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Please see below for some of the kind words people have written about our committal and scattering of ashes service.
“I speak on behalf of my siblings in thanking you all for such a memorable day. We were looked after and made comfortable along with the additional opportunity of taking the helm. It was just perfect.
We have shared the photos & videos, and all agree that it is a day we will all reflect on with warmth & gratitude that Jeff & Gay had the send-off they so wished for. They will have been smiling! Thank you for attaching a soft copy of the service, it was so well prepared and will be nice to share with family & be able to read through again ourselves. I very much like the poem – Love from another Room. Did you have something to do with it?”
Sandra from Southsea, July 2021
“First of all I have to say thank you so much for a fantastic service, my family and mums friends thought it was absolutely wonderful, beautifully done and exactly what my mum would have want. Regarding the donation you are more than welcome, you guys and the MVS totally deserve it, so thank you again. I would love a softcopy of the service and certificate, that will be much appreciated. Once again thank you and I hope that all your future committal of ashes are just as jovial and beautiful.”
Janette C, October 2018
“Simon, Helen and I would like to take this opportunity to thank MVS for the respectful way that you handled Mars committal, at all times with dignity and respect. You made what was a sad occasion more pleasant than we could have expected. Mars would be so proud.”
Thank you,
Ken S, May 2018
“The service was absolutely spot-on. We all appreciated it very much. Dad would have appreciated it as well. He was always impressed by competence and attention to detail and you provided that with warmth and sincerity. We were all really pleased with what you and your crew did for us and we feel that Dad’s last wishes were performed exactly as he wanted.
I think, as well, that Jeanette can start to move on with her life as she knows Dad is where he wanted to be.
We were also very lucky with the weather – this week has not been anywhere near as clement! And it is more than apt that the HMS Queen Elizabeth was in port.”
Many thanks again,
Alan & family, August 2017
“Many thanks to you, Deryck and David for a our memorable trip out to scatter Bob’s ashes on 4th July. My sister and friend also were most impressed with the service you provided, and the certificates you produced, not to mention the research you must have done to write Bob’s personal history, plus photographs. I took everything in to the funeral directors, and they were most interested, and photocopied all the paperwork, so they will be able to give the information with samples to anyone who might be interested in the future. I certainly will recommend the service you offer should the occasion arise. I am sure Bob would have approved, and it was so appropriate for his life and interests.”
Sincere thanks
Pat P, July 2017
“We were really overcome with emotion at the committal at sea of Jim. We could not have wished for a better day, weather wise, and you did just what Jim would have wished for. The members of the MVS were fantastic, they took care of us, and made the day very memorable. You made it so interesting, with the knowledge, you uncovered, thank you so much, it has made us appreciate Jim even more knowing what he did. There are so many brave men and women who are not recognised as they keep things to themselves.”
Once again thank you so much,
Penny C, September 2016
“I am writing to say that today’s event was perfect. It went exactly as I hoped it would – actually it was better. All the crew were the friendliest and most informative people you could hope to meet. At the point of reflection for me they were the epitome of respect and humility. Both my wife and I felt immediately and always at ease. I cannot thank you and the crew enough for a perfect day. Please pass on our sincere thanks to the crew.”
Warmest Regards.
Glyn G, Sepetember 2016
“Just a brief note to thank you and your colleagues for looking after us so beautifully on Saturday. We loved it.
It was a perfect send off for my father, he will have loved it. Portsmouth harbour was one of his most treasured places, its where he fell in love with the sea, where learned to sail and where he spent so much of his life.
He will be very very happy to be back there. He would also have loved the words you wrote and said and for all the time and effort you put into making it such a very lovely day.
Thank you very much once again, it couldn’t have been more perfect.”
Very best wishes
Harriet, August 2016
“I just had to write had to thank you very much for arranging the Scattering of Alan’s Ashes.
You had put so much work and research into making the service very personal, it was as if you had known Alan.
The gentlemen on the boat, Glenn, Chris and Dave, were so kind, extremely smart and very professional.
We were looked after and the occasion was made special, serious when it had to be, a few tears but also some smiles remembering our friend Alan.
They made the rest of the trip enjoyable, and even let us ‘drive’ the boat for a short time on the way back.”
With all good wishes to you and everyone involved.
Thank you,
Stuart, Peter, Chris and Julie, May 2016
“Thank you very much for the time and effort put in that made by Dad’s committal at sea such a memorable and special occasion. My siblings attended on the 18th September 2015 and we were all very moved by the thought and detail given to my Dad’s service history and the ships he served on. It really gave a personal touch.
