Flying High In A Funeral

Many a funeral plan will include a focus in the service on a love of aircraft by the deceased, whether through direct involvement as a pilot or airline employee, or simply as an enthusiastic observer.

However, Co-op Funerals has gone a step further with a very lofty idea for a final farewell, which involves using drones to scatter ashes from a great height above a landmark with which the departed was associated. 

This might take place over the sea, above a beauty spot, over a river or lake, or perhaps a sports ground, with this often being somewhere that it might be hard to each to scatter ashes on by more conventional means.

None of that means you need dispense with funeral stationary. While the scattering may be done high up above, you can still have a gathering on the ground nearby (or on a boat if it is being done over water). 

Moreover, you can still have a full memorial celebration service beforehand ahead of the actual cremation. For many the ashes scattering is a separate event from the funeral, not just because the actual process of cremation takes time, but because it is often a more intimate affair with just close family present.

Managing director of Co-op funerals Gill Stewart said: “Our colleagues are dedicated to supporting the bereaved families we serve long after the funeral and the sky really is the limit now in terms of the choices that are available.”

Even if not having their ashes scattered from a drone, others have opted to get theirs put in quite lofty places, such as up mountains and hills or in remote parts of the country.

A good example of this was Alfred Wainwright, the author of numerous fellwalking guides for visitors to the Lake District. After his death in 1991 his ashes were scattered at his favourite spot, the shore of the mountain lake Innominate Tarn on a fell named Haystacks.