Only the third working day in the cemetery this year (19 April 2026), never have we had it so wet that we have been unable to attend and work in the cemetery for so long.
Since we were last in the Council have been in and cut the grass, thanks to the grass cutting team it does make the cemetery look so much nicer when the grass has been cut.
Rita, Alan and Chris working in the bright sunshine today. Rita worked on the special request from our chairman for a photo of the Emily Prince E11 grave which had to be smartened up for the photo as ivy and weeds needed to be removed.
Alan went up to the Thomas grave J58 where one long kerb and one short kerb had been pushed out of place and three of the posts were loose. The job today was to cement everything back into place. Chris came in and mixed up the cement; the kerbs and posts were soon put back into place. One bag of stone chipping from the grave needed to be sieved to remove the earth and needs to be washed before returning to the grave.
Just as the Thomas grave was finished Astrid surprised us with a visit and is doing really well after her knee and hip operation. She joined us for our tea break then went on walkabout with Rita who showed her the English bluebells that were out in flower, then inspected the wildflower garden where she pulled out a few weeds (two). She felt better after doing some work!
Back to work Chris worked on cleaning out the weeds, grass and ivy from the Lear grave J17, he took out all the chipping and bagged them up, and will be sieved and cleaned on another visit, doing a good job. Alan cleaned out the weeds, grass and ivy from the Greenslade grave J39, this grave has a membrane, and the grass has penetrated through this and will need to be removed and replaced. The stone chipping will need to be removed, sieved and washed. Rita started work on the Hook grave which was badly overgrown and will need more work here. All in all, a good sessions work.
