Ford Park Cemetery Trust 

When there was a real prospect of Ford Park cemetery being closed, with the financial collapse of the original cemetery company, local people were galvanised into saving this very special place. Their energy, commitment and courage to take on this unusual venture resulted in the ownership and management of the cemetery being passed to a new Ford Park Cemetery Trust.

The Trust was born In April 2000 – a Company Limited by Guarantee and charitable status – with strong support from the City Council and community.  During the guardianship of this Trust the 34.5 acre site has been transformed from a sleeping beauty previously smothered by neglect, and at its lowest ebb closed on the grounds of public safety, into a beautiful green open space in the heart of the city.

The Trust has four major objectives:

1. To build a viable cemetery business based on burials, sale of burial rights and maintenance contracts which financially underpins the Trust’s remaining aims.
2. To restore the surviving Grade II Listed Gothic Revival Chapel completed in early 1849 as a unique venue in the city for events, including services, exhibitions and musical performances.
3. To restore and enhance the landscape as both a burial ground and an open green space, and to enhance its role as a sustainable wildlife habitat with particular reference, where applicable, to species on the UK Biodiversity Action List.
4. To develop a learning programme with schools and the general community so that its history, landscape and architecture becomes more widely known and valued across the city.

 

As a community-based organisation, The Trust seeks to reposition the cemetery in the mainstream of the life of the City as a much loved and used community resource.  It subscribes strongly to the Victorian view that cemeteries are for the living as much as for the dead, and that while they must support those who grieve they must also, if they are to remain relevant today and in the future, be places for passive recreation and for education.

The Trust is currently managed by a Board of 10 directors.  The directors are among the 45 or so volunteers who give their times and skills to help the Trust achieve these aims.

 

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