'Tasteless' Easter egg hunt in cemetery scrapped over claims it was 'disrespectful' to the dead

An Easter egg hunt that was set to be held in a cemetery has been scrapped after a significant backlash.

The event had been set to take place next Wednesday (3 April) morning at Wrexham cemetery.

Friends of Wrexham Cemetery group said that having an Easter egg hunt there was a 'wonderful idea to get young people interested in local genealogy', but others didn't see it that way.

They'd said that the part of the cemetery the egg hunt was going to be in 'is occupied by the dead from a century ago, and will not affect any recent internments', though this didn't prevent a backlash from occurring.

"I am at a loss as to why anyone would be angered by children enjoying an outdoor space, it should be encouraged," they told Sky News, and said children wouldn't be 'climbing on graves'.

Friends of Wrexham Cemetery

However, this kicked off a backlash strong enough for the organisers to scrap the event as the group said they'd made an 'emergency decision' to call off the Easter egg hunt 'to safeguard the young people that were going to participate'.

There had been a number of negative comments directed at the Easter egg hunt in a cemetery, with people saying on social media it was 'totally disrespectful' to hold the event there.

One said they could 'see the idea of encouraging people to visit', but thought an Easter egg hunt just wasn't the right way to do it.

"Who decides to hold an Easter egg hunt in a cemetery? Who thought that was a good idea?" another wondered.

Others asked whether there was somewhere else 'a little more suitable' for just such an event.

Google Maps

The BBC reports that among the complaints and criticism were people saying they had family members resting in the cemetery and 'would not want kids running over my graves'.

More insisted that a graveyard was 'not an outdoor museum' but instead 'sacred' ground as they asked whether people who deem a 'Santa's grotto' on the site appropriate.

According to the Beeb, almost 40,000 burials have taken place at Wrexham Cemetery since 1876 and the designer wanted it to work like a park where visitors could walk around.

In this case, it seems as though the backlash has been enough to convince event organisers that the cemetery is not the right place to be hunting for Easter eggs.

LADbible has contacted Friends of Wrexham Cemetery for further comment.