Memorial plans for unmarked mass grave babies

Oldham council will install memorial plinths and benches for families to pay respects

Relatives of babies who were buried in mass graves without their families' knowledge will finally be able to visit a permanent memorial.

Oldham Council is putting in plinths and benches for families of about 300 babies who were either still born or died in infancy.

From the 1950s to 1980s, bereaved parents were told their children would be buried with a "nice person" in an adult grave, but instead the bodies were placed in cardboard boxes and put into unmarked plots.

Leader of Oldham Council, Arooj Shah, said: "The last few months must have been horrible for anyone who has discovered their relative was buried in an unmarked grave."

'Remembered'

The remembrance spaces are in response to an unmarked burial site discovered in Royton in September.

The memorial stones, installed at council burial sites, will be inscribed with a verse remembering the "little children who never got to grow".

Council leader Shah added: "Hopefully families affected by the insensitive practices of the past can now take some comfort knowing that soon there will be a place for them to come where their loss is acknowledged and remembered."

According to the council, the plinths and benches were chosen after conversations were held with several families.

The authority said it would not charge relatives if they wanted a death certificate for any child who was laid to rest in a communal grave.

Anyone has been charged in the past twelve months can receive a refund by contacting the Registrars service.

Shah told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "It's not right that someone should have to pay after going through such a traumatic time."