A few weeks ago the Friends of Teignmouth Cemetery held its AGM which represented the fifth full year of its existence
FIVE YEARS!!
Five years ago we were confronting what seemed an incredibly daunting task but, looking back, it is amazing how much a small group of hard-working volunteers has been able to achieve in that time. So this post is simply a memory, recognition and celebration of those achievements.
Grave Clearance
In our 12 acre site where over 13,000 people are buried in over 8,000 graves we reckon we have cleared about 40% of the area. This is lots of HARD work, with years of bramble, ivy and anthills covering the graves (often completely). This has always been one of our main aims – removing the overgrowth from graves so that graves are duly respected and accessible to family, friends and anyone else.
During this period we also uncovered the original footings and sections of railing which once separated the graves of people of non-conformist religious beliefs from those of the conformist Anglican church.
In everything we do we work closely with Teignbridge to complement the basic maintenance of grass cutting they are able to provide, and to help people find the different sections of the cemetery we created around 120 steel markers to identify each section.
War Graves
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) recognises 49 war graves in the cemetery and we have a contract with the Commission to maintain those graves and the access to them. This work is done mainly by one of our dedicated volunteers. In 2018 we marked the 100th anniversary of the end of WW1 with a special service in the cemetery and the erection of a display board to commemorate those who died. CLICK HERE for more information on the war graves.
Green Space
As the cemetery has become cleared we have sourced around a dozen benches, located in different areas of the cemetery, to allow people simply to sit and enjoy the tranquillity. This fits with the original Victorian concept of these “new” cemeteries, as they were at the time, of being enjoyed as a natural park by everyone in the community.
A Natural Space
Once on a hill-side out of town, the cemetery is now surrounded by housing developments. So we are also trying to preserve the cemetery as an oasis of bio-diversity. When clearing graves we are careful to conserve the wide variety of wildflowers which inhabit the cemetery. We have also commissioned flower, tree and lichen surveys and are lucky to have secured regular moth surveys during the summer months. Most recently we have created an additional wildflower area as a pilot to see if we can plant more of these throughout the cemetery. CLICK HERE for more information on the natural space.
Adding colour
Wild flowers not only encourage bio-diversity but they also add seasonal colour to the cemetery, changing from Spring through Summer to the Autumn hues. We have also added our own colour by planting up graves with a range of plants and creating more formal borders in the areas surrounding the main buildings. This led to our taking part in Teignmouth in Bloom for several years, securing a first place in our category one year and this year a second place for our jubilee display. CLICK HERE for some photos of that display.
Community Involvement
It has always been an objective to encourage more community involvement and interest in the cemetery and the work we do here. Organisations we have been involved with, in one way or another, over the last five years have included: Dawlish Gardens Trust, Devon Wildlife Trust, Teignmouth COG, Teign Heritage Centre, Teignmouth U3A, Caring for Gods Acre, National Federation of Cemetery Friends, Dawlish U3A, Walking for Health, Royal British Legion, Scouts, Newton Abbot U3A, local councillors from Teignmouth Town Council and Teignbridge District Council, Thriving Teignmouth, Torquay History Group, Teignbridge CVS (through their “Soup” scheme), Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Incredible Fund. All the work we have done has twice led to the Mayor’s Recognition Award.
History
Uncovering graves has revealed a wealth of history suggesting that, for a town of its size, Teignmouth is punching well above its weight in the historic associations of people buried here – military, naval officers, artists, authors, engineers, philanthropists, clergy, medics etc. ….. and even the odd murderer (perhaps)! Their stories are written up on our web-site. We make regular presentations about them to local interest groups and have run several tours of the cemetery, something we plan to do more of with history trails. CLICK HERE for stories of a few of the people buried here.
The Buildings
FOTC started as a response to a planning application for change of use of the old cemetery buildings. We contested that and managed to get that proposed planning application withdrawn. We submitted our own business plan for the buildings, which was agreed, and secured agreement to that and to negotiating a lease for the buildings. We also established a separate legal organisation, a CIO, to allow us to take those negotiations forward. The lease is critical to securing funding for renovation of the buildings. Unfortunately, Covid came along and everything went into limbo. We are now re-starting those efforts again. Fingers crossed.
Publicity
Aside from the more formal presentations we do to local interest groups we have established a strong social media presence with regular Facebook and Twitter postings. This helped especially during Covid lockdowns when we were able to encourage people to come and visit the cemetery and share photographs during the different seasons. We have also been helped by a local producer of drone videos who has kindly contributed his time in making two excellent videos of the cemetery. CLICK HERE to see his latest.
Membership
None of this would have been possible without the support from our members. Our membership fluctuates between about 50-65 and of those there is a core of around 15 volunteers who take part when they can in our twice-weekly work sessions. FOTC has enabled this through responding to the needs of the working volunteers, over time, by raising the money to provide them with more powerful tools; the correct equipment; the insurance and the training to use them safely.
Finally, coming soon in the next post …. a little something out of the ordinary for the start of our sixth year – a story about Teignmouth and James Bond!
Teignmouth Old Cemetery 