PARENTS battling to keep their daughter's headstone have been given a date for the court hearing which will bring an end to months of turmoil.

Marilyn and Tony Cheetham of Brook Bank, Harwood will attend a consistory court hearing on December 14 where they will fight to keep their daughter Hayley's memorial at Christ Church.

They then face an agonising two week wait before the verdict is announced.

The couple had been asked to remove the memorial to 24-year-old Hayley because it includes a picture of her.

Mr and Mrs Cheetham have been overwhelmed by public support in their campaign to keep the headstone and have collected more than 2,000 signatures in a petition which they will present to the diocese.

David Wallis, the stonemason who designed and made Hayley's headstone will be at the hearing as will Kathleen and Keith Fletcher from Egerton, whose daughter's headstone inspired the Cheethams to have a similar memorial designed.

They lost their 27-year-old daughter Clare in a car accident in Leeds in 1995.

Hayley, a former Turton High School pupil, who worked as a sales rep for L'Oreal died in February last year when a fire swept through a listed cottage after a house party in Esher, Surrey.

Mr Cheetham said: "If we are allowed to keep the headstone it will be a relief. It will mean a lot to be able to see Hayley's picture and see her smiling at us when we visit her grave. I am just hoping things will go in our favour."

The court hearing, which starts at 10am will be held at Christ Church, Harwood.