Friends of Barkby Road Cemetery
Hello everybody. So where to start – at the beginning would help I suppose. Our wonderful Chapel and cemetery have been nominated for a green flag award. Sadly we can’t enter to the cemetery of the year because of a change in the Brahms regulations, something to do with the burials. For the green flag award we were interviewed on Tuesday 7th May, a meeting that lasted just shy of two hours. We will find out the outcome sometime over the summer.
One particular thing that bothered them was the fact that there were only three of us plus the groundsman. We did say that the community does help by watering, weeding etc especially around their loved ones graves. This, though, made us think. Would anybody like to join us? Here’s what is it is entailed:-
Dead flower and wreath trawling, in other words collecting dead flowers and dead wreaths, and taking them to the recycling bins – open and closing the Chapel / an open afternoon – watering the fresh flowers space – weeding the untended graves leaving flowering weeds for the insects.
Attending three, maybe four meetings a year with Syston Town Council. We now have a new Gate keeper, who unlocks and locks the cemetery gates, so we are not now needed for this.
This is all voluntary and the time is flexible, to suit yourself, in other words as much or as little time as you’d like to do. I myself can spend one to two hours a week especially if I’m doing the chapel displays. Some weeks I don’t even go. Some weeks I just sit there and listen and look at the clouds, listening to the birds, and watching the butterflies drift on by. If this is something you’d like to do and think you could help with, then please contact Catherine Voyce at Syston Town Council on 0116 260 7150 to see when the next meeting is.
Thank you to all of you who have already help behind-the-scenes. Don’t forget we now have designated ashes scattering areas. One of these areas is under the conker tree near the car park and here you could have a memorial plaque if you wish.
Roses are still needed along the runways to dedicate to your loved ones, there are some that are there now, which are dead and we really need to replace them.
The chapel, as always, is available to hire, contact Syston Town Council on 0116 260 7150 for further information please. There is a memorial book in situ now where you can ask the Syston Town Council to have an inscription placed. A calligrapher will do the inscription for you.
I hope you enjoyed and liked the D-Day display and a great big thank you to the Syston Royal British Legion and of course Syston Knitting Banksy for their help. Enjoy the rest of the summer.
Ros
