Cemetery clean-up volunteers throw in the towel

A team of volunteer headstone restorers at Nelson’s Wakapuaka Cemetery has called it quits, citing too many rules and regulations getting in the way.

The group announced on its Facebook page that it was withdrawing from restoring headstones and maintenance at the historic cemetery because ‘‘the rules and regulations that would allow us to continue are just a step too far’’.

‘‘We are unable to meet the commitments required to enable us to continue,’’ the post on the TOSI Friends of Nelson Wakapuaka Cemetery Facebook page said.

The news has prompted posts from people venting their anger at the Nelson City Council and upset that the group is being stymied by all the rules it has to abide by.

However, in another post, group members asked followers not to vent their frustration at the council. Local bylaws inhibited the team from continuing, but so did health and safety laws, and rules in the Heritage New Zealand Act 2014 which related to graves dating from before 1900, the post said.

Team member Marg Farrelly told The Nelson Mail that council staff had worked hard with the group to try to find a way forward, but ‘‘the council had their hands tied because of bylaws’’.

‘‘We have to give council credit for working with us long and hard,’’ she said.

Farrelly, who joined the team in August 2019, said the members were proud of what they had achieved at the cemetery.

‘‘We’ve all had a passion for it. We were all totally ignorant of the rules and bylaws. We just wanted to give back to the community.’’

The team evolved after Nelson man Brian McIntyre started restoring the cemetery’s headstones about four years ago. It has restored more than 3600 headstones since then.

In a Facebook post, McIntyre said the group had been told in a ‘‘draft letter’’ from the council that it needed council approval to restore any headstone, and could not mow the lawns or use line trimmers because of the risk of injury. He wrote that he’d had a ‘‘gutsful’’ of trying to find a compromise with the council over the past two years, which had affected his health, so he had withdrawn from having any involvement with the council.

McIntyre could not be contacted by the Mail for comment but stated in his post that the cemetery was already looking ‘‘sad and dejected’’ now that the group had stopped maintaining it.

Nelson RSA vice-president Barry Pont said it was disappointing that the group had ceased its work. ‘‘Without them there, [the cemetery] will just go back to a jungle again.’’

In a statement, council group manager community services Andrew White said the council was ‘‘saddened to hear that the Wakapuaka Cemetery volunteers have decided to end their many years of maintenance work’’.

‘‘Our staff and councillors have worked closely with Brian and his team to try and find a way through the range of issues we have faced. We’d like to acknowledge the energy and commitment that Brian and the team have put in over the years.’’