March has been relatively dry and this has had an unforseen advantage in that a couple of the graves that on preliminary investigation last year looked difficult to clean with a wet matted mass of roots and compacted leaf mould on the surface, however the dry state meant we could separate the compost and roots enabling us to trim the roots back. A light scrub and the surface is perfectly legible. The first one we have tidied up in this way is the grave of one Richard Lee of Hadfield , research reveals little on his background apart from the fact he was a wood turner, a busy occupation making spools for the cotton mills, the second one further up the churchyard is one Michael Jackson of Glossop died 20th January 1847 we still need to clean the surface of this one and do some research. Elsewhere we have planted out some Allium bulbs 'in the green' as they say, a number of varieties but one in particular I am looking forward to seeing is a very tall white variety called appropriately enough Everest. Until next time.