In appreciation, I was hoping to make a small donation (hopefully with Gift Aid!) to contribute to the charity, but couldn’t find any donation links on the website. If you could let me know the best way to make a donation it would be appreciated.”
Thanks again and kind regards,
Ms Susan D, November 2015
“I’m really glad mum managed to put something up for you, I did have a look on the MVS website but couldn’t see how to put up a testimonial so please feel free to use mums from facebook for your website if you have not already done so.
We all could not have praised or thanked you enough for last week, we all said many times over the rest of the day (and since) how we had been a little apprehensive and nervous/tense about the day but you and the crew changed that and it turned into a very positive day that will always be treasured as a happy memory. It is not an easy situation and the way you and the team seemed to instinctively know how to support each of us and the knowledge of the area etc. was amazing.
My dad was not an easy man to please but we know that he would have been very proud of the way his final wish was carried out.
I hope you are all well and carry on the truly fantastic work you do.”
Many thanks again,
Michelle, J 2015
“I wanted to thank you and the MVS Portsmouth crew on behalf of my family for the extremely friendly and professional manner in which you helped to fulfil my Father’s final wishes of having his ashes scattered at sea.
From the moment we arrived at the dockside we were made to feel very comfortable and welcome aboard your vessel. Even the rain could not dampen the warm welcome we received.
From the safety briefing onwards we were provided with detailed information about the location where the ashes would be committed to the sea, some history on the sights we passed on the way to the location and a wonderful service carried out in a very respectful and professional manner.
The added touches of providing a framed copy of the order of service showing to coordinates of where the ashes were scattered and inviting my niece to “drive” the boat on the way back to shore were very much appreciated. As my Mother rightly said “Your Dad would have been very proud”.
I have attached a picture that was taken on the dockside after the committal and I think the smiles in the picture tells the story about how we all felt the day had gone. Please feel free to use this picture and our thanks on your website should it be of any use.
Once again, thank you for all of your help and if anyone should ask me about about scattering ashes at sea I would have no hesitation at all in recommending MVS Portsmouth.”
Kind regards
Tony F & Family, March 2014
“On behalf of my family and I, I would like to thank you and your fellow members for yesterdays committal service.
I feel, and i know the rest of my family feel, that the service was held with dignity and compassion and was exactly what both Andy and Uncle Jack would have wanted.
Please pass on our heartfelt thanks to the crew.”
David W, November 2013
“Yes many thanks to Chris and the crew we really enjoyed their company and what they did for us.”
Regards and thanks
Steve K, October 2013
“Now that I have finally recovered from “life on the ocean wave” , I would like to once again express my heartfelt thanks for everything you and your crew did during the committal of my Fathers ashes. I thought the service very appropriate and it was an unexpected nice touch for Mum to receive the certificate So thank you once again and you’ll perhaps now appreciate why I joined the RAF and not the Navy !
Kind Regards
Karen A, September 2013
“I would just like to thanks you very much – you and your colleagues – for a wonderful service which I can assure you has helped my family with the loss of my father.
They all had nothing but extremely positive words to say about the experience and whilst I am very sad I couldn’t attend, I am glad it went so well. My brother even said that he would thoroughly recommend the service to anyone who was thinking of having a committal at sea.”
Thank you again,
Graham P, September 2013
“We just wanted to thank you for last week and we really appreciated what you did.”
Again thank you
Reema, Heena & Sangeta, August 2013
“Dear All, Once again a very heartfelt thank you from all of the family in the organisation of a wonderful send off for my dad on Saturday. Everything was just perfect, including the weather. So sorry for the delay in my brother arriving, but we got there in the end.
Many thanks to you Tony for organising everything for us and a big thank you to Chris, Glen, Deryk and James for all their help and assistance on the day. Everything was handled with such compassion and care and really made the whole thing a most wonderful day and very fitting send off for my dad. The poems read out and the way the service was conducted was fantastic and exactly what we could have hoped for and more.
Feel free to add this e-mail to your testimonials page, or I would be more than happy to write another e-mail.
Once again, a big heartfelt thank you from myself and my mum and all the family for your help and assistance.”
Kindest regards,
Jackie, Joan, Ian
Colin, Jasmine, Tia
And all of the Burt family xxx, August 2013
“I just wanted thank you, Chris and Dave for the personal and respectful way you committed dad’s ashes at sea on Friday. It was such a memorable occasion and even the weather was beautiful. Steve and I are most grateful for the detail you put into it all and the framed certificate is a lovely memory of this day for us. I felt most at ease talking to you, as though I’d known you longer than just an hour, so thank you for your empathy and understanding of the situation.
We very much enjoyed our stay in Portsmouth and plan to visit again to see the sights we didn’t have time to take in this weekend.
