Memorialisation of Civilian War Dead of Plymouth

Ford Park Cemetery Trust will launch a public appeal for the balance of the money needed to create a memorial to Plymouth’s Civilian War Dead on Friday 5 February 2010.

Seventy years after the Blitz, Plymouth does not have a memorial honouring the sacrifice of those who died and listing each of their names, ages and dates of death.

Ford Park Cemetery Trust Chairman Dr Henry Will MBE said: “In A Plan for Plymouth, Abercrombie proposed a memorial in the ruins of Charles Church and hoped that it would become a place of pilgrimage. Today the Church is in the middle of a very busy traffic roundabout without pedestrian access and quite unsuitable for such a purpose.

“We have, however, the opportunity to realise, albeit in a different setting to that envisaged by Abercrombie, a place to honour and remember the extraordinary endurance, courage and sacrifice of Plymouth people during the city’s darkest hour.

“Restoration of Ford Park Cemetery’s Victorian Chapel is scheduled for completion in March.  The memorial to the City’s Civilian War Dead will take the form of 22 Welsh slate plaques mounted on the east wall of the Chapel, on which will be inscribed around 1,250 names. We are indebted to the Trust volunteers, led by Dr Ian Hodgins, who have tirelessly researched the names and compiled what we believe to be the most accurate and comprehensive record of fatalities to date.

“Ford Park Cemetery was itself a Blitz casualty – with about six high explosive bombs falling on the site, destroying the sister chapel and severely damaging vaults and graves. Over a quarter of the civilians who died in the Blitz are buried in the Cemetery, which is now managed by a charitable trust and continues to serve the local community as a working cemetery.”  

The Trust has already, through donations and fundraising activity last year, raised just over half (£19,000) of the memorialisation project cost of just under £34,000, leaving £15,000 to raise. The Friends of Ford Park Cemetery generously donated £1,000 to kick off the appeal launch. You can download a donation form here

More about this story on the news page

 

MBE for our Chairman and friend
Chairman of Ford Park Cemetery Trust Dr Henry Will has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List 2010. Dr Will is one of 615 members of the public to receive an MBE in January 2010. The MBE is for achievement or service in and to the community of a responsible kind which is outstanding in its field or stands out as an example to others.  
Typically modest Dr Will said: “It’s is obviously a very great honour but my first thought on hearing the news was that it is really for a lot of other people who have helped over the years at Ford Park Cemetery. Nothing is achieved on one's own. It's an endorsement of everything we have done at the cemetery for the past 10 years and, perhaps in the wider context, of work being done across the country in similar Victorian cemeteries. It’s an amazing achievement by a very committed group of people and I’m proud to be a part of them.”

 

PRESS RELEASE

14th December 2009

English Heritage has upgraded the original burial ground at Ford Park Cemetery, which comprises the south west quarter of the Cemetery, from Grade II in the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England to Grade II*.  This follows a review of all 106 cemeteries on the Register and takes into account representations made by the Trust.

Dr Henry Will, Chairman of the Trust, comments: “This welcome decision illustrates the determination of English Heritage to increase public awareness of the historic importance of Victorian and other cemetery landscapes and to encourage their future protection and conservation.  From the Trust point of view it can only raise further the profile of Ford Park Cemetery and emphasise its historic importance to the City.  We also hope it may assist the Trust in its efforts to secure the upgrading of the restored Victorian Chapel from Grade II to Grade II* in the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.  This would open up for us new sources of funding.

The Trust is proud to be the custodian of this historic landscape which after 160 years still serves Plymothians as a much loved working cemetery. ”

 

War time project brings together Plymouth generations

First hand stories and experiences of wartime Plymouth have been captured on video in an ongoing community project led by Ford Park Cemetery Trust.

The Oral History Project is in two stages.  The first stage, which has been funded by an ‘Awards for All’ Lottery Grant, has involved just over 20 young people in the city interviewing local elderly residents with vivid memories of hardships during the Second World War and especially the Blitz.

