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Be minded of Aladdin’s Cave

You would be surprised how many stories there are about cremated remains ending up in charity shops, the normal circumstances are that a house clearance is organised by someone living away and no one checking or realising that a loved one’s ashes were in the wardrobe, these issues a are usually swiftly sorted. However this is…

Student uses grandfather’s ashes to create a night sky

Death and art seem to have a long relationship from the medieval depiction of what happens to sinners in hell to Damien Hirst’s animals in formaldehyde. There are a few artists that offer for people to have ashes incorporated into art. However here we have a final year photography student using his grandfather’s ashes to…

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— Scattering Ashes (@ashesscattering) June 4, 2015

How bad can it get: hiding a son’s cremation from an estranged spouse?

It never fails to surprise or sadden me the length some people will go get one over on an ex-partner. A trial is taking place in Stoke upon Trent of a woman who is accused of twice falsifying paperwork to prevent the son’s father from attending his funeral. The deceased passed away at the age…

Digging a road through a scattering site – an infringement of human rights?

There is a plan to put a road through a section of crematoria land in Perth Scotland and the local residents aren’t happy. Perth council plan to ease congestion in that part of the city involves shaving a strip of land off of the crematoria grounds, which is not the actual garden of remembrance although…

Is the choice of cremation mainly a matter of economics and location?

It is being reported the town of Cowichan, near Vancouver in British Columbia Canada, is planning to have a columbarium built to house the ashes of if its residents. Mayor Forrest said “In discussions last year, we had a public meeting and people were saying, ‘You can live your whole life in this community…

Cornish man swept into the sea whilst scattering ashes

Tragedy stuck on Saturday (31 Jan) on the beach Trebarwith Strand, near Tintagel,when Mr Galliers and his family went to scatter the ashes of his Michelle. The family had chosen that particular spot as it was where they had played as children. The family scattered the ashes at a little river that flows onto the beach, Mr Galliers ‘s…

Is a columbarium a mausoleum? A hot debate in Wisconsin

The attorney general of Cedarburg city, Michael Herbrand thinks so, but the reverend of the local Advent Lutheran Church disagrees. So why is this such a big deal? Well the Church had deigned a columbarium for their downtown (city centre) church which was to be the resting place for a number of its congregation;…

Ashes scattered over AstroTurf: Blue Jays fan memorialised

The Rogers Stadium in Toronto, home to the baseball tem the Blue Jays, was the target of an ill-fated ash scattering. During a game between the Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers a fan entered the entire contents of an entire urn near the Jay’s dugout. The grounds people not being sure what it was called…

A send-off with a bang! Memorialised though a cannon blast

FOX Carolina 21 Now this is on the unusual side, a long time firearms enthusiast has had his ashes blasted out of a replica US civil war cannon. Now that is a proper send-off! Julian ‘Boyd’ Mercer lost his fight with cancer in September at a the age of 49. He had been a…

modern day grave robbing cremated remains

Grave robbing – don’t move ashes without permission!

Hardly the modern day Burke and Hare, however the crime of digging up and removing ashes under the law in is the same: abuse of a corpse Three men in he US have been in charged with ‘grave robbing’ after they dug up the cremated remains of two of their relatives in order to…

Robin Williams’ ashes scattered near those of his mother

Screen star Robin Williams sadly committed suicide in the summer. Some time soon after the service his ashes were scattered near to where his mother’s ashes where spread: off the coast of Marin County in the US. His mum had passed away back in 2001 and Robin was the executor of the will. He and his mother…

The changing face of municipal memorialisation part II

I wrote last week about a councillor in Scotland trying to get support for the use of a wall within a cemetery to put plaques for those who scatter their loved ones ashes and wish to have a place to memorialise. This was in the news at a similar time and reinforces that notion that…

The changing face of municipal memorialsation

It would seem councils are waking up to the fact that people are general cremated and now that people no longer scatter their loved ones ashes at the crematoria that they may have changing role in relation to public memorialisation. I came across this from Kelso in Scotland. A councillor has been petitioning Scottish…

Digging up and stealing your father

A family from Berwick on the Scottish Borders are in dispute, the culmination of which lead to one of the sibling digging up his father ashes from his mother’s garden and refusing to return them. The remains of Mr Joseph Pringle were buried under a rose bush in the garden of the family home in…

Florida court decides ashes are NOT property

The tragic case of a feuding parents fighting over their sons ashes has come a step further to concluding when the 4th District Court of Appeal decided that the ashes were not property. Scott Wilson a 23 year old was killed in a car accident 4 years ago. He was cremated, but his parent’s who…

Site in the Welsh Valleys used for scattering ashes has been vandalised

The well-known White Cross of Trealaw has been vandalised. The cross in the heart of the Rhondda valleys has been partially dismantled by a group of mystery climbers. The cross was built by Glyn Thomas, of Trealaw, in 2005 as a final resting place for those who wanted their ashes scattered on the mountainside. For…

Storm over proposed ashes law in Auckland

Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city is going though a reorganisation and the intention is the bring a number of boroughs together to make a ‘Super City’ the consequence of this is that city legislators need to streamline the various bylaws if things are to work smoothly, all well and good so far. The bylaws…

A legal battle to have a sons ashes divided: are the ashes property?

