The Googlebox star George Gilbey died in a tragic construction accident in March this year. Since the cremation his mum (Linda McGarry – also a Googlebox Star) has held on to the ashes wondering where they should be scattered.
She has finally decided on a beach near her home in Essex where her Husbands ashes are scattered. She said: “We’re going to put his ashes on the beach, with my Pete [who died in 2021 and was George’s stepfather] and with his dad.”
This was all reported in an and article on the Ok Magazine.
Just like Googlebox offer us all a little window onto an ‘ordinary’ family’s decisions and thoughts on this sensitive subject.
First off, the ashes of, dare I say it, a minor TV celebrity have made the news.
Linda had lost her husband a few years back through cancer and she had decided to scatter his ashes in at a beach near her home in Essex – beaches are a popular choice, the fact that the beach is near her home is also a added factor – keeping someone close as well as ‘setting someone free’. Finally scattering in the same place as a loved one that has been scattered there before is again a positive draw.
Ther other aspects of the story that caught my eye were that she had taken nine months to decide which is normal, it can often take a lot longer especially when it is a child (as opposed to a spouse or a parent). She had kept the ashes in the lounge in a kind of shrine “Linda still keeps a ‘George corner’ at her home in Essex, where his ashes currently sit.” Again, grief of a child tends to mean more of a public display of the ashes, I couldn’t give they actual reason why this is common although it I suspect it relates to the level of grief.
One little aspect I was surprised by, which is not about ashes, is the fact they had a Just-Giving page for George’s funeral – I am fan of this approach: Funerals can be expensive and people want to help so this seems like a great solution and community pitching in. My surprise was that in my head this whole world of TV seems quite lucrative, so one wouldn’t automatically think this would be the approach.
I hope Linda and the wider family can find some peace in this act.