The grave of Caleb 'Luther' Adams was tidied by The Eastbourne Bicycle Club 1877. Luther founded the club & was the winner of the 1st bicycle race held in Eastbourne in 1869. See their Facebook group. #bicycle @le-tourdefrance.bsky.social @britishcycling.org.uk @bikesky.social @cycling.bsky.social

A lovely gathering for Remembrance Sunday today at the Cross of Sacrifice. Our chair gave a few words of intro, a poem was read & wreathes were then laid at the Cross followed by the two minute silence. There was a short tour of the War Graves after.

Thank you @yorkshiretea.bsky.social for your warning on Facebook! I'm totally on board and would never use a microwave to make a delicious cup of Decaff Yorkshire Tea as don't wish to encourage intergalactic visitors to Sussex! 😁

The Chater plot was last cleared in April 2024 but had another tidy on Friday. In the plots where cotoneaster, for example, has established itself we regularly keep an eye on them & cut the growth right back. Sadly the roots have damaged some graves over the years.

These photos at the cemetery today sum up the old Sussex saying 'It's dark over Will's mother's'! The darkest clouds were over the South Downs.

All 18 UK species of bat hibernate during the colder months, starting in around October - November. To help them out, you can leave dead wood and thick vegetation, such as Ivy, in your garden to provide vital hidey-holes. 🦇😴 📸Brown Long-eared Bat © Hugh Clark FRPS

This particular fallen (may have been laid down) buried headstone took several visits to uncover due to the mass of tree roots that had to be removed before reaching the stone itself, which was approximately 5-6 inches under the surface.

More photos from last Friday's work party. Two plots cleared - one hidden stone uncovered and one still to be found! 🙂

As mentioned y'day Kevin, our Chair, is writing a booklet about Notable Graves in the cemetery. He has published a booklet on our Commonwealth War Graves of which there are 178. @cwgc.bsky.social @sommecourt.bsky.social "War Graves — Friends of Ocklynge Cemetery" www.fooc.org.uk/war-graves

Our Chair & local historian, Kevin, is currently writing a booklet that follows his guided walk at the cemetery of the Notable Graves listed on our website. It will also include info on another 14 that are off the paths but with care can be visited by visitors. www.fooc.org.uk/notable-graves

Notable Grave Sunday - Henry Mitchell Jones As we reach the end of our week of notable graves at the cemetery we finish with a Victoria Cross hero. @thehistoryguy.bsky.social #CrimeanWar "Notable Graves — Friends of Ocklynge Cemetery" www.fooc.org.uk/notable-grav...

Notable Grave Saturday - Eugenio Possolo (Brazilian Pilot) #Brazil @bafnews.bsky.social #RAF www.fooc.org.uk/notable-grav...

Notable Grave Friday- Lancelot Keay, Architect. @architecture.bsky.social @liverpoolecho.co.uk @beatlesbible.com @nationaltrust.org.uk #PaulMcCartney #Liverpool "Notable Graves — Friends of Ocklynge Cemetery" www.fooc.org.uk/notable-grav...

Notable Grave Thursday - Sarah Wentworth (Wife of Australian Politician) @australia.theguardian.com @socaustgen.bsky.social @auswhn.bsky.social "Notable Graves — Friends of Ocklynge Cemetery" www.fooc.org.uk/notable-grav...

Saturday 18th October at 11:00, West Norwood Cemetery: Momento Mori, the Victorian Way of Death www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/memento-mo...

Notable Grave Wednesday - Oswald Fitzgerald. @jutlandremembered.bsky.social #WW1 "Notable Graves — Friends of Ocklynge Cemetery" www.fooc.org.uk/notable-grav...

Notable Grave Tuesday - Sarah MacDonald, First Lady of Canada. @canadashistory.bsky.social "Notable Graves — Friends of Ocklynge Cemetery" www.fooc.org.uk/notable-grav...

Notable Grave Monday - John Tosswill, Professional Footballer. @liverpoolecho.co.uk @kentonline.co.uk #QPR #Coventry #Southend #Football www.fooc.org.uk/notable-grav...

Also on Friday our morning work party uncovered another completely concealed headstone. A group of the volunteers are methodically comparing the burial registers with 'No stone' plots & their rate of detection is very impressive. Some are buried 6" under years of mulch & soil! Sterling work! 👏

Friday work party - besides our general tidying we have a list of graves that we received donations for after finding them for the descendents. We now regularly maintain them. It is due to these donations that we can carry on our work as it covers our public liability insurance & website, etc. 🙂

Between River and Railway: Wardsend Cemetery A talk by @winterroom.bsky.social Date: 15 oct • 19:00 Location: Randall Street Makerspace lecture room, Highfield, S2 4SJ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/between-ri...

More than one man went to mow y'day at the cemetery! Not the greatest weather to be working outside in but Milhams are a professional team & carried on regardless! The strimming done by the contractors is matched by the volunteers keeping shrubs & bushes trimmed & tidying plots. 🙂

Sunday 5th October - walking tour of West Norwood Cemetery 14:30 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/walking-to...

