More History Uncovered

Sheila, Juli and Gareth gathered at beautiful Spital Cemetery for their regular clean-up session, a mild sunny day. It was great to meet Gareth, returning to GoodGym after a bit of a break. There we were met by Cllr Karen Davies, who organised the session, together with a couple of other volunteers. Karen gave us an introduction to the site and some quick HSE watch-outs. Gareth took on the task of litter-picking around the site, particularly around the chapel which seems to be a regular haunt of the Windsor youth. Sheila and Juli started tackling the removal of ivy from headstones. The first headstone we tackled, we quickly realised, was being held up by the ivy, so left it alone. We moved on to a grave that had been tackled by a previous work party, but needed further work to keep the ivy at bay. Once the inscription was revealed it proved to belong to Robert Howe who had been the Clerk of Works at Windsor Castle for 25 years. We also managed to remove a large amount of dead ivy from a taller monument, which was very satisfying, although we seemed to make quite a few spiders homeless in the process. But never fear, there is plenty more habitat for them to utilise! There will be more work parties soon, so watch out for listings.