Heartbroken Clydebank family's fight for permanent headstone for son

Jimmy Rasmussen, 85, and his wife Agnes, 84, from Mountblow, had been on a long five-decade search to find their late son Anthony who was born stillborn in Helensburgh in 1969.

Before the 1980s it was common practice for hospitals to take care of funeral arrangements, without the involvement of parents.

Some of these babies were buried in shared graves and many parents were not told what happened to their baby’s body.

Jimmy and Agnes at the grave (Image: Newsquest staff)

It wasn’t until the couple’s oldest son Jim went looking for him that he happened to find out that his younger brother was buried in a Commonground shared grave in Kilbowie Cemetery. 

However, when he had a site visit of the grave with members from West Dunbartonshire Council in February this year, he was left speechless.

The grave, which is in the shape of a Moses Basket, was covered with weeds and hidden by a hedge.

The stairs leading up to the place of rest had moss covered and a sign to warn residents of dog fouling.

There are weeds growing out of the grave (Image: Newsquest)

The 59-year-old told the Post: “I knew I needed to find Anthony for my parents. They had gone too long without knowing where he was laid to rest. It wasn’t until I came across layout plans that I realised that Clydebank had a shared grave.

“It took a bit of time to find it at first, but when we did my family were left heartbroken. The grave was clearly a last thought to the council.

“There will be other families in the area that didn’t even know the grave existed because of how badly it was looked after. We hope that we can change that as no family should have to grieve a loved one that they don’t know where they are.

“We have set up a small burial place beside the basket for my brother, but we shouldn’t have had to do that.”

The family had called on help from West Dunbartonshire Council in June to help restore the grave to its original state but were met with no luck as they have not heard back from their pleas.

Jimmy and Agnes spent five decades searching for their son (Image: Newsquest)

A slap of concrete sits beside their grave (Image: Newsquest)

And the Mountblow family have requested written permission from the local authority on numerous occasions to allow them to have a headstone for their loved one without having to worry that the greenspace team at the council will remove it at any given time.

Now the fight has been more desperate as both Jimmy and Agnes are in their eighties and want to spend time grieving their late son together.

The steps leading up to the Moses basket (Image: Newsquest)

He added: “It is now just a dog walkers paradise and that is unacceptable. We can’t count how many times we have seen dog poo that has been left by the grave. The council have only since removed the dog fouling sign in front of the grave.

“I feel like I am getting kicked in the teeth. They have been totally disrespectful about the situation. We are asking for something quite simple but instead, they choose to ignore us. Enough is enough.

“It is traumatic enough that parents would have to go through losing their baby, but now the council won’t allow us to give him a proper resting place.”

“This has gone on for far too long. We all just want a place to grieve.”

The family want written permission to put a headstone in (Image: Newsquest)

A spokesperson for West Dunbartonshire Council said: “We met with the resident to discuss this grave, and following his feedback, have cleaned the Moses basket and planted summer bedding plants.

"We have also renewed stairs and prepared a concrete foundation for a plaque to be erected.”