Volunteers give old cemetery a new look

Volunteer Paul Rigby gets stuck in at Middleton Cemetery, by St Leonard’s Church

A green fingered group of volunteers have transformed the Middleton Cemetery.

The volunteers from Brentwood, a Middleton Day centre providing support for those who are homeless or in danger of becoming homeless, have been busy pruning back vegetation and scraping away moss and grass from overgrown headstones.

The project has been made possible by a £1,800 grant by the Co-op Community Trust Fund which will enable council rangers to supervise the volunteer group for half a day a week for the next 26 weeks.

Brentwood Volunteers will also be litter picking and clearing overgrown paths.

The Brentwood group aided the burial ground’s transformation last year when they created a woven hurdle to protect a steep bank which was eroding.

The scheme builds on the work of the Green Volunteers, ordinary members of the community who give their time to keep the borough’s parks and countryside in tip top condition and have been working on this site for two years.

It is also part of wider restoration works by the Council and the Middleton Townscape Heritage initiative to improve the site by relaying paths, pruning trees and restoring old gravestones, including the monument to Sam Bamford, the Middleton-born radical and reformer.

Councillor Jacquie Beswick, cabinet member for parks and countryside at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “This is a fantastic partnership that the environmental management service is developing with Brentwood and the friends group. By working together I am sure we can make a real difference.

"I would like to thank the volunteers from Brentwood, their enthusiasm and commitment shows that everyone in the borough can make a real difference to their town.”