A Bolton woman has spoken of her shock after discovering that Overdale Crematorium is removing memorial stones after metal plaques attached to them were stolen.
The Lostock resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, was left ‘fuming’ after crematorium staff told her that her grandmother’s stone, which had been left in the cemetery for 25 years, had been piled up with others after its metal plaque was taken by thieves.
The stone has no identifying marker on it, meaning it cannot be easily identified for recovery.
After asking about recovering the original stone, the woman said a member of the crematorium’s staff offered to sell her an engraved marble stone for £125 as it’s ‘harder to pinch’.
The woman said there was ‘not a cat in hell’s chance’ she would leave anything in Overdale again, with others experiencing thefts of their memorials.
She added: “That stone is where the ashes were placed – the stone’s more important. You can get a new plaque made.
“I asked ‘why have you moved the stone’ and they said ‘it looks bad on us if there’s a line of stones without names on’.
“I just couldn’t get over it. Excuse me, it looks bad on you? That stone’s been there for 25 years with the ashes behind it.
“That’s not been stolen, we could have put a new plaque on the stone and it’s the stone that’s the most important – you can get a plaque made.”
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The woman has now warned others to take their stones away from the cemetery.
She believes the crematorium should be proactively warning mourners of the risk to their memorials.
She added: “They tend to target particular areas of Overdale, so the area where my grandma’s stone was has been targeted. If you go there’s just rows and rows of emptiness.
“You can see there’s loads been stolen. If you know things are being taken from a particular area why not ring the people from that area?”
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Bolton Council referred The Bolton News to a statement issued after previous reports on thefts at the crematorium.
A spokesperson for Bolton Council said: “Sadly, some metal plaques were stolen from stones at Overdale Crematorium toward the end of last year. The matter was passed to Greater Manchester Police.
“We know this will be distressing for those affected. Anyone who finds their plaque is missing can contact the crematorium on 01204 334499”.
If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.
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