The resulting edited 90-minute DVD film called Tell us About Your War will be launched at Ford Park Cemetery on Tuesday 20 October and the complete recorded interviews, totalling nearly 30 hours, will be archived at the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office.  Pupils aged between five and 20 years old from Plymouth City College, Devonport High School for Girls, Hyde Park Junior School and Plymouth College undertook the interviewing – learning in the process how to operate camera, sound and recording equipment.

Chairman of the Trust Dr Henry Will said: “This Project goes to the heart of what we are trying to do at Ford Park, namely drawing the community together and recording and honouring its history.  The engagement of today’s young generation with their contemporaries of 70 years ago has produced a riveting narrative which is a remarkable tribute to the courage, stoicism and humour of those who lived through those difficult years, as well as to the skill both of the children who interviewed them and of those who supported them.”

Stage 2 of the Project, made necessary by the large number wishing to be interviewed, will be completed next year by Trust volunteers and it is hoped to publish a second DVD towards the end of 2010.  The DVD of Stage 1 of the Project is available from the Cemetery Office price £5 plus £2 p&p. Proceeds will go towards the memorialisation in the Victorian Chapel of the civilian casualties of the bombing on Plymouth.

CIVILIAN WAR DEAD – MEMORIALISATION PROJECT

At the heart of the Trust’s Chapel Project lies the decision to dedicate the restored Chapel to the memory of the Plymouth civilians who lost their lives as a result of enemy air action in the Second World War.  It is proposed that the surname and forename of each, with age and date of death, should be recorded on a series of slate plaques to be fixed to the east wall of the Chapel above and beside the altar.  To convey a sense of narrative and context, the names will be arranged in date order, in contrast to the alphabetical list which is set out here...

The accuracy of this list is of great importance to the Trust and three expert and dedicated volunteers have been working on the Project for some months.  We are now appealing to the Community to help us finalise the list.

 

We have worked on the principle of inclusiveness, and propose to show on the Memorial all who lost their lives as a result of the Blitz who were living at that time in what would now be regarded as part of Plymouth although then outside the city boundary, and we have gone even further to include, for example, Saltash.  This is one reason why the number of names on the Memorial will exceed the official figure for civilian casualties.  Another reason is that our researchers have traced names of those who died who are not on any officially compiled list.

If you have any knowledge of those who lost their lives as a result of the Blitz do please check this list and encourage all those you know who similarly may have lost family or friends to do the same.  This memorial will remind future generations of what this City endured and of the sacrifice it made.  It must be as complete and accurate as possible.
Corrections/additions should be emailed to: trustees@ford-park-cemetery.org or telephoned to 01752 665442 (Monday to Friday 10.00 am to 4.00 pm) or sent to Ford Park Cemetery Trust, Ford Park Road, Plymouth PL4 6NT

ford-park-cemetery.org

 

Ford Park Cemetery in Plymouth is a special place. You could be forgiven for thinking cemeteries are only for remembering the dead but at Ford Park there are many reasons why people want to visit.

Ford Park Cemetery Trust owns and manages the Victorian cemetery as a burial ground with a large number of spaces available for future burials and a maintenance service for headstones and grass cutting provided by our staff.

As well as being a place to remember and reflect, the 34.5-acre cemetery is rich with flora, fauna and wildlife actively encouraged by the grounds maintenance.

Under the stewardship of the Trust over 500 trees have been planted, including some in memory of loved ones through the memorialisation scheme.

Popular with local people for walks, the formal and oldest quarter near the cemetery chapels blends into a softer landscape the further you go into the cemetery. Seasonal delights include primroses and bluebells in spring, drifts of white ox-eye daisies in summer, autumnal colour and stillness of winter.

A legacy of achievement, human endeavour and courage has been discovered with research into the lives of those buried at Ford Park. These inspiring stories are shared with local school children studying the Victorians or the Second World War, and on popular guided walks and exhibitions.

Ford Park Cemetery Trust is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status. Much of what is achieved to date has been through partnerships within the city and the work of volunteers -The immeasurable contribution and achievements of our dedicated volunteers was recognised with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2005.

To contact us call 01752 665442, Fax 01752 601177 or
e-mail at info@ford-park-cemetery.org

Our postal address is:

Ford Park Cemetery Trust
Ford Park Road
Plymouth
PL4 6NT