Friends of Darwen Cemetery
Issued 1 December 2014
Agenda for Management Meeting on 26 November 2014 at 6.00 pm
Present: John East, Tony Foster, Kath Walsh, Mick Walsh, Diane Walsh, Diane Davies, Paul
Dargan, Colin Briggs, Peter van Dijk. A special welcome to Brent Stevenson.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Apologies: Both Councillor Fosters, Steve Davies.
Minutes of the last Meeting: approved.
Matters Arising: none.
Chairman’s comments – John: It is important that we maintain our focus on
service to the community.
5. Treasurer’s report – Diane: Income this month included £110 from sale of
memorials, £120 for grave maintenance and £174 donation from John East
from his funeral fee. Expenditure included £225 for a granite wedge for the
Royal Wedding tree and £143 for Remembrance Day costs. For the year to
date, income is £7759, expenditure is £9200, and the current cash balance
is £6546.
Tony suggested that we need a PayPal account to process donations. Paul
said we had tried it before under Rosemary, and that there was a hidden
PayPal page on the website. Paul and Peter will check what we did before.
We need to see if a gift aid option can be included.
11.1 To make best use of Brent’s time, discussion of the WW1 HLF Project was
brought forward.
Steve and John have organised a co-ordinating meeting in Darwen Council
Chamber at 10 am on Friday December 12. Among those invited are:
WCP Associates – Project Management and Quantity Surveyor;
Planit IE – Masterplan and Design;
NJL Consulting – Produce the planning application, submit it, then monitor
through to completion;
D Morgan – Civil construction company who are tendering on a ‘Design and
Build’ basis;
Brent Stevenson Memorials – Providing granite interpretation panels.
Sayeed has been asked to send a representative from BwD. We also need
representatives from DACA and Darwen Vale – John will contact the schools.
Brent said that the current plan is to build the structure in June or July 2015.
To achieve this, he needs to make a start on designing the granite panels in
January. The number (possibly 10) and the size (possibly 4 x2 feet) of panels
must be decided so that he can order the granite in time. He needs details of
the construction to see how the panels will be fixed. He expects that the
panels will have to be put in place before the sandbag facings. Because he
needs to make a start on designing the panels soon, we must start sending him
the information from now on. He doesn’t want us to wait until we have
everything. His machine for engraving pictures on to the panels is
temperamental and slow, so he needs plenty of time to do the work.
Action
Paul
Peter
All
Diane D and Jill are not able to attend the December 12 meeting, but will feed
ideas to Tony, who will provide Brent with information to go on the plaques,
including ideas from the schools. Besides the names of the fallen, we need to
satisfy the educational requirement by including things like equipment, letters
and poems, and also stories about such things as the Belgian refugees and
local military hospitals. Roy’s photos will also need to be sent to Brent.
Since work on the granite panels will be started before we get the go ahead
from the Heritage Lottery Fund, we need a Plan B in case we don’t get the
Lottery money.
We have had no response from the Belgian embassy about the Belgian grave.
Mick will discuss how to clean and restore it with James.
6. Grounds Strategy report - Mick.
Brent described his proposal to set up a Good Friends group to bid for the
maintenance contract for all BwD cemeteries. He anticipated that
Cemetery Friends would appoint representatives to the board deciding on
priorities for future work.
Mick reported that Anne has started displaying her Christmas wreaths and
receiving donations. She has also been very busy with the gutters on D1.
21 volunteers (including 6 cellar dwellers) on the first Saturday worked on
fixing the commemorative stone by the elm tree, clearing the wild flower
meadow in the nature garden, trimming the holly tree in Section G and
weeding Prickly Corner. 20 volunteers on the second Saturday filled the 4
tonne truck from Your Call four times, clearing all areas except the pile left
by the Ritherdon volunteers. The canopies of two evergreens were raised.
Although Steven was absent, repairs were made to two graves for Mrs
Hornby under the Grave Maintenance Scheme, which are now ready for
cleaning and chipping.
On three Thursday sessions, work continued on levelling kerb sets in D1,
trimming hedges in the Ashes garden and tidying the Nature Garden. The
second Ritherdon’s group continued to clear and uproot rhododendrons in
Section C. Much of the waste is still on site, but that should be remedied
tomorrow (Thursday 27th), when Mick has arranged with Rebecca for the 7
tonne truck to attend.
Adrian Harper has asked for a work plan for next year – he already has the
current plan which spreads over into 2015, but Mick is planning a walk
round with volunteers on Saturday to generate ideas. The Lark Street gates
will be assessed at the same time.
Mick’s full report is attached to these minutes.
The last Saturday Working Party will be on 13 December, when potato pie
will be provided for the workers. The first Working Party in 2015 will be on
January 24.
7. War graves report – Diane reported that 93 pupils from 10 schools, and
altogether 147 visitors, attended the Friday Remembrance Service. Among
the visitors were the two mayors, Jake Berry and Will Straw, and
representatives of the Royal British Legion. The addition of Union Flags to
the marker canes on the war graves provided a wonderful decoration to
the cemetery. It was a very successful occasion. Allocating a fixed signing in
Diane
Jill
Tony
Mick
point for schools and allocating spaces for children at the front and adults
at the back should be considered for next year. There are already plans for
making the service even more child friendly. But feedback indicates that
the children loved it.
Minor hiccups with the playing of the last post and singing one of the
hymns were corrected for the Sunday service, which was attended by 78
people including scouts and cubs. It was also good to welcome a Warrant
Officer in dress uniform with medals. For next year, consideration should
be given to getting a better and louder stereo player. Diane estimates that
this would cost around £300.
Our thanks go to Diane and everyone who helped to make the services so
successful.
8. Education and Interpretation report – Tony. Nothing to report.
9. Publicity and Media report – John. None.
10. Grave Maintenance scheme – Paul reported that after the two Hornby
graves there are two more new entrants in the pipeline – Mrs Smith and
Jackie Cargill. Their graves will be tackled in the New Year. Prior photos
have been taken of the graves involved. Steven has been away, but we
hope he will now be able to give more attention to the refurbishments.
Three graves have dropped out of the annual maintenance scheme and will
not receive a quarterly tidying on December 13.
11. Special Projects
11.1.
WW1 HLF Project – Steve and Jill. See above.
11.2.
Darwen’s Heritage Open Day 2015 – Tony said that if we
wanted him to organise a walk for next year, then he would
welcome ideas for a theme.
12. AOB.
12.1.
Possible development of area containing the Elm tree and
plaque. The owners of Potter’s View want to purchase land in front
of their house where the commemorative elm tree stands. Adrian
has asked for our comments. We prefer not to move the tree. Peter
will explore Rosemary’s files to find the original permission, and
then respond to Adrian.
12.2.
Plans for involving members in 2015. We need to consider what
we should be doing for those members who don’t volunteer for the
Working Parties. A bat walk was suggested.
12.3.
The Redearth Road war memorial in DACA has not yet got a
final position. There will need to be an unveiling ceremony.
13. Date and Time of Next Meeting – Wednesday 28 January 2015 at 6pm
There will be no management meeting in December.
Peter