Rectory Lane Cemetery, Three Close Lane, Berkhamsted HP4 2DH
www.rectorylanecemetery.org.uk | | | We did it! Rectory Lane Cemetery is officially bloomin' brilliant! At the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Anglia In Bloom award event in St Ives Cambridgeshire last week, the Cemetery won their Best Community Project 2026 award! Anglia In Bloom is a huge region covering Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire, as well as our home county of Hertfordshire and we were absolutely thrilled to receive this award in our very first year of entry. It is testament to all dedicated work during the year in the cemetery by volunteers and also their fantastic enthusiasm and passion shown on the day when they met the judges. Thank you so much!
We had also been nominated by Anglia in Bloom for a national Special Award for Community Engagement - but that in the end went to Filby in Bloom - a worthy winner focussing on engaging and inspiring young people to garden. | | | Not only that, but Berkhamsted In Bloom as a whole was awarded Silver Gilt (one point off a Gold) in the highly competitive Best Large Town category, as well as being declared the County Champions for Hertfordshire...! We were presented with certificates and carved wooden bowls. | | We are delighted that the work done by all volunteers, both in the Cemetery and the other ten gardens visited by the judges, has been recognised in this way and are excited for the future of the Berkhamsted In Bloom campaign. Many people in the town have made this possible and that was visible to the judges who declared: 'Very well done! A very dedicated In Bloom group with great enthusiasm. Berkhamsted should be extremely proud of all your hard work and efforts. A great first-time entry with lots of potential'.
We are having a celebration on Thursday 1st October at Lagley Meadow Hall at 7pm - where we will gather as many of the gardeners, work party members, litter pickers, knitters and supporters as possible to join in a little drink and some nibbles, hear the judges' feedback and plan for the future.
If you are already volunteering in the Cemetery please join us, and if you think you'd like to get involved in how Berkhamsted In Bloom develops even more (to get a Gold?!) come along too.
Location of Lagley Meadow Hall | | The Friends of St Peter’s (the charity formed to look after church buildings and land - whose major project was the transformation of Rectory Lane Cemetery - launched the David Pearce Memorial Lectures last year in memory of their churchwarden and schoolmaster of Berkhamsted School. They're raising funds for the ongoing project to fix the leaking roof on the church David loved so much, St Peter’s Berkhamsted. This year, they invite you to come and meet Concorde pilot Captain John Tye for an enthralling talk about the world's fastest passenger supersonic jet and the greatest icon of the 20th century.
Saturday 3 October 7pm The Centenary Theatre, Kings Road, Berkhamsted
Tickets £15 (includes welcome drink and 1 year membership of the Friends)
Book now: www.tickets.berkhamsted.com | | | Earlier this month a short Service of Thanksgiving, followed by a drinks reception was held in St Peter's Church to thank volunteers across the many organisations and groups in the town - it was a lovely occasion to meet up and chat too. | | There's a lot to be said for health and safety...
This month visitors to the cemetery enjoyed a 'sold out' tour of the lower (Victorian) cemetery as part of the national Heritage Open Days. Our lead genealogist Chris Dolton had put together a fascinating tour along the theme of Everyday Histories, Forgotten Labours - a glimpse into the work of Berkhamsted's buried forebears. We learned about people who took on the dirtiest and often most dangerous jobs in Berkhamsted to eke out a living: mixing sulphur and arsenic to make sheepdip for the wealthy Cooper family; collecting other people's rubbish to sell as' scavengers'; straw plaiters - often girls - who brought money into their household, but at the expense of their health and education; ragcutters - usually women - who worked with filthy old rags, sometimes infected with disease, for the paper-making trade; lime burners risking caustic burns and noxious fumes to make quicklime... and those without a means of livelihood who spent time in the workhouse. None of the individuals covered in the tour had visible monuments, but church and other records help us know a bit about their lives and locate where their bones lie in now prosperous Berkhamsted. | | | If you missed it and want to do some research of your own, go to our website to discover some more fascinating stories. | | Autumn focus
Now that the summer is over and the long grass in the upper cemetery has done its job providing habitat for vital insects and butterflies, the focus for volunteers is on cutting and raking off that grass so that it doesn't become just a heavy wet thatch over the autumn and winter. We use all electric machinery as in strimmers, or manual as in sickle and we even had a scyther! | | | Unfortunately, scything - the traditional way to cut long grass - is not very feasible in our upper Cemetery because the ground is so uneven and some monuments are not always visible. It was fascinating though to learn more about the skill and very relaxing to watch Philippa at work. | | | We're also back to mowing the now green and growing grass and tending the Interment of Ashes and Remembrance Garden flowerbeds. | | Rest in Peace
We were all very sorry to hear that local bagpiper Graeme Selkirk had died recently. Graeme delighted everyone in Berkhamsted with his playing, and would sometimes be spotted practising the bagpipes out in Ashridge Forest among the deer and the beeches, where he liked to go "for a guid blaw".
Graeme enriched Burns Suppers and Remembrance ceremonies with his bagpipes, and in 2021 we were honoured to have him as the piper at the inauguration of the Garden of Remembrance War Memorial in Rectory Lane Cemetery.
His life was filled with folk, blues and rock music, he played guitar, and was also a talented stained-glass maker. | | Rectory Lane Cemetery is a beautiful and accessible place for commemmoration, with a dedicated garden for the interment of ashes. Do think of the Cemetery when considering loved ones you have lost.
To date we have interred ashes for 17 local families and have engraved over 144 commemmorative tiles.
For more information, follow this link: https://www.rectorylanecemetery.org.uk/sustain/memorialising/ | | | Can you help us?
Providing the service of ashes interment is just one way in which we are keeping the cemetery current for the local community. It's also a way of raising funds for the continuing maintenance of this space as we ask for a donation, in lieu of a fee, which would be payable to any commercial cemetery.
Finding the money necessary to pay contractors, our part-time ranger, repair and replace machinery, repair and deal with any damage to the three-acre site is an ongoing challenge for the charity.
If you'd like to help raise money to keep this award-winning community asset going - either personally, or through any association or organisation you're part of, please do get in touch. There are many ways we can collaborate or facilitate sponsorship of different aspects of the project.
Thank you. | | | | | |
