How did Life Treasury come about?

The concept of Life Treasury started with a personal dilemma of our founder, Dean. He, like millions of people around the world, had the ashes of his parents in a cardboard scatter tube at home as when it came to deciding, he did not want the permanence and lack of personal memorial that went with scattering ashes. His father had wanted his ashes to be scattered in the grand canal in Venice; what a wonderful idea everyone thought, however, not only is this illegal Dean found out but also, Dean would not be able to go and visit Venice and feel a closeness to his father regularly. How about burying the ashes, the family thought? At this time of their lives, they were making a big step to move from Lincolnshire to London, and were not yet ready to have the ashes in a permanent place where they may not be able to visit; and so, the ashes sat on the sideboard.

In October 2016, Dean was at a dinner and sat next to a Cathedral Chapter Clerk, whom he got on very well with, and the conversation got on to fund-raising. The Cathedral had an annual deficit the Chapter had to fight to get, year in year out. Dean thought, how could he help? And a few days later, Dean woke up in the middle of the night with the idea of Life Treasury. Something where his much-loved parents could be memorialised in a beautiful, meaningful setting, whilst helping the Cathedral with fund-raising. It’s as simple as that, helping families and helping fund meaningful locations. From there, the idea blossomed to a beautiful and sophisticated bookcase, and consequently the "Library of Life". The team then created the “Home Book” to give others the chance to have the Life Treasury experience in the comfort of their own home, should they wish.

Dean is heading up the project so that he, and people like him, can have the opportunity to pay respects to their loved ones in an appropriate setting whilst supporting our heritage. We hope Life Treasury can bring you the feeling of closeness to your loved one along with the pride of telling their story, as it has for many others.