On this page you will find a summary of updates and information notices.
Browse around the site, we cover safety in cemeteries, a picture gallery, a list of our members and news items from various Friends groups. Our Events and Walks page is a popular feature.
Look out for Open Days when our members organise walks, displays etcMembers can normally book a space for a display or table and are advised to contact the hosting group as early as possible to make arrangements.
Date of last update 26th January 2010
Funerary Monuments Group It was decided at a meeting held on 19th January 2010 that the Graves at Risk Register has similarities with assessing graves for a need of repair and/or listing with English Heritage. The application form will be revised to serve a dual function.
New Years Honours 2010 We congratulate Dr Henry Will of the Ford Park Cemetery Trust on being awarded the MBE in the New Year's Honours.
Ford Park Cemetery [Plymouth] the original burial area has been upgraded to Grade II* by English Heritage in its Register of Parks and Gardens
Southampton Old Cemetery has been upgraded to Grade II*by English Heritage in its Register of Parks and Gardens
Southampton Old Cemetery has been upgraded to Grade II*by English Heritage in its Register of Parks and Gardens
Arthur Beresford Pite a new page about a campaign to restore the grave
Ilkeston News of a HLF grant [see News Items from Members sub page Ilkeston
Brunel grave restoration appeal Please support the Friends of Kensal Green Appeal to restore the grave of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, please see News Items from Members page
Knotweed
In July 2009 it was announced that a beetle native to Japan may be introduced to the UK in an attempt to control knotweed [see our Knotweed page on this site].
Richard Smith MBE
It is with regret we report the death of Richard Smith, one of the most notable figures in the cemetery friends movement.
As founder and chairman of the campaign group which became the Friends of Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bristol,he steered the group through 20 years of struggle to prevent this privately owned cemetery being developed commercially. Eventually the cemetery was compulsorily purchased by Bristol Council and a charitable trust was established of which Richard was chairman. He had been supervising the restoration project following the £4 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund until illness recently forced him to retire from the chairmanship.
Arnos Vale Friends, represented by Richard and his wife Joyce, were one of the founding members of the National Federation of Cemetery Friends and Richard gave considerable support in the early days and was NFCF's first treasurer until 2002.
His voluntary work was recognised in 2006 with the honour of an MBE.
Exhibition by Memorial Arts Charity please see the Events page
Memorial Safety frequently asked Q and A's
The Ministry of Justice has produced guidance to cemetery visitors and cemetery managers see the Safety in Cemeteries page on this website
New publication by the National Federation of Cemetery Friends A revised and enlarged edition of Saving Cemeteries is now available. This book is designed to help:
• If you have a cemetery in your area that is under threat or may become so but are not sure what to do
• If you want to set up a cemetery friends group and need a list of procedures
• If your group is looking to develop with activities and fundraising
The book contains guidance on all the aspects of setting up a Friends Group (indeed, it would be of value to non-cemetery related groups too) as well as case studies, and is generously illustrated.
Saving Cemeteries – a Handbook for Cemetery Friends. 112 pp.
ISBN 978-0-9529780-1-5
Price: £5.00 + £1 p&p (£3.00 + £1 p&p to members)
Copies of the book are available from the NFCF secretary Gwyneth Stokes please make cheque payable to NFCF and send to NFCF 42 Chestnut Grove, South Croydon CR2 7LH
The 2010 Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowships: Applications are are now open for UK citizens to travel overseas to undertake study projects. The ten categories include Environment and Conservation. See website www.wcmt.org.uk Cemetery friends will welcome the publication of the much needed guidance to local authorities on the safety of burial ground monuments which discourages staking, the laying down of memorial stones and the use of mechanical test instruments.
Justice Minister Bridget Prentice in announcing this report commented that too many burial ground operators were taking these actions when there was no serious risk to the public. The new guidance makes it clear this should only be done as a last resort.
The full report – ‘Managing the safety of burial ground memorials’ – can be seen on the Ministry of Justice website at
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/safety-burial-grounds.htm or the booklet obtained from Brian.Webb@justice.gsi.gov.uk
The NFCF is supporting the Victorian Society in initiating an England and Wales survey of cemetery chapels at risk. They want to know how many are boarded up or derelict and also hear of well maintained chapels and any converted to another use. The form for submitting information is available from the Victorian Society at their website: www.victorian-society.org.uk
Paradise Preserved a publication by English Heritage to obtain a pdf download of the publication click hereMinutes of the Funerary Monuments Group for a meeting held on 20th January 2009 are published on the FMG page.
