AS a regular visitor to the Garden of Remembrance at Overdale Crematorium, I am pleased to see that Bolton council is removing the toys, trinkets and other paraphernalia from the kerb memorials before the situation gets completely out of hand and the garden is turned into a mini Disneyland.

These items often encroach on to the space of adjacent kerb memorials making it difficult for other people to leave flowers next to their memorial.

There are, in all areas of our lives, an increasing number of people who think that they should be allowed to do whatever they want without any regard for the feelings and inconvenience caused to other people.

This has also become a problem in cemeteries in recent years. We also have people leaving flowers at the side of roads where accidents have occurred which simply distracts drivers and could cause other accidents.

Those who leave them never think of taking away the dead flowers. They remain, often near other people's property, and look unsightly for months. Someone else is then left to clear up the mess at the taxpayers' expense.

The grounds of Overdale are intended to be a garden of peace and tranquillity for quiet reflection. If people are not satisfied with that, they should create shrines in their own gardens at home and not in gardens of remembrance and cemeteries or by the roadside.

R Swindells, Bolton