Bradford Council is spending £50,000 a year to keep the district's "dead" heritage alive.

Bradford was one of the first councils in the country to appoint a full-time memorial officer, making sure the 250,000 headstones in the city's cemeteries are safe.

Former grave-digger David Farrah, pictured, is the man who has been given the mammoth task of carrying out topple tests on all of them - and he says it will take him five years to get the job done.

The Council launched an emergency survey of all its headstones in 2001 after a young boy was crushed to death in a Harrogate cemetery when a headstone fell on him.

"The tragedy shook a lot of councils up and made them focus on the whole health and safety issue and whose responsibility it would be. Bradford decided to get ahead in the game and be pro-active to avoid having to go through what Harrogate did," said Mr Farrah, 54.

Current law makes councils responsible for the health and safety of its cemeteries - but responsibilities of the headstones lie with the families themselves.

Joan Ryder, area registrar of deaths for Bradford, said there was legal confusion about who would be blamed if someone was hurt by a headstone that toppled on them.

"Instead of waiting for laws to be made clear on responsibility in case of accidents, Bradford decided to play safe and set about starting up a programme to inspect all the headstones and make safe any that needed attention," she said.

There is no legal requirements for the Council to carry out stability tests on its headstones but Mr Farrah said it made good sense, with the city having many gravestones which dated back to Victorian times.

Mr Farrah uses a special 'gun' which exerts a pressure of 35kg to do the topple tests.

Any headstone, old or new, that moves has to be secured by having steel rods drilled through it at an angle, rooting it firmly. Every memorial checked is logged in a huge database at his office in Scholemoor and repairs are set about almost immediately.

The task of making the older headstones safe is costly for the Council.

Families who own any wobbly headstones and who can be traced through the cemeteries' records are sent a letter.

"We invite them to meet one of us from the cemetery as well as a stonemason so we can show them why it's dangerous - then they're asked to pay for repairs," said Mr Farrah. "A simple headstone can set families back £1,200. It's big money - and repairs don't come cheap," he said, adding that insurance was important.

The district's Victorian cemeteries are dotted with ornate memorials of grand designs and size - and these are among those most at risk.

One of Mr Farrah's biggest concerns is to make sure the cemeteries do not fall into ruin and their heritage is preserved.