New publication by Friends of Southampton Old Cemetery A booklet prepared with the assistance of Professor James Stevens Curl on the work and life of John Claudius Loudon is available at £4 inc postage. Send cheque to Friends of Southampton Old Cemetery, 31 Lilac Road, Southampton SO16 3DA. Loudon produced authorative work on the design and layout of cemeteries and assisted in the design of Bath Abbey and Histon Road, Cambridge.
New publication "The Victorian Cemetery" Several member groups were in contact with Dr Sarah Rutherford earlier in the year when she was gathering research material for a new Shire Book. The book, published November 2008, is retailed at £5-99 but for a limited period on offer from Amazon at the special price of £4-79, post free if total order exceeds £5. Click here for details.Whether it's helping local clubs get hold of new kit, coaching new volunteers or simply giving a community space a fresh lick of paint, Grassroots Grants aim to make a real and immediate difference to the work of any small and local community groups with annual incomes below £20,000. The programme, funded by the Office of The Third Sector in the Cabinet Office and administered by the Community Development Foundation, offers grants of between £250 and £5,000 to support activities that lie right at the heart of our local communities.
To keep the process as simple and easy as possible for applicants, the money is being distributed directly through local funders.
Local, regional and national businesses are also invited to get involved through investing in the scheme's innovative endowment match challenge; the first of its kind in England.
Within the programme, the Government has set aside a £50million pot from which it will match endowment investments from businesses. This offers businesses the chance to contribute directly to supporting and sustaining the communities in which they operate.
Contact for further information:
Lesley Chambers
Head of Grassroots Grants
Lesley.Chambers@cdf.org.uk
Cemetery under threat if the Heathrow Runway is built
Cherry Lane Cemetery, London Borough of Hillingdon. In the maps provided by BAA, the proposed dual carriageway road to support the expansion will be put straight through the cemetery. The cemetery has 37 "war graves" under the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. A petition to the Prime Minister opposing any interference with cemetery has been posted on the internet. To register your opposition http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/CherryLaneA new page has been added Interesting Graves and members can add a photo and biographical detail of a grave from their cemetery and hopefully this will bring a variety of feature graves from all parts of the UK. There are a few entries to start the ball rolling....
Members can assist in cancer research by supplying yew cuttings to specialist contractors [see our page on yew trees]
Glossary a new page on terms used in cemetery and burial circles is being introduced
The website has been selected by the British Library for the UK Website Archive
Members of the NFCF are requested to submit news items, details of events and images suitable for use on the site.
To contact John G. Avery web master click the picture
Grateful thanks to kingofcoleslaw@morguefile.com for the use of the header picture [Highgate Cemetery] on this site
The browser recommended for the best [and safest way] view of the site is Mozilla Firefox v 9.2 but the site has also been tested on Internet Explorer 7, Netscape Navigator 9 and Opera Classic 9 SeaMonkey and Foxit browsers.
National Federation of Cemetery Friends respect the privacy of persons contacting us and will pass on at your request your contact details to a member group or organisation but we do not supply these details to third parties. E-mail addresses
are not displayed on screen but are available as Send to links. In a few cases contact to a local group is via the Secretary of the Federation.
The website has been selected by the British Library for the UK Website Archive
Members of the NFCF are requested to submit news items, details of events and images suitable for use on the site.
To contact John G. Avery web master click the picture
Grateful thanks to kingofcoleslaw@morguefile.com for the use of the header picture [Highgate Cemetery] on this site
The browser recommended for the best [and safest way] view of the site is Mozilla Firefox v 9.2 but the site has also been tested on Internet Explorer 7, Netscape Navigator 9 and Opera Classic 9 SeaMonkey and Foxit browsers.
National Federation of Cemetery Friends respect the privacy of persons contacting us and will pass on at your request your contact details to a member group or organisation but we do not supply these details to third parties. E-mail addresses
are not displayed on screen but are available as Send to links. In a few cases contact to a local group is via the Secretary of the Federation.
Some of the sites linked to this site may appear in a PDF format and are best viewed by Adobe Reader: for a free download click the logo 