Church refuses Shropshire widow's dying wish to have ashes scattered at beauty spot with her husband's
A Shropshire widow's dying wish to have her ashes scattered with those of her husband at their favourite beauty spot has been thwarted by the church.
She said she and her husband had felt "at peace and closest to God" at the northern Scottish beauty spot of Skerray.
A senior churchman has refused the plea of the couple's two sons and refused to pave the way for the final wishes of their mother to be fulfilled.
Stephen Eyre, Chancellor of the Diocese of Lichfield, in his role as a judge of the Church of England's Consistory Court has refused permission for the ashes of Kenneth Gumery, which were buried in St Swithun's churchyard in Cheswardine, to be exhumed so his widow's request can be carried out.
The Consistory Court has to approve such matters and will only permit exhumation in "exceptional" circumstances.
In his decision, Chancellor Eyre stuck to the strict church rules that a last resting place must be just that and held that the circumstances in this case were not exceptional even though pleas by the couple's sons, Simon and Fraser Gumery, had already won the backing of the Parochial Church Council.
Simon Gumery had told Chancellor Eyre that in the years after her husband's death his mother, who died in 2014, took the view she had made a mistake in interring her husband's remains in Cheswardine.
Chancellor Eyre said: "She came to the view that it would be better for those remains, together with her own, to be scattered at Skerray.
"This was a place they knew well, where they had been happy, and where they had felt at peace and closest to God. What happened was that at some point after Mr Gumery's remains were interred his widow changed her mind as to the appropriate form of disposal.
"I have no doubt that Mr Gumery is seeking loyally to carry out his mother's wishes But I can only permit an exhumation if I am satisfied that there are particular circumstances such as to justify the decision in the particular case to take the exceptional course.
And he said that despite the loyal desire of the sons to fulfil their mother's wishes "this is not a case in which exhumation can be permitted."
He said the change of mind was not an exceptional circumstance nor did it mean that there was a mistake at the time of the original interment.
