Message in a Bottle Carrying Couple’s Ashes Washes Up on Devon Beach

By Community Correspondent

A message in a bottle containing the ashes of a couple on “one last adventure” has washed up on a beach in Devon.

The bottle was discovered by Mike Nicholls on Woolacombe Beach on 9 November. Inside was a note asking anyone who found it to return the bottle to the sea and to use hashtags to let the family know where it had been found.

Mr Nicholls said he had tried to reach the family but had not received a reply, adding that it would be “wonderful” to make contact with them.

Mike told the BBC that he carefully opened the “very distinctive” bottle with tweezers to reveal the message and shared photos of it on social media on 24 November.

“There was nothing inside it except what I found and it was quite well sealed, so I possibly was the first one to find it – but where it will end up next I don’t know,” he said.

“I put the word out to people I know but no-one has had any luck locating the family yet.”

He added that he hoped to trace the family, saying:

“If it has come from that far away – who knows, it might even be from Australia – though it’s probably from around the corner. But I’m just fascinated.”

After reading the note, Mr Nicholls resealed the bottle and released it again from Ilfracombe Pier as the tide was going out. As a former hospice worker, he said the moment felt “quite poignant”.

“It wouldn’t have felt right to keep the bottle,” he told the BBC. “It just didn’t feel right to have them in my home, so I let them continue their journey.”

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