WHILE I sympathise with Mrs Jenkins' plight regarding the long grass and the state of St John's churchyard (Plea to trim long grass, Shuttle/Times & News, June 29), I have been somewhat perplexed and angered by the comments of Canon Harold Goddard.

My mother sadly passed away 13 years ago and, after spending her worshipping life at St John's Church, was laid to rest there.

My father - not a man of faith - has visited her graveside weekly and, for the past 12 years, has been one of the volunteers who have kept the six-acre site in some kind of order.

Over the last two years he has been one of only three gentlemen who have toiled through the summer to keep this churchyard respectable.

I would like to point out that while these three gentlemen have worked so hard to keep on top of this weekly chore, not once have the good Christian people inside St John's been out to offer a cup of tea, glass of squash or a biscuit.

These volunteers have carried on regardless to try to keep a tidy place for their loved ones to rest in.

Canon Goddard's comments regarding the volunteers simply not turning up has been so upsetting to my father (81) who still attends his wife's grave weekly.

If Canon Goddard put in some effort and time to find out about the volunteers, he would have found out that my father has now been registered blind and can no longer safely manage the heavy strimming machines around the uneven churchyard. The other volunteers have also had personal problems.

If he bothered to have a walk through the churchyard on a Saturday morning, he would still see my father tending my mother's grave with hand shears to try to keep the grass down.

My father is known by many people who regularly attend the churchyard. I am amazed that Canon Goddard is not one of them.

SIMON ADDISON

Hayes Road

Wolverley