More masons have been expressing their concerns about the National Association of Memorial Masons\' British Register of Accredited Memorial Masons (see the October issue of NSS).

The register, to be known by the acronym BRAMM, is intended to help burial and cremation authorities identify legitimate memorial masons who have been assessed both for their ability to fix memorials safely and to ensure they are running a legitimate business.

The register should, say NAMM, remove the \'cowboys\' from the market because they will not meet the standards of the register. That will protect the public and local authorities as well as legitimate memorial masons.

But some memorial masons are concerned that they will be excluded from cemeteries in spite of being legitimate businesses because they cannot meet the NAMM criteria that they must have finished memorials on show for the public to see.

Michael Saunders says: "I am a one man mason and have been running MS Memorials for eight years with a total of 20 years in the trade. I am not an armchair mason but I do not have the funds for stock memorials to just sit around, nor the funds to join a register with these half-hearted schemes that will only benefit the larger firms."

His point about benefiting larger firms is that if the BRAMM replaces local authorities\' registers, many of which masons already have to pay a fee to join, companies that have to register with a number of authorities could be better off.

Joining BRAMM will cost £300 (£200 for NAMM members) for the business assessment plus £150 (£75 for NAMM members) for the assessment of each fixer. Masons working in only one authority\'s cemeteries could be worse off.

Albert Janes at A C Janes & Son in Ebbw Vale, Gwent, says: "It seems as if NAMM wants to have what was once called a closed shop, dictating who would be allowed to work in cemeteries throughout the country."

He, like other experienced masons who have contact NSS, resents the idea that he will have to be assessed on his ability to do a job that, in 77-year-old Albert Janes\' case, he has been doing for more than 60 years. And having to pay for that assessment simply rubs salt into the wound.