Rethink in cemetery row (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Rethink in cemetery row

9:39am Thursday 18th September 2008 in

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EXTRA flowers and ornaments will be allowed to remain on graves in Bishop's Waltham's West Hoe Cemetery, at least until the end of October.

Last week, the committee caused outrage by putting letters on graves saying some exceeded the permitted number of vases and had "prohibited items" on them.

Initially, relatives were given until the end of September to remove excess blooms, dead flowers, extra pots and items such as toys, mini-windmills and nets.

However, because so many people were upset, the committee has reached a compromise on two issues.

Firstly, the grave decorations can stay until after a public meeting of the committee on Wednesday, October 22, in the Jubilee Hall, in Little Shore Lane at 7.30pm.

Secondly, flowers laid for special occasions, such as anniversaries and Christmas, can remain, as long as they are accompanied by an explanatory note.

With the stricter enforcement of the current rules, families became angry and emotional when they realised other family members would not be able to lay flowers on one grave at the same time.

Extra flower pots, some engraved with the names of loved ones, would have to go and so would decorations on children's graves and nets protecting flowers from deer and rabbits.

The cemetery is co-owned and managed by Swanmore and Bishop's Waltham Parish Councils.

Diana Underwood, chairman of the committee, said: "To a certain extent, this problem is the fault of other committees not enforcing the rules."

Mrs Underwood said the graveyard was beginning to look tatty with faded silk flowers, dead flowers and overturned pots strewn on some graves.

She added that the debris made it harder for the groundsmen to cut the grass and keep the cemetery tidy.

"The netting is dangerous because it can blow away and people can get caught up in them and trip.

"Animals have always eaten the flowers. As someone said to me, they went through the flowers until they found some animals didn't like.

"Another family I spoke to took it in turns to come up and lay flowers. It is difficult when it is a child's grave.At the meeting in October, we will discuss the best way to move forward."

Marie Smith, from Durley, whose husband, Andrew, died two years ago and is buried at the cemetery, said she was deeply hurt by the plans by the cemetery committee to enforce rules which stated that no more than one vase is allowed on a grave and only one set of flowers at any one time.

"It has really upset all the family," she said.

"I paid £2,000 for his headstone because we all love my husband and we got him the best. I was not allowed to have a plinth with the headstone on his plot but other graves have them and they can have two pots.

"We don't put flowers up for show. We put them there because we love those that are buried here and the windmills are there to frighten off the animals.

"I don't think they thought it through when they made these rules, but I can understand that no-one wants the cemetery to be turned into a fairground."