A FORMER artillery serviceman’s final request came true when his ashes were fired out of a cannon at the Nothe Fort.

Derek Chatting died in July aged 59 and left the unusual desire for his ashes to be fired from a cannon – with his family travelling from Yorkshire to Weymouth in order to carry out his wish last week.

Derek’s ashes were fired from a 19th century six-pounder cannon as part of a full military ceremony in front of his family and former comrades.

“It’s an extremely rare thing to happen and something I haven’t ever seen” said Paul Merry, CEO of the Nothe Fort Artillery.

“It probably hasn’t happened in the last 130 years. Since the plans were started for Derek’s ceremony, we have actually had a few requests from people interested in having the same thing at their funeral.

“Derek was shot across into the bank actually inside the Fort. The family were understandably quite emotional afterwards, and some of his relatives seemed to be taken back by how much detail there was during the full military ceremony.”

Born in 1954, Derek started his military career with the Junior Leaders before joining the 45 Medium Regiment Royal Artillery in 1971 and was posted to the 52 (Niagara) Battery. By the late 1970s, Derek was promoted to Sergeant Major Class 2 – before leaving the armed forces after 22 years of service.

Weymouth resident Peter Rigby served in the armed forces with Derek and had recently got back in touch with his former colleague before he sadly died.

“I had served with him in the late 80s up in Colchester,” said Peter. “I had finally got back in touch with him on Facebook a few months ago, before he sadly lost his battle with cancer.

“We started talking with Derek’s family in June about whether we could do it. Then I got in touch with Paul Merry and found out it was possible. Paul did a fantastic job. Derek was fired over two charges. On the second shot, the cord they had used had gone out, so they had to use a musket. That’s probably how it would have been done all those years ago, so it really was the perfect send-off for Derek.”