Monday 15 September 2008

Today the churchyard team were presented with a plaque by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. This is in recognition of the work which has been done to improve the churchyard and make it accessible again so that relatives can visit the graves of their loved ones. The presentation of the plaque follows the confirmation earlier this year that our churchyard has been re-recognised by the CWGC.

The photograph shows (left to right) Steve Lomas (from CWGC), Keith, Eric, Carolyn, Harry, Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch (Bishop of Manchester), Sean, Dorothy, Peter

Thursday 11 September 2008

Weather: dry
Team: Michael, Peter, Carolyn

What we did:

• Michael continued with the strimming of weeds
• Peter and Carolyn cleared soil from flat graves
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  after:

Thursday 4 September 2008

Weather: cloudy, very light breeze, promise of rain
Team: Sean, Pete, Michael, Peter, Dorothy, Harry, Keith, Eric, Derek, Jean, Carolyn (11 people - wow!)

What we did:

• Planned "purge" day today - a big bonfire to burn the piles of brushwood which had accumulated (we haven't had a fire for a long time). Michael managed to get the fire going quite quickly and then everyone started adding to it as they arrived. We managed to get through a considerable amount of the wood before the rain started.
• Jean cleared weeds from section M, near to where we had the bonfire.
• Early in the day, Dorothy and Harry weeded, dead headed and tidied the flower borders at the rear of church.
• We cooked jacket spuds in the fire for lunch, together with barbecued tomatoes and baked beans heated in the fire. Food always tastes better when cooked outside! When the rain started (and it did pour down) we retired to church for tea, cakes and biscuits provided by Keith.
• Sean and Pete did a considerable amount of branch lopping from some of the larger trees which means that most of the piles of brushwood which were burnt have now been replaced!