Yesterday I rang the florist in the town where I'm from to organise a wreath to be put for my Mum for Christmas. They told me that the church remembrance garden where Mum's ashes are buried has now forbidden large wreaths and you're not even allowed to leave a small bunch of flowers. I'm so upset about this, I think it's terrible.
My Grandma (my father's mum) is a church goer so I rang her to ask if she knew what I can have put there. Apparently for this year the church will allow a few small wreaths but not too many. If too many are left they will throw them in the bin. I think this is outrageous. My Mum isn't here anymore but I still think of her all the time and cannot bear the thought of there not being something on her plot at Christmas-time. My Grandma is going to get a small wreath for me and she kindly said she will take it tomorrow. I hope the church has the respect to leave it there for the Christmas period.
It beings comfort to me to know my Mum has flowers at certain times of the year and I'm sure it must bring comfort to others regarding their relatives. I think it's completely out of order for the local church to change their rules to such a degree like this; I'd go so far as to call it callous.
It makes me so mad because every single time I've visited my Mum I have tidied up, got rid of dead flowers and made it all look presentable again. Other people do the same. All of us who have relatives there maintain it and all the church do is mow the lawn once in a blue moon. So they can't claim that having lots of flowers left makes more work for them because once Christmas is over, it will be relatives who tidy it all up again.
I'm so sad at the lack of Christian spirit on this and hope the local church retracts this new rule.
I can't understand why they feel the need to do this, especially banning flowers! The cemetery where my Dad is buried bins the wreaths 6 weeks after Xmas, but I think thats because not everyone gets back to tidy the plots up. Crazy and insensitive!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Heather. It really shocked me that they've become so strict about it out of nowhere. Apparently a lot of local people are appalled but the church won't back down. They've even put a big ugly sign up at the entrance to the garden warning people that flowers will be removed and thrown in the bin. So insensitive.
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