Council vow to tackle flowers stolen from graves

Members of Ollerton and Boughton Town Council vowed to tackle the issue of flowers stolen from graves.

At a meeting of the full council yesterday (April 10), a member of the public became teary when speaking about flowers that had been stolen from her mother's grave.

Addressing the council, the member of the public said: "My mum's flowers have been stolen twice, as well as three other peoples'.

"My mums have gone twice in the space of two weeks

"I know [the cemetery] is open 24 hours a day, but people can also climb the fence and they can get over the new memorial

"No-one is patrolling the cemetery, its been reported to the police, who have said they'll do foot patrols.

"I'm here on behalf of my grandma, who visits every day - it's her baby.

"The grass is disgusting - my grandma does clean peoples plots.

"It's my mum, and it's not fair that people are taking flowers off dead people's graves - yes we put the flowers down at our own risk, but you don't expect people to grieve, then grieve some more when the flowers have been taken.

"A lot of cemeteries have CCTV.

"Something's got to be done. I'll even put money in to have cameras put in. What more can we do?

"I'm sure people with families buried up there wouldn't mind putting money in a pot, because who's family is going to be next?"

Chairman of the Council said the council could find out if CCTV would be feasible.

Councillor Ray Shilling: "It's disgraceful, and I think everybody round this table would agree.

"There are covert CCTV available to the police - I would suggest reporting this to the police, and we can add our weight to this.

"I think people need to be told of this because hopefully we can name and shame them."

The council agreed to put information in Roundabout

The council also agreed to ask the District council to look into the issue, and relay information to residents in Roundabout, the community led newspaper for the area.

Karen Wakefield, the town clerk said: "We have today recruited a member of staff for the seasonal community workforce, who will be based in the cemetery over the summer."