‘Raise the Roof’ Music Marathon
Saturday 16th October 10am to midnight at the Institute. Continuous music performance plus refreshments.
Organised by the Institute Committee. All proceeds are for the renovation funds.
Contact Joan (630872 jandjnicholson@gmail.com) or Mary (634558)
Beer Festival
25th September 2010
more details
St.John’s Churchyard – A Wildlife haven?
St.John’s churchyard has over the years been well used for burials and interments. It is still open for any village resident (or someone with a significant connection to the village) to be buried or have their cremated remains interred there. We hope that it is a valued resource for the whole community, as a peaceful and refreshing place. Our two priorities in managing the graveyard are, first and most important, enabling safe access to graves, for families to visit and lay flowers; and, secondly providing a beautiful and fitting environment which can be a resource for the community.
A few years ago much time, energy and money was spent on a large scale renovation of the churchyard, making safe graves which had become unstable, and removing dilapidated kerbstones, thus facilitating the mowing of the grass. Unfortunately the task of mowing the grass is a little like painting the Forth Bridge – as soon as one section is finished, another section needs tackling. We have been very fortunate in the labours of David Clarke, who heroically mows the grass and keeps the churchyard in a state which older members of the village community say is better than ever before.
The most important area for maintenance and upkeep is the area around the gravestones, especially the newer graves. This leaves a very large area in the north western corner of the churchyard, where there are no graves, and where there is a large open area of grass. The Cononley United Church Council has suggested that this might well be made into a wild flower area. This would not simply be a case of leaving it uncut and allowing nature to take over, but would mean preparing the ground and seeding with appropriate flowers. We have had a visit from representatives of the Yorkshire Living Churchyard Project (part of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust) who have given advice and, by the time you read this, will have visited again to do a survey of the flora and fauna of the churchyard.
The Church Council recognise that making such a wild flower area is beyond its present capabilities, and wonder if there is any individual, group or organization within the village (or beyond) which might like to take on the task of establishing a such an area in this part of the churchyard. If anyone is interested, or has any ideas, please let me know.
John Peet
Cononley Ornithological Group
Read the summary of 2008 bird sightings here
