Visitors have been urged to "have some respect" after rubbish was dumped near graves at a cemetery in Greater Manchester. Photos showed a pile of litter left at Chadderton Cemetery in Oldham.
The cemetery in Middleton Road is a Grade Two site of national importance on the English Heritage Resister of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. Two Oldham -based Facebook groups have posted warnings on their accounts, advising people to be more respectful when visiting the cemetery.
Oldham Neighbourhood Watch said in a statement posted on Facebook: "This was the state of Chadderton Cemetery [on] 2nd May 2022. If you're going to take flowers to Chadderton cemetery, please take your rubbish home with you or use the bins provided. That's why they are there, it's not hard.
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"Everyone actually walks past four LARGE bins which are next to each other right next to the main car park. Have some respect for the cemetery and your loved ones who are laid to rest."
The neighbourhood watch group also encouraged people to be more conscious of their behaviour when visiting the cemetery, by silencing their mobile phones and not leaving watering cans all over the grounds. The post continued: "Also please switch off or turn your mobile phones onto silent mode.
"People turn up using their mobiles phones, having very loud conversations about not very important things. Surely the call can wait 10/15mins.
"People visiting paying their respects to their loved ones don't really want to hear what you did with your mates recently. If you use the watering cans, please put them back next to the tap, not leave them for others to collect around the cemetery. It's not hard to put them back to where you got them from, please put them back next to the tap for others to use."
Also blasting the littering is the Facebook page Spotted: Oldham. On their post, they wrote: "If you're going to take flowers to the cemetery, please take your rubbish with you. Have some respect for those who ain’t with us."
Speaking to the M.E.N., a spokesperson from Spotted: Oldham said: "The littering needs to stop. Even the water cannons are all over the floors- people don’t have respect for the dead. It makes me wonder what their houses look like from the inside. It's simple- just take your rubbish with you or bin it."
Paul Errock, 62, from Oldham, a construction managing director, called the littering "disrespectful". He said: "It's a shame. A cemetery is a place of respect.
"It should be respected by everyone. We've all got parents, grandparents, family and friends in a cemetery and we're all going to end up in one. I think littering is a symptom of a lack of engagement and education.
"When you turn up to grieve a lost loved one and you are met with litter, it's sad to see. It's heart-breaking. It's a symptom of a society that doesn't care.
"I think more money should be spent on cleaning up in Chadderton Cemetery."
An Oldham Council spokesman said: “Our staff have not received any complaints about litter in Chadderton Cemetery from members of the public over the bank holiday.
"However, they will now look into this incident and clean up any waste. Everyone who visits our cemeteries should respect the graves and clean up after themselves, by using the onsite bins or taking their waste home with them.
“The council is cracking down on litter, fly-tipping and blight as part of our Don’t Trash Oldham campaign and it is showing results – residents are telling us so. However, we only have limited resources and out staff cannot be everywhere at once."
Oldham Council is investing £1million into their 'Don't Trash Oldham' campaign for 2022 and 2023, with extra staff out and about cleaning up litter and fly-tipping on streets and alleyways in every ward and imposing fines on those who have committed waste offences.
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