Having nearly fallen while visiting his daughter’s grave, a father has slammed “disgusting neglect” of the overgrown cemetery.
Eddie O’Connor’s daughter Sally died at just six weeks old in 1971 and he visits her four or five times a year at Chorleywood Road Cemetery, in Rickmansworth.
Cutting back plants at the site has been delayed due to weather conditions over the past few months, so when the 77-year-old went on Sunday (June 2) grass was higher than many of the headstones.
Chorleywood Road Cemetery (Image: Eddie O'Connor)
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Eddie O'Connor. (Image: Eddie O'Connor.)
“I’m just disappointed and upset,” the retiree said. “In some parts it is like a metre tall at least. I nearly fell into a sunken grave. You can’t literally see where you are going. It is a hazard."
He added: “I have to be very careful as I’m going through there."
Chorleywood Road Cemetery (Image: Eddie O'Connor)
The dad claims the site has been neglected for years and was “bad enough” during a visit two weeks earlier. However, after rapid growth since then, Mr O’Connor says he “has never seen it like this” and “could not believe” how high the grass had been allowed to get.
“It seems like they have made an attempt to cut a bit of the grass in one spot, it looks like they have started and given up," he added.
Chorleywood Road Cemetery (Image: Eddie O'Connor)
The Berry Lane estate resident says he normally tries to keep the area around his daughter’s grave, which is also visited by his wife and other daughters, tidy when he is there. He has previously cut the grass immediately around the grave himself, but this is apparently becoming difficult due to the state of the wider cemetery.
Chorleywood Road is a ‘closed’ cemetery that is only used when re-opening plots and is managed by Three Rivers District Council.
A district council spokesperson said: “Grounds works have been undertaken and will continue to do so; however, owing to persistent wet and mild weather conditions in the past few months, the grass cutting season has been delayed.”
Chorleywood Road Cemetery (Image: Eddie O'Connor)
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