FOHGC Successful

FOHGC Successful

Once again the work that the Friends of Hull General Cemetery are doing in the cemetery has been recognised locally. KCOM hold a competition every year. They allocate an amount of money for good causes. KCOM ask the causes to send them a description of what work they are doing. They also ask  what they would use the money for if they won. After that, just like Strictly, it goes to the public vote.

I’m sure you’ll be glad to know that the FOHGC was successful and was one of the winners this year. The grant, for £540, was given for, ‘Transforming the cemetery into a welcoming space for visitors and a haven for nature.’

The Brief

The brief, provided by Bill Longbone to the judges at KCOM, was,

‘We are a local group of volunteers who have taken the challenge to reclaim the disused and overgrown Victorian Cemetery which, over the years, had become a place for fly-tipping and rubbish dumping and has attracted much anti-social behaviour, including drug dealing, prostitution and drinking dens.

It is our aim to turn the cemetery into an area that will benefit the local community, improve the neighbourhood and create a unique asset for our city. This is to be achieved by clearing the cemetery of rubbish, fallen tree branches and invasive ground cover thus encouraging a diversity of plants, insects and wildlife.

We wish to promote educational research, a healthy relaxing environment and encourage leisure activities such as painting, photography, mindfulness classes in the cemetery and engage with local people and businesses.

To date we have created a circular pathway around the cemetery, installed over 20 litter bins along the pathways, created a Workhouse Memorial Area, a wildflower meadow, a butterfly walk, made and installed over 40 bird boxes, two owl boxes, several bat boxes and six hedgehog boxes to encourage wildlife. We have also planted over a 1000 daffodil bulbs along the Spring Bank West frontage. We also clean and maintain graves, including the Commonwealth War Graves and headstones, and research the people buried in the cemetery.

We are currently reclaiming the two acre section of the cemetery that backs onto the Princes Avenue shops, which over recent areas had become badly overgrown. It is our intention to create a wildlife pond in this area which will attract many species, such as toads, frogs, newts as well as many water-loving insects that do not currently inhabit the cemetery because of the lack of water.’

Thanks

Once again, its much appreciated that the work the dedicated, small team of volunteers are doing should be recognised more widely in the city. We thank KCOM for their support, and of course the general public who voted for us. That the FOHGC were successful in this just boosts the confidence of all of us connected with this project.