Southside resident begs Ministry of Health to put a stop to burials at crowded Valley Church Community Cemetery

A concerned citizen is imploring the Ministry of Health to stop
conducting burials at the Valley Church Community Cemetery since
the graveyard apparently has reached its capacity.
 
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, that cemetery has become the
reluctant final resting place for scores of people, because the St.
John’s Public Cemetery has also reached capacity.
 
Because the community graveyard is very small in comparison to
the public cemetery, the time frame in which graves can be
reopened for further burials would be affected.
 

The complaining resident also charges that grave-diggers are
destroying existing headstones when attempting to excavate for
fresh burials. She reports that her own husband’s headstone was
destroyed when his grave, which is over five years old, was recently
dug up.
 
She is troubled by the situation and wants the authorities to put a
stop to burials at that particular community cemetery.
 
Here, the woman airs her grievance on the Morning Bush Tea Show.
 
The Browne Administration has claimed that it plans to construct a
state-of-the art public cemetery at Tomlinsons and has already
received the conceptualized drawings.
 
However, since this was announced – more than four years ago – no
work has commenced in the area, despite the allocation of $2 million
from the CIP Fund for the new cemetery.

Most recently, queries from parliamentarians and the public were
answered by Health Minister Molwyn Joseph, who explained that
the money had been deposited into the Consolidated Fund and
fencing of the area was expected to begin shortly.
That assurance was given about two years ago.