience/farewell is the best way we can help those left behind to deal with grief and loss.
Grief, which is our inbuilt biological reaction to the death of someone we love and care for, cannot be opted into or out of, it will confront us whether we like it or not.
Social science tells us that the only way to effectively cope with grief and start to heal is through the process of a meaningful farewell. “A goodbye.”
The Take the Time to Talk campaign encourages family to realise the value they put on hello, and to think about putting the same focus on goodbye; to allow our families the best opportunity to grieve well.
The Richmond Funeral Home team will support your family to say goodbye.
A funeral or farewell doesn’t have to be a fuss, it doesn’t have to be big, it just needs to be a meaningful experience for those that matter.
A meaningful funeral or farewell is an opportunity for grandchildren, children, friends and other family to say goodbye with as much enthusiasm as you gave them in saying hello.
Take the Time to Talk – to your family about your wishes and their needs
Clareville Cemetery Chapel
“Book of Memory”
The book is securely locked in a glass display cabinet in the Chapel, and there is a double page for each day of the year. Each day the pages of the book are turned and reveal the names of those people who died on that day. (The anniversary of their death). There is a charge of $15.00 for each entry
In years gone by it was a common practice for a child who died at birth (stillborn) or soon after birth to be buried without ceremony, often in unmarked graves and in some cases without record.
Over the years it has become apparent that families and in particular parents have struggled to come to terms with the inability to visit a grave or have some special place to go.
In December 2010 the Carterton District Council agreed to provide a dedicated area where a memorial could be erected to acknowledge these children.
Richmond Funeral Home together with Headstones Wairarapa provided the central memorial for this area and it was unveiled and dedicated on the 14th December 2010.
This area also allows families to place a small memorial in memory of their baby on the accompanying dedicated berm if they so wish.
Other Richmond Funeral Home Initiatives
Carterton Memorial Club
Richmond Funeral home have been associated with the Carterton RSA Memorial Club for many years and are pleased to support and sponsor their Weekly Friday Night Membership draw.
Bowling Club Sponsorship
Richmond Funeral Home sponsor annual bowls tournaments at the Greytown Bowling Club, Featherston Bowling Club and also Carterton’s – Carrington Bowling Club
Martinborough RSA
Richmond Funeral Home provide sound equipment for the Martinborough Dawn Parade each year.
Masonic Lodge Commemorative Plaque – Henley Lake Masterton
Richmond Funeral Home were proud to provide and sponsor the commemorative plaque at Henley Lake, acknowledging the Tree Planting Ceremony By Most Worshipful Brother John Litton Grand Master, to mark the 125th year of The Grand Lodge of Freemasons of New Zealand
CHRISTMAS
A time to remember…
Each year as Christmas draws near, we are aware that this can be a difficult time for families who have lost someone dear to them. Anniversaries, and times when you were happiest, are often times you may be at your saddest.
To acknowledge this very important aspect of Christmas we invite you, your family and your friends, to come and join us.
In the Richmond Chapel, 10 – 12 Richmond Road, Carterton on Sunday 7th December 2025 at 3pm
