Rhondda Cynon Taf Council has officially opened a new Remembrance Area at Maes Yr Arian Cemetery, Mountain Ash, offering the community a peaceful place to rest, reflect and remember.
Staff from the Council’s Bereavement Services team have created the beautiful space, with new benches and planters, as part of its commitment to support to all grieving members of the community.
Similar dedicated Remembrance Areas will be created and opened at cemeteries across the County Borough as part of this same commitment.
The new area at Maes Yr Arian also has a Letters to Heaven white post box, where visitors can post letters, cards, poems or artwork to their late loved ones. It’s a simple but effective way to share your feelings and feel connected to those you have lost, working especially well for young children.
Both the Remembrance Area and the Letters to Heaven post box can be used by anyone who feels they want or need to use them and both will be available during cemetery opening hours.
Cllr Scott Emanuel, Cabinet Member for Bereavement Services, officially unveiled the Remembrance Area this week and said: “Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s Bereavement Services team delivers a dignified, professional service on behalf of those who have died, but also knows it’s important to provide care and comfort to those the bereaved.
“Remembrance Areas and Letters to Heaven are important ways to provide that care and comfort.
“The feedback received since we opened the first Remembrance Area in Trealaw Cemetery at the end of last year, has been extremely positive. The space has become an important place of reflection, remembrance and healing for many people.
“We hope the dedicated space at Maes Yr Arian becomes just as important to those who need it. And we look forward to creating more spaces offering comfort for more people across the county borough.”
Cllr Emanuel was joined at the cemetery by ward councillors Cllr Andrew Morgan OBE and Cllr Wendy Treeby, both of whom spend time at the cemetery in personal and professional capacities.
Both have said the opening of the Remembrance Area is an important gesture of compassion to the grieving community in Mountain Ash and beyond and urged residents who were struggling with bereavement and needed assistance to make contact with them, if they need assistance finding support or services.
The new facilities at Maes Yr Arian, which is a 120-year-old cemetery in Glenboi, have opened just a few months after the first Remembrance Area in Rhondda Cynon Taf was unveiled in Trealaw Cemetery at the end of 2025 and is already very well used.
Bereavement Services has set out in its 10 Year Strategy “A Respectful and Sustainable Service for the Bereaved” a commitment to open Remembrance Areas in all its cemeteries.
You can read the strategy here:
In the meantime, the two Remembrance Areas at Trealaw Cemetery and Maes Yr Arian Cemetery are open to all who wish to use them. See location information and opening times here.
The Letters to Heaven post boxes can be found at Trealaw, Maes Yr Arian, Glyntaff and Llwydcoed Cemeteries. See location information and opening times here.
Posted on 09/02/2026