Perfect weather for a day’s work in the cemetery (14 May 2023) with the Sedgemoor Conservation Volunteers Group who were kind enough to give their time in helping the Friends, Chris, Alan, Astrid and Rita today.
Due to the grass being knee high in places they were first given a safety talk to keep to the paths worn down by the dog walkers, which they did.
Today’s task was to dig up the roots of the nettles and brambles at the North end of the cemetery backing on to the neighbours houses in Halesleigh Road/Provident Place which the Friends cleared a few weeks ago. We could not believe how much re-growth there was and how the weeds had sprung up, but looking at the diary it was a bit more than 3 weeks ago! How time flies when you are enjoying yourself!
Although everyone brought spades for digging, one gentleman suggested forks would probably have been better, so Astrid popped home and brought back two which certainly helped.
By the time we had our tea break there was a marked improvement in the area, the new grown weeds had gone and digging was in progress. Revived by tea and biscuits everyone started work again, cutting back the Ash trees that someone had hacked back, clearing around the bramble bush and making in look much tidier, keeping this for the wildlife (and blackberries), also clearing the weeds and nettles on the other side of the bramble bush where the Friends had not got around to clear.
While all this was going on, Rita and Astrid with shears and rake cleared the area where the Laver grave with no headstone is positioned and then moved over to weed the Symons 6-1 grave, they then went back to join the others and trimmed the large fir tree nearby where the branches had got too low for walking under.
A very productive day, filling 13 dumpy bags of weeds and branches, many thanks to the volunteers for their excellent hard work.
Hopefully SDC now Somerset Council will be in this week to cut the grass.
We also had a visitor who spoke to Rita and Astrid, he and his wife had brought their granddaughter in as she loves looking around. He is interested in looking for his Lewis relatives, he has found two but unable to find the other. Rita promised to look for any information she could find for him. He did say he is now retired and may consider working in the cemetery with us on a Sunday morning, any help would be welcome!
We would like to wish Dave a speedy recovery who has not been too well lately.
The day after Jonathan Harvey from the Volunteers kindly passed on a list of some of the wild flowers they had noticed in the cemetery.
This was compiled by their flower expert, Susan Bates. These were just seen from walking the path so there are others.
Grasses
- Common bent
- Meadow foxtail
Butterflies
- Speckled wood
- Holly blue
Flowers
- Pignut
- Lesser bindweed
- Hogweed
- Wood avens
- Dandelion
- Primrose
- Ragwort
- Cinquefoil
- Ivy leaved toadflax
- Bluebell
- Germander speedwell
- White dead nettle
- Red dead nettle
- Nettle
- Hedge woundwort
- Meadow butteercup
- Daisy
- Sorrel
- Yarrow
- Herb robert
- Common vetch
- Bush vetch
- Chickweed
- Cranesbill
- Red clover
- Celandine
