Mayors, ministers, funeral directors and bereaved families joined together for a service to celebrate 75 years of Mortlake Crematorium.

The crematorium, which opened in 1939, has seen 180,000 cremations take place, including that of Margaret Thatcher, who died in April last year.

Other well-known figures to have been cremated at Mortlake Crematorium include comedian Tommy Cooper, actor Michael Redgrave and political journalist Robin Day.

Superintendent and registrar Natasha Bradshaw said: “We had a 13-year-old that did a solo and stole the show and one of our organists wrote an amazing poem.”

At the same time the crematorium donated £4,411 to Sobs, a charity that helps people affected by suicide.

Staff at the crematorium, in Townmead Road, honoured the anniversary on Tuesday, June3, with a celebratory mass read by Canon Julian Reindorp.