Reverend Gail Minter of St Mary's Church in Greenham, Berkshire, has been granted permission to bury unclaimed ashes that were discovered at Newbury Racecourse. The urn, bearing the name Gary Bonsor, was left behind by a stag party on July 24 last year.
Officials at Newbury Racecourse made multiple attempts to locate the owner, including contacting ticketholders from the date of the event and issuing appeals on social media. When these efforts proved unsuccessful, the urn was handed over to Thames Valley Police. According to minutes from a religious law hearing for the Church of England, police conducted extensive checks to trace the deceased's next of kin and contacted local crematoriums. Despite believing they had identified the correct family, they reportedly denied any connection to the urn.
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Without further leads, racecourse officials approached the nearest church, St Mary the Virgin, in Greenham, to inquire about providing a permanent resting place. The urn was transferred to the church in September.
Reverend Minter applied for permission to bury the ashes at a Consistory Court of the Diocese of Oxford hearing. She stated that the churchyard is frequently used and well-maintained, containing graves of local residents, some of whom did not adhere to Christian faith. Therefore, she argued, it would not be inappropriate to inter Mr. Bonsor's remains there, even without knowing the deceased's or family's wishes.
Photographs presented at the hearing showed the urn inscribed with 'RIP Gary Bonsor' and 'My Dad, My Hero'.
Granting the faculty, the Worshipful David Hodge, chancellor of the Diocese of Oxford, acknowledged the unusual circumstances and the lack of a registrar's certificate or coroner's order. He deemed it appropriate for the urn to be laid to rest within the churchyard according to Church of England rites and for the burial details to be recorded on the churchyard plan.
The church now has 28 days to proceed with the burial within its grounds. A spokesperson for Newbury Racecourse confirmed the urn was found after a raceday and believed to be part of a stag party celebration. They reiterated the attempts made to reunite the urn with family, including reviewing attendee lists, contacting crematoriums, and social media appeals, all of which failed to yield results. The racecourse also noted that it has a memorial garden for ashes to be scattered, reportedly the first of its kind at a UK racecourse.