18 October 2022

Eyes On, Hands On volunteers meet up in Nottingham

On Tuesday 11^th October, Eyes On, Hands On volunteers from the East were invited to Redhill Cemetery, in Arnold, Nottingham for a regional group event.

Our Fundraising Administrator, Abigail Rowlands, was delighted to attend to meet the volunteers.

An Eyes On, Hands On volunteer carefully inspect a Commission headstone.

Thousands of headstones around the UK have been inspected by our brilliant EOHO volunteers.

Cameras and brushes at the ready, our volunteers were challenged to find the 82 scattered graves in Redhill Cemetery.

The first step was to report back on the condition of the headstones to Claire Jones, Eyes On Hands On Coordinator (East), and Chris Hawes, Regional Manager (East), who made a decision on the next actions for all commemorations at the site.

It was a pleasure to see the volunteers working so well together. Conversations about the cemeteries under their care seemed to be a common topic for discussion!

Commonwealth War Graves Skilled Maintenance Craftsman Lee Brown shows EOHO volunteers how he performs a headstone re-lettering.

After a well-deserved lunch break, the volunteers were treated to our Skilled Maintenance Craftsmen for the East, Andrew Clark and Lee Brown, at work re-lettering a private memorial.

Andrew and Lee were on hand throughout the day answering many questions from our volunteers.

The next step in the whistlestop day was the ‘’Hands On’’ element of the project – cleaning the headstones and tidying up any weeds or grass.

Although, there did not seem to be much grass to cut back as the gardeners from the local council were working away at the same time as us – a great opportunity to tell them all about the work that we do.

Giving one of our headstones a good scrub with warm water and a brush.

Sprucing up a war grave by giving the grass a neat trim.

With 82 headstones now inspected, reported, and cleaned our Eyes On, Hands On volunteers were able to hear more about the site of the day from our Tour Guide volunteer Martin Kerry, who delivers tours to the public at Redhill Cemetery throughout the year.

Volunteer Tour Guide Martin Kerry shares some of the stories of those commemorated at Redhill Cemetery with our EOHO volunteers.

Volunteers commented on how excellent a day