Wishing you all the very best and continued funding for the Maritime Volunteer Service.”
With kind regards
Chris W, July 2013
“Thank you so much for the service on 2 June. Barbara, Michelle and I were impressed with how things were handled and, notwithstanding the nature of the event, we enjoyed the day.
I’ve attached a scan of the certificate you need for your records. I hope the quality is sufficient for your needs – just let me know if not and I’ll send you a copy by snail mail.
Thanks again, Tony, I think we did David proud and I know he’d have had a laugh, had he been there in person!”
Warm regards
Christine W, June 2013
“Just had to, Thank you, once again, for an excellent service, you and your comrades, conducted it, with such compassion, empathy and dignity, I couldn’t have, wished, for a better send off for Phil”
Regards
Maureen C, May 2013
“Just a quick email to thank you and your two colleagues for such a memorable service that you provided when you scattered Dad’s ashes last weekend.
We all felt that the day could have not gone any better and we all would like to thank you for giving Dad such a wonderfully poignant and memorable farewell.
Many thanks and kind regards to you all.
Chris M, April 2013
“I would like to thank you and the guys again for the service you gave last Wednesday, it really was a wonderful send off for my father. Many thanks again from me and my family,”
Phil W, December 2012
“It was clearly a very thoughtful and movingevent, I am very grateful to you and your colleagues for the arrangements. My sister Judith has sent me some photos already, it looks like a good day, as much as these can be.
I would like to make a personal donation to MVS Portsmouth, the easiest way is to simply send you a sterling money order, made out, I presume, to MVS (Portsmouth) – can you please send me a mailing address and I will get one and put it in the mail.
Once again, many thanks for all you have done, and for giving my father such a respectful send-off, I know he would have been very pleased to be among his old comrades and his Navy traditions in this way and it is good to think that his ashes are scattered in such an appropriate place and manner.
Best wishes
Trevor H, November 2012
“On behalf of us all I want to thank you and all the crew for the committal of Dad’s ashes last Friday. From the initial telephone conversation and subsequent exchange of emails leading up to the event I had a warm feeling that the day would be very special, and it certainly was. Everyone was so kind and friendly and the ceremony very moving.
On a lighter note we much enjoyed our turn at the wheel on the journey back to Camber Dock.
Your organisation provides a wonderful service and we hope you are able to continue for many years to come.
Please pass our many thanks on to all those involved.”
Warmest wishes
Barry C and family, October 2012
“I’m writing this email as well to thank you, for all the trouble you went to – locating Monckton Patch, suggesting readings, incorporating late changes, putting together our framed certificate and then leading us through a very moving service. My apologies for the late decisions; family dynamics can be complicated. I’ll just say that my brother Julian’s input at the last minute, not only choosing but actually reading ‘High Flight’ out in the Solent, meant a great deal. I was so glad you added David Harkins’ poem too, and we appreciated you rephrasing it to include both our parents’ names.
I thought I’d send the words to ‘I am standing on the seashore…’ (which I mentioned on the phone) in case you’d like to use it sometime in the future.
Anyway, getting back to our ceremony, despite being a sad occasion it felt good to be carrying out my father’s wishes at last, and doing so gave my brother, nephews and I, who rarely see each other, the chance to reconnect. It brought us closer and I know we’ll all keep in touch more from now on. It was a beautiful day to be in the Solent on Arkwright and you and your colleagues (do thank them for us) were so kind and supportive, chatting to us with care and consideration for our feelings. Then you treated us to that sunny trip around Portsmouth harbour, which really helped give our thoughts and emotions time to settle.
Thanks to you what we expected to be a difficult day became a really special one, and we have our commemorative framed record of the service and a lovely group photograph on Arkwright’s stern, the red ensign fluttering behind us, to remember it by.
The MVS provides a wonderful service and does it so well – we certainly made the right choice in coming to you. I’ve been telling all my friends about it, and one has decided to scatter her parents’ ashes in the Mersey – she’s going to contact the MVS up there to see if they can help.”
Thank you from the four of us for everything, With very best wishes for the future Philippa, Julian, Simon and Dan S. October 2012
“I just wanted to say thank you to you. Chris and the rest of the crew of the Arkwright for arranging and carrying out such a wonderful committal on Saturday and providing lovely photos of the occasion. It was a wonderful service, Chris did a great job, respectful but not too formal and even the weather was good. My father would have been very happy with the committal, as were we all.”
Thank you again
Lisa R, October 2012
“Heartfelt thanks for the way you and the crew welcomed and looked after us, The weather suited the occasion and the verse was most apt, I think dad was probably laughing at us in those little waves! We will have treasured memories of the day that you made possible for us you have our utmost gratitude.”
