A CAMPAIGN has been launched to raise £5,000 to help tidy-up a Quarry Bank cemetery which is the last resting place for a number of the town's war dead.

A wildflower meadow and new footpaths are among ideas mooted for the Victoria Road cemetery - which is an extension to the churchyard at Christ Church in the High Street.

Seven Commonwealth War Graves are listed at the site but only five are visible as the cemetery, which includes more than 100 other graves, is so overgrown.

Brian Roe, Labour party candidate for Quarry Bank and Dudley Wood, who is helping to lead the campaign for a tidy-up of the long overgrown cemetery, said: "This is a chance for the community to do something positive and transform the resting place of many former Quarry Bank people as well as servicemen from two world wars.

"At the moment, the graveyard looks overgrown and unloved in places but you only have to be here a short time to see this is well-used by people still paying respects, tending graves or coming to look around.

"We would love to hear the views of Quarry Bank people and we're asking them to join a Facebook group called Quarry Bank War Graves and Wild Flowers so they can tell us their views."

The cemetery was previously looked after as part of Christ Church but was handed to Dudley Council more than a decade ago.

A chapel where funeral services were conducted on the site has long since been pulled down and the unkempt graveyard is now classed as a ‘Site of Local Importance to Nature Conservation’ (SLINC) having become a haven for wildlife

Quarry Bank and Dudley Wood councillor Chis Barnett said badgers, foxes and birds have made their home at the site and he added: "We're looking at a wildflower meadow in part of the site which is now grass and we're also exploring the idea of a footpath around much of the site. It'll be interesting to find out its history as well and see if we can create an information board to tell people."