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Grave mistake with ashes is discovered after 25 year vigil

Pete Bainbridge
24/10/2007

A HAZEL Grove grandmother who spent 25 years visiting her beloved father’s ashes at Macclesfield Cemetery has been told that they were actually 15 miles away – on a shelf in Altrincham.

Retired teacher Doreen Hall went to the graveyard every birthday and anniversary, taking flowers and talking to her dad, Ernest, who she believed was placed under the kerbstone after his cremation in 1982.

When her mum, Hannah, passed away in September just before her 99th birthday, Doreen, 69, asked for her to be buried next to Ernest, but was told for the first time that his remains weren’t there.

Doreen, who lives on Warwick Drive with husband David, 70, said: "I have been taking my mum to see my dad at his kerbstone in Macc Cemetery for the last 25 years. If she had found out that he wasn’t there, but on a shelf in Altrincham, she would have been devastated.

"I was fuming about it when I found out, but calmed down since. I’ve just been through so many mixed emotions.

"We always just presumed that dad was there under the kerbstone. If it hadn’t been for co-operative then we would still think that."

Co-operative Funeral Directors, on High Street, Macclesfield looked after the arrangements for Doreen’s mum’s cremation, and took up the task of finding Ernest’s remains.

Heather Shackley, a funeral arranger at co-operative, said: "We made a few phone calls and found the ashes, where they were put by an independent director."

Ms Shackley added that many people do have their loved ones’ remains laid with the kerbstone, but it is on request, rather than automatic.

Doreen, a grandmother of seven, said: "I have also been putting flowers on Uncle Walter’s kerbstone too, but now I know he’s not there. I want to know where Uncle Walter is."

She is now going to reunite her mum and dad by placing their ashes together at Macclesfield Cemetery.