In the month of November I am always moved by the sight of the well-kept war graves in France and elsewhere.

But this year I also thought that many, who served their country in wartime and who were lucky enough to survive, will be buried in local cemeteries, and their memorials (bearing no reference to military service) have probably been vandalised by the infamous ‘Toppletester’.

That was indeed a sad thought but may I be among the first to congratulate Blackburn with Darwen Council for leading the way now regarding the testing of memorial stones in local cemeteries.

They were praised by the minister, Bridget Prentice, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Justice, during the recent House of Commons debate (Hansard Wed 5/11/08) as being ready to implement the government's new guidelines by: "removing the stake or re-erecting the headstone as appropriate at a cost to the local authority rather than to the individual bereaved family".

By so doing, Blackburn is showing by deeds rather than just words that it really does have respect for the dead even though its past actions and the current state of its cemeteries would lead us to believe otherwise.

I look forward to the day when our cemeteries will once again be respectable and respectful places where our dead can rest in peace and the bereaved will not be distressed by the sight of stakes, banding and labels which presently deface many memorials.

Eileen Eastham (by email)