A woman's ashes have been fired into the night sky above Kearsney Abbey, in accordance with her wishes.

Jennifer Lowe, who lived at Kennington, Ashford, loved Kearsney Abbey and had asked for some of her ashes to be placed in a rocket and set off high above the grounds.

Now her husband David, along with other members of the family and friends, have made that wish come true, after gathering at the Abbey at dusk.

After a short firework display, a huge rocket was ignited, which shot up into the sky and then burst in a massive, flaming explosion, scattering the ashes over a wide area.

Mrs Lowe made her wishes clear about her desire for her ashes to be sent up in a rocket to husband David 52 years ago.

“We were walking through Kearsney Abbey on a date and Jennifer said to me that she would like to go up in a rocket, and she said she wanted it to happen at the park,” Mr Lowe said.

“Before she died, she said to me ‘Don’t you forget’. So I made sure it happened. We arranged it for Wednesday, May 1, which would have been Jennifer’s 71st birthday.”

On Sunday, another of Mrs Lowe’s wishes was observed when the remainder of her ashes were scattered in Dover Harbour, near the Prince of Wales Pier, from Dover Lifeboat.

In 2010, Mrs Lowe presented £250 to Dover Lifeboat after being sponsored on a pound-for-pound basis to lose weight.

The following year, Mrs Lowe, who was a great-grandmother and had suffered from breast cancer, took part in the Race for Life to raise funds for the charity, which supported her.

She completed the 5km race in Folkestone to raise £150 for Cancer Research UK.

Mr Lowe said he was grateful to the district council for allowing the use of Kearsney Abbey, AJ Pyrotechnics and Dover Lifeboat crew.

He added: “Thank you to everyone who came to the display. It was such a beautiful send off.”