Official opening held for Fife's community owned natural burial ground
Scotland's first community owned and run natural burial ground has officially opened in Fife.
Wild Meadow Eco Cemetery in Kinghorn has been created over the past ten years by Kinghorn Community Land Association (KCLA) and a very happy group gathered to celebrate its official opening at a special ceremony on Saturday.
Committee member Julie Farr shared with those gathered for the event at Kinghorn Loch how KCLA began in 2003 and described its mission to nurture the land and bring the project to life.
She said: “Through years of determined fundraising and the help of supporters, hundreds of trees, shrubs, bulbs and native wildflowers have been planted; paths created and the cemetery shaped into a peaceful place where remembrance and nature can flourish side by side.”
She also took time to thank past committee members and friends – old and new – whose commitment has kept the vision moving forward.
It was thanks to community support, generous donations from local businesses and key partnerships with The Ecology Centre and Fife Council Bereavement Services that a major milestone – the first full burials and ash interments – were possible earlier this year.
The formalities at the weekend’s event began with a blessing from local minister Reverend Jim Reid, followed by celebrant Lesley Craig reading a moving poem that captured both the spirit of the setting and the purpose of the cemetery.
The celebration then reached its symbolic moment when funeral director Sheila Milne cut the ribbon on the new bespoke funeral bier, gifted by Crosbie Matthew Funeral Directors and designed to be used on site.
After the ceremony, guests walked to the nearby Ecology Centre for tea and cake.
Those attending learned more about the planting and the behind-the-scenes effort that went into reaching this stage and heard about the exciting plans ahead for Wild Meadow Eco Cemtery’s future.