Outrage as families told to remove grave decorations at All Saint's Church in Fawley

But now shocked relatives have slammed Hampshire clergy forcing them to remove decorations from their family graves.

Notices appearing in All Saint's Church in Fawley demand that all decorations and pictures left on plots must be taken home, which the Diocese of Winchester saying it wants items to be removed before television gardener Charlie Dimmock arrives later in the year to carry out a project to improve the churchyard.

The notices relate to a number of graves including those of children, and relatives are demanding that the Diocese reverse the decision.

Nicol Kevern,above, is threatening to launch a petition against the church.

She regularly attends the churchyard to tend to the grave of her 11year-old daughter Channon who was killed alongside her step-dad Terry Stubbs in a road smash on the A326 near Hythe in 2008.

Driver Ann Larke, 74, of Tern Close, Hythe was sentenced to two years after admitting causing the deaths by careless driving on the A326 and later released from prison on appeal.

Now Nicol said: “I know a lot of people who have their babies at the graveyard and this is very upsetting for all of us.

“We had no warning, the notices just went up and if we don’t take away the ornaments and pictures, they will just take them.

“It gives me so much comfort to be able to leave things on Channon’s grave and my plea to the church would be not to do this.

“We will fight it.”

Calvin Wheeler-Osman, 34, (above) from Fawley, and his family leave mementos at a plot for their daughter Rihanna who was stillborn in 2010.

The father of four said: "What they are doing is disgusting. We pay for that plot and went through all the pain and suffering and now this. It is a place where my kids can come to remember their sister. It's upsetting us and so many other families."

William James, 56, from Calshot, and his family regularly leave items such as toy motorbikes at the grave of nephew Martin who died from a rare heart condition 20 yeas ago - aged just four.

Mr James, whose parents Burt and Ethel are also buried there said: "It's disgraceful.

"People want to put personal things there - it's what their families would have wanted.

"It's wrong that they want them taken off."

A spokesman for the Diocese said it was asking for items which did not conform to its regulations to be removed ahead of a visit by Charlie Dimmock in September to "restore the natural beauty of the area".

He added: "These regulations apply to every parish in the Diocese.

"We appreciate that the items hold special relevance to people, and so if they have not been removed by September 18, then the churchyard working party on behalf of the Parochial Church Council will carefully remove them, label them and store them for collection at a later date."