"Friends of the Churchyard - Churchyard Challenge"
Can You Help? Your P.C.C. needs YOU!
We have a large urban churchyard to maintain and over the summer a good deal of clearing and cleaning has taken place.. To their very great credit Leslie Duplock and Peter Cooper always work hard to keep the grass under control. Recently some mature trees have been replaced by new plantings. It has also won Very Highly Commended awards from the Dorset Wildlife Trust in the Living Churchyard Competition. It can be an oasis of calm in a busy life, it is an asset to be cherished. The other side of the same coin is that it also brings with it a degree of responsibility.
Strictly speaking the relatives of the many people buried in the last 115 years are responsible for maintaining the graves. The practical side of this is that a number of the graves are starting to fall into a state of disrepair and a few pose health and safety concerns.
The P.C.C. has decided to adopt a three year plan to further enhance the area by making the graves safe. So what are we going to do about this challenge? Do you know any living relatives of people who have been buried so the P.C.C. can approach them sensitively if the grave needs attention? It may well be that you have greater knowledge that we have on the P.C.C.
A start on this work has been made by a very diverse team of volunteers. Phil Wood, Ivor Bartlett, Peter Allen, Ian Soper, Matt Crabb and Rob Dowdall have been backfilling old graves with earth, Frank Howell and Peter Allen have been re-pointing the walls around the Churchyard and Leslie Duplock and Peter Cooper will join the team when the grass cutting and leaf season comes to an end. Would you like to join us on an occasional working party?
Top Left to Bottom Right - Peter Allen shows how to be a good foreman , Youth Worker Ian Soper and Rob Dowdall, Matt Crabb from the Reach Team, Ivor Bartlett and Norman Aish and Phil Wood .
It has been terrific to watch the younger and elder members of the Parish working alongside each other towards a shared goal. Many thanks to all those who have helped and if you would like to lend us a hand as work continues please contact Norman Aish or Norman Winfield via the office or E-mail St Clement's Webmaster and we'll let you know as soon as work continues.