Grieving family told to remove decorations from daughter’s grave
12/02/2025
A petition calling on the council to reverse their decision has been signed by 2,500 people
A grieving Brackley family have been told they must remove the decorations from their daughter’s grave as they are “disturbing the peace of the cemetery”.
Gemma and Jason Sadler’s daughter Lottie passed away at the age of seven in May 2023 due to an aggressive brain tumour.
When they were arranging where Lottie would be laid to rest Jason and Gemma wanted a plot in Brackley Cemetery where they would eventually also be interred, so rather than the children’s area, a place in the adult section of cemetery was selected.
Since then the family have maintained the decorations on the plot in Lottie’s memory and visit each evening to say goodnight to their daughter.
But now Brackley Town Council have written to the couple saying that the decorations must be removed within a month. In the letter the council say that they have received complaints from cemetery visitors who feel the decorations are “disturbing the peace of the cemetery”. The letter asserts the family were told grave decorations were not allowed in the adult section of the cemetery when they took the plot.
Jason and Gemma’s sister-in-law, Sophie Wharton, has started a petition calling on Brackley Town Council to reverse their decision. She wants the council to revoke the letter and apologise.
Sophie said: “How could they be so heartless and uncompassionate in such a horrific situation, especially when Lottie was poorly and when she did pass, the whole community showed such an amazing support. The church was full.
“We’ve got the community’s backing – the Council are for the community, so how could they be so heartless and uncompassionate? They need to take back what they’ve say and issue a formal apology.
“Obviously, that’s only going to go so far – the hurt’s already been done.”
In one day the petition had already received over 2,500 signatures.
Sophie added: “The whole community are sharing it, commenting, giving their love and support to Gemma and Jason, and saying ‘we’re behind you and we’re going to fight this’.
“We’ve had so many messages of outreach. Hopefully the Council will realise how much support we’ve got and will backtrack and apologise.”
In a message posted on Brackley Town Council’s social media this afternoon a spokesperson said: “The Brackley Town Council wishes to sincerely apologise to the Sadler Family. The letter we sent to them was never intended to cause any distress and we will continue to work towards a resolution that considers the needs of all families at our cemetery.
“The town council will be calling an extra ordinary meeting to discuss this issue at the earliest possible time, so that a resolution can be met.”
Published: by the Banbury FM News Team
