Friends of Hebburn Cemetery, plus volunteers, who held a litter pick.
verity.ward@jpress.co.uk
Volunteers collected more than 80 bags of rubbish from a vandal hit cemetery. Friends Of Hebburn Cemetery, plus around 20 more helpers, spent their Sunday cleaning up the graves. Back in February, 25 resting places were trashed by yobs, which sparked a fundraising mission to raise £5,000 to install CCTV cameras. Now two months on the target has been doubled and the Friends are aiming to organise another clean-up mission next month after the council and Co-op Funeralcare provided them with litter picks and other equipment. Ian Houston, a resident and Friend, said: “It was brilliant, there must have been more than 20 people who came along and we collected over 80 bags of rubbish.“A lot of it was twigs and branches, but it’s made so much difference already. We’re aiming to host another event next month on the 21st. We’re hoping to focus on the old graves, but we have to make sure they’re safe first,”Mr Houston said the Friends met with the council yesterday and they hope to use cash left over from the CCTV fund to buy benches for the cemetery.There’s even talks of opening a tea shop next to the former caretaker’s house on a weekend. Mr Houston said: “With the bit of money left over we thought it might be nice to have the benches to create a quiet area.“Plus we’ve also asked about opening a little tea place on a weekend, they haven’t said yes or no, we thought there’s no harm in asking.“It’s been wonderful seeing people, not just from Hebburn, come together like this.”
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/eighty-bags-of-rubbish-collected-at-hebburn-cemetery-clean-up-1-8509273
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