A former Islander hopes to form a group of volunteers to clean up a graveyard and make a new plan of where people are buried.

Last week we reported that Keith Aylen was unable to find his late grandparents’ resting place at the site in Union Road, Minster, because there were no records and some of the headstones had worn away.

Nicky Richards, who left Sheppey in 1974 and now lives in Norfolk, wanted to rectify the situation after reading the story on Kent Online.

She believes her late aunt, Gladys Ingleton, may have destroyed the records.

She suffered from dementia in later life and they could not be found after her death.

Mrs Ingleton’s husband George, who has also passed away, was a church warden at Minster Abbey and it is thought the responsibility for keeping the records was handed to him in the past by a vicar.

Mrs Richards’ grandmother, Beatrice Elizabeth Dixon, who died before Mrs Richards was born, is also buried at the graveyard and she has been unable to find the plot.

She has approached Minster Abbey and Swale council about allowing a group to clean up and make a new plan of the individual graves. She said: “I have a few volunteers already but the graveyard is quite large so more are needed.

“I just thought it would be nice for the family to make amends to do something like this.

“It just seemed like it’s an opportunity to do something for the Island.”

No dates have been set and the plans are likely to be subject to risk assessments by the local authority.

Meanwhile, the location of Mr Aylen’s grandparents’ graves may have been located by Peter MacDonald, of Minster Parish Council, which has worked several times with prisoners on the Island to tidy up the graveyard.

Details have been forwarded on to Mr Aylen.