A ROMANY family have pleaded to be allowed to give their loved one’s grave a traditional memorial.

Town councillors responsible for Blandford’s Salisbury Road cemetery heard impassioned pleas at a recent meeting from family members to allow kerbing at the grave of the late Caroline “Tiger” Escott.

Romany families traditionally add kerb stones to burial plots.

Several of the graves in an area of Blandford cemetery designated for gypsy burials already have kerbing, including relatives of the late Mrs Escott, 44, who were buried within weeks of her in 2008.

Councillors voted in November against allowing kerbing at the late Mrs Escott’s grave.

But an outcry from her family, and a subsequent petition, have persuaded them to consider the matter again.

Speaking after the meeting, Diane Brook, the late Mrs Escott’s sister, said she felt the family’s campaign had turned a corner.

“The council now knows we feel we have been discriminated against. They know that when we cut the grass it feels as if we are cutting my sister,” she said.

“Kerbing would show how much we respect and love Caroline.

“I say ‘love’ and not ‘loved’ because I feel she is still with us.

“When we go to the grave, we feel as if we are treading all over her.

“We want to make it a personal shrine.”

The council’s concerns centre on the potential for damage to the memorials by mowers, and the subsequent threat of legal action from families.

But town clerk Trevor Savage said new procedures, including the use of a mild solution to prevent “grass encroachment”, meant equipment no longer came into direct contact with memorials.

He pledged to produce a report with a working party of town mayor Cllr Lynn Lindsay, Cllr Mike Owen and Cllr Hilary Lawson, for consideration at the March 29 meeting of the recreation and amenities committee.