2024-03-16

Second meeting of the FCF on 16 March

Thanks to everyone who came to our second meeting on Saturday. The Fulham Cross Girls School is a very nice venue and hopefully we can use it again in future.

15 attendees in total: Kelly, Keith, Maya, Rebecca, Jackie, Thomas & Linda, George & Jan, Nathalie, Marianne, Noel. 

Also Robert Stephenson of Friends of Margravine Cemetery, and John Griffiths of Friends of Gwendwr Gardens. Nicole met us in the cemetery afterwards (with her puppy).

Apologies: Elizabeth, Lucy, Vanessa, Richard, Mark, Sally.

Asked about what they liked about the cemetery, people mentioned its tranquility and its interesting features. People appreciated both well cared-for areas and "wild" areas.

What people didn't like about the cemetery was mostly the lack of caretaking and deterioration of things like paths and planting beds, and lack of succession planting to replace trees that died.

We discussed:

• Still waiting on the Council for access to the Waiting Room for tool storage.

• Application to the Sakura Project for an additional 16 Japanese cherry trees. If successful these would be delivered winter 2025/2026.

• Volunteer gardening: for now mainly removing green alkanet and ivy and bramble where manageable. See my short guide here.

• WhatsApp group: I will share a link soon that people can use to join a WhatsApp group. Joining this is optional, and we'd mainly use it for messages regarding tree watering or gardening, not general discussion.

• As for planting extra plants in the cemetery, best to hold off for now.

• If there is something you'd like to do that you're unsure about, email the group first.

• Insurance: we don't have any at the moment, so anything you do in the cemetery is at your own risk. Please be careful!

• The status of the chapel.

• The situation with the walls.

• Researching and logging information about graves. Rebecca mentioned she'd like to take this on. I also mentioned the website Findagrave.com, which has 1,541 records for Fulham Cemetery, with photos.

• We talked about care of the Commonwealth Graves. You can look up Fulham Cemetery on the CWGC website, which lists 240 graves.

• Organising local history walks in future. Marianne suggested speaking to Hammersmith BID, which organises walking tours.

• Maya shared the entry for FC from London Cemeteries (Hugh Meller & Brian Parsons). Thanks! I'll add it, and other historical information I find, to the website in due course.

• Adding some more benches.

I mentioned that Friends should feel free to suggest or start a project on their own initiative, as there is a limit to what I can manage. But please share any ideas with the group using the mailing list.

Next steps and goals:

• Tree watering will start when the weather becomes warm and dry. Probably around the start of May. We will work out a watering rota then

• Weeding: removing green alkanet. Also ivy and bramble if you feel able

• There is a walkabout with Pauline McCormack (Area Parks Manager) in the cemetery on Fri 22 March at 12pm

• Our next meeting will probably be in mid-late April

• I will do weeding and tidying in the cemetery when I can, probably Saturday mornings. I will email the list when I do.

Francois will contact the Council regarding:

• When we will get access to the waiting room, and water bowser

• Whether the Council have plans to plant other plants this year

• What the situation is with the walls

• Pruning schedules so as to confirm it will not affect nesting birds, also confirming they have no plans to remove the lower branches of conifers that currently touch the ground

• Ask about the Memorandum of Understanding for Friends groups

• Ask whether we would be covered by Council insurance