Ford Park Cemetery Trust Newsletter 2017
New Year greetings from all at the Ford Park Cemetery Trust. EVENTS 2017 In April we held a Spring Fayre which was well attended with various stalls and bric-a-brac etc. The sum of £830 was raised and our thanks must go to the volunteers who organised the event and who helped out on the day. For the first time we held a Flower Festival in June organised by Maggie Heath one of our Trustees. The theme of the festival was Children’s Books. It proved to be an excellent event with some wonderful displays. We had approx. 170 visitors and £351 was raised from the event. Maggie is hoping to make this an annual event.
Some of our volunteers ran the Harewood House Coffee mornings for a week in June and raised £537. The cakes and confectionary made by our volunteers were well received by visitors to Harewood House. Maggie has started what appears to be a very successful Craft Club in the Northey Room on Wednesday’s between 10.00am. and 3.00pm.
HERITAGE We have now published our new Heritage Trail Booklet specifically designed to be wheelchair and buggy friendly. This supplements our two previous Heritage Trail booklets and contains some previously unpublished information. The new booklet can be purchased from the Visitors Centre and costs £2.50. Our heritage team were also involved on the Hoe with the magnificent Poppy Wave display at the Naval War Memorial.
EXHIBITIONS We had four very interesting and well attended exhibitions this year. They first of the year was the History of Medical Specialties which was prepared by students from Plymouth University Peninsular School of Medicine and Dentistry. This was followed by Crime and Punishment in Plymouth in the 19th & 20th Century which ran during Plymouth's History Festival. An exhibition celebrating Ford Park Cemetery Then and Now filled the visitor centre during the early Summer months. The final exhibition of the year proved very popular. It began at the end of August and was a nostalgic look back at Old Plymouth, and compared some of the old scenes to the way things look today. Each exhibition included a public walk through the cemetery telling stories of the lives of those connected with each exhibition. Our Heritage Team do a very professional job in putting these exhibitions together.
FUND RAISING UPDATES Jackie Bruce organised a very successful sponsored walk in April to raise money to get a section of roadway tarmaced from the Memorial Garden corner to Newcombes Corner. The sum of ÂŁ10,500 was raised and the tarmacing was completed later in April. The firm also patched a few other sections of the roads. Our thanks must go to all the walkers and to everyone else who donated towards this appeal.
Our bric-a-brac table in the office foyer continues to raise funds and has now exceeded ÂŁ4000. Our thanks must go to all those who donate items for sale and also to Sam who looks after the table. The Friends of Ford Park continue to raise funds for the Trust and over the past 6 months have donated funds to help with various work including the upgrading of our alarm system following the break-ins at the end of 2016, the treatment of the knotweed within the grounds and some money to go with the Co-op grant to renovate and upgrade the Memorial Garden. We are now about to embark on fund raising to have the Chapel Bell Tower re-instated. It has taken the Trust a long time to get to a point where we can now say that we will be able to undertake the work once funding has been raised. The Chapel restoration project was held very close to the hearts of the late Dr Henry Will (Chairman) and Jan West (Managing Trustee). It was a great disappointment to them and all of us that we were unable to complete the bell tower during the original restoration due to lack of funding and it will be partly in their memory that we want to complete this work.
CEMETERY WORKS AND IMPROVEMENTS We have now had a new disabled access ramp installed for the Victorian Chapel. The cost of this was covered by the money remaining from the sponsored walk following the tarmacing. We have now been awarded an additional contract from the CWGC to maintain the MOD Naval Graves that they have taken on from the MOD. This is a good addition to our income stream. We completed the tidying up of the rose gardens outside the office adjacent to the car park with the help of volunteers from the Co-op Funeralcare. They have weeded the areas and laid weed control membrane and laid slate chippings to the areas. We have also had to undertake the services of a specialist company to deal with the Knotweed that we have in several places within the cemetery. They are carrying out a 5 year plan of spraying, checking and removal with a 5 year guarantee.
Volunteers from Co-op Funeralcare displaying the finished product
VOLUNTEER NEWS It is with great disappointment that we have to announce that one of our long standing volunteers, past Chairman and Trustee, John Boon and his wife Jane have left Plymouth recently to set up home nearer their children. John took over as Chairman from the late Dr Henry Will when he retired as Chairman in April 2010 and remained as Chairman until December 2015. John assisted our ground staff in looking after the grounds and landscape and had an intimate knowledge of the nature, flora and fauna of Ford Park. He also carried out various walks and talks for the Trust. These included his always popular Dawn Chorus, Bat and Moth evening events, nature and bird walks. He also oversaw the annual Bug Hunt which always attracted many children and their parents. He was also involved in many projects in conjunction with Plymouth University. John also gave many talks on various subjects concerning the Trust to a wide range of organisations in Plymouth and the surrounding area. John also organised several successful quiz nights including a fish & chip John Boon addressing a large group at the bat and supper. moth evening John and Jane also ran our cafĂŠ and visitors centre where they hosted funeral wakes and various events involving refreshments where the quality and quantity of the home made cakes were second to none. John was always a very willing volunteer and his hard work and knowledge were instrumental in helping to move the Trust forward and to increase the profile of the Trust. John and Jane will be sadly missed by all of us at Ford Park and we wish them well in their new home.
FINAL EVENTS OF 2017
On the 25th November, our volunteers organised the annual Christmas Fayre. This year, in addition to the variety of stalls in the visitor centre and victorian chapel, the new portacabin, named the Northey Room in recognition of our long standing trustee, Jeannie Northey, was put to good use as the newly formed Craft Club displayed their wares and sold many items. The Fayre was well supported on the day and resulted in over £1,000 being raised for the cemetery.
On Thursday 7th December, we held our popular Christmas Carol Service in the Victorian Chapel. This event is always well supported and the Victorian Chapel was at capacity. The congregation was in great voice, accompanied by organist Paul Whitell. A regular feature of the event is the attendance of a local primary school choir and this year we were entertained by the children of Marine Academy Primary who sang five songs including a beautiful rendition of "Somewhere Only We Know". The choir were tutored once again by our favourite Choirmaster Kingsley Clennel-White. Special thanks must go to Reverend Trevor White who stood in at the last minute to save the day as Reverend Andrew Day was unwell. After the service the congregation was invited to join us in the Visitor Centre for refreshments provided by Sue and Mike Rapson.
‘Like us’ on our Facebook page, Ford Park Cemetery Trust, to find out news on our latest events etc. On behalf of the Trust we would like to wish all our volunteers, members and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.