The mum of a young man who died five years ago has teamed up with her colleagues to clean up the cemetery where he is buried to give back to the community.

Lorraine Roach, who works at Wickes Bolton tragically lost her son Steven, aged 22, on New Year’s Day in 2018.

Steven is buried in St Johns In The Wilderness Cemetery on Whalley Road in Ramsbottom.

After the community came together for Lorraine's family following his death, Steven wanted to find a way to express her thanks.

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As the cemetery is so large, keeping on top of the maintenance required can be a challenge.

Lorraine saw sprucing up the site as an opportunity to give back to the community.

She put forward plans to Bury Council for an onsite lockup, which they granted, and then asked her Wickes to provide some gardening equipment through the firm's community programme.

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The tools were used to help with cutting back hedges and weeding among the graves.

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of Steven’s death she organised a group of colleagues to do a big autumn clean up.

The work carried out by the Wickes volunteers extended not just to the cemetery, but the surrounding fields along the perimeter.

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Lorraine said: “We are a small team of gardening volunteers who regularly pop into the cemetery to help the gardener as it's such a big space.

“But to prepare the space for winter was such a mammoth task.

We needed extra help so I asked our regional manager Kevin Rimmer if there were any colleagues who could help do some gardening at the cemetery.

“He immediately arranged a meeting close by in the morning, then all hands on deck in the afternoon cutting back hedges, gathering up leaves and weeding.”

Susan Holdway, of St John in the Wilderness Church, added: “We are very grateful to Lorraine for all the work she does and especially for the extra manpower from her Wickes colleagues giving up their time.

“They have done a phenomenal job and now we are completely ready for winter. We have hundreds of loved ones laid to rest dating back as far as the 1800s to the present day.

“If anyone wants to join Lorraine and her merry band of volunteers please do get in touch.”