Daughter’s despair at cemetery mess

Hazel Rogerson went to visit the grave of her late father, John Rogerson, on Tuesday evening and was shocked to find the polished granite headstone covered in grass clippings.
She was further upset that lovingly placed red roses had been damaged.
Hazel, who lives in the town, said: “It just looks terrible. They’ve cut the grass and cut left it all over the place.
“I wiped the grass cuttings off my dad’s headstone and it looked a bit better, but it’s just wrong: They shouldn’t leave it like that.
“I don’t know if they are planning to come back and lift it all at a later date, I hope so.”
She also explained that council officials appeared to have used a strimmer to cut some areas and had made a messy and uneven job.
Hazel added: “There was some red roses on the grave and one of them has been broken and it’s lying away.
“And another grave had artificial flowers on it and they are damaged too.
“I’ve never seen the cemetery look as bad as this.
“It needs to be cut with a mower that lifts the grass. I wouldn’t leave my lawn like that, a cemetery should not be left like that.”
Responding to the claims, a spokesman for Dumfries and Galloway Council said: “The specification for all council tended cemeteries across Dumfries and Galloway is the same; to cut the grass but not lift the cuttings.”