Playing Politics
Newcastle Cemetery Action Group is not politically motivated and the group have no political aspirations. Their singular stated aim is that the toppled gravestones are re-instated at no cost to the families concerned. However, when dealing with a local council it is inevitable that politics play a part and so the following information is given so that the reader/surfer can gain an insight into the current situation.
Newcastle under Lyme (Population: 123,100) is essentially a working class area (as is Stoke on Trent, it's close neighbour) and as such is Labour controlled and has been for over 15 years.
	The current political make-up of the council is: Labour 42 Conservative 5 Liberal Democrat 9 (As of May 7th 1998) The Current member of Parliament for Newcastle under Lyme is Mrs. Llin Golding (Labour) Newcastle Mayor is Councillor Nobby Clarke
The motto of the Borough Council is CONSTANTIA, SCIENTIA, PRUDENTIA - "By steadfastness, knowledge and foresight"
At the full council meeting of 18th February 1998 a vote was taken on whether the council should pay for the re-instatement of the stones it had overturned. It was decided by a majority decision that it should not, the only councilors willing to vote against this decision were Conservative. At a later meeting of NCAG, Labour councillor, Derek Huckfield, offered to help in mediation between the council and the action group (the council later turned down this offer) he stated at the meeting that he thought (as did many other councillors) that the council was wrong in its actions and should back down. He also stated that he and the rest of the Labour councillors were not permitted (by the party) to vote as they thought fit but were required to follow the party line. Make of this what you will.
	All the gravestones laid down in the recent survey were erected within the last fifty years (some as recently as two and a half years) and were on average about two foot in height. The council now states that all headstones within the cemetery are in a safe condition. The photograph to the left is of a gravestone in the cemetery (picture taken on 22nd March 1998) which is a clear danger as it is extremely heavy and only slight pressure causes it to sway. This stone is over one hundred years old. What is the difference between old stones and new ones? the obvious difference is that there is probably no family to pay for the repairs on the older stones. This leads to the question asked by many people. Is someone making money somewhere along the line?.
It is not for Newcastle Cemetery Action Group to point the finger at anyone but an investigation by the council, with the results made public, would help to set peoples minds at rest.

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