Alan and Chris working in the cemetery today (11th October 2026). We were blessed with dry weather today, which was good as we did some cementing of kerbs and posts. Work continued in section G, on the Stacey grave; G 88.
The headstone had already been pushed over from its vertical position many years ago for safety. This headstone was placed across the two long kerbs widthways. The wide headstone was carefully lifted using spades and bars allowing some brick stones to be positioned underneath the main headstone to give it support whilst work was carried out on the rest of the grave. The long side kerbs were lifted safely using spades and lowered down to enable cleaning of the base supports. The 2 end posts and short stone kerb were also placed out of the way.
The area was inspected for damage, debris and stones. The dirt, and stone debris was removed to allow the kerbs to be placed flat and squarely in position. A hard shrub- stem was also cut to prevent that causing a problem again later.
The old cement and debris were chiselled off by Alan. All the kerbs and posts were put back into place to ensure they were level and a good fit, as a dry run test. The wide headstone had some old cement debris causing a white stain on the top face. Alan thought it best to remove for a better finish, and so he removed this with a chisel.
We lowered the large kerbs again, and mixed up some cement mix, ready to carry out repairs. The large kerbs and posts were put back into position 1 at a time and cement used to fix into correct position. One of these long kerbs was quite difficult, because it was too close to the headstone in the next grave along, and that tall headstone had already dropped over at an angle.
With all large kerbs now into place, the cement joints were cleaned up and rechecked for firmness. The main wide headstone was repositioned across the grave to ensure it was aligned straight and equal.
We used some old small stones to fill in the large vacant area in the centre. After sieving to remove weeds and dirt, we used 3 bag loads of stone chipping for this job. The stones were placed in the central area and a rake used to spread evenly. The dirt which we had then collected with the sieve, was used as a cover around the whole area of outside of the grave and kerbs.
There is no end piece on one end of this grave, because the headstone itself was providing the end piece backdrop. At the moment, there is a hole showing underneath this end of the grave, which could be blocked up another day with bricks.
Chris put some plant feed around some trees and bushes.
We could see one of the Budleigh plants beside the wall is showing signs of heat stress on the leaves and damaged. We will observe this later and prune this back next year.
We then took a walk around to survey any work which would need doing in the next year. We could see approx. 35 different graves which would require some work and will include those on a plan for the next 2 to 3 years.
A grave named Emery in the same section G had a crack across the width. We inspected this, and decided we could raise it, and support it underneath with a strong solid base.
We packed up our tools, being pleased with the tasks carried out.