One of the questions I am often asked is what to do with the ashes following a cremation.  Sometimes the deceased has left very specific instructions as to what happens to their ashes following a cremation; often however, this has never been spoken about prior to their death.

The two most common options are; to keep them in your home in a decorative urn or find some way of returning them to the earth.

An Interment of Ashes Ceremony may be the most appropriate option for you to consider. The Ceremony, following a funeral service, is normally fairly short and often only attended by the immediate family and, possibly, very close friends.  The Ceremony will involve some aspect of returning the ashes to the natural world. This can be by interment into the ground, scattering onto water or even sending them up in a firework.

If however, the deceased decided upon a ‘Direct Cremation’ an Interment of Ashes Ceremony could take the place of a traditional Funeral Service. It could give those left behind the opportunity of collectively honouring the life of the person who has passed. Using an Interment of Ashes plot at somewhere like The Greenwood Burial Ground in Farnham would present an excellent opportunity for just such a Ceremony.

There is no time limit on deciding how you would like to scatter the ashes and I would be more than happy to talk to you regarding the various choices. It should be noted however that crematoriums will not hold on to the ashes indefinitely and therefore they will need to be collected within a reasonable period of time. It is worth checking what this time period is with the crematorium that held the funeral.

One of the considerations for chosing a site for the ashes should be the future use of the site. Unlike a burial, a scattering site is not necessarly protected. It is possible, therefore, that if you choose to visit the nice green field some years later you could discover a car park on the site.

It should be noted that there are some restrictions on where ashes may be legally scattered.