Friends of St James Church, Charfield

by JennyNaylor in Wotton-under-Edge, South Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

Friends of St James Church, Charfield
We did it
On 20th October 2024 we successfully raised £15 with 2 supporters in 84 days

The Friends of St James, Charfield, are a small, non-secular, volunteer group helping to preserve and keep the graveyard safe for visitors.

by JennyNaylor in Wotton-under-Edge, South Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

The graveyard at St.James' Churchend is a special place. It is peaceful, quiet, an ideal place to wander, reflect, picnic or meet up with family or friends. 

South Gloucestershire Council have overall responsibility for the area but the Diocese have a say, and the Friends play a part.

Both SGC and the Church of England have a policy of managing their graveyards for wildlife/nature. The reality of this means the grass cutting regime is limited and large areas remain uncut (they have a publicly available cutting schedule). To some this looks a mess, wild and uncared for, but nothing could be further from the truth. Our graveyard has a wealth of native wild flowers, grasses, moss, lichen, wildlife and daily visitors. A balance is difficult to achieve, as everyone has an opinion and everyone has personal expectations. The FoSJ team work regularly to keep memorial stones and curbstones clear of damaging ivy, saplings and ant's nests; to keep the site safe by identifying/making safe dangerous mobile stone and voids; fundraising to repair/conserve memorials and liaising with SGC, the Diocese, the CCT and visitors for the benefit of all, including nature.

FoSJ working party groups 'weed' within the curbstone plots, which tend to be the oldest and un-visited. In general it is family responsibility to care/maintain their plot and the Friends will not work on sites that are obviously visited. SGC stipulate that the Friends do not use power tools including lawn mowers and strimmers. SGC graveyards team do the mowing and strimming according to the regime they are given. The graveyard is not a municipal park and the Friends are a small group of volunteers, 

we can't mow the whole site once a fortnight. We do what we can, we enjoy what we do and we believe we achieve the best balance.

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