Bright sunny day only Alan and Rita working in the cemetery today, Astrid with Felix popped in to see how they were getting on. Alan had been in on Tuesday in Plan 11 to tidy a few graves around Rita’s family Perrett grave, uncovering a broken heart shaped small head stone belonging to the Woodridge/ Spriggs family. For safety reason this plaque will be put with the Young grave that Rita and Astrid had worked on Sunday removing the ivy, this grave has kerbs and a concrete base but the centre that at one time had a layer of chipping was now covered in earth and the kerbs with post were loose. Alan decided work was required on this monument, he removed and bagged the earth and chipping ready to start on the Sunday.
While Alan was taking the old cement off the kerbs and posts ready to cement the Young grave stones back together, Rita had made her way over to Jam Factory Lane end to the wild flower area which has become overgrown with ivy, bindweed and brambles. She filled a dumpy bag of brambles and trimmed very low hanging branches of a nearby tree, before planting a number of corn daisy plants that she had grown for the cemetery. Lets hope these survive. She then joined Alan for a very late tea break just as he finished cementing the kerbs and posts back on the Young grave. Alan then sifted the earth from the stones dug from the Young grave, these will need to be washed before replacing back in the grave.
During their time in the cemetery a lady walking her dog stopped to have a chat, she was interested in Ancestry and had done some research on one of the war graves in the cemetery and found it very interesting. Alan said the Friends would be interested in what she has found. He mentioned that the Friends of Wembdon Road Cemetery website had biographies on all the WW1 and some WW2 men buried in the cemetery along with many other interesting people. Members have access to all this information which cost £8 for a single person to join and £10 for a couple. All monies raised goes to the restoration of the memorials in the cemetery.
