Saw many butterflies at the cemetery on Thursday and started thinking what they do in a drought which led me down a rabbit hole of how butterflies keep hydrated! 🦋

Well done #England! 👏 For me that was the most enjoyable match of the #WorldCup. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

As all Friends group know cotoneaster is another bush that thrives if not kept in check. We are trying to tackle some of the larger cotoneasters which are damaging headstones & kerbs. Danielle, Pete & Steph certainly had their work cut out on this grave. Pete excavated the entire root ball!

Another of our volunteers, Pete, also took on an Ivy challenge at the main vehicular access to the cemetery. The ivy was getting behind and starting to cover our information board. If the ivy was left unchecked it would damage the brickwork and also the roots were preventing the gate opening fully.

Our volunteer, Li, took this ivy clad headstone on. It was also home to a small colony of ants near the top of the cross. The first time he'd come across a high-rise ant nest! The inscription reads: - ICI REPOSE MARIE AUGUSTINE RICHON WHO DIED JUNE 2nd 1904, AGED 43. PRAY FOR HER. R. I. P.

🍃☔🍃☔🍃☔🍃☔🍃 Due to the issued yellow weather alert today's guided walk by Friends of Ocklynge Cemetery at 2.30pm is cancelled. We hope to reschedule and will post a new date as soon as we can. 🍃☔🍃☔🍃☔🍃☔🍃

National Cemeteries Week: World War ll at West Norwood Cemetery. Saturday, June 6 10:30 AM - 12 PM See below for details www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/national-c...

National Cemeteries Week: World War II at West Norwood Cemetery

Guided walk through one of London's Magnificent Seven with guides from the Friends of West Norwood Cemetery (£10 donation)

eventbrite.co.uk

Love your Burial Ground Week with Churches Count on Nature is nearly here! As well as partners Church of England Church in Wales & A Rocha UK we are thrilled to share 6-14 June with National Cemeteries Week & Climate Coalition's Great Big Green Week #CFGA #loveyourburialground #ChurchesCountOnNature

Come and join us on a guided tour of Lister Lane Cemetery during our Open Day on Sunday 14th June 2026. This event is being held as part of the NFCF National Cemeteries Week, which runs from 6th to 14th June 2026. www.cemeteryfriends.com/ncw

West Norwood Cemetery Open Day Sunday June 14, 10am-1pm Be inspired by our very special cemetery!

Delighted that a Langney Cemetery Friend's group has been set up. It was opened in 1882 at the opposite end of Eastbourne to us & is still used for burials. The crematorium on the same site was opened in 1960. Here is a link to the Facebook group. www.facebook.com/groups/frien...

Our next fundraising event is on Saturday, the 16th of May at 2.30pm at The Lamb Inn, Eastbourne. A talk on graves by our Chair, Kevin, who has travelled across the country photographing interesting graves from the grand to the diminutive! Tickets £5.00. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/talk-on-no...

Talk on Notable Graves.

Kevin Gordon will give a talk on Notable Graves.

eventbrite.co.uk

We are creating virtual cemeteries within FindAGrave to make it easier to look for groups, eg. Drs & surgeons, builders, shopkeepers, arts & crafts, etc. One set up already is for the civilian war dead from the town. This is the story of two of the victims caught in a bombing raid. (1)

A very fruitful work party yesterday when we tackled some 4-star plots in that they were covered in brambles, ivy, holly & cotoneaster! Still more to do next week as sadly the cotoneaster & bramble roots are extensive & the holly bush was more of a tree with a very thick trunk!

A few more graves saw the light of day on Friday as another of our volunteers removed a couple of spreading cotoneasters.

One of our volunteers gave this tree a good ‘short back and sides.’ This is the second of five of this species of tree in the middle sections of the cemetery that has been cut back now to relieve the pressure on the headstones and crosses smothered by the lower branches.

Another deeply covered headstone was found this week. A very large root traversed the stone & sadly lettering has been lost but is just about decipherable. William (1810-1879) & his second wife Elizabeth (1805-1977) Lawrence. William was a Commissioned Boatman in the Coast Guard Service.

Volunteers from FoOC attended the Anzac Day Remembrance Service at the cemetery yesterday organised by the Royal British Legion. Our Chair, Kevin Gordon, laid a wreath on behalf of FoOC & gave a tour of the Commonwealth War Graves of the Australian & New Zealanders soldiers buried here.

1/3 Not the Dawn Chorus Bird Walk with Sean Ashton Sunday 10th May 2026 7.00am-9.30am For those of you who are not up with the lark at 4am, please come along to join Friends of Wardsend Cemetery on a bird walk at the cemetery on Sunday 10th May with the leisurely start time of 7am!

"I grew up in graveyards. The dead were my quiet companions. Not silent, though." Radio 4's Book of the Week adaptation of 'A Tomb With A View' is now available in full on BBC Sounds. It features abridged versions of five chapters. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

A Tomb with a View by Peter Ross (Omnibus) - BBC Sounds

Peter Ross uncovers the stories behind the headstones in graveyards across the UK.

bbc.co.uk

I met Catharine & Ian who were visiting from Canada at the cemetery. They were tidying the plot of Ian's Great-grandfather and I'm so glad I stopped and heard all about him. Danielle had added Charles to FindAGrave last year with his interesting life story. 😊 tinyurl.com/yc4b6p9f

Check out our Free Websites page for #FamilyHistory, including One-Place Studies. www.exploreyourgenealogy.co.uk/free-websites

We were asked by the Great-granddaughter of Kitty Carter if we could tidy her grave. Her husband, Nelson, is remembered on her headstone having died in France in 1916 & he is buried at Laventie Military Cemetery.

Two of our volunteers have finally conquered the roots of bushes on the Chater grave. This plot has had extensive tidying over the past two years but this time even the teeny weeny roots were sifted out! 👏

My personal project at the cemetery is researching all the unmarked graves for babies & children. We are fortunate in that we have transcripts of the burial registers We have 4 sections at the moment where these plots are. Once researched I record them on FindAGrave so they are remembered. (1)

Remembering Sam, son of Harry and Irene Wadsworth of Southowram Bank, Halifax. Drummer in the 4th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment. Sam died at Shelf Sanatorium on 7th March 1918, aged 18 years. Image from April 2025.

A name that caught my attention whilst at the cemetery was that of John Evelyn Trollope (1856-1929). I started researching his life in the hope he was related to the authors, Anthony & Joanna. See our FB group to see if he was.... 🙂 www.facebook.com/groups/41603...

We shall be looking out for these in the cemetery once the rain stops! 🦋