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Evercreech woman goes 'out in style' as drone scatters ashes

Family handout Pauline Polhill swimming with a dolphin. She is an elderly lady with fair hair and large glasses. She is wearing a blue lifejacket and looking to the side of the camera. The dolphin is in front of her, with its head sticking up out of the water.Family handout
Mrs Polhill went swimming with dolphins when she was 90-years-old

The daughter of an "adventurous" 93-year-old has fulfilled her mother's wish to have her ashes scattered using a drone.

Pauline Polhill, from Somerset, died on Christmas Eve in 2022.

In her final months, her interest was sparked when she learned of the option to scatter her ashes using a drone.

Beverley Charnley, her daughter, said: "That's what she would have wanted and now she's gone out in style - I think she would have loved it."

When Mrs Polhill, from Evercreech, first heard about the option on the radio, she immediately told her daughter she'd "really like" to have her ashes scattered using a drone.

Mrs Charnley and her husband, Richard, sought help from the Co-op Funeralcare's Aerial Ashes Service in Radstock and organised the "perfect" send-off to take place in their garden on 13 April, three months after Mrs Polhill's funeral.

Family handout Pauline Polhill with the Wessex Military Band. She is in the centre of the frame smiling at the camera. She is in a red military jacket and hat. She is carrying a large drum.Family handout
When she was in her 70s, Mrs Polhilll was a drummer for the Wessex Military Band, playing across Europe

"She would have been so cross she missed it because we were all in the garden, we had the champagne and the sky was clear.

"I don't know what we expected, but it was so spectacular and everybody said that it was just the best thing they'd ever seen," Mrs Charnley said.

She added that the drone, which was controlled from an iPad, would have also brought joy to her late mother.

Richard, Mrs Polhill's son-in-law, said: "She was always up for anything"

Family handout Old black and white photo of Pauline Polhill. She is smiling at the camera whilst sitting on a motorcycle next to a large dogFamily handout
Mrs Polhill was described as having an "incredible energy for life"

Radstock Co-op funeral director, Stephen Coke, said: "We were absolutely delighted to be able to help Beverley in arranging such a special tribute to her mother.

"Having heard all about the type of person Pauline was, and her incredible energy for life, it seemed like the perfect fit to memorialise her in this way."

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