The Emily Wells memorial stands at the back of Anglican section B, to the west of the old chapel mound. The chapel lodge once stood behind it. Back in 2021, Mrs Lucas kindly commissioned the repair of the adjoining Wells/Norris memorial and was keen to have this one repaired too. Emily Wells died in 1922, aged 72 and she was the mother of Lillian (Peter) Norris (Nee Wells) in the next grave.
The big problem with the repair of this memorial was that its cross was missing. We had hoped that it might have been under the hedge by the neighbour's fence, but it was not. It was presumably collateral damage in the 1980s or 1990s when the chapel and lodge were demolished. Fortunately, Fine Memorials gave the Friends some salvaged crosses from a burial ground at Wincanton, which had been cleared by the council a number of years ago. One of these was found to fit perfectly, although it had the inscription 'Regina Decor Carmeli' (a Catholic religious quote 'the beautiful Queen of Carmel').
We tested the cross in June 2022 to see how it looked in situ:
We decided, after checking with Mrs Lucas, that the side with the inscription did not seem in keeping with the rest of the memorial, whereas the back did. So the inscription is pointed towards the fence, which will be a hidden feature for anyone who knows to look. All that needed to be done now was wait for Fine Memorials to come in and pin and mortar it into place. They managed to come in early March 2023 and it was worth the wait:
All we need to do now is tidy up the kerbs and give it a slight clean. Overall we are very pleased with this piece of recycling, and very grateful to Mrs Lucas for making it happen.
11 March 2023