A public petition has been launched in a bid to “bring back the groundsmen” to Inveresk cemetery.

The appeal follows concern raised about the overgrown state of the graveyard in recent weeks.

Last week, the Musselburgh Courier reported complaints from one Musselburgh resident who visited a family grave claiming grass had not been cut and was covered in dandelions. She said that hedges also had not been trimmed and gravestones were “lying on the muck”.

Whitecraig resident Ann Dixon, a former pupil of Musselburgh Grammar School, has started a petition, saying the groundsmen who worked at the cemetery were no longer there on a regular basis.

READ MORE: Man dismayed at state of cemetery takes his own action

She said: “I am trying to start a petition to try and bring back groundsmen to Inveresk graveyard. They have been taken away to Macmerry and are only down when there are funerals on and to cut grass. The rubbish is going to end up overflowing and the grass is that long by time they get round to cutting it.”

She claimed: “They don’t even have time to pick up grass so it’s all left in clumps. We have a petition at the graveyard with quite a few signatures on it but someone asked if you could sign online, so hopefully we’ll get a lot more signatures now.

“So thank you to everyone who signs and hopefully we’ll be able to get something sorted soon.”

She feared that someone could break their ankle walking on the long grass which had to be cut three or four times due to its length. She added that the edges of the grass were not being cut.

Mrs Dixon said she and her sister Wilma Devlin, also from Whitecraig, visited the graveyard on a daily basis to pay their respects to their dad who passed away nearly three years ago.

Their brother, who died when he was just nine months old, is also buried in the old part of the cemetery.

She said the groundsmen were a familiar site “working away” at the graveyard in the past.

“They were really pleasant and helpful,” she added.

Mrs Dixon said they had machinery permanently on site but that had been removed, possibly due to break-ins, and was brought back when needed.

She claimed: “When you visit the graveyard and see the grass high, it looks like no-one is bothered and is horrible looking.

“It’s not the groundsmen’s fault. They were really kept busy and used to put weedkiller down. The grass was always cut and it was kept lovely. People are now saying they are not happy with the mess.”

An East Lothian Council spokesperson said: “Our amenity services teams have been working incredibly hard throughout the Covid-19 pandemic to maintain services and focus on critical activities. There have been some recent staffing challenges within the burial team who have had to support a high number of funerals during the summer.

“While this has unfortunately had an impact on the amount of normal grass cutting we are able to do – compounded by weather conditions which enable grass/weed growth –it is our intention to ensure that cemeteries such as Inveresk are maintained to the usual high standard. Following damage as a result of break-ins at Inveresk, staff are currently working from the Penston depot [at Macmerry]. The team are still able to carry out their normal duties and tasks from this location.”

To sign the online petition, which will be presented to East Lothian Council, go to www.change.org and search ‘Inveresk’