Organizers canceled an Easter egg hunt planned at a cemetery in Wrexham because it was deemed disrespectful to the deceased.
The Friends of Wrexham Cemetery arranged the chocolate egg hunt as part of their Easter celebrations, and invited children to ‘hop on over for egg-citing fun’ on April 3.
But the event upset locals who were angry over the thought of their relatives’ graves being disturbed, and this led to the entire event being called off at the last moment.
Sophie Lloyd expressed: ‘How absolutely tasteless! My best friend has her great-grandad buried there – how would you feel if it was your relative and someone was invited to hop over their last resting place to beat other people to an Easter egg?’
The cemetery serves as the primary burial site for Wrexham, and has been the final resting place for approximately 100 people per year since it opened in 1876.
It contains memorials dedicated to servicemen from the World Wars, as well as a Polish servicemen memorial.
One person commented, ‘It’s not a playground, nor was it ever acceptable to think that this event should happen.’
On their Facebook page, the Friends group stated they believed the event would be a good way to get young people ‘interested in local genealogy’.
They assured that local children would stick to the paths and would not be ‘climbing on graves’.
However, individuals pointed out that a poster advertising the event invited participants to ‘hop on over’ and suggested that it expected children to ‘1hop over a grave’.
As the controversy continued, a supporter of the event argued, ‘Those saying it is disrespectful and that graveyards shouldn’t be played on forget that Ruthin road cemetery is now a playground part of Victoria Junior School.
‘The section that will be used is occupied by the dead from a century ago and will not affect any recent interments.
‘Children will undoubtedly be on the paths not climbing on graves.
‘I am at a loss as to why anyone would be angered by children enjoying an outdoor space – it should be encouraged.’
Following the backlash, the Friends group said: ‘We as friends of Wrexham Cemetery have had to make an emergency decision to cancel our event to safeguard the young people that we’re going to participate in the garden and paths of our outdoor museum.’
The cemetery was designed to serve as Wrexham’s unofficial first park.
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