Ronald Allen's burial site??

[jean9]

There was a topic about this on the old forum so I thought I would dig it up again (no pun intended  <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_eek.gif" alt=":shock:" title="Shocked" /> ).

After a bit of research and a few emails I am now totally confused as to where poor Ronnie has been laid to rest.  A few years ago I wrote to Putney Vale Cemetery because I thought he was buried there and received a letter giving me his age, his profession, a London address (more about that later) the fact that he had been cremated together with a reference number. 

After visiting Putney Vale last year and trying to find his grave I emailed Putney Vale to ask if he was indeed interred there.  This is the reply;
 

Thank you for your enquiry to our office at Putney Vale Cemetery. Our office maintains records for Morden, Putney Vale and Wandsworth Cemeteries, for the London Borough of Wandsworth, as well as Putney Vale Crematorium.
According to our records, the ashes of the late Ronald Allen were collected from the crematorium in the month following his cremation. The ashes were not scattered or interred at Putney Vale.
 
Regards,
 
Anthony Motyka,
Admin Assistant

Someone on the forum (sorry can't remember who it was) said that he was buried in Reading Cemetery, so I emailed them to ask if they could confirm whether this was the case.  This is the reply


Having checked our records I am unable to find any entry for the cremated
remains of Mr Allen having been received in 1991 for scattering in our
Garden of Remembrance or for burial. Nor do we appear to have any
commemorative plaque or entry in the Book of Remembrance made by the family.


I am sorry I am unable to help you.

Yours sincerely
Mrs Ruth Winch

I am now very confused.  What could have happened to Ponnie's ashes and where is his final resting place.  Did Sue Lloyd take his ashes home with her?  Curiouser and curioser...

The address listed on the letter from Putney Vale was 13 Northbourne Road, London.  On my recent trip to London I actually went to find the house and here it is.

[jean9]

Oops don't think that photo link worked??   Can anyone tell me how to insert a link to a picture???  

I will put the picture on my Crossroads retold site in the photo Album section.

[Mike of CAS]

If you want the image to show i think you have to have some setting on the hard drive to do that, but its quite risky, easier to shove it on photobucket.

But yes, very confusing, it might be worth asking Sue Lloyd although I wouldn't know what she'd make of the question. Tony Adams is friends with her, maybe he knows.

[Jill Chance]

I think its highly likely they are sitting on a shelf in Sue's sitting room - lets hope someone didnt chuck them over Nolly's she'll be indignant!

JC
xxxxxx

[paul ross]

I read the Sue Lloyd autobiography some years ago and I recall Ronnie being fond of gardening and gardens and for that matter parks. On his death bed he did speak of either a garden outside his window that he would see or one where he used to enjoy pottering about/sitting relaxing. Maybe Sue laid the ashes there? I could be wrong but Sue strikes me as someone who wouldn't keep ashes in an urn.  More likely to be the kind to scatter them in a place that was special to them both.

[jean9]

It is frustrating not knowing where Ronnie is laid to rest.  I can't understand why they would have Ronnie listed as being buried at Reading cemetery.  I know he was born in Reading but in the articles I've read he really had no affinity with the place which he left as a young man, so I don't see him wishing to be buried there.  Putney Vale have said that his ashes were collected the month after his cremation so I can only assume that as dear Mr Paul suggested, Sue Lloyd took him home to his beloved garden.  

Yes in Sue Lloyd's book 'It seemed like a good idea at the time' she mentions the fact that Ronnie loved his garden.  I'm wondering if this garden she refers to at the time of Ronnie's illness is the one at the house in Northbourne Road which I saw on my last trip to London.  I presume this must be because I got the Northbourne Road address from Putney Vale cemetery so I assume it is his last address.  I just wish I'd had the guts to knock on the door and ask the current owners if I could look at the garden, just to get a feel for it, though I think they would have found this request from a total stranger quite wierd!

[paul ross]

Ashes are really only a small portion of. . . . him! they are only the bones that have been ground down nothing else - this is a lovely way to put it!

A relative of mine used to know someone who worked at a crematorium. . . . . . . . . and she said he told her that 'you don't get the ashes you are entitled to' - some of the time you get someone else's or a mixture! and if you do get the a ahes that are your families, you only get a percentage.

[Hampstead]

I wonder what will happen to Ronnie's ashes now that Sue has passed??