Friends of Darwen Cemetery
Issued 27 February 2015
Minutes of Management Meeting on 25 February 2015 at 6.00 pm
Present: John East (chair), Diane Walsh, Diane Davies, Jill Marr, Colin Briggs, Mick Walsh, Kath Walsh, Tony
Foster, Peter van Dijk (minutes)
1. Apologies: Steve Davies, Paul Dargan.
2. Minutes of the last Meeting: accepted.
3. Matters Arising – Donations via the website – Paul has put a Donate button on the
website to enable payments through PayPal.
4. Chairman’s comments – John suggested we should consider a memorial for still
births. Location and funding are something to think about at some future time.
He had been told that the sand deposited in Section 4 is for filling sunken graves.
5. Treasurer’s report – Diane W: Not much movement this month. Cheque for £125
received from Jackie Cargill for Grave Maintenance scheme. Balance stands at
£7049.
6. Grounds Strategy report – Mick expressed admiration for the volunteers who
braved bad weather last Thursday and Saturday to tackle the Section H hedge. His
full report is attached to these minutes.
The Thursday group completed felling the willow on the C of E mound, refurbished
a grave under the Grave Maintenance Scheme, worked on Section D1 and started
work on cutting back the front face of the large rhododendron ‘hedge’ between
the main entrance and Section H.
The Saturday group got rid of three truckloads of waste, and continued the work
on the Section H hedge.
There have been a number of recent occasions when wood, prepared by our
volunteers as part of our tree maintenance work, has been removed by unknown
persons. This leads to disillusionment among those of our hard-working volunteers
with wood burning stoves who have earned the right to first call on this usable
fuel. In future, we will put more effort into clearing this material as we cut it,
which will mean we have less time available for the tree maintenance itself.
Action
Nature Garden paths
Jill has applied to both the Lloyds Trust and the Leach Trust for the full amount of
the quote (£5200) including VAT for the work of resurfacing the paths, including
the groundworks, in the Nature Garden.
Lark Street Gates
Mick has discussed the pillars with Brent. He has a quote for £3400 for the repairs,
including the blacksmithing. Jill will apply to Crown Awards for their maximum
grant of £2000. BwD will not be able to contribute towards the cost.
The Trustees decided that the Nature Garden should have priority.
7. War graves report – Diane D is trying to arrange a meeting with CWGC and BwD to
clarify the position regarding CWGC’s £5 annual grants, that are no longer being
paid to BwD. The Friends could not take on the contract to cut grass and maintain
access, but we would welcome a donation to recognise the work done in the
“Adopt a grave” scheme.
8. Education and Interpretation report – Tony had nothing to report.
9. Publicity and Media report – Diane D is working on captions for the exhibition of
Jill
Diane
Diane
our WW1 proposals to be put on in the library after the current Morton display is
finished. For the consultation process, we will need some survey forms. Tony will
ask Roy Cox for a Cemetery montage on DVD to be displayed at the same time.
10. Grave Maintenance scheme – Paul had sent in a report which said the photos
before and after refurbishment had been sent to Jackie Cargill and the file copies
were available. Mrs Smith had sent him a cheque for refurbishment and two years
maintenance. Mick said we should only be accepting one year’s maintenance at a
time.
The refurbishment team is lacking an active leader so we will admit no new graves
at present.
11. Special Projects
11.1.
WW1 HLF Project – Steve and Helen will meet Jill and Tony on Friday.
After consultation with Brent, Jill has calculated that the cost to erect and
make safe 5 headstones for each of 78 war graves will cost £46800. This is
necessary for safe access to the war graves on Tony’s trails. It was agreed that
this was a vital part of the project. As a minimum, we need to do this work in
Sections K and 4B.
Tony would like to include a Roll of Honour of all who enlisted. Sources
include Darwen News, Darwen Weavers Warpers and Winders, plus church
records at Pickup Bank, Baptists, Railway Road and Duckworth Street.
11.2.
