FIVE YEARS!!

Five years ago the Friends of Teignmouth Cemetery was formed to take on what seemed an incredibly daunting task – restoring the cemetery.  Looking back, it is amazing how much a small group of hard-working volunteers has been able to achieve in that time.

Grave Clearance

Removing the overgrowth from graves so that they are duly respected and accessible has always been one of our main aims..  This is LOTS of HARD work, with years of bramble, ivy and anthills to be cleared.  With over 13,000 people buried in over 8,000 graves we reckon to have cleared about 40% of the 12-acre site.

War Graves

We have a contract with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to maintain 49 war graves.  In 2018 we marked the 100^th anniversary of WW1 with a special service in the cemetery and the erection of a display board to commemorate those who died.

Green Space

We have sourced around a dozen benches, located in different areas of the cemetery, to allow people simply to sit and enjoy the tranquillity, fitting with the original Victorian concept of these “new” cemeteries being enjoyed as a natural park by everyone in the community.

A Natural Space

Once on a hill-side out of town, the cemetery is now surrounded by housing developments.  So we also want to preserve the cemetery as an oasis of bio-diversity.  We are careful to conserve the wide variety of wildflowers and have also commissioned flower, tree and lichen and moth surveys.  Most recently we have created an additional special wildflower area.

Adding colour

We have also added our own colour by planting up graves with a range of plants and creating more formal borders in the areas surrounding the main buildings.  This led to our taking part in Teignmouth in Bloom for several years, securing this year a second place for our jubilee display. 

Community Involvement

Over the last five years we have been involved with over twenty community organisations.  All the work we have done in encouraging more community involvement and interest in the cemetery has twice led to the Mayor’s Recognition Award.

History

Uncovering graves has revealed a wealth of history suggesting that Teignmouth is punching well above its weight in the historic associations of people buried here.  Some of their stories are written up on our web-site.  We make regular presentations about them to local interest groups and run tours of the cemetery.

The Buildings

Our long-term aim is the renovation of the impressive old cemetery buildings.  But it’s a slow process in which we first need a lease from Teignbridge in order to secure funding for the renovation.

Membership

Our membership fluctuates between about 50-65 and there is a core of around 15 volunteers who take part when they can in our twice-weekly work sessions.  We are always looking for more volunteers, so if you think you might be interested in helping out please do contact us – either by email (fotc2017@gmail.com), or our Facebook page (facebook.com/FOTC2018), or through our web-site (https://teignmouthcemetery.wordpress.com/)