179 replies to this topic

[Kneeshin]

HERITAGE WEEKEND

The Heritage Weekend Cemetery tours was a great two day event we had 178 visitors plus those who followed on behind, making the total over 200. A big Thank you to all who attended.

CHRISTMAS WREATH MAKING

Our next event is on Sunday the 4th of December In assoiation with St Helens Rangers we will be showing you how to make your Christmas wreaths, Willow will be provided all you need to bring are some decorations to finish them off, The children will enjoy this one

REMEMBER YOUR LOVED ONES THIS CHRISTMAS

On Sunday the 10th of December. This will be a special event as it is the first one ever held in our cemetery. TREE of REMEMBERANCE SERVICE. please attend at 10.30Hrs for 11.00Hrs in the Crematorium Chapel followed by a rememberance ceremomy
A tree will be placed in the Book of rememberance building where you can hang a personalized leaf in memory of your loved ones Suggested minimum donation for each leaf £2.00

2012 EVENTS WILL BE POSTED LATER

[Phyll]

Kneeshin, You do a great job and even though I can't be there, I will be with you in Spirit.

[Kneeshin]

We to have applied for funding from Natwest www.natwest.com/communityforce so can you give us your vote so we can do more work at the Cemetery and bring more events for your enjoyment As you know we have only been going for 12 month and I think we have done some good work up to now, THANK YOU

[SKYMAN]

please forgive me i dont wish to offend ,but the cemetery for me means funerals.and the idea of events taking place there to bring me enjoyment i find hard to understand..maybe you could enlighten me what i am missing,

[Kneeshin]

Hello Skyman
Yes, the cemetery is for funerals but it is also a place of Respect and rememberance
As to whether i can enlighten you I can only say how we volunteers feel about helping to do somthing for those poor, poor people who couldnt pay for graves and who worked very hard in very hard times and also helped to build our town
Since last September 2010 we have organized 18 cemetery walks and 4 slide shows for local clubs we had more than 500 people on the walks and they learned about the history of the Cemetery and the lives and times of some of the residents and yes some very very sad tales but some humorous and some very interesting of people who worked and lived in our town in the 1800s
99.5% of those who came on the tours enjoyed them some were amazed at all the stories of our towns people
The Wreath making workshop on the 4th/Dec demonstrated by the rangers and the cemetery volunteers will be a a family affair the and they can choose to put them on their loved ones graves or to take home
2012 the rangers will be showing local children how to make bird Nest Boxes,their personalized boxes can then can be placed in the grounds of the Cemetery or taken home and hopefuly in spring /summer when they visit loved ones they can watch to see if the birds are nesting in their box
we hope to give the children the understanding that our cemetery is a beautiful place for their lost loved ones to lie in peace and a place to sit and talk and rememerber them
The Tree of Rememberance A service will be held in the chapel followed by a Rememberance ceromony

Work that has been done up to date 10 mommorial Stones donated to the Paupers/Public Graves, A lot of people did not know that the grassed over plots are the burial places of over 50,000 people and that Section 15 has 12,252 Children buried there with not a stone or marker to remember them So we have started to raise funds to put on a special monument on this one section
I think you will agree that our events to raise money for these projects are good and in no way disrespectfull to any of our residents
All our Events will be of a respectable nature
If you would like to learn more about what we do then why not join use on one of our Bimonthly meeting in the Chapel

[BarbaraM]

I have quite a few people related to me in the past and not so past at the Cemetery..those i knew personaly would not be offended by the good work you do, nor i dare say would a lot of others there...and for the children..well, who wouldnt? xxx keep up the good work xx

[Olliebeak]

I've got some ancestors buried in 'public graves' and I'm delighted that work is now being done to give those areas a well-deserved memorial - to you and your colleagues, Kneeshin.

Also, my mum was quite appalled at the disturbance of the old graves from the St.Mary's Cemetery (Church Street) in the early 70's to make way for the Shopping Centre. It was good when you pointed out to us that there is now a memorial to all those people who were re-interred together in the Borough Cemetery - it's gone some way to letting mum know that they were treated with dignity and respect when they were finally laid to rest again.

I also like the idea of bringing our present generation of children to look on the Cemetery as a place to be cherished and to encourage the wildlife that lives in there. Those children will feel a connection for the rest of their lives and will always respect the place.

Honestly, Skyman, it's not about treating the Cemetery with disrespect - it's about caring for it, educating future generations and acknowledging the lives of those who couldn't afford the basic dignity of their own personal final resting place.


