When my Mum's brother died, my cousin visited his second wife and she asked if my cousin would like some of his ashes.
My cousin said yes, because she wanted to scatter them over her mother's (his first wife's) grave.
She was given half his ashes in a Tesco bag
She did wonder which half of him she got
She also rang up the Crem and asked if she could scatter them. They said there would be a charge, so she thought blow that (or words to that effect) and she and a friend went along one winter's evening.
The friend kept watch while my cousin tried to dig a hole in the hard frosty soil of the grave. She eventually managed a small hole and tipped the ashes in. That night it chucked it down with rain, so she went back the next day to check it out. There was a pile of mud and ashes on top of the grave, so she said she had to start digging with her hand to cover it up again.
She said her Mum and Dad would be in fits of laughter if they were watching her
I think this charging is just a big rip off.
When we wanted to bury my Dad's ashes in the Crem gardens they said it would be a Lease costing £650 for so many years. Once the time was up if the Lease lapsed then they would dig up the ashes and scatter them over a rose garden. We were appalled.
We buried Dad's ashes in the grave of his Mum and Dad where he would want to be anyway (don't know why we didn't think of it first) and it cost us nothing.
If I want to scatter the ashes of a loved one in the future, I shall just do it one evening when nobody is around.
Su