Who owns cremated remains: case comes to court in the US One of the common questions that we are asked is: who owns ashes? Looking at various statutes, we are of the opinion it that no one can, in the same way as you can’t ‘own’ a person or a body. So we are…

Peaches Geldof’s ashes to be scatter near her childhood home

Peaches Geldof the late date daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates is to have her ashes scatter in the gardens of Davington Priory, Kent close to the families home where she grew up. The family source said: “Peaches’ happiest memories were there. There would be no other place for her to have her ashes…

No ashes – No Date – A Catholic cemetery gets strict

Four daughters are in a dispute with a Catholic cemetery in Cudahy, Wisconsin in the US. The cemetery has refused to have their mother’s year of passing put on the family headstone. The mother, a Mrs Rita Sztukowski, died in April 2013 and her family opted to have her cremated, splitting the ashes between…

Couple steal their own son’s ashes

Crime and ashes catches the medias attention, often a hapless bugler nabbing and urn not know what it was and then occasionally returning them through a pang of remorse. This is a bit different and comes from Bridgeport in Connecticut in the US. The couple in question tragically lost their son, when they came to…

When reality TV encounters cremation ashes

Storage Wars is a popular US reality daytime show, that is also broadcast over here in the UK. This is a slightly odd concept to my mind. The premise is you follow people around whose business is purchasing the contents of storage units. The container contents are auctioned unseen to the highest bidder (the original…

Lazy or accidently misleading: Ashes from DNA

The Daily Mail ran a story on it’s website entitled DNA test on some cremated remains after woman found wrong body in her mother’s casket. I thought blimey that’s interesting I was told the heat from the crematoria destroyed all the DNA. So I clicked with interest. Only to discover that is not what has happen…

Elaborate arrangement for the ashes of Ronnie Biggs

Ronnie Biggs, probably the most infamous of the great train robbers, due to his flamboyant lifestyle and his escape and evasion of the law, passed away recently. His son Michael Biggs has plan for what he wishes to do with his father’s ashes. He intends to split the ashes into three (and a bit). The…

A lady bell ringer fails in her attempt to move her parents ashes closer

A lady bell-ringer from Northchapel a village in West Sussex, who wished to exhume and relocate her parents ashes to bring them closer, has had her appeal been rejected. The chancellor of the diocese of Chichester and a judge of the Church of England’s Consistory Court, refused Mrs Lacey’s request to move her parents ashes from…

A man causes panic and a Mall shutdown after scattering his fiancée’s ashes

A shopping mall in Sarasota, which is on the west coast of Florida in the USA, went into shutdown after a man was observed scattering an unknown substance on the floor of LensCrafters opticians in the Southgate Mall. Thomas Morin inadvertently triggered a full scale alert when carrying out the last wishes of his recently…

scattering ashes bristol city football club

Bristol City Football Club Policy

UPDATE: “Just as an update we don’t allow ashes to be scattered or buried at the stadium so if you could update that would be much appreciated.” Bristol City do allow ashes to be interred at the ground, they don’t allow them to be scattered. The response from Bristol City is interesting a spokesman said:…

Exhumation of ashes order not granted: plea not considered to be exceptional

© Copyright Oast House Archive Previously we have reported on success stories where a family has managed to secure the approval for exhumation of ashes via the Church of England’s Consistory Court. We had pointed out exhumation orders on church consecrated land were rare. Here is a story from the news website KentOnline about a lady…

Ashes of Malaysian Communist leader – State try to intervene

The ex communist leader of Malaysia, Chin Peng passed away in a hospital in Thailand in September, he had been in exile in Thailand since signing a peace accord with the Malaysian Government in the late eighties. Now his cremation ashes have sparked a row, the Malaysian authorities are looking for ways to prevent his…

A lady digs up her rose bush from the garden of remembrance

(c) Conwy Daily Post The garden of remembrance at a crematoria was once a popular choice to place the ashes of a loved one whilst it is becoming less so, there are still many who use the facility it would appear mainly for practical and connection reasons. The usually gardens are first rate, however a…

Ashes transported from Australia and New Zealand to the UK – cost reduction

After successful trials we are pleased to announce that we have extended our service to offer a fixed price export / repatriation service for ashes from Australia and New Zealand to the United Kingdom. The service is available to all funeral directors, if you are a member of the public let us know and we will…

