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Lest We Forget 2009
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An article from the Daily Mail.

The wobbly gravestones that won't be flattened as ministers demand a return to common sense

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 1:32 AM on 17th January 2009

In recent years, thousands of gravestones have been torn up and laid flat, on health and safety grounds.

But it seems the memorials of our loved ones may at last be free from this threat.
Yesterday, ministers condemned the practice as an over-reaction - and demanded a return to common sense in official guidance.

Ministers have condemned the practice of tearing up wobbly graves and laying them flat as a health and safety over-reaction (file picture)

The Ministry of Justice said only eight people have been killed by falling gravestones in 30 years, so the risk is 'very low.'

But many local authorities, legally liable for such accidents, have launched huge operations to check and uproot memorials, particularly after a boy of six was killed in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, in 2000.

In one case, Stoke-on-Trent City Council tore up 2,000 memorials and laid them flat, in a programme starting in 2002.

But faced with a torrent of complaints it commissioned an independent review which found that only 60 had stones posed an urgent threat to the public.

The latest guidelines urge councils to draw up sensible and 'proportionate' systems, starting with visual checks of grave stones for obvious signs of damage and instability followed by a 'hand test'.

The guidelines state that dangerous stones should be laid flat only as a last resort. Unstable ones should be cordoned off, not propped up with stakes.

Local Government Minister John Healey said: 'Heavy-handed actions by some graveyard operators have caused unnecessary distress.

'This guidance should help them strike the right balance and crucially give peace of mind to those wanting to visit their loved ones' gravestones.'

Graveyard authorities have called for a return to a return to traditional 'monolith' designs where single-piece stones are buried deep in the soil - often to be seen in old graveyards standing firmly after hundreds of years - instead of modern two-piece designs with an upright stone attached to a plinth, which can become unstable after a few years.


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from the HD Committee and its decision.
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I watched a programme on BBC2 last night called "Talking Heads". It was titled "Waiting for ..... [the Telegramme].

Many of you will have seen this before, but for those who missed it, then go to BBC iPlayer and you'll find it there. If you are an old softy like me, then you'll need the tissues near the end.


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The UK Magazine, "Britain at War" issue number 32 is on sale in the shops in the UK now. It contains an article about two Royal Navy aircraft that collided over a lake in the USA during WWII. The aircraft fell into a large lake and were not found until 2003.

The pilots are still in the aircraft.

The MoD have made every effort not to recover the remains for burial. Nor have they sought to commence a search for the relatives of the two pilots.

Australia recently repatriated to the remains of the crew of a RAAF Canberra that had been lost over Viet-Nam. The crash site having recently been found. The pilot and Navigator were both buried in their home towns, with full military honours.

Further, mass graves of Australian soldiers were recently found in France - from the first world war. Archeologists are now working on the identification of the soldiers using amongst others, DNA testing in order to discover the relatives of the dead.

The remains will be buried in a new cemetery to be built in France.

To read about the Royal Navy pilots go to this Forum.

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=95565&highlight=corsair

Lest We Forget.


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