Members of Llanfair-Is-Gaer church are pleased with the news that their two cemeteries have been given a much needed makeover, thanks to a sum of nearly £1700 being raised by the community.

In 2016, pressure group known as PARCH was formed by locals Brinley Williams and Ieuan Roberts to attemtp to clean up the overgrown cemeteries situated near Y Felinheli.

However, the pair struggled to do it on their own and with a lack of funding it became impossible to keep looking after the grounds and keep them tidy.

On November 9, they held a successful meeting at Tafarn Y Fic, with Dean Robert Townsend from The Church in Wales present and it was announced that the sum of money had been raised by the community and various events, such as stalls at the local carnival, during the year.

As such, they were now in a position to get some help with clearing up and decided to ask local worker Colin Jackson to undertake the task of clearing the two cemeteries under the care of the church.

Speaking of how much progress the church grounds have made in just couple of weeks, Ieuan Roberts of PARCH said: “The transformation since we appointed Colin as our helper has been quite dramatic and you can see the difference he has made.”

Colin himself insists that the work on the grounds are “ongoing” and that he will “continue to keep the cemeteries as tidy as possible for the foreseeable future”.

During the meeting at Tafarn Y Fic, Rev Townsend agreed to share all costs of the maintenance work with PARCH.

However, the group are still looking for residents of Y Felinheli to donate what they can towards their project. This can be done online or through standing order forms that are available from any of the group’s members named above.

The group’s activities can also be closely followed on Facebook via the ‘Felinheli Ddoe a Heddiw’ site.