A CHIPPING Sodbury widow has spoken of her distress after being asked to remove flowers from her late husband’s grave.

A memorial stone for Nanette McDonald’s husband has lain at Mayshill Cemetery since his death 19 years ago.

Since then family members have regularly tended to it and often brought fresh flowers.

But a letter written by South Gloucestershire Council’s cemeteries officer last month said there were ‘excessive amounts of plants and items’ around the grave’ and ordered for them to be removed.

The letter stated no items, other than those within the integral flower containers within the masonry, were permitted and anything that remained there after October 31 would be placed by the cemetery bins ready for collection.

Mrs McDonald said while she accepted the need to remove items surrounding the grave she did not know why flowers placed on the tablet itself were not acceptable and said the way the situation had been handled was ‘very cruel’.

She particularly objected to a photo of the grave being attached to the letter.

“I don’t want to open the post to have my husband’s grave forced in my face.

“I can understand they want to remove stuff but it’s the way they’ve gone about it.

“All we have left is is our grave to remember and mourn.

“What I do with the tablet is my business,” she said.

Mrs Mcdonald said she had been reduced to tears by the dispute and had even looked into having her husband exhumed but was unable to afford it.

“People looking after their graves are being persecuted,” she added.

A spokesperson for South Gloucestershire Council said: “We apologise for any distress that this letter may have caused.

“We are undertaking a general tidy-up at Mayshill Cemetery as we want to maintain a high standard where people are happy for their relatives to be buried.

“It is important to us to find the balance where we are sensitive to the families involved whilst being respectful to those who are buried there.”