Protest over messy cuttings near graves

They are angry with Sandwell Council for not removing the cuttings at Fallings Heath Cemetery, in Wednesbury, where grass had been allowed to grow long during weeks of poor summer weather.

Olwen Jones, aged 57, of Pound Road, said the cuttings had been left in front of graves, including that of her father-in-law, John Jones. "We had complained about the grass being left to grow long, and now they have cut it and just left it there." she said.

"It looked like the Somme before it was cut because of all the boggy ground.

"It is not difficult to just pick up the grass cuttings and it makes a big difference to the look of the graves.'

Mrs Jones added: "The people buried here deserve to be treated with respect."

Sandwell's neighbourhoods chief, Councillor Mahboob Hussain, said: "Grass has to be cut every 10 to 14 days, but this has been difficult because of the bad weather.

In June, a Tipton church which had struggled to pay to keep an overgrown graveyard tidy for more than nine years found a solution by getting young offenders to do the work.

Offenders on community service now come to cut the grass at St Mark's Church, in Ocker Hill.

The church had had difficulties since 2000 to find the cash to pay private firms to cut the long grass.

It had resorted to volunteer gardeners and relied upon the goodwill of families to get the job done, but mourners regularly complained about overgrown foliage.

In 2006, it appealed for help from the community to do the job as most of the congregation were elderly and could not assist.