MEMORIAL PLAQUE THROWN AWAY; Daughter's anger.

Byline: ALAN HARRIS [e-mail]

A NUNEATON grandmother went to tend her parents' memorial and was left distraught when she found a plaque in their honour had been removed.

Elizabeth Miller, 63, had lovingly tended the small kerbside plot at Canley Crematorium in Coventry for 10 years.

She was overcome with grief when she found the plaque had been thrown away by staff - and a "reserved" sign put in its place.

Crematorium workers disposed of the plaque to her parents, Arthur and Dorothy Earles, because they haven't received a renewal fee for the 10 year memorial lease which they requested in a letter.

But the letter was sent to her old Coventry address and to add to her distress a "reserved" notice has been written on an old plaque and put in the memorial.

Mrs Miller, from Barne Close, Whitestone, Nuneaton, said: "I was absolutely astounded. I was so shaken I couldn't think.

"At first I thought it had been stolen or it had been vandalised.

"We went into the crematorium office and a lady showed me the letter I was supposed to have received.

"It was so traumatic I had to go outside and leave my husband with her.

"A plaque is not just a reminder but to show the existence of someone - what they've done is take away my parents' existence."

Mrs Miller, whose parents died within three months of each other in 1993, found the plaque missing when she and husband, Alan, 65, visited the crematorium on December 20.

They found the reserved notice added yesterday.

Gary Marshall, head of bereavement services at Coventry City Council, said the council wrote to Mrs Miller at her old address on January 9 last year before the lease expired on February 29, 2004 but they did not receive a reply.

He said: "In Mrs Miller's case we would be happy to replace the plaque with a new one as close to the original as possible in the garden of remembrance."

Mr Marshall said he would seek to improve awareness of the 10-year lease policy at the crematorium, which he said was common nationwide and allowed for new memorials in limited space.

CAPTION(S):

MEMORIES: Dorothy and Arthur Earles (below), Mrs Miller's late parents. The couple died within three month of each other in 1993. D23743- 1 SHOCK: Elizabeth Miller didn't know about the renewal fee which was due on the plaque for her parents. Picture: RICHARD NELMES