Growing issues in the churchyard

You may not be aware, but I am being made aware, that the churchyard of our village church seems to be a bit of a Marmite choice: some people love it the way it is (a haven for flora and fauna), and others think it is totally unloved. In the space of a few days recently, I had one couple telling me how beautiful the churchyard is with all the wild flowers, and another family telling me how disgusting it is that it is being left and obviously uncared for.

Like so many jobs associated with Church, apart from the minister and the organist, it is run and maintained by many volunteers; this includes the churchyard, although we do engage someone to do some of the larger areas of strimming. (He recently had the delight of the birth of a second child and was delayed in being able to do as much as usual.)

St George’s churchyard is almost five acres in size. Since records began by royal decree in 1558, 7,928 burials have taken place - the vast majority without known locations. Our earliest known grave dates from 1652, and there are 1,170 known marked graves in the churchyard. It has taken a seven-year labour of love to record all of these on to a churchyard plan and also record the inscriptions where they could be read. The churchyard also has to comply with nationally set Churchyard Regulations. If these are not adhered to then maintenance becomes even more difficult (a copy is available in church).

We have a team of 16 or 18 volunteers who meet four or five times a year for a Saturday morning working party (many of them also do additional hours on their own). Most are, by their own admission, “well into our seventies, know our limitations and act accordingly”! I would like to thank them for all they do to maintain the churchyard on our behalf; it is hard work, and it is unending work - things just keep growing!

We would love it if more people would come forward to volunteer to look after the churchyard. The walkways and the areas around the church are kept cut short, as are the areas of the current burials and interments; other areas are allowed to grow naturally and the grass taken up in October. However, there are other areas where it would be good to keep the grass cut around other graves.

The more volunteers we have, the more areas can be kept shorter; and there are plenty of other jobs to do! If you are interested in helping maintain and improve our churchyard, then please contact me. Speaking of helping: there is becoming an issue of dog faeces being left in the churchyard; out of courtesy to everyone else, please clear up after your dog.

The next opportunity to join a Churchyard Working Party is on Saturday 5 August meeting at St George’s. Any time you can be there between 9.30am and 12noon will be greatly appreciated.

Revd. David Commander
Rector

Benefice of Benenden and Sandhurst

T: 01580 240658 E: david@dc-uk.co.uk