COMMUNITY volunteers are required to help clean up historic overgrown Lye graves.

The Friends of Lye and Wollescote Cemetery are in need of support as they attempt to keep old headstones up to scratch.

Many of the graves at the cemetery date back to Victorian and Edwardian periods and mark the final resting place of some of the town's most influential residents.

They include Dr Darby, the owner of the first motorised vehicle in Lye, Henry Wooldridge - who invented the self fastening frost cog - and Owen Freeman who designed many of the buildings in Lye.

Although Dudley Council looks after the cemetery and ensures the graves are safe, it is the responsibility of families to care for the graves.

But with no families left to tend many of these graves, they have fallen into disrepair and overgrown with weeds.

In a bid to restore and preserve the historical treasures, the Friends will be holding working days, starting this Saturday (July 4) and then on Saturday August 1 from 10am until noon, and they need as many volunteers as possible to help out.

Anyone interested in helping should meet at the Springfield Road entrance to the cemetery and take along gardening equipment if possible such as secateurs and rakes.

Further details are available from Carolyn Healy on 01952 433932 or 07805 489296.