Bristol graves get cleaned for All Saints' Day

Members of a support group for Polish people in Bristol spent hours cleaning graves in Arnos Vale cemetery before celebrating All Saints' Day.

Catholic communities traditionally visit the graves of loved ones on November 1 and places flowers and candles on the final resting places.

The special candles can burn for many hours and are placed on the graves so that departed souls can find their way through the darkness.

There are about 170 graves of Poles in the cemetery in Brislington, many of them former soldiers who settled in Bristol after World War II.

But many have been neglected so members of Poland Bridge organised a clean-up day to tidy as many as possible.

Chairman Krzysztof Kawulak, 30, of Stoke Park, said: "We have found about 50 or 60 graves but we have been told there are many more in Arnos Vale, as well as in other cemeteries such as Shirehampton.

"Although we don't know the exact number of Poles in the cemeteries in and around Bristol, we need to remember those who came here and especially honour the memory of war veterans resting here.

"On the eve of All Saints, we wanted to take care of the graves of our nation, especially if because of distance or work we were not able to visit the graves of relatives in Poland."

Mr Kawulak hoped in the longer term, Poles in Bristol would adopt and look after individual graves.