LETTER: Show some respect to our dead

"The picture above shows the builders yard effect. This is the same both in St Pauls and Sugar Lane cemeteries."

If Wakefield Council is bound by law to lay down our headstones due to safety reasons and put safety stickers on them, there remains some unanswered questions.

I have asked these questions of the department concerned and have received no reply.

There are going to be many stones that are destined to lay on the ground forever.

This is neither reasonable nor does it show any respect for those that have passed.

The picture above shows the ‘builders yard’ effect. This is the same both in St Paul’s and Sugar Lane cemeteries.

When these stones are laid down it appears to me that they are more of a safety hazard than before as people can easily trip over them.

There will be many that cannot afford the £250 (and rising) to resit their stone. There will also be many stones that do not have any surviving relatives.

Indeed, there will also be some with relatives living abroad and cannot be contacted. However, there will also be those who simply do not care or cannot be bothered.

When we take our grand children and our great grandchildren to show them where ‘Great Auntie Doris is buried’, are we supposed to supply them with hard hats as they do in builders yards?

Our deceased are laid to rest in consecrated ground and given due reverence. No one would ever think that their relatives are going to treated in this way. This most egregious practice has to stop and the stones re-instated.

Show some respect!

Mr G L Hall,

St Michael’s,

Wakefield