'I feel like I've lost the last part of my mum I had' - Grieving woman left shocked over Doncaster cemetery's decision to remove flowers

Kimberly Simons, aged 31, from Armthorpe, lost her mother a year ago and decided to scatter her ashes at Rose Hill Crematorium in Cantley.

She said she was left heartbroken over Doncaster Council’s decision to remove flowers and memorabilia from the plot where her mum was scattered.

Kimberly said: “When I went to the site everything was gone, it felt disrespectful.

“I feel like I’ve lost the last part of my mum I had.”

Kimberly and her family discovered the change on Friday, November 22, and found their flowers in a nearby bin including their broken sign which read ‘Miss you Nana’.

“We scattered her last year and there were no signs up at the time saying we couldn’t leave things here.

“We were told that we could leave little things as long as they were moveable – so that’s what we did.

“All the other plots in the area have got flowers so we thought it was fine.

“If we had known these were the rules we would have made a different decision about burying her.”

Drew Oxley, council head of trading services, said: “A number of private memorials have been placed in areas meant to be tranquil, natural settings for people to scatter the ashes of their loved ones.

“In fact, we have received complaints from people who are upset by the memorials and want these areas returned back to how they were intended to be.

“Based on this we have decided to tidy up and improve these areas so they can become the natural grassed areas once again.”

“Making any changes at the crematorium is always difficult to do as it’s a very emotive setting,” Drew continued.

“We have put signage up to advise people of these improvements and are carefully removing memorials that remain.

“We do have every sympathy with people who may be affected but it is important that these areas are returned to how they were originally planned.”

The cemetery is now considering making some small areas where people can officially put little tributes to their loved ones.