Jobsworths order volunteer to stop tidying cemetery
...and tell him they can’t afford to take away cuttings
IT was a simple, selfless act inspired by a family tending the grave of a loved one. Gardener Dougie Law was so touched by the deed he decided to take up the task himself – and spent hundreds of hours taking care of his local cemetery every year for free.
Now, however, Mr Law claims council bosses have told him to stop looking after the graveyard – because it will cost them hundreds of pounds to move the neat pile of debris he has collected.
He said: ‘I’ve looked after this graveyard for three years. I never expected to be paid – or thanked. I did it out of respect, because it was the right thing to do.
‘I’ve had great pleasure from doing it, but it’s just turned sour. It’s knocked me for six.’
Mr Law, 67, who previously worked at the Botanic Gardens in Glasgow, started
‘I did it out of respect’
tending Aberfeldy Cemetery in 2013 after spotting a couple looking after a headstone while walking past the graveyard.
The community-spirited pensioner left them a note saying: ‘I appreciate what you’ve done here, from now on I’m going to do the whole graveyard.’
Ever since, he has given up his time to cut grass edges, lay turf, remove weeds, move boulders, limb trees and tidy around the headstones and paths.
He even bought his own strimmer, shears, spade and rake.
Despite making the working arrangement with a Perth and Kinross Council officer, he said he had been forced to stop after he returned from one session to a phone call from an official who told him it would cost £200 to remove the pile of debris he had left against a wall in the corner.
He said he was told to ‘move the rubbish or stop the work’.
Mr Law estimates he put in 150 hours per year in the last three years, making it ‘immaculate’.
His efforts might have been worth thousands of pounds, yet he said no one from the council had ever been in touch before.
The families who stopped to thank him for his efforts on a regular basis, he said, made his work worthwhile.
He added: ‘Money doesn’t come in to it. It’s just respectful. I’ve done it all myself. No one has ever been in touch about the work I’ve done until I received that call.
‘He said, “if you do that work you’ve got to remove the rubbish – our budget doesn’t do it”.
‘He said it would cost £200 for him to get the men to come and take it away.
‘I’m choked by it. It means the graveyard will just return to its previous untidy state.’
A council spokesman said: ‘The discussion with Mr Law was not in any way about stopping his volunteer work. We had an agreed approach in place for the deposit and collection of waste from the site and headstone stability, which is a particular issue with older cemeteries.
‘Historic Scotland recommend allowing grass to grow around headstones.
‘The original agreement with Mr Law was to carry out works to path edges and weed removal. We are looking to meet with Mr Law to address this misunderstanding.’
Mr Law’s wife, retired dentist Hilary, 66, said: ‘Dougie did it out of the good will of his own heart. He’s gutted.’