Having spoken to Andy, Alan & Rita decided to pop in the cemetery with Andy for a quick look around. It was unusual to find one of the gates wide open, Rita noticed a bit of red car part on the grass and then noticed that the railings had been damaged. On closer inspection it looked like a large vehicle which had done a fair bit of damage. SDC have been informed.
First job was to cement the book on the Hancock grave A 27 which is now back in position. We then moved to the Kitch headstone Plan 7 49 which has now
been made more secure: it was moving slightly when SDC tested this but the ground was pretty wet at the time. B21 Sheppard was another headstone that was loose and this one has also now been made secure. After a walk around the cemetery admiring the daffodils and looking at jobs to complete this year, we made our way home.
Sunday 24 February 2019
As the weather forecast indicated that Sunday would be fine and sunny, Alan and Rita contacted Andy, Astrid and Dave to see if they would be available to work in the cemetery. Dave said he was unable to make it, Andy said he could and Astrid said she could but would be unable to get there until 11-1130.
When Alan, Rita and Andy arrived the fog had disappeared and the sun had come out. It was decided that Alan and Andy would carry out the maintenance work on memorials identified in a recent testing carried out a few weeks ago, and Rita with Astrid, when she arrived, would start work on preparing the ground to extend the Bluebell area.
Alan and Andy cemented and packed the base stone of the Smith H62 grave, the book on the Baker grave was cemented back in position. A number of headstones which moved a little when pushed needed the earth around to be compacted, this worked successfully on the Brawley 7-25; Dyer M29; and Brown M30. The Southwood 14-14 headstone had been hit by the mower and assessed as unsafe by SDC, who said they would stake and bind, but this had not been done, so Alan and Andy hammered in two metal stakes to provide support. The kerbs and base of the Symons H64 had been hit and moved by the mower last year and it was decided that as they were working nearby on H62 they would lever the kerbs back in position and pack earth around to keep them in place.
This completed they then went over to see how Rita and Astrid were getting on cutting back the brambles and clearing the ground where the extended bluebells will be. What a difference, one more work session should see the ground ready to plant bluebells and possibly some wild flower seeds. Well pleased with their efforts today they made their way home.
