A COUNCIL which has banned plastic from its two cemeteries is holding a workshop before Christmas to show people how to make grave tributes using purely natural materials.

Calstock Parish Council is holding the free workshop at the Tamar Valley Centre in Albaston on Monday, December 13 when a local florist will help people create their own wreaths using greenery and berries. The workshop with Clare Roper from Wild By Design from 10am to 2pm is free with all materials provided, although participants are invited to bring secateurs if they have them. The workshop is part of efforts by the council to smooth things over after some ill-feeling was generated by the banning of all plastic ornaments on graves after the parish council signed a climate change declaration in May 2019, pledging to take action on a local level to halt the effects of global warming.

Parish clerk Sue Lemon said: ‘We will supply all the materials and people do need to book but it is all free. It is to help people realise that they can make sustainable memorials themselves using stuff out of their own garden instead. We declared a Climate Emergency in May 2019. We decided to ban single use plastic and one of the things we could do to achieve this was to ban single use plastic from our two graveyards.

‘Our plastic flowers, if they are left for a long time, become brittle and breaks into pieces. These pieces can get washed into watercourses. We collected a half-tonne dumpy bag of plastic pieces from the graveyard in Albaston and that was in just one morning.’

She said the problem had been particularly bad in the cemetery at Albaston.

‘We have put signs up all over the place and it has been quite well publicised but when we decided we would try and take plastic off the graves it was very controversial. We had only got around to removing plastic from three graves and we were subject to the most appalling abuse, it wasn’t just a few words. We have not done anything since because I cannot have my staff subjected to abuse like that.’

She said that this had occurred back in August, and that since then they had decided instead to raise awareness rather than take direct action. The wreathmaking workshop is part of this.

Sue added: ‘It is aimed at people who would like to leave natural tributes on their loved one’s graves rather than artificial and synthetic materials – but anyone is welcome.’

The workshop is open to a maximum number of 12 participants. To book your place call parish clerk Sue Lemon on 01822 748847. There will be tea and coffee provided and people are invited to bring a packed lunch.

Calstock Parish Council has also been working with the parish church on the Living Churchyards Project, which has allowed leaving native flowers and grass to grow and set seed. While some people felt it looked untidy, says the parish council, it made a big difference to the wildlife. ‘In mid-summer a small team of volunteers raked and stacked up the hay after the grass was cut,’ added Sue, ’We shall be repeating this again this year aiming to have grass of different lengths and encouraging patches of nettles which support more than 40 kinds of insects.’