A lasting memorial to scores of babies and young children buried in unmarked plots at Didcot Cemetery will be unveiled this weekend.

The carved stone statue of two angels will commemorate more than 170 young children and stillborn babies buried at the Kynaston Road cemetery - many of whom lie in unmarked plots.

Annette Briscoe's sister Shirley died at birth in 1955 and was buried at the cemetery.

Mrs Briscoe, 55, who now lives in Cheshire, said the memorial would be important to the families of the children.

This summer she was able to locate her sister's plot with the help of town council staff.

But she added that other families may never have that chance.

She said: "Although my sister will eventually have a headstone, there will be so many who will not. It's very touching the council has made the effort to do this."

"In those times you were told to forget. It's a totally different attitude now.

"The memorial will help past families and those in the future. At the moment it's just a plot and there are so many graves that are untraceable. For those families it will mean so much."

The cemetery opened in 1928 and records show the first child was buried there in 1929.

But between 1929 and 1954 there is little record of the plots for each child, and in the case of stillborn babies little recorded information at all. Many children and babies buried during that period, and in later years, have no headstone marking their graves.

The memorial to them will be unveiled at a dedication service at the cemetery on Saturday at 11am.

The service will be lead by the Rev Edward Carter of St Peter's Church, who will be joined by Methodist minister the Rev Helen White and humanist Jenny Perry.

The stone carving has been funded by the town council and donations from the community.

Didcot's mayor Mike McNulty said: "This will be a fitting tribute to all these children and I'm sure it will be appreciated by the families and the community gen- erally."