An added bonus of volunteering at the cemetery is recording the flora & fauna. Wonder how many of these butterflies & moths we will spot this month. 🦋

Jolly interesting talk by our Chair, Kevin Gordon, on 'The Art of Death' yesterday at the historic Lamb Inn in Eastbourne. The slideshow on all the subjects covered was very comprehensive. He covered the history of burial practices; memento mori; mourning practices; symbolism on headstones, etc. 👏

Matthew Street Disaster Memorial Event - THIS SUNDAY 12:00-3:30pm The graves of four children killed, buried at Wardsend, have for the first time been made visible and will be marked for the occasion. We hope for this event to be the start of a wider project to mark these graves more permanently.

My brother's post. 🙂 "Serendipity and degrees of separation! Two of my areas of interest outside of the world of volunteering at the cemetery are The Battle of Waterloo in 1815 & the Zulu War battles of 1879; neither of which I expected to come across in my research when I excavated Plot L1c. (1)

Our volunteers, Martin & Ellen, posted this:- 'Every now and again when volunteering at Ocklynge you come across something intriguing. Today was one of those moments. There are over 10,000 Ocklynge burials recorded on the Find-a-Grave database, and just over 9,200 have photos. (1)

Thank you to the 24 hardy souls (and one dog with a raincoat!) who came along to Kevin's guided walk yesterday for Heritage Open Days. Started in brilliant sunshine & the rain held off until we were nearly at the end & then the heavens opened! Everyone enjoyed it despite the soggy end! ☔

One of our hardy volunteers risked the on/off heavy showers/sunshine this afternoon and tackled two overgrown plots - one covered with the dreaded cotoneaster! Thanks Don - excellent work! 👏

Another buried stone was found y'day. Beautiful epitaph. 'Affectionate Remembrance of Mary, the beloved wife of John Carter, who departed this life April 25th 1873. Aged 43 years.' (1)

One of our volunteers spotted this beautiful this lovely Speckled Wood in the cemetery yesterday morning. @savebutterflies.bsky.social

If you are local to Eastbourne and like board games then do come along to The Lamb t'row evening. We are slightly biased as our HQ is officially the corner table in the downstairs bar! 😀

Another event for Heritage Open Days is a free guided tour of the cemetery by our Chair, local historian & author, Kevin Gordon. On Saturday, 13th September at 2.00pm. See link below for further details:-

Kevin, our Chair, will be giving a free talk as part of Heritage Open Days on Alderman John Chisholm Towner. When Alderman Towner died in 1920 he left a substantial bequest and due to this Eastbourne's first Towner Art Gallery & Museum was built.

11 volunteers working at the cemetery yesterday in two areas and their hard work certainly showed by the end of the session. Some before & after pics below.

We keep a record of all wildlife we see at the cemetery. Here are this month's flutterers to look out for. 🦋

Lionel, one of our volunteers, posted this on our FB group:- "The Pyracantha on the right; which is also known as Firethorn (for obvious reasons to anyone who has come into contact with this bush), was encroaching onto this popular pathway next to the chapel, as was the Bay tree on the left.

🦇 You have until 5pm TODAY (28 Aug) to book your virtual tickets. Don't miss out: www.bats.org.uk/our-work/con...

The activity schedule for tomorrow. Get down early for your chance to meet the moths and get up close to river fish! There will be plenty of wonderful community stalls to explore with activities all day including river dipping with Sheffield River Rangers and leaf hunting with FO Parkwood Springs.

Another buried stone found on Friday was that of Corporal Harry Weller Newman. His brother William Newman & their Uncle Arthur Newman are also buried in this plot. Harry Newman died in France on the 23rd of July 1916 whilst serving with the Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry 1st/4th Battalion.

This buried headstone was found on Friday. The inscription reads: - "In Loving Memory of Mabel Jane, Second daughter of James & Ruth Cowney, of Seaford, Sussex. Died January 21st , 1874 aged 18 months. He shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom. Isaiah. XL. II."

Our volunteers on Friday were Martin, Ellen, Mark and Pete. They worked on three different plots where no headstones were visible. On the first plot they found a hidden stone with an engraved surname only & on the second plot they found a stone which couldn't be read. (1)

The second fallen buried headstone found yesterday was sadly quite damaged but at least it will now be recorded on FindAGrave for future genealogists to find.

Another of our volunteers found two fallen buried headstones yesterday. This one was approx 6" under the surface. According to cemetery records there are two other burials here besides the two children named on the headstone. The headstone is remarkably well preserved.

From Pete T., one of our volunteers:- "Friday afternoon (15th Aug) was rather warm at Ocklynge cemetery and at times noisy with Airbourne in progress. In a section not far from the Chapel, a small flat area of grass suggested a stone may be buried. It was the grave of Arthur Thomas Holman. (1)

Thinking of our Dad today on #VJDay80 & the thousands that lost their lives in the Far East in WW2. Dad was fighting in the jungles of Burma with the 14th Army - the Forgotten Army - and he said his survival was in no small part was due to the Chindits who were the bravest soldiers he had seen.

Further to last week's post we did find my Great-Uncle & Aunt's double plot. Did some prodding but only found flints or chalk. Will try again on Friday as 75 years of mulch is on top of the plot. I hope a memorial stone may be hidden as we have been finding flat gravestones and kerbs at 6" depth.

Some of the volunteers tackled a 5-star grave last week which means there was cotoneaster, brambles, ivy, grass & weeds to clear! We have also been clearing swathes of sycamore saplings - these are officially on my list of trip hazards now besides kerbs & memorial plaques hidden by years of mulch!