Raising spirits at St Matthew's Church

A slightly late report following a community mission as there still seems to be one or two bugs chewing away at the website admin area...

On Tuesday night Ashley, Pete and Rachel met with David at St Matthew's Church in Darley Abbey to give some of the graves a bit of tlc as they had become overgrown. One grave in particular was given extra attention on the night as it was a war memorial grave that had recently been discovered and had a headstone that was quite sunken and needed raising. The grave was cleared of weeds, a 'grandma' engraved grave vase was discovered that had been buried deep in soil as the land had shifted over the years and the headstone was raised and levelled to be more visible and in line with other headstones along the row.

David along with Geoff, from the parish publication, were really pleased with the progress that was being made and the support from GoodGym to maintain the garden of rest. Check out the before and after photos of the grave.

The group chatted about Pete's recent roles as a volunteer at parkrun and Ashley's training for his upcoming SAS style fundraising challenge. David provided some treats for the group in the form of some chocolate tarts for everyone once the hard work was finished. The group learned a few facts from David including that the root system of a tree nearly always mirrors the canopy width. David's had some advice from a tree surgeon recently as some of the trees at the church are getting near the edge of the land boundary.

The group are looking forward to another session at St Matthew's Church in the future and hopefully some more cake....join us next time!