Councillors cut back overgrown grass in Clacton Cemetery

Residents have been concerned with the overgrown grass at Clacton Cemetery, in Burrs Road, for weeks.

Previously, relatives have been unable to visit headstones due to the grass making it unsafe and some people have even been forced to 'strim their own graves'.

Overgrowth - the overgrown grass on the new side of the cemetery (Image: Georgina Dowding)

Responding to these problems, Bradley Thompson, Councillor for Jaywick, went to work mowing the worst areas, including the children's area.

Georgina Dowding was left upset after finding graves covered by thick undergrowth and claims she was unable to visit her mother's grave. 

"The whole new side of the cemetery is overgrown and we have been on to the council but nothing has happened," she said. 

"One of my friend's baby's graves has been disturbed and there is grass everywhere and nobody is taking any notice."

Determined - Bradley hard at work (Image: Bradley Thompson)

Bradley said: "We went over there to do all the strimming and mowing and a few other councillors came over to help out.

"My wife's daughters laid to rest over there and the lady was complaining about the issue and was concerned about the same part.

"My wife is trying to set up a Facebook group to try and get people to volunteer as we have the equipment through the Forum."

Andrea and Bradley Thompson, Mark Stephenson and Adrian Smith all took part in the clearing up. 

Teamwork - councillors clubbing together (Image: Bradley Thompson)

The team plans to keep this mowing happening every two weeks.

Bradley said: "We managed to maintain the children's lot and we are going to try to keep it getting cut every two weeks.

"It will be nice to maintain it, the grass is so long but every council is battling the same issues with the weather.

"Open Spaces are doing amazing they have extra teams working extra long days to tackle the problem."