Updating the cemetery plan
Now that the site is becoming ever more cleared, new graves are emerging and Ray & Jean are working on a plan to mark them all on a master plan, it’s going to be quite a job, particularly as there are still so many headstones lying flat.
We now have the plan of the cemetery’s trees. So we now know where and what they are and which ones can be felled.
Community Champion Award
Congratulations must also go to Mark for being awarded a “Community Champions” certificate by Guy Opperman MP. Mark has done a fantastic amount of work, not only on the West Road Cemetery but also the Catholic Cemetery on Moor Road. He has spent hours clearing the leaves with a leaf blower, courtesy of Northumberland County Council.
3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
We are hopeful for the return of the troops from 3rd. Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, based at Albemarle Barracks who were able to handle the heavy jobs like wheel barrow pushing with ease.
Volunteers needed
Our working party numbers have been somewhat depleted recently and, whilst it is great that people keep turning up week after week, we certainly could do with more help. We welcome any support, even if it’s only a couple of hours. So please spread the word.
A big thanks to Len Franchetti for providing the tea and coffee during our work sessions.
Visiting other cemetery projects
We have made contact with a couple of churches who are undertaking similar projects to our own and we hope to be able to arrange visits to them in due course. We have already been to St. Ames Church in Benwell and seen the excellent job they are doing, so it will be interesting to see what these other projects are achieving.
The Land of Oak and Iron
We continue to work closely with the land of Oak and Iron Project. Our project was featured in the copy of their latest News Bulletin in the Love Northumberland awards!