THE Friends of St Augustine’s Church group say they are hoping to tidy up their churchyard, but the money needed to get the job done just isn’t available.

The outside area of the St Augustine’s Church in St Augustine’s Place, Penarth, has overgrown grass which means it can be difficulty to locate graves. This has led to comments and complaints from locals.

However, the Friends of St Augustine’s group say that they are hoping to sort out the overgrown areas, but do not have the money for regular mowing and cuts across the year - which they say could cost up to £8,000.

A spokeswoman for the Friends of St Augustine’s said: “Rome wasn’t built in a day, and taming this churchyard is challenging; we hope people will be patient and support us.”

At the moment the group have got volunteers in to help them with clearing certain areas, which has aided them in avoiding the high costs of getting professionals in.

Over the last two years a group of volunteers have met monthly to help tidy up the churchyard. The volunteers are working with the Habitat and Heritage project, whose aim is to create a churchyard which is clearly well-cared for, well-signed with information about the heritage, individual graves, the wildlife and plants.

Chairman of Habitat and Heritage, Andy Davison, said: “This is a big project and we want to get it right. I am very proud of the work being done by our volunteers, who are all committed to making St Augustine’s churchyard a place which will attract visitors from far and wide as well as a providing a more convenient place for relatives and friends to visit particular graves.”

Habitat and Heritage is one of the projects being run by the Friends of St Augustine’s with the support of a start up grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Alongside the work on the churchyard, a number of events are laid on regularly including a recent Open Day, talks on the graves, guided walks, and talks..

There is a Bat and Moth event on September 8.