ABradford gravedigger who creates graves for Muslim funerals at Scholemoor and Bowling cemeteries is trying to break down the taboos surrounding death and is urging people to discuss with their loved ones their final wishes.

Graham Swain, a self-employed builder from Great Horton, has been digging graves for the Muslim community on behalf of the Council for Mosques for the past 17 years.

He knows exactly the type of graves to dig for each individual, and is present at all funerals, some of which which can have up to 5,000 mourners present.

Mr Swain has become a vital link in Bradford’s Muslim communities. He is always on call and can be called out at all hours of day and night to help bereaved families who want to lay their loved ones to rest.

Every three months he gives lectures to hospital staff at Bradford Royal Infirmary on death and dying.

“It is sensitive in any religion and is seen as a taboo subject,” he says. “You need to go home and talk about it because it is the surest thing that is going to happen in your life. Imagine if something suddenly happened and you didn’t know their (relatives) wishes.

“I speak to hospital staff about death and dying because when Asian people die, they need to be surrounded by people and I advise staff about how to cope with it. Bradford has one of the busiest Muslim cemeteries in the UK.

“There are differences in funeral arrangements if people are Pakistanis, Bengalis, or Sunni or Shia Muslims.

“It is very sensitive. You are helping people at a time of need and are meeting different individuals all the time.”

Ghulam Rasul, the registrar at Bradford’s Council for Mosques, contacts Mr Swain at all hours of the day and night if he is needed to arrange a burial shortly after a death. He is often called upon to dig graves in a matter of hours.

Mr Rasul always calls on Mr Swain and said that he knows exactly what specifications apply, depending on the culture of the person who has died and what mosque they attended.

“We discuss it between ourselves because there are at least seven or eight different types of grave you create for different cultures,” says Mr Rasul.

“At times of stress, bereaved people want some form of comfort. I think Graham is very important and the backbone of the service. He helps people and is sensitive to their needs at a time of great stress.”

Mr Swain urged families to discuss burial arrangements, to avoid misunderstandings after a loved one has died.

He says families sometimes have very different ideas about the wishes of the deceased, resulting in occasional instances of people being exhumed from Bradford cemeteries and reburied in Pakistan, or relatives deciding on a different resting place when the hearse has actually arrived at the crematorium.

Mr Swain says getting it right for relatives was essential.

“You only get one chance,” he says. “You can’t do a rehearsal and you are dealing with people who are already emotional.

“Sometimes it is emotional for me, if I have known the people.”

His job also involves making preparations for prisoners to attend funerals at the cemeteries.

“I speak with prison authorities about what happens when prisoners come to the cemetery for a funeral. Sometimes we have very dangerous prisoners that are Category A,” says Mr Swain, who describes Scholemoor Cemetery as a “jewel in the crown” for Bradford.

His work maintaining the Snowdrop Garden, a resting place for babies at the cemetery, involves teaming up with volunteers to improve the garden with volunteers and look after the area.

The Snowdrop Garden opened in 1982 as a place where only babies are buried. There are no restrictions, babies of any faith or denomination can be laid to rest there, and it is somewhere that bereaved families can go to pay their respects.