Madam,

I feel I must respond to the recent letters about Aberystwyth cemetery.

I’m from Worksop in Nottinghamshire and, every year, I make the 200-mile journey to Aberystwyth to tend to my family’s graves, as there is no-one alive there any more to tend to them.

My mum’s family were all from Aberystwyth and I absolutely love the town - so many happy memories.

Imagine my horror and sadness when I arrived at the cemetery. I was so upset to see such a mess. Unfortunately, my family’s graves are where the older graves are, where the grass is long and overgrown.

I went to the council offices where I spoke to two ladies. Sorry, I don’t know your names but you were very kind as you could see how upset I was.

You forwarded an e-mail immediately to someone and, within a couple of hours, Gerwyn Jones of the environmental services department contacted me. He listened and was very kind and said he would look into the matter.

I was then put in touch with a Jon Hadlow, grounds maintenance manager. Again, he was very nice, as I expressed my concerns. He did tell me about the long grass being kept like this for the wildlife, butterflies etc, I do think this is a cop-out. Just because the graves are so old, it’s as if the don’t matter any more, but of course they do.

It is about respect for anyone who’s died, no matter how long ago.

Jon did tell me about a bill or agreement that had been passed to let the grass grow. Obviously, I would know nothing about that, living so far away. But, people of Aberystwyth, should we challenge this to get it overturned, so the grass can be tended to?

A man called Tim who was cutting the grass there did cut around my family’s graves when I pointed them out to him and I am very grateful to him for that. He did say he would continue to do so.But it would be better, and I would feel better, if it was all nicely kept.

Council, please don’t be unkind with your responses to the people who wrote in about the state of the cemetery.

We are all guilty of not reading notices, as I walked through the castle grounds every day it looked beautiful and there was someone there every day tending to the gardens. Please have a heart and spend a bit more money on the cemetery up-keep, not just for me and my family but for the people of Aberystwyth.

At the same time I am grateful for the council’s quick response and for the tidying around my family’s graves. But obviously I still went away heavy-hearted, wishing and hoping the council will find it in its heart to cut all the long grass and tidy it up a lot more.

Yours etc,

Karen Wilson, Anston Avenue, Workshop.

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