It's ashes-to-ashes as Big Blue gets remains of the day

Employees at IBM's North Harbour office sprawl in Portsmouth aren't used to getting their hands dirty. But they may have noticed that surfaces weren't quite as clean as they're used to following an explosive event earlier this week that took particle theory into a new dimension. For plucky Sue Simmons asked for her ashes to be scattered into the night sky by a rocket after she was told by doctors she was dying of bowel cancer. Her family, obeying her dying wishes, instructed a fireworks company to construct a display to send off the 48-year-old divorced Mum with a bang. Earlier this week, friends and loved ones said goodbye to Sue on a hill above her home town of Portsmouth, which just do happened to be overlooking IBM's HQ. And as the last chrysanthemum-like sprays of brilliant light faded in the night sky, so Sue's ashes drifted peacefully to earth. Speaking in The Sun, Sue's eldest daughter said: "Mum was always a larger-than-life character, always laughing. When people remember her they always remember her laugh. "No one can say our Mum didn't go out with a bang!" ®