Wednesday 12 June 2024
Weather forecast looking grim, rain everyday for over a week! Alan felt that as it was a nice day today he would go in to work on the Taylor N-8 so Rita went in with him to help (or hinder?)
The kerbs were taken out one by one and each in turn was made level. This eventually went reasonably well. Then the posts – although all the same in shape and size they were not the same in height, with a range of 3 inches difference between them. But we managed to get them all in line and all the same height so really pleased with our efforts. Now all ready for cementing back together when we go in on Sunday.
Rita did manage to find time in between levelling up to tidy up her family grave nearby, which was a bit of a disgrace – how that grass grows! The weeds and grass were removed from the inside of the grave and Alan came along and removed the ant hills along the sides of the end kerb. Now looking a lot better. A good morning's work.
Sunday 16 June 2024
Chris, Dave, Alan and Rita working in the cemetery today and what luck, none of the big black clouds that passed overhead dropped any rain on them. Probably because Rita had her mac all ready! First job was to cut back the hedge growing out into the pathway on Wembdon Road. It was surprising how much it had grown out, it was cut back to the railings and ensured there were no bits sticking out that would catch passers by. Unfortunately we filled the dumpy bag too full so Chris went off and got another bag and shared the load into two bags and hauled them over to the storage area.
The boys then started work cementing the kerbs back together on the Taylor grave. Lots of pieces with chunks knocked off so a slow job. They did manage to cement all the kerbs and three of the posts in but sadly ran out of cement to finish the last post. All was not lost, Dave went off and bought another bag so all the posts are now back in position. Just a few missing chunks out of the kerbs that they hope to fill in with cement at a later stage.
Meanwhile Rita went over to the Redwood tree and trimmed around the bottom, and she remembered a before and after photo, although these were the only ones they remembered to do!
Lots of visitors today, Alan’s daughter, son in law and Suki the dog came in to say Happy Fathers Days to him which was a nice surprise.
Henry Young is buried next to the Taylor grave and while the boys were working here the granddaughter and her husband brought flowers in for Henry’s grave. Nice to have a chat with them. They did say that it was just Henry (or Harry as he was called) buried in the grave, but when looking at our records when we got home, we discovered that there is a William Young who was buried here in 1921 aged 34 years.
While Alan and Rita were chatting, Chris and Dave were busy cleaning up the Greenslade grave N5. Weeds were cleared from the inside, grass trimmed around the outside and the green stones were taken out, bagged up and ready for cleaning. The kerbs have come apart and will need to be cemented back together.
Dave left for home and Alan and Chris went to look for the next couple of jobs, Rita took a photo of where they will be in a couple of weeks time – just in case they forget!
