Matters of life and death

DEATH is an emotive subject.

There is nothing more certain, and it is one of the few things that puts us on an equal footing in life. Yet it is the very topic that threatens to tear one Forres community apart.

For residents living near the Sanquhar Woodlands, the subject of the funeral process has been put firmly on the agenda, as plans for two burial sites near their homes put the issue right on their doorsteps.

The Forres Community Woodlands Trust, who manage the area for the people of Forres, say that the woodlands have to become self-sustaining, and cannot rely on a continual stream of grant funding, which is already proving hard to source.

Creating green burial sites, which are becomingly increasingly popular, could provide an income stream and form part of a long-term plan for the community to reclaim woodlands, providing a cheaper alternative to traditional burial. The problem is that some of the residents in Woodside Park – it has to be said, not all – do not want the fields where their children play, or where they walk their dogs, to become a burial site.

The trust is seeking to dispel some of the myths that they feel are clouding the issue. The green burials will be few and far between, they say, are likely to be very low key, and the area will be returned to how it was before the burial, perhaps with a tree or a plant to mark a burial site to make the community aware. The stories of roads, paths and streams of mourners are unsubstantiated, they claim, as are stories of bodies being buried vertically to get as many in as possible.

There is no doubt that this issue has the potentuial to split the community. The trust has taken some of the responsibility for allowing the scaremongering to get this far, but their lack of communication has also been seen as arrogance by those members of the community who gave hard cash to help buy out the woodlands some years ago.

They want the trust to realise that it is working for the community, and not the other way around. No doubt the issue will continue to be debated for some time.

Elsewhere, Grampian Police have been hard at work in Forres and carried out a series of searches and high-visibility patrols in a special operation which took place over the weekend. The scourge on anti-social behaviour was carried out as part of Operation Moravia, and one cannot help but wonder if it was timed in an effort to minimise the damage caused by an unfortunate but well reported incident with a thief locked inside a shop a couple of weeks ago.

But any operation which helps rid our town of thieves, drug dealers, boy racers and vandals is to be welcomed.

On the positive side, if you know someone who has gone the extra mile to help their local community, why not nominate them for ‘The Citizen of the Year’, being organised by the Rotary Club of Forres in conjunction with ‘The Forres Gazette’?