BEREAVED families were given the chance to see how Torfaen council will handle controversial gravestone safety tests at a special open day.

The event was arranged at Panteg cemetery to avoid a similar row to the one that flared in Caldicot after the town council laid flat headstones whch failed legal safety tests.

On Saturday Joan Trenchard, 79, of Kirrlach Close, Caldicot, came along to see the marble cross, where her husband and his parents were buried, checked for safety.

Mrs Trenchard said: "My home is Pontypool - I lived in New Inn for 17 years, though I live in Caldicot now to be closer to my daughter.

"This stone was put there in 1923 when my husband's father died. His mother always cared for it, and after she died in 1960 my husband and I looked after it.

"I feel responsible, especially now my husband's ashes are here as well.

"I live opposite the cemetery in Caldicot, so I was in the centre of it all and it made me more aware of what was likely to happen."

Mrs Trenchard said she was relieved tests showed the cross was safe.

"I've been losing sleep over it," she added.

Torfaen council must carry out the testing under the Health and Safety Act.

Peter Smith, director of memorial testing company Teleshore, said: "We cover the whole UK and we have a number of teams doing this testing work at the moment, from Blackpool to Kent.

"It's about doing the best job for everyone."

Torfaen's senior cemeteries officer, Tony Crewe, said: "It's not an option for us not to deal with this, so we're trying to let people know that.

"We couldn't have done any more to make people aware. We need them to realise that this is not a choice for the council - it's an obligation.

"How we go about doing this is the main issue. On the 15th we'll begin at Cwmbran cemetery, then Panteg, then Blaenavon, and we'll walk about each site, looking at what's potentially going to happen.

"The first few days will be an evaluation of each site, and then the testing will start in earnest, beginning with the older sections."