A POIGNANT piece of unclaimed lost property — an urn containing human ashes — will be interred in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Greenham, in Berkshire, after a faculty was granted by the Consistory Court of the diocese of Oxford.

The urn had been left on the counter of a burger van at Newbury Racecourse after a race meeting on 24 July last year. The urn had two printed labels, one above the other, stating: “RIP GARY BONSOR” and “MY DAD MY HERO”.

The racecourse contacted ticket holders in an attempt to trace the family of Gary Bonsor, but nobody responded. The urn was then passed to Newbury Police Station.

The police believed that they knew the family concerned and attempted to trace the next of kin, but the family denied any link to the urn. Local crematoriums were contacted but were unable to provide any information.

The police then gave the urn into the custody of the Grade II* listed church as lost property and, on 9 September, it was collected by a churchwarden. The PCC discussed the matter, and expressed the wish to bury the ashes so that they had a permanent resting place. The only alternative would have been to keep the remains in the church in the hope that the family might trace them.

The Vicar, the Revd Gail Minter, applied for a faculty “to carry out the burial of ashes described as those of Gary Bonsor, RIP, in our graveyard in accordance with the rites of the Church of England”.

“The churchyard is well used, well kept, and is full of the graves of local people, many of whom did not profess a Christian faith or come to church,” she said. “So we feel that, although we cannot know the wishes of the deceased or the family, it would not be inappropriate to bury the remains in the parish churchyard.”

The diocesan Chancellor, the Worshipful Judge David Hodge KC, said that, since the churchyard was not closed for burials, a faculty was not strictly required for the interment of these ashes. But in the unusual circumstances, and with no registrar’s certificate or coroner’s order available, it was understandable that the vicar should seek the authority of a faculty.

“It is clearly appropriate that the urn containing these ashes should be reverently laid to rest within the churchyard in accordance with rites of the Church of England; and that the place and circumstances of the burial should be recorded on the churchyard plan,” the Chancellor said.

A faculty was granted for that purpose and the interment of the urn containing the ashes must take place within 28 days.