TWO cousins are campaigning to clean up a derelict cemetery after research into their family history led to the discovery of a number of war graves.

Andrew Ross and Chris Barlow are determined to restore St John’s cemetery, in St John’s Street, after they found two war graves and more commemorative stones honouring soldiers who fought in both world wars.

The pair had originally gone in search of their great-uncle’s grave, and are now recruiting the help of volunteers from the facilities management firm where Mr Barlow works as a joiner.

The 42-year-old, of Outwood Road, said: “It just seems wrong that a graveyard like this should be in such a bad state. The people buried here are war heroes and are the people who built this town up and made it what it was for my generation.

“I can’t imagine the hardship they went through and they deserve the very best we can give them, so that’s why we want to do what we can to help.

"The firm I work for, Pinnacle PSG, has been generous in letting us have all of the equipment we will need to tidy up the cemetery and we’ve got a small group of volunteers together to help out."

St John’s Church was demolished in the 1970s, when it merged with St Thomas’ parish, and now only occasional maintenance work is carried out at the remaining cemetery.

They are now awaiting permission from Bury Council and church wardens to carry out the work and put in place provisions for continued preservation of the grounds.

Mr Ross, aged 51 of Crompton Place, added: “When we saw that the whole area was covered with overgrown grass and weeds and saw what a bad state some of the graves are in we decided to do something about it.

“There will be people who still live in Radcliffe who have relatives buried here but either don’t know about it or can’t get to them because the cemetery is in a poor state.”

Councillor Catherine Preston, who visited the cemetery last week, added: “I would imagine there are a lot of people from Radcliffe who have got relatives there and would like to see it tidied up.

“It’s not just a question of clearing it up, its maintaining it afterwards and making sure we can keep it in a good state.

“There is so much going on right now with heritage in Radcliffe, and it’s obvious that the community here is really interested in everything to do with its history.

“I hadn’t realised the strength of feeling that there is towards issues like this, and I’m very happy to be involved with it.”

David Kerwin, from Radcliffe Heritage Group, added: “It seems a real shame that the cemetery has been left in this state.

“It could be much worse and it’s obvious that some work has been done there at some point, but hopefully we can get a group together to really improve the graveyard.”