Deceased man becomes celebrity in Holland after ashes wash up there

After John Lea's cremation, one of his sons put his ashes in a bottle with photographs of Mr Lea and a few details about his life, such as the fact that he had been in the army and travelled a lot.

Kevin Lea, 48, then dropped the bottle from a ferry half way across the Channel while on a trip to France after deciding his father needed "one last big adventure". It has since twice come ashore in Holland, leading to his father appearing in national papers and on TV.



Mr Lea senior, from Weymouth, Dorset, died last summer aged 78, leaving behind wife Pat and eight of his nine children. His ashes were split into three parts; one buried at his favourite tree, another by his daughter's grave and the third part thrown into the sea.

Just a few weeks later Kevin received a letter from a couple in Holland, Peter and Rita de Man, who had found the bottle washed up on one of the country's islands. They had returned it to the sea as requested, and days later it came ashore again on the same island, Texel. This time it was found by Maarten Brugge who alerted the local paper and from there dead John's fame grew.



Kevin, who runs a launderette, said: "When I was contacted by Maarten he said he'd told the local paper and then it was picked up by the big national paper De Telegraaf. "I lived in Holland for ten years and I can speak Dutch, which surprised them, and then I was contacted by the national TV channel Hart Van Nederland. I spoke to them and they showed all the pictures of dad and the feedback has been incredible.

"He's turned into a bit of a celebrity over there - I think he would have really liked that. I thought that it would be nice for dad to go on one last big adventure, and hopefully it is continuing."

Photos from here.