Son lost da’s ashes in Tesco bag for life after farewell trip to Southend Pier turned into pub crawl
An embarrassed son has asked for help finding his father’s ashes he lost for life in a Tesco bag after ‘one last trip to the beach’ turned into a nine-hour pub crawl.
Stan Blade, 39, planned to make a TikTok video of himself visiting pleasure rides on Southend Pier, Essex, with father Stephen Jewitt’s ashes as a final goodbye.
But instead of visiting the bumper cars at Southend Pier with his dad, he bumped into a group of old friends and ended up on a pub crawl in his former hometown.
Sometime during the crawl, on which he downed six cans of Stella and five pints of lager, Stan had lost the shopping bag containing a wooden box containing the ashes of his father who died at age 60.
He only discovered his blunder after returning home just after midnight on March 18 after drinking six cans of Stella and five pints of lager in a few pubs.
Stan Blade, 39, (pictured with his father’s ashes before he lost them) planned to make a TikTok video of himself visiting pleasure rides in Southend, Essex, with father Stephen Jewitt’s ashes as a final goodbye
Stan said, “My dad was a really funny guy and he would have absolutely loved the idea of me riding a roller coaster with his axle by my side.” Pictured: Stan with his late father Stephen
After realizing his father was missing, Stan went straight back to search every pub he had been to with his friends, but no one had seen his father. Pictured: A photo of Stan and his father when he was a boy
He confessed to his irate stepmother Emma Hopkins who had previously told him he couldn’t get the ashes out of her house.
Musician Stan said, “I came home and my stepmom asked ‘where’s your daddy?’
“She wasn’t happy with me at all and I don’t blame her.”
He added: ‘My dad was a really funny guy and he would have absolutely loved the idea of me riding a roller coaster with his axle by my side.
“He had a good sense of humor so I just wanted to do something to pay tribute to that since I haven’t visited my hometown in a while.
“The idea was to take him to the beach and get on the bumper cars and get ice cream, all the stereotypical things you do on the beach.
He last saw the wooden box containing his father’s ashes near Adventure Island on the coast. Pictured: Stephen held by his mother as a child
Stan’s father Stephen Jewitt died in 2011, at the age of 60 from complications of alcohol abuse. Pictured: Stephen Jewitt, when he was a young man
“But eventually I ran into friends and got drunk along the coast.”
After realizing his father was missing, Stan went straight back to search every pub he had been to with his friends, but no one had seen his father.
He visited Chinnerys, The Cornucopia and a hotel bar on Marine Parade in Southend-on-Sea, but no one had seen his father.
He last saw the wooden box containing his father’s ashes near Adventure Island on the coast.
He then made a TikTok call for information on the whereabouts of the ashes.
In the video shot the same night titled “missing person,” Stan explains that he was visiting his hometown from Leicester, where he now lives, to see family and friends when he came up with the idea.
If his ashes (pictured before they went missing) are not found soon, Stan will report his missing to the police
Instead of going to the bumper cars at Southend Pier (pictured) with his dad, he bumped into a group of old friends and ended up on a pub crawl in his former hometown
Still gulping down the pub crawl video, he said, “I convinced my stepmom to do a TikTok.
“I thought it would be funny — put him in the bumper cars, put him on the Ferris wheel, give him a kiss-me-quick hat and a piece of rock and stuff.
“She didn’t want me to do it, but I did it anyway.”
In response to his question, “Are you ready to see the funny side yet?” his stepmother, Emma Hopkins, 49, said: ‘Not really no, I’ve had that ashes for 12 years.
“I told you not to take them to the coast. All you want to do is do stuff on TikTok.”
Stan’s father Stephen Jewitt died in 2011, at the age of 60 from complications of alcohol abuse.
If his ashes are not found soon, Stan will report him missing to the police.
Stan can be reached for information about his father’s ashes on TikTok @stanstoks and Instagram @StanBlade-.