Revealing the '49ers

On a beautiful sunny morning, 6 Goodgymmers met up with Karen Davies at Spital Cemetery for one of their regular clean-up sessions. Although Margaret has been helping out at the cemetery for a long time, this was her first session under the Goodgym banner, so welcome! We set about clearing some huge piles of branches and grass left by an unknown person, who had been spotted clearing some graves so he could take an image of the inscriptions. Unfortunately he left a trail of devastation behind him, which needed clearing away. Sue and Margaret worked on one area, while Matthew, Scarlett, Sheila and Tessa worked in another. Matthew started chopping up the branches already left by the side of the headstone, putting them in a dumpy bag, while Sheila and Tessa tackled cutting down the remains of the bush. We realised as we worked, that it was the 75-year anniversary of the death of the lady who the grave belonged to - Bessie Nicholls died on 25th April 1949. The bush was a pyracantha, which was extremely prickly and difficult to deal with, but Matthew was up to the task and bashed and cajoled it into submission. We disturbed a beautiful yellow moth, which was later identified as a brimstone moth. Scarlett worked on a different grave, that of Edith Wilcocks who also died in 1949. By the end of the session, an incredible 6 dumpy bags had been filled, and are awaiting collection by Tivoli. Great work by the team to get the cemetery looking tidy again.