Friends of Darwen Cemetery
Issued 29 June 2015
Minutes for Management Meeting on 24 June 2015 at 6.00 pm
Present: Tony Foster (chair), Jill Marr, Diane Davies, Colin Briggs, Diane Walsh, Karimeh
Foster, Peter van Dijk (minutes)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Apologies: John East, Mick Walsh, Kath Walsh, David Foster.
Minutes of the last Meeting: accepted.
Matters Arising: none.
Chairman’s comments – John: none.
Treasurer’s report – Diane: £5946 balance in bank.
Diane has paid an invoice from John to reimburse Harold Heys for the
tree stakes he bought. We agreed Tony would tell John that we need to
approve the expenditure before Harold spends our money.
Replacement loppers have arrived from Wilkinson Sword. There is no
charge because the broken ones were still under guarantee.
Tony will chase up a cheque for FODC from a talk he gave to BwD Older
People’s Forum
6. Grounds Strategy report – Mick had emailed his report before he went
on holiday. A copy is attached to these minutes.
7. War graves report – Diane.
The marble urn on a plinth has been reported missing on the War Grave of
A Sharples on Section D (grave next to lime trees at top of Lark St).
No progress on grass cutting.
The Display is currently in DACA. It will go to Darwen Vale on 13 July,
move on to the Summer Fair in St Barnabas on 18 July and back to Vale
for an open evening in September.
8. Education and Interpretation report – Tony.
Tony is investigating placing pins on Google Maps to mark individual
graves or streets in town. Clicking on pins will bring up associated
information. One option is to mark by year. He has sent details to Helen
so that it can be added to the bid.
9. Publicity and Media report – John.
Karimeh will investigate the Council’s legal position regarding trips and
falls resulting from the long grass.
10. Grave Maintenance scheme – Paul.
The quarterly tidy up will take place on Saturday.
Work on repairing and levelling the grave sets in D1 is now complete.
Colin suggested we take up Father Peter Wilkinson’s offer of help by
asking for contributions towards laying stone chippings on the 24 graves.
He reckons on a cost of about £18 per grave. Peter will write a request
with photos.
11. Special Projects
11.1.
WW1 HLF Project – Steve and Jill.
Jill hasn’t heard from Steve. Helen has put in some sort of bid for
match funding, and Steve was getting the required extra quotes.
Tony will email Steve to enquire about progress.
Peter
Tony
11.2.
Heritage Open Day 2015 – Tony.
Tony’s booklet is nearly ready for proof reading by Kath and Peter.
We need a better sound system for both this walk and the November
remembrance services. Diane D said it would cost about £200 and
Diane D
she will email details to Jill so it can be added to the bid.
12. AOB.
12.1.
Whitehall in Bloom.
We have entered. Judging will be on July 19, presentations on
September 3.
Karimeh asked for help with school children planting the lower part
of Whitehall Park. DD will circulate schools.
12.2.
Replacement Lawn Mower: We approved expenditure on a
new mower for the Ashes Garden. Colin offered to contact Darwen
Colin
Lawn Mowers about a cordless electric mower, following the
Peter
successful demonstration of what Peter’s mower could do.
Alternatively, go to B&Q, where Peter got his.
12.3.
We’ve received a request to put forward a champion
volunteer for an article celebrating “Your call”. We agreed with Mick
that we work as a team and we don’t have individual “champions”.
Tony offered to write to John (and Mick) stating our position.
Tony
12.4.
Enquiries about burials
As Tony understands it, the Cemetery Office now charges for
searching for information on graves, the amount depending on how
specific the enquirer is about name and date. People are
recommended to start their search on www.deceasedonline.com
where date of burial can be had for free and there is a small charge
for plot number. There will still be no charge for physically marking
the plot. Tony is awaiting confirmation from Nicola that this is
correct. Paul will then be asked to put this information on the web
site.
12.5.
Honorary Membership for Rosemary
After further discussion, it was agreed that the plaudit of Honorary
Membership for Rosemary voted on at the AGM would stand and no
further action was needed.
12.6.
