Friends of
Mill Road Cemetery
AUTUMN NEWSLETTER
Welcome to the Autumn 2011 newsletter of the Friends of Mill Road Cemetery! In this issue,
we pay tribute to a dear friend of the Mill Road community, explore some of the colourful
lichens that adorn the cemetery, highlight the work of the History Group into military burials,
and report on Gordon Young’s progress in creating a work of art for the cemetery.
Suzy Oakes
Friends of Mill Road Cemetery join the rest of Mill Road in mourning the untimely death of
Suzy Oakes in July this year. Suzy was a community champion for Mill Road and a leading
figure in the creation of the hugely successful Mill Road Winter Fair.
She was also a very good friend to the
cemetery. She lived close to it and walked
through it often, loving the vistas through the
trees, listening to the birds, noticing all the
headstones. She served on the committee for
many years and was an inspirational member
of the History Group, setting up for us a
comprehensive database of the burials which
will be in constant use as we try to record the
location of the graves, their inscriptions, state
of repair, plant life and other details. The
photograph shows her as many of us love to
remember her, working between Sarah Tovell
of the City Council and Tricia Wright our
Treasurer on the day that the Ordnance
Survey came to map the graves.
With typical imagination and generosity Suzy set up before she died the Suzy Oakes Trust
which will give grants to various Mill Road organisations whose work she particularly
valued. She showed her care and concern for the cemetery by making it clear that a
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Mill Road Cemetery
contribution should be given to FOMRC to be spent on grave restoration. She will be
remembered with respect, love and gratitude.
Those of us able to be in Mill Road on the day of her funeral witnessed the love the road felt
for her:
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Final-farewell-an-amazing-testament-to-the-life-ofSuzy-Oakes-10082011.htm
Mill Road Winter Fair will pay its tribute to Suzy on Saturday December 3rd at 11am. For the
first time, Mill Road will be closed to traffic from East Road to Coleridge. We hope to
organise a Hand Holding and Shh for Suzy along the full length of the road. Please do come
and join in. For details, see:
www.millroadwinterfair.org
Amazing lichens…
Did you know that there are over thirty different species of lichens present in Mill Road
Cemetery? Some are on the trees, some on the walls and ground and some on the headstones
themselves.
Lichens are symbiotic
organisms, meaning they
are actually two
organisms living
together in a mutual
relationship; there is an
alga providing nutrients
for the fungus, which in
turns protects the alga
from drying out. They
can be extremely small
and some are quite large,
with colours ranging
through black, brown,
Xanthoria parietina Common orange lichen
green, orange, yellow
and grey. There has been
lots of work done on lichens over recent years, with the most comprehensive list being
produced by Dr Louise Bacon of the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Environmental
Records Centre (CPERC) in 2008. The Anglia Ruskin University Wildlife Society is
beginning to catalogue the lichens as part of their wildlife survey of the cemetery.
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Friends of
Mill Road Cemetery
Some lichens prefer certain types of substrate to adhere to more than others, such as basic or
acidic stones. This can help you identify the lichen you are looking at. If you want to identify
lichens the Field Studies Council produces some very good field guides to help you.
It is extremely important to keep an eye on what
lichens are present, especially in urban settings,
as this is an indicator of the environment,
particularly of air quality. Lichens also provide
habitats and food for various organisms in the
surrounding area such as the spider mite (below).
Verrucaria nigrescens Wart Lichen on white marble
So next time you are in the cemetery, bring
a magnifying glass or hand lens and have a
look at this wonderful world of lichens right
on your doorstep!
Tetranychus urticae Spider mite crawling amongst
various lichens including Lecanora albescens.
The Friends of Mill Road Cemetery are
very grateful to Keri Russell and her work
with the Anglia Ruskin University
Wildlife Society.
History Group investigates military burials and inscriptions
In preparation for the Act of Remembrance on November 11th with St Matthew’s and St
Paul’s School, some members of the History Group have started to compile a database of all
military graves, burials, or inscriptions in the cemetery. By burials we mean those where the
burial is within a family grave; by inscriptions we mean here those who are buried elsewhere
(eg. in France, or lost at sea) but commemorated on a headstone in Mill Road Cemetery (see
the pictures on the next page).
Not all the graves are of the familiar Commonwealth War Graves Commission style, and we
are intrigued to discover that the War Graves Photographic Project knows of men buried or
commemorated here who are not known to the Commonwealth Commission and vice versa.
While we have been searching for names in the Cambridge Family History Society records,
we have found yet more names known to neither of the above; an aim of this project will be
to complete the records of both organisations as far as we are able. We have some seventy
names at present, only six of which date from the Second World War. The ongoing work is to
find them all and chart their whereabouts. Eventually this research will inform the trail being
developed on the website.
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Friends of
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A headstone marking a family grave in Mill
Road Cemetery. The inscription commemorates
Reginald Clark, who fell during the First World
War and is actually buried in France. Although
the rectangle of white Portland stone with a
rounded top, adopted as standard by the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission, is
familiar to many, not all ‘military’ graves are in
this style. The History Group of the Friends of
Mill Road Cemetery is pooling information with
the Commonwealth Commission to help
complete the records of military graves, burials
and inscriptions.
ALSO REGINALD CLARK
KILLED IN FRANCE JUNE 7th 1918, AGE 2[1]
BURIED AT VARENNES,
PLOT III, ROW F, GRAVE 12
Website
Do keep an eye on the website; it is
growing all the time. Ian Bent has
recently added most interesting sections
on the Walls, Gates and Railings, and
on Sextons and their duties.
www.millroadcemetery.org.uk
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Friends of
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Plans for public artwork submitted to Steering Committee
You will remember that a work of Public Art has been commissioned by the City Council for
Mill Road Cemetery. The chosen artist, Gordon Young, submitted his final plans to the
Steering Group recently; he is planning seven separate pieces all to do with birds and
birdsong. These are not the ‘birdshead’ some of you may remember from a few months back,
but more resemble standing stones in different stone to echo that found in headstones
throughout the cemetery. Each will show a phonetic rendering of the relevant bird with
relevant poetic text.
Gordon (pictured left) explained his inspiration to
this newsletter: ‘The permanence of the place with its
stones and trees has this umbrella of sounds of
birdsong; an eloquence from nature which is
wonderfully located in the middle of the city. We
found three words repeatedly used by people we
asked to describe their feelings about this
background: firstly happy, secondly relaxed and
thirdly calm. These are certainly a trio of words
which I think worth turning into a celebration of
sculptures. The task of the right stones in the right
places for the right birds and text is the mission I am
now on.’
The next stage is for Gordon’s plans to pass scrutiny from the Diocese and Council. The
plans will then be on the Council’s website and on www.millroadcemetery.com and a
photographic exhibition will be held.
The Friends will have a stall at the Mill Road
end of the Avenue of Limes as part of the ever
popular Mill Road Winter Fair, which this year
is on Saturday December 3rd from 10.30 to
4.30pm. We will be giving information and selling Christmas cards again, and, this year,
have a new venture: a Hope Wish and Memory Line. Come and find out what it’s all about.
We will offer three free tours during the day at 11.30am, 1.00pm and 2.00pm. Just meet at the
stall beforehand.
If you have half an hour or so free to help man the stall please do email us on
friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com .
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