Kind Regards
Malc L, September 2012
“Recently you committed my father`s ash’s at sea just outside Pompey harbour and to say that the whole service was done with dignity and compassion towards my mother’s feelings would be an understatement you and both your shipmates did a very good job and in such a professional way, that we would like to send you a letter of thanks via normal mail unfortunately we do not have your postal address would please be able to send it to me via email at your earliest convenience it would be very much appreciated. Again I must thank you all on such a good job that you did for us”
Yours Iain S, September 2013
“You and your crew made the service so special for all of us. Mum now feels some closure, knowing Dad is where he would want to be and my sisters and I know Dad will wear the fantastic smile he had for evermore.
The whole experience is something we will all remember, whilst with some sadness as Dad was not able to experience it as we did, but as a perfect way to say farewell to Dad and to know he is now home. It was great for my cousins too, they still live in the Portsmouth area and through my late Uncle Eric (their dad and one of Dads’ close brothers) had big connections with the Dockyard, so the trip round that area seeing the Navel ships was special to them.
The sailors poem you read with the lines ‘all I ask is a tall ship with a star to sail her by’ couldn’t have been more perfect. I remember Dad reciting that to me when I was a small child. Those particular lines stayed with me and some xxx years later when Dad was nearing his 80th birthday, I complied a scrapbook of his life, one page of which had a picture of him (in his late seventies) on board a ship holding it’s wheel, and I had printed out those words on that particular page.
I have to say, the ending poem on the certificate (which I understand you wrote?) is so lovely and is something I could hear my dad telling us.
I know you probably do a lot more than ‘committals’ and whilst I can’t promise you ‘millions!!!!’ I will keep hold of your address. We all have our top list of charities we give donations too, and yours is now firmly added to mine.”
Thank you Tony and your Crew, on behalf of the very grateful Gordon’s.
Regards
Chris G, August 2012
“Just a quick note to thank you and your crew again for the lovely send-off you gave my father on Tuesday. All the family agreed that the whole experience was handled with reverence, dignity and with a professional but personal touch. I’m sure it is exactly what my dad would have wanted. My mum was also thrilled with the framed certificate – she said she’d read it every night.”
Many Thanks
Steve O. and family, August 2012
“We would just like to say a big thank you to you and the rest of the crew today on “Arkwright”. We were so impressed with not only the quality of the service you provided, but also the compassion and professionalism in the way the service and trip was conducted.
We feel sure that Lewis would have approved, and that his final wishes were carried out. The commemorative certificate etc. was an added bonus and will have pride of place in our home, to add to our memories of Lewis. Please pass on our good wishes to the others.”
Thank you all once again.
Bob & Sandra F. & family, August 2012
“Thanks for such a lovely ceremony and trip my father was very impressed and I am sure my uncle Ron would not have expected such an event. I have attached some pictures which you are welcome to use or show to other people interested in your service.
My parents go on a cruise in September on Aurora so will think of him as they pass overhead.
I am putting a cheque in the post today which I hope will help with your excellent work.
Thanks so much once again.
Piers C, August 2012
“I would just like to thank you all once again on behalf of my family, for all of your help with regard to the committal of my father-in-law’s ashes to the sea, on Friday last. Although obviously a sad day, you made us feel most welcome and the captain conducted a lovely service which was very respectful and special.”
Amanda Taylor
“There are no words that I could say that would do you all justice today. It was so lovely to be on your boat and in my heart I know that I made the right choice in choosing your service. Everyone was so lovely and kind to us and even though it was very sad for me (and it was) it was very special too. The poem you read was lovely and the certificate was a real bonus and that will go on the wall in my lounge. Thank you for making my Dad’s last journey so lovely.”
Yvonne Brown
“Thank you for your service. mother and I are extremely grateful for all you and the crew did for us. You were all very kind and patient and that made my late Dad’s committal very special. We will definitely recommend your services to others – it was perfect and peaceful.”
Niyta Radia
“We had a lovely weekend made even better by such a wonderful time spent with you all yesterday. You all made what I thought would be a difficult job, very comforting, very emotional and very considerate. The words you spoke very moving and I cannot thank you enough for the time you gave us. Serious job out of the way your crew were lovely, so friendly and every one of them so kind and considerate and so very easy to talk to. We all thoroughly enjoyed the trip. I cannot thank you enough for all your time and kindness and I do hope your lovely little ship keeps sailing for a long time to come.”
Zena Faccini
Maritime Volunteer Service - City of Portsmouth Unit 