NEWPORT'S cemeteries are a step closer to being tidied up.
An inaugural meeting agreed to form a volunteers’ group to help restore the sites and plot the history of Fairlee and Mountjoy cemeteries and those who lie there.
More than a dozen names of volunteers were collected and an early meeting is to be set up, to advance the project.
Saturday’s meeting, chaired by Cllr Geoff Lumley at the Riverside Centre, Newport, was told the parish council had included a small amount of money in next year’s budget to tidy up some of the more overgrown graves.
It was hoped one of the first tasks would be to re-erect the headstone of Albert Midlane, the Newport businessman who was a well known writer of many hymns.
The group also hoped members of the Catholic church might be persuaded to help with restoring the graves associated with the Countess of Clare, who funded the building of the nunnery at Carisbrooke.
Local historian Brian Greening said: "A good start has been made.
"Antony Barton has already compiled a website and nearly 1,000 names, some with photographs, have been entered.
"It was suggested, too, the high schools could be contacted to engage in an educational project into Newport’s past."


Albert Midlane’s stone.

Reporter: richardw@iwcpmail.co.uk