Thursday 18 June 2009

Team: Dorothy, Harry, Carolyn, Peter

Weather: threatening rain

What we did:

• Dorothy, Harry & Carolyn planted more plants in the beds at the back of church. The plants were supplied by Manchester City Council as part of the Blackley in Bloom entry for Manchester in Bloom.
• Dorothy also spent time collecting litter and doing general tidying.
• Peter cleared the gutters around the vestry area of church.
  

Thursday 11 June 2009

Team: Dorothy and Harry

Today Dorothy and Harry cleared litter and debris from the car park and dead-headed the flowers from the beds.

Thursday 4 June 2009

Team: Peter, Carolyn, Dorothy, Harry, plus a team of 7 from the Unpaid Work Unit

• Strimming of weeds
• Weeding
• Clearing litter and debris
  
• UWU cleared more of the area at the top of the wall around the car park, creating a further bed area for more plants.
  

Wednesday 27 May 2009

Team: Dorothy, Harry, Peter, Carolyn, plus a group of 6 from the Unpaid Work Unit (Probation Service) and Mike from Manchester City Council who delivered the plants

Weather: Rain at first but then dried up, although still cloudy and not very warm

What we did: Working in the area around the car park at the back of church, the guys from the UWU cleared the weeds and dug over the areas at the top of the walls. We then planted the new plants (over 300) in all four beds.

One of the guys from the UWU was also strimming the weeds around the graves in the lower part of section C where we have recently been working.

The whole area looks really good now and will look even better when the flowers have had chance to establish and bloom.

There are some photographs here: 

Tuesday 26 May 2009

Team: Peter and Carolyn

Weather: cloudy and dull but dry

What we did:

Preparation of the two flower beds behind church. Both needed weeding and the daffodil leaves cutting down so that the planting could be done on Wednesday.

Before:

After:

Thursday 23 April 2009

More work on uncovering gravestones in section C:

Thursday 16 April 2009

Team: Peter and Carolyn

Weather: overcast & windy

• Uncovered another grave next to the ones we did last week. This one had fly-tipped rubbish on as well as the soil - lots of broken glass, glass bottles & broken light bulbs. It is now mostly clear although will need some more work. The name on this is ROSE HAYTON and the stone was given by Rose's colleagues at the Co-op tobacco factory. There are no dates or family information on the stone so we are hoping that we might uncover another stone or some writing on the kerbs to give us more information about this grave and the person who was buried in it.
• Carolyn also scattered some poppy & cornflower seeds on one of the war graves.

Here is a photograph of the stone given by the colleagues at the tobacco factory:

Thursday 9 April 2009

Team: Dorothy, Harry, Peter, Carolyn

Weather: Dull, ground wet from overnight rain

• Uncovered two gravestones and kerbs which were completely covered by about 10"-12" of soil. Before we started there was no evidence of the graves. The names on these are ANDERSON and MIDGELOW.
  
• Carolyn dug over the soil around one of the Commonwealth War Graves in preparation for sowing the poppy & cornflower seeds.
• Peter met up with a member of the public who is interested in finding an ancestor's grave. The grave is situated in section P - number 29 but as yet, it is not found.
  

Thursday 2 April 2009

Team: Dorothy, Harry, Carolyn, Peter

• Dorothy cleared fallen leaves, rubbish and other debris
• Peter and Harry cleared soil from some more flat graves in section C
• Carolyn visited all of the 17 Commonwealth War Graves to check on their access and current state. All are accessible, however the ground around some does need weeding/tidying and there are two stones which are still waiting to be replaced.
  

Thursday 26 March 2009

Team: Peter, Dorothy, Harry

Today we cleared leaves, rubbish, branches and other debris before having to retire due to the rain.

Thursday 19 February 2009

Thursday 19 February 2009
Weather: dry and not too cold
Team: Dorothy, Harry, Peter, Carolyn

We spent today clearing more flat gravestones in section C. Three more were fully uncovered whilst some others were swept clean. Each time we work we seem to find more benign looking pieces of grass which actually have a very large flat gravestone beneath 5 or 6 inches of soil.

Saturday 14 February 2009

Today we put up bird and bat boxes in the upper churchyard. These boxes were made by Jerry from The Friends of Blackley Forest and were paid for using part of a CASH grant from Manchester City Council. Jerry, Mike and Denise (from FOBF) brought the boxes - Jerry advised on where to put them and Carolyn's husband Robert bravely climbed the ladder to nail the boxes to the trees, ably assisted by Peter and Jack who were steadying and carrying the ladders. Thanks to everyone who helped with this.

Thursday 12 February 2009

Team: Harry, Dorothy, Peter, Carolyn
Weather: very cold - ground frozen
What we did:

• Peter and Harry brushed the recently cleared flat graves clear.
• Dorothy cleared litter, leaves and soil from the car park and surrounding area
• Carolyn recorded details from the gravestones in section C. There are now 419 records on the database.
  

Thursday 29 January 2009

Weather: damp and overcast but not too cold
Team: Peter, Carolyn, Harry, Dorothy

Today we cleared another four flat gravestones in section C. There are about another five or six left to uncover. Each time we clear one, we need to wait at least a further week (depending on the weather) to then brush it clean. The weather has been so wet that the soil we remove is also very wet and really heavy making it impossible to brush off.

Thursday 15 January 2009

Weather: cold and damp

Team: Dorothy, Peter and Carolyn

What we did:

• Dorothy cleared old, dead plants from the beds around the back of church and then planted lots of bulbs
• Carolyn and Peter cleared more flat graves and identified the remainder which are still to be completed in section C. We think that there are at least a further 10 flat gravestones to be cleared of the soil, leaves and other debris.
• We also planted lots more bulbs in between the graves

Thursday 8 January 2009

Weather: cold and damp

Team: Carolyn and Peter

What we did:

• Cleared more flat gravestones in section C

before

after