MORE than 1,100 people have signed an online petition backing families who want to put keepsakes on graves at Lydney cemetery.

Lydney Town Council, which administers the cemetery, says a long-standing policy is being enforced.

Furious families of those buried at the cemetery, on Church Road, were left 'shocked and in tears' last week after visiting loved ones' graves to find keepsakes 'removed and dumped' by a nearby shed.

Bream mum Nicola Hunt lost her 10-year-old daughter eight years ago to meningitis and was horrified to hear that only three keepsakes were left on her headstone.

She said: "The council posted a notice about the  decorative items being put on the graves and some may be removed – but they didn't explain why. I presumed this was if they were overbearing or overhung the plinth.

"But this is not the case as the council has removed every single item on all the graves and dumped the keepsakes up by a shed.

"It's fair to say they have desecrated the graves and I don't understand why, the only thing I can think is it's something to do with grass cutting.

"My husband went to my daughter's grave last Friday and all but three things were left. My family and her younger sisters have all put keepsakes up for her and they were all gone.

"Many people have been in tears and shocked by this appalling behaviour.  There is a petition on Facebook now which is collecting names.

"To lose a loved one, there is no pain like it, but to lose a child there is no getting over it, my daughter's grave is visited not just by family but by her school friends even now eight years on.

"That's just me, there are older ladies who have lost soul mates. I paid for my daughter's plot of land, and it wasn't cheap, so I should be able to do as I please. It should be left in peace."

A spokesman for Lydney Town Council said: "The issue here is a matter of a longstanding council policy which was taken by councillors as a corporate body and is simply administered by staff."

A sign on the gates of the cemetery says that as from Monday, April 27, items such as solar lights and windmills will be removed as they contravene cemetery regulations.

These are stored at Bathurst Park for a week before being destroyed.

What the council calls 'personal adornments' such as angels and models are allowed – although they "contravene cemetery rules" – if they are on the plinth.

There is a warning that if they are put back in the main grave space they will be permanently removed