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Widow's upset after grave ornaments taken
A SLEIGHTS pensioner has spoken of her distress after ornaments she placed on her late partner's grave were removed without her permission.
Dorothy Simms, who retired to the village 12 years ago, was dismayed to find the array of small figurines of birds and a cat missing when she visited the grave of her partner of seven years, Keith Trotter, in St John's Churchyard in Sleights.
She had been with Mr Trotter, a Scotsman, for seven years until his death from a brain aneurysm in 2008 aged 69.
Mrs Simms feared the treasured items had been taken by vandals but instead found out after writing a letter to the church's vicar, The Rural Dean of Whitby, The Rev David Cook, to find it was he who had removed the items as he said they could be used to vandalise the church.
Mrs Simms (67) of Selstone Crescent said: "They are just items I bought from a local garden centre,
"Keith used to enjoy feeding the birds and we have a rescue cat.
"There has to be a better way of doing this, I didn't even know it was going to happen and I'd hate it to happen to other people in the future in this way."
She wrote to the vicar who admitted he had removed objects that could be used by vandals to break church windows, damage other headstones or make grass cutting more difficult, as advised by the Diocese of York.
Mrs Simms added: "There are some things that have been removed from graves and some that haven't.
"I've also written to the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu and have received a beautiful and compassionate letter in return.
"I'd hate to think of this happening elsewhere in the parish."
In a letter to Mrs Simms, Rev Cook responded by saying churchyard regulations don't permit ornaments, shrubs or artificial flowers on graves.
And he confirmed, the final decision is made by the chancellor of the York diocese and didn't think it would be practical to contact everyone affected by the move.
Rev Cook also went on to reassure anyone who has had items removed that they are in safe keeping at the church and available to collect at the owners' convenience.
He said: "The rules and regulations have been there all of the time but we haven't imposed them strictly until now.
"This is in response to us getting an awful lot of items in the bottom of the churchyard like the ones Mrs Simms placed on gravestones. We will be reviewing how we deal with this in future."
The vicar has since apologised for any distress or inconvenience caused in a personal letter to Mrs Simms.
She added: "I have written back to try to prevent others from having the same experience.
"However, I do want to make it clear that I accept the ruling and will comply with that.
"Luckily, some good friends have been to the church and kindly fetched the ornaments back for me."
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Weather for Whitby
Thursday 09 February 2012
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Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
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