Community-spiritied residents have undertaken a huge clean-up i at a cemetery in Harwood after it became neglected during lockdown.

Joanna Jewitt, volunteer at Longsight Cemetery at Harwood Methodist Church says that the cemetery has continued to get worse with overgrown plants.

After a call out for volunteers, residents came forward to transform the graveyard.

Joanna added: “We went and did loads of work and organised a big gardening party to celebrate.

“It looks amazing now.

“We still have lots to do, but you can see the graves now.”

Part of the efforts included taking a large number of rubbish bags to the tip, with just a few bags left to dispose of.​

The Bolton News: Before and after the clean-up effortsBefore and after the clean-up efforts (Image: Public)

Following the success of the clean-up, Joanna says they are planning to organise another one in a couple of months.

She added: “I feel so proud of the community because they all came to help.

“You couldn’t get to the graves before because the weeds were so badly overgrown.”

Joanna’s dad Ernie Baxter used to dig graves at the cemetery before he died in November 2021.

Alex Liggat then took over, looking after the graves.

Joanna added: “Alex said he thinks this is the best we have ever had the cemetery in the past 10 years.

“It’s a massive achievement.”

Joanna said that normally the cemetery is usually “beautiful” and “glorious” and was manageable before Covid hit, but that it was too much work for one person.

She added: “When Covid came everything became really badly overgrown and it’s too big of a job for one person to manage.”

There is also an option to adopt a grave where people can then go down and clear that grave whenever they can.

For more information contact Alex or Joanna via either Harwood Methodist Church or the Harwood Community Hub Facebook page.

If you have a story and something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at jasmine.jackson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on Twitter @JournoJasmine.