Martin Eden has replaced Sayeed
12.7.
Tony was annoyed that the Payback people strimming the
long grass in the Cemetery had also cut Japanese Knotweed and
there was a pile of poles near the main entrance that contained
stems of knotweed. He intends to write to the Chief Executive at
Tony
BwD asking about Council policy and their legal responsibilities. What
is the point of all our hard work if people strim and spread knotweed
all over the Cemetery?
Date and Time of Next Meeting – Wednesday 29 July 2015 at 6pm
JUNE 2015 WORKING PARTIES
Saturday 30th May (Not reported at May Meeting)
11 Volunteers
31.5 Hours
The Ashes Garden outer beds were weeded and generally tidied. Central grassed areas were cut.
Diane spent the morning, off site, working on the display boards
Section D1
The chocolate faiance kerb set was re-levelled and set
The salt glazed, rope edged, tile set by the path was reset
The grave space in front of the large cross, which had been excavated to allow work on the kerbs,
was refilled and levelled.
The sunken salt glazed tile edgings on plot 1092B were excavated in preparation for resetting after
levelling and consolidating the plot area.
The grave plot containing the square, light granite, faiance grave vase was levelled and the vase
reset.
All loose rhodi remains and other surface material was raked together and bagged for later removal.
Some levelling and re-profiling was carried out at the Eastern end of the section.
----------------------------------------Saturday 13th June
12 Volunteers
35 Hours
Continue ground cover planting on Prickly Corner.
The preparation of the display boards was completed.
The base of the canopy of the large conifer on the North edge of Section C was raised to clear
adjacent monuments.
Regenerating bramble and large numbers of birch saplings were removed from the cleared area of
Section C. A small number of strategically placed silver birch saplings were retained, along with a
small rowan. Several healthy birch and rowan saplings were removed to temporary storage for later
replanting on the western end of the original Old / New Cemetery boundary between Sections D &
5. Waste material was bagged for later removal.
Two craters remaining from the earlier removal of rhodi stumps from Section C were filled and
levelled using soil from the old workshop area opposite Prickly Corner.
Section D1
Raise and reset a further sandstone kerb set.
Cement restored salt glazed grave ornament into position
Complete the filling of all bordered grave spaces with wood chippings from Section J.
.Thursday Group
( Including 28th May. )
4 Sessions averaging 10 Volunteers
Totalling 126 Hours
General weeding, tidying and further planting of formal “garden” areas continued throughout the
period
The central wildflower beds in the Nature Garden were prepared and over-seeded.
Several grates and gutters were cleared after extensive silt deposition resulting from material
eroded during recent heavy rains and high surface water flows, including two long term blocked and
inactive beside section J.
A new stone edging has been installed between the recently laid tarmac path and the large planter
in the Nature Garden
Encroaching shrubs on Sections 5, 6 & A were cut back.
Mow turfed areas in Ashes Garden, Nature Garden and approach and a path to the “Lone soldier”
Farley headstone on Section 5.
This mowing was carried out with the help of Peter’s battery powered lawn mower as a trial, this
was very encouraging and we believe this option is worth further investigation.
The Ashton Memorial has been weeded and generally tidied.
Section D1
Work has continued on several grave plots and re-profiling and levelling of the general ground
surface throughout the section has now been completed
It has been necessary to relocate a, quite large, holly tree which “Appeared” at the foot of a grave on
the section ----In a totally inappropriate position. This tree has been replanted within the line of the
boundary hedge, as close as possible to its previous position.
A number of ferns have been planted in open areas, with no surface structures, at the Western end
of the Section. This area will be monitored throughout the summer to assess the effects on ground
cover and access to individual graves.
-------------------------------------------Other Activities
The large, dead beech tree at the Northern end of the bridle path was finally felled on Monday June
10th (after shedding a further large limb). Sporadic activity, both by the council tree team ( and we
suspect by other persons /groups ) since felling has removed a small portion of the fallen timber, but
most of the main trunk and other debris is currently still lying where it fell. Considerable damage has
also been sustained by adjacent trees and shrubs.