Local Authority price rise – statistics used unfiarly

When I saw the headline 357% hike in cost to bereaved in Hyndburn the the Lancashire Telegraph I reached for my batman cape, sharpen my pencil and prepared to charge into battle, then after realising I had mixed too many metaphors thought I had better look a bit deeper. Thankfully I did not have look to…

Dreaming the City | Series 1 – 1. Ashes | Radio Times: radiotimes.com/episode/wx88p/…
— Scattering Ashes (@ashesscattering) June 5, 2013

Memorial Tattoos Celebs are getting in on the act

Memorial tattoos are tattoos that contain the cremation ashes of a loved one, fine gains of ash are incorporated into the ink before the tattooing. It is interesting that in the UK, celebrities have the ability to legitimise practices and set trends. We are always on the look out for when this happens with cremation ashes. Here we…

cremation ashes margaret thatcher interred

Margaret Thatcher’s ashes are to be interred at the Royal Chelsea Hospital

The ex prime minister Margaret Thatcher is to have her ashes interred (buried) next to those of her late husband Denis. Following the private cremation of Mrs Thatcher at Mortlake cremation in South West London the family plan to keep hold of the ashes until the autumn before interring them at the Royal Chelsea Hospital…

Jewish County and Western singer has unusual ashes request

I don’t profess to be big up on the Country and Western scene, but it does seem to have its fair share of characters. Kinky Friedman, who was performing for his Bi-Polar World Tour*, told a crowd at Poor David’s Pub in Dallas that : “I’m gonna be cremated and I want my ashes spread…

Listen to Richard Martin, founder of Scattering Ashes, on BBC WM – Graham Torrington, 26/02/2013 (at 52 mins)bbc.in/ZzPfTs
— Scattering Ashes (@ashesscattering) February 27, 2013

Fairtrade Fortnight 2013

This week sees the launch of this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight, every year companies, organisations and supporters get together to celebrate and raise the awareness of Fairtrade issues. Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. The sales of fairtrade chocolate,…

Mortonhall Ashes Scandal

The Edinburgh crematoria at Mortonhall is at the centre of a scandal. Prior to 2007 it was their policy not to return the ashes of stillborn children and very small infants (antenatal or neonatal babies). The basis for this, it would appear, was a blanket policy to inform parents that there would be no ashes…

Ex Nazi to have his ashes scattered where he was a PoW

A German soldier left his estate to a Scottish the village of Comrie, Perthshire and is to have his cremation ashes scattered there where he was a prisoner of war camp during WWII. Heinrich Steinmeyer was a soldier in the Wafhen SS and was captured fighting to defend a bridge in Caen, Normandy. Mr Steinmeyer…

Is that what passes for news in Danville Virginia?

Normally I am pretty respectful in this blog, but here we have a case of splendid nonsense complimented by a healthy dollop of ignorance and stupidity. A box containing ashes have left by a river. Yep that’s it … that’s all folks! What makes it worthy commentary is the reporting, the commentary, the fact that…

Shrapnel found in War Hero after cremation

An old war veteran from Exeter passed recently, he had suffered from a war wound all his adult life after standing on a landmine in France in 1944. He told the family he had a ‘bullet’ in the knee. He didn’t complain about it, but just asked the grandchildren not to sit on it. After…

Crematoria sending memorial product brochures to grieving families – is that okay?

This article was from the Buckingham Today website concerning the practice of crematoria ‘up-selling’ to people who have used their services. A couple received marketing literature from the crematoria operator a few days after the service for the man’s brother, they we appalled by this and told the newspaper so. They said they didn’t…

The first man on the moon ashes are scattered at sea

Neil Armstrong’s cremated remains have been scattered at sea. The US aircraft carrier USS Philippine Sea provided the backdrop to the service that saw his wife inter the ashes of the legendary astronaut into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The ceremony included a bugler and rifle salute and his wife was presented with…

Unclaimed cremation ashes in Merritt Canada

I have posted a few times on the issue of unclaimed ashes and how they line the shelves of funeral directors, with some cremation urns dating back decades. This is story from Merritt in Canada, a funeral director was selling up his business and the new recipients wanted a clean slate. So what should…

Malaysian Religious organisation seizes cremation ashes

Here we have first case I that I have read about, where someone’s ashes have been seized. Mrs M Nagamah passed away on the 14 August and “According to her family, she lived her life as a Hindu and died a Hindu. They were preparing to give her a Hindu funeral,” said Hindu Rights…

Carroll Shelby ashes dispute – settled out of court

I reported recently that the ownership of the racing driver Carroll Shelby’s ashes were in dispute and that there was a potential court battle looming between Mr Shelby’s estranged wife Cleo and his children from a previous marriage. Both claiming ownership, backed up by documentation. Well it did not go to court, so I…

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