01/12/24 MESSAGE FROM THE VICAR CONCERNING THE GRAVEYARD - GOOD NEWS AT LAST

Dear All, 

 As of about 3pm this afternoon the graveyard is at last open once again to the public. You are most welcome to visit. Many of you will have seen that on Friday, Lancashire County Council finally put a team in the field and the last two trees were cut down. Evidently the pressure which people have brought to bear has worked. I am particularly grateful to Stewart Jones our county councillor who has worked hard for us behind the scenes to get things moving. It is sad in a way to see a tree felled but in this case they were in dangerous condition and needed to go. There is always the hope of being able to replant (something smaller perhaps!) There is now nothing overhanging the graveyard. There is still much to be done in terms of fixing fences, benches and flagstones and I shall be holding LCC to their undertaking to fix these things. 

 I have worked on the assumption that most people would far rather have access to the graves of loved ones at the earliest opportunity than be kept waiting even longer till everything is fixed and in perfect condition. So, having put some safety measures in place, we have reopened. It does mean though that in return we must respectfully ask people to abide by some simple rules: 

There are notices near the front gates and on one of the gates. Please do not remove them.

The area at the back of the graveyard where the benches and flowerpots stood is cordoned off. We have placed wooden poles in the ground and run two lines of red and white warning tape around them to make a barrier. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not attempt to cross this barrier or rip up the tape. The flagstone tiles are in very poor condition and are not safe to walk on. A huge log was dropped on this area during the tree works. Several tiles are cracked, several move and give way when any weight is put on them and there are numerous trip hazards. One has been smashed right through and a crater dug out of the material underneath. Its easy to groan when people mention health and safety but the whole patio area is best avoided. There are no graves in the area, nor anything of interest. Please leave this area alone. There are notices posted here as well. 

Some graves are cordoned off with tape. This means that we think that they are in danger of falling if any pressure is applied. Please do not touch them. I realise that it is upsetting to see if they are your graves but memorial stones are very heavy and will injure someone if they hit you as they fall. 

Several gravestones have had to be laid flat. Please be cautious when walking around. There are more trip hazards than usual so you must look carefully where you are going. 

If bending down to lay flowers, please do not lean on any of the gravestones. We have 'topple-tested' to see which are strong and sturdy and most are fine. But they are not designed to have people lean on them. 

It would be best not to touch the fence along the back of the graveyard. 

If you have concerns about a grave that is wobbling but not cordoned off please be in touch on vicarofkirkham@outlook.com with the name and a description of where in the graveyard it is. 

 I hope that repair works will happen quickly but I suspect that I will have to maintain pressure to get it sorted. LCC has promised in writing to repair and replace things so it will ultimately be done. If you wish still to write to LCC urging them to address the situation with the logs left in the people's park then please do. There are potential hazards galore in that area and they must attend to it quickly. 

 Inevitably the grass looks a little unkempt because no one has been in mowing (for obvious reasons.) We will hope to have a team in mowing and strimming in the next couple of weeks. After the problems experienced in the summer with long grass when numbers of volunteers dropped off alarmingly, we have decided to invest in paying a local contractor to maintain the graveyard throughout the year. Hopefully we should never again have the problems we had this summer. I do ask people to accept that it isn't going to look pristine at present. Without wishing to be rude to anyone, if I receive complaints about long grass in the next week or so, I will not respond. We will do our best. 

 I am grateful to the majority of people who have shown great patience during this long closure. Hopefully it will never be necessary again. 

Best wishes to all

Fr Richard