A FOREIGN invader has transformed a churchyard into a jungle.

Japanese knotweed is spreading faster than parishioners at St John's, Nelson, can cut it down, says church warden Lawrence Mutter.

The weed, also known as Polygonum, can reproduce itself up to 58 feet away.

And the church reapers simply can't keep pace with the growth rate.

The situation isn't helped by the fact that the church mower keeps getting stolen, he writes in the current edition of the St John's and St Philip's church magazine.

Mr Mutter says the weed that can be collected is stacked high, dried and destroyed.

He said: "If only it could be made edible, we could put an end to starvation overnight!

"Perhaps one day GM will sort it out - meanwhile we have just got to get rid of it before it envelopes the whole graveyard."

Church workers used machetes to cut down the 6ft high weed with its inch-wide bamboo-like stems to reach one grave.

Mr Mutter believes St John's bitter harvest results from it being introduced into the churchyard at Barkerhouse Road by a well-meaning person who thought it was a nice yellow flower.

Now the church has turned to science for a solution.

Mr Mutter said: "We are seeking advice from a firm who are well advanced in the battle to find a killer for the stuff, but it is important to keep cutting it down and it grows faster than we can cut it unless we get some more helpers."

Mr Mutter says mowing the yard is dependent on whether the mower - which "tends to have a nomadic existence" - has been stolen or not.

The latest machine, bought in spring 1998 to replace a stolen one, vanished in June this year.

"Perhaps when we get a replacement, we will paint 'Thou Shall Not Steal' all over it," Mr Mutter added. "As I work in the graveyard, it occurs to me that this is an ideal opportunity to communicate with God.

"I would love to see this jungle transformed into a lovely area where people would love to come and find peace.

"Perhaps we could call it our Peace Garden."

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