B & Z's Worldwide Family Blog: A Wedderburn visit to Feshiebridge to remember B

It's almost seven months since B died, and it's been very strange getting used to the idea that she isn't with us any more. B was cremated, and we gave a great deal of thought before deciding how to look after her ashes. In the end, we decided on two destinations.
First, half of her ashes were interred in the Wedderburn family plot in the Dean Cemetery, just a mile or so from Lennox Street. The photos below were taken by Joanna's daughter Sarah. The cemetery is a lovely peaceful spot, a place where you can hear birdsong and enjoy quiet thoughts and memories.

B's marker stone is at the foot of a rough hewn Celtic style cross which carries engravings remembering Zander's parents, known to us as Grandpop and Granny, and also Grandpop's parents, who are all buried at this spot. It's a lovely family place for us all to visit for ages into the future.

We decided to scatter the rest of B's ashes in one of her favourite places - Feshiebridge in the Scottish highlands, just past Kingussie. We arranged for a family gathering there on Saturday 20th August. Zander, Chris, Nadia, James and Kirsty came up from Edinburgh, Joyce, myself (Pete), Anna and Ella flew in from Ireland that morning, Joanna came across from Aberdeen with Sarah and Becs travelled up from Manchester with Ben. We were joined there by Auntie Sue who lives just half an hour away from here.

We knew the exact picnic spot where we used to go as a family, but this was difficult to access, with steep paths and fallen down trees, so we looked further afield, enjoying the views and atmosphere of this lovely part of the Scottish Highlands.

We eventually found a flattened area of grass close to the river's edge, and we had a family picnic here, with food provided by Sue, Joanna and Chris. Plans for a small fire to cook sausages (as we did back in the day) had to be dropped because times have changed - it's busier there now, with stricter regulations on things like fires.

Aunt Sue had brought some lovely sweet pea flowers along, and after the picnic, we then moved upstream to a quieter spot which overlooked some fast moving water. We gathered here together, and had our own peaceful thoughts about B while we scattered her ashes into the water, accompanied by the sweet pea blossoms. It seemed so fitting: beautiful flowers accompanying our mother into the Scottish wilderness as we said our farewells.

It was a sad time, but it was the way that we know B would have liked it to be - saying goodbye while also remembering the many happy, enjoyable episodes of earlier times.
We then gathered to take some family photos, and we travelled on to the coffee shop at Loch Insh close by, where we enjoyed coffee and tea (thank you Aunt Sue!) as well as delicious chocolate via Chris. Afterwards, we travelled back to Edinburgh together, enjoying more extended family time over meals, with plenty of chat. We set up some DVDs that Zander has had made from old cine films, watching B diving into the River Feshie nearly forty years previously.

All in all, it was a lovely celebratory weekend: one to treasure in our memories for many years.

(click on any of the pictures below to see a bigger version)