Heritage Open Day 2015 – Sunday 13th September is the agreed date,
with a start at 1pm and a walk starting at 2.30pm. John is to see whether the
old Darwen bus will be available to ferry people up from the Circus. We hope
the gazebo will again be erected on the lawn outside the Community centre.
We still need to book the Community Centre.
12. AOB.
12.1.
Parking restrictions at Main Entrance – Peter.
When we get official notification of Andrew’s application for parking
restrictions at the main entrance, we will give it our support.
12.2.
Barn Dance – Jill.
We need about 200 people to make it worthwhile. John will ask the Friends of
Darwen Library to join us. Up-front costs will include the Band (£350), hire of
loos, beer, etc.
12.3.
AGM.
This will be held on Wednesday 29 April at DACA if John can arrange it. First
choice of speaker – someone from CWGC (Diane to request); second choice
Nicola from Cemetery records. 7.00pm start. We assume Patrick is no longer
interested in being a trustee – Peter will write to him.
12.4.
Darwen Town Council website.
Our link on the DTC website has gone missing. Peter to write to their secretary
asking to be reinstated.
Date and Time of Next Meeting –
Wednesday 25 March 2015 at 6pm
Tony
John
John
John
Diane
Peter
Peter
FEBRUARY 2015 WORKING PARTIES
Saturday 7th Feb
Your call 8 tonne truck and driver in attendance
19 Volunteers
55 Volunteer Hours
Three truckloads of waste were loaded and removed from site:-One from Section D1, made up of rhododendron waste.
One from Section 1, made up of waste from a felled sycamore tree. Rhododendron waste &and quantities of ivy
One from the C of E chapel site. made up of the bulk of the material produced during the removal of the final large
willow.
The thicker pieces of the C of E willow were separated and removed from the site for use by our volunteers with
domestic wood burners.
Section D1
Commence clearance of grave plot at the extreme west of the Section
Investigate the remainder of the grave plot which had produced a light granite, ceramic grave vase. No further
artefacts were found within the plot.
---------------------------------------------Saturday 21st Feb
17 Volunteers including one junior
47 Volunteer Hours
Continue the cutting back of the rhododendron “hedge”, between the main entrance and Section H.
Clear most of the pathway running along the front of this hedge and dig out the gutter.
Four grated drains were uncovered and cleared during this work.
THURSDAY WORKING PARTIES
Due to heavy snowfall and dangerous road conditions we decided to cancel our working party on the 28th of Jan, for
safety reasons.
Our three Thursday working parties on the 5th, 12th & 19th of February were attended by 11, 11 & 12 ( including two
juniors ) volunteers who contributed 106 working hours.
The 5th was occupied preparing rhodi waste on Section D1 for loading onto the Your Call truck on the following
Saturday; completing the felling of the remaining willow on the C of E mound; continuing the clearance of ivy and
other encroaching growth from Section 1 and relocating previously cut waste at the west of Section 5.
A party of pupils from Avondale School visited their adopted war grave, on the anniversary of the death of “their”
casualty.
Work on the 12th included: ---Refurbishment of a grave plot, under our grave maintenance scheme, for Mrs Cargill.
Removal of several mole hills and general tidying of the military section.
Clearance of a blocked drain beside Section A.
Section D1.
Examine twisted light granite kerb set. This surround was originally installed without a stable foundation and will
require the provision of a sub base before re-fixing.
Raise sunken sandstone Kerb set at east of section prior to levelling.
Re-plot positions of all visible monuments and other artefacts onto the section burial plan.
Inspect proposed mason’s jobs with Mr. Brent Stevenson; ----Lark St. gate pillars
Grosjean grave, with a view to cleaning and repair.
Recumbent headstone, obstructing a war grave walk on Section G
Infill panels between memorial wedge sections in Ashes Garden.
The 19th was spent preparing the working area and beginning work on the cutting back of the eastern face of the
entrance /Section H boundary hedge, including the removal of a large, self seeded sycamore tree.
This work was carried out under appalling weather conditions.
Thanks are due to the volunteers involved for their sterling work, achieved in spite of severe difficulties.
Everyone finished the session literally soaked to the skin.