Keep up the good work, Kneeshin - I wish I lived closer and was able to get there for your meetings and events.

Edited by Olliebeak, 03 October 2011 - 11:02 PM.

[Kneeshin]

Ollie I have spoke to the people at the Parish Church and we may be getting a new monument in place of the old one but it may be a few months before we finish the talking and get the job done P.S. have you voted for us THANKS

[Kneeshin]

GOOD NEWS another Stone as been placed this one is on section 17
we now have stones on Section 17 19 20 34 and 45 each one has a vase so you can now put your flowers on any of these sections Five more to go then the one for Section 15 JOB done what next?
I am going to start research the Mines for the Jan/1912 tour so i will be of line from to-night for about two week or so
Hope that you do not miss me to much Ha Ha
We still need your help so do not forget to vote for us www.natwest.com/communityforce Thank You

[Alan]

All power to your elbow Kneeshin. That cemetery is getting the respect and attention it and the interred souls there deserve.

Well done and thanks

[SKYMAN]

KNEESHIN and co get my full support for what they are doing ,now that it has been explained what it is all about,
i didnt have a clue before,, there is one point that i was concerned about ,it was quite afew months ago
maybe abit longer,there was a purge on unsafe head stones,i admit some where leaning abit,but on several occaisions i
saw a faily large man pushing the stones, by the time he had so called tested them they were unsafe, one way of creating work,my family ended up having to fork out a few bob, another thing i dont agree with is about eight spaces being used for one grave,even though they have been paid for,,?

[Olliebeak]

I've voted now, Kneeshin - had trouble accessing the voting part of that site at first. Tried, tried and tried again but finally got there .

SKYMAN - I've no idea what that was about with graves, where a few bodies were buried, without permission, in a plot that 'had been paid for' by a deedholder. I know that it hasn't happened in any of my family burials.

But, there have been instances where a person has been buried in a grave that doesn't appear to have any links to the family. Then on further investigation, they've turned out to have been buried in an 'in-law family's grave' - things like that could have only happened with consent of the deedsholder.

I've also found a sticker on a family gravestone - on phoning the number, I was told it needed re-securing/strengthening at a cost of around £65 - probably a darn sight more now. I just don't have that kind of cash going spare. Maybe one final present for my grandparents when I take my retirement payout next year ................

Edited by Olliebeak, 06 October 2011 - 06:39 PM.

[Carr Millite]

I've voted too.

Ollie, I wouldn't worry about the gravestone. The one behind my Dad has been lying flat all year. What do they do if there are no living relatives, just bear the cost themselves or leave it down or remove it all together. I have noticed the odd one missing.

[bridger]

I think they must go around and check if there are any flowers on the graves, put a sticker on them and they're onto a winner.

Funny how you never see any stickers on the older grave stones

[antonio111]

SKYMAN, on 06 October 2011 - 05:49 PM, said:

another thing i dont agree with is about eight spaces being used for one grave,even though they have been paid for,,?

Don't forget they are buried on top of one another, in years gone by they just used to prod the grave with a sharp stick to see iof there was enough clearance for a burial, now they stick rigidly to the number of interments paid for with I think four as a max.Even using an old grave you still have to pay to have it opened. If they had gone down the route you suggest lots more space still free would have been wasted and lots more money buying additional gravestones.

bridger, on 07 October 2011 - 11:14 PM, said:

I think they must go around and check if there are any flowers on the graves, put a sticker on them and they're onto a winner.

Funny how you never see any stickers on the older grave stones

When this safety checking started a few years ago there were literally dozens of old sandstone stones in the older part of the cemetery with wooden posts and notices attached to them including my gt grandparents, stone erected in 1902! I have posted about this before but think iot is appropriate to revisit. I often wondered why they had such a big stone when they had little money.

I discovered from the online records that they had a firstborn child the year after they were married and she died 6 hours old and was buried in a pauper's grave. I suspect when a second child died they felt by buyiong a big stone would perhaps ease their guilt that the first child's grave was unmarked.

Each Christmas I put a wreath on this grave remembering all the ones whose burial place I do not know and think the stones erected by the 'Friends' gives other people a focal point.

Gone but not forgotten sums it up!

Up till a few years ago when a new inscription went on a headstone following a burial the stone was removed to a monumental mason's, usually the one who had supplied the stone in the first place. in my opinion it was because this happened that the stone was not fixed as firmly as it might have been in the first place