12 May 2023

I thought I would let everyone know what’s happening about us tidying the old closed part of the cemetery. I’ve had a meeting with Joe the Clean and Green Team leader about health/ safety/ biodiversity etc…..just been waiting for a few dry days as it’s a little boggy in places. I don’t suppose anyone has a bush cutter as we will need one for the brambles…..if not I’ll look into hiring one.

All the ivy/ long grass will be raked to the perimeter for the wild life along with any small branches for insects. No working will take place if it’s windy for reasons of safety as I’m sure you’re all aware there are lots of very old trees in there. Also we have to be careful working around the headstones in case they are unstable, we will have a quick check first and leave any that we think are unsafe for the council to sort.

Hopefully everything will go to plan and anyone wanting to find any past family will be able to do so, I’m hoping to be able to make some sort of plan I’m not sure how yet as the council are not very forthcoming and it’s costs £26 a time to find a plot…I’m hoping to maybe draw up a plan of the headstones that we can see and I’ll visit Durham to have a look at the records myself. My great grandfather is in there but where there are no headstones it’s difficult to work out where particular rows are.

Don’t suppose there’s anyone out there who is retired and would like to make a few bird/ owl/ bat boxes?

Anyone wanting to help/ volunteer I’ll let you know as soon as we have a date.

Thank you              

 18 May 2023                                                   

Just to let you know that we are going to be at the cemetery on Monday about 10am to start clearing the old closed part. Lisa Hodgson if you still have the bush cutter could we still use it, if it’s a problem can you let me know so that I can try and hire/ borrow one. I’ll be bringing my petrol strimmer too.

I’ve got 3 or 4 rakes for raking up all the cuttings or bring your own, the worst bits will be the brambles so I’ve got a few pairs of gloves if you haven’t got any. I’m at the parish hall over the weekend at the open days of the history society so feel free to pop in and ask about both the cemetery or family ancestry. If you can’t help maybe you could do a bit of litter picking as there’s quite a bit of rubbish thrown over the cemetery walls from the farmers fields. We have plenty of bags. The weather looks ok at the moment but if it’s windy we won’t be working. Obviously we must be vigilant when working anywhere near old headstones. I’ve been down to have a look at the work that’s to do and I won’t lie it’s daunting but little by little we will get there. Let’s bring a bit of dignity back to these past villagers/ family. I’ll be bringing my jam sandwiches and a bottle of water just like we did when going down the mill to plodge in the water when we were little .            

21 May 2023

Just a reminder that we will be at the cemetery tomorrow and Tuesday for a few hours if anyone wants to help, and then see what the weather is like at the weekend. I’m going to do a plan of any headstones that we come across.    

   23 May 2023                                                     

Another 2 days work in the cemetery yesterday and today, apologies for all the photos but just wondered if any of these headstones belonged to your family. We’ve managed or Stuart Fox has managed to make paths around a lot of newly found headstones, things are coming on well, slowly but surely. Where there are no headstones (although there are obviously graves) we have left to nature, ( see photos)

Still lots left to do but we will get there and we all agree it’s one of the best things we have ever done. Some of the names we have found……

Welsh, Hopper,Atkinson,Bolton,Case, Wilkinson, Welford, Kirby, Vart Sutton,Stainthorpe,Bell,Dixon,Anderson,Carrick, Dent, Raine, and Waistell.

Thanks again to my family, Brian Carter, and my partner Tony for all the hard work. Let’s keep it up.     

    1 June 2023                               

Just to let people know that we will be back down the cemetery on Saturday at 11 if anyone is bored and wants to help, we will be strimming / raking / general tidying, even if it’s just an hour that you have to spare it would be gratefully appreciated. Thank you.

P.S. if anyone thinks they have family in the old part let me know and I’ll keep an eye out for them. I’ll post some of the names we have found up to now on the next post.                                               

4 June 2023

Tomorrow evening we have someone putting up the bird/ bat boxes, in the cemetery where we are working ( thanks Maddie) we had a visit from Durham County Council on Saturday to see how we were getting on……all is going to plan. A big thanks to Ian Sowerby for making all the boxes for us and Brian Carter for turning up again, your help is greatly appreciated.                                                            

5 June 2023

Lovely night for putting the bird/ bat boxes up, another job out of the way. Thanks Maddie and Stuart Fox for holding the ladder.