Here and there among the memorials a visitor can glimpse a flash of colour or angel statue.

Real or artificial flowers sit in vases and personal items that look flippant or sweet are placed on many of them, each revealing much about the person they commemorate he was a golfer, she had children, he loved animals.

But it is these items that are causing controversy. In response to complaints that they make the garden look untidy, the board of the crematorium has decided to remove all unauthorised items.

Tania Carnegie is among those unhappy with the decision.

On the 10th anniversary of her father's death, she was upset to find the golf tees, sea shells and garden gnome placed on his memorial were gone, as was the case with other ''unauthorised items'' on other memorials.

''I don't know what their rules were when mum got the site, but it seemed to be a callous way of treating a grieving family,'' Ms Carnegie said.

However, according to Norwood Park management, a lot of families had placed items that could break.

Norwood Park chairman Clive Allison said, ''We want to comply with what we set out to do which is provide a lovely garden environment. We've had complaints from people who say, 'It's not a garden anymore, it's quite a large collection of figurines which detract from the beauty we paid for and we'd like them to be removed'.''