WORK to tidy up St Mary's churchyard is still going strong, one year after volunteers formed an action group.

The group was hard at it last Saturday (May 1) and members who had been there at the outset could notice a huge improvement in the church grounds.

In 12 months, church members, friends and family have cleared grass and moss from more than 1,500 graves, tidied up pathways and pruned trees and hedges to make the graveyard a nicer place to visit.

With plenty more work still to do, the action group has arranged another action day on Saturday, July 10.

Chairman of the action group, Bill Cottam, said: "Last Saturday we uncovered some more graves. One was of a 101-year-old man that was covered in moss and grass. New volunteers are coming forward all the time and people seem to enjoy it when they are down there working."

Mr Cottam said the next project was to repair a pathway and introduce some bird and bat boxes.