Council chucked family's grave flowers in skip

Jan 12 2009 By Katie Campling

A BEREAVED widow was left shocked after staff at Huddersfield Crematorium stripped her husband’s memorial of floral tributes.

Pauline Pitchfork visited her husband Harry’s memorial on Thursday (Jan 8) at the Fixby site last Thursday and saw that flowers left at Christmas had been removed.

She and her children, Scott, Melissa and Matthew, had placed the arrangements on his plaque in the ‘sanctapark’ area of the crematorium on Christmas Day.

But they had been taken away, along with tributes from other memorials and put in a nearby skip.

Mrs Pitchfork, an ambulance driver, said: "Most of the flowers had not even died off. I spoke to the chap in the office who said he didn’t know why they had moved them. It’s very upsetting, I was really annoyed."

A Kirklees Council spokesman said that only Christmas flowers which looked tired or wilted were removed and staff had to keep the area tidy.

He added: "Quite naturally at this time of the year large numbers of floral tributes are placed on memorials.

"When they reach the state of potentially making the grounds look untidy they are removed in the normal way.

"We have not cleared away all the floral tributes, only those that were wilting and looking tired. Many will have been placed there well before Christmas.

"We do not leave it to relatives to remove them as we have no idea when – or if – they will return.

"Many people come and place floral tributes and do not come back for a long time. Some only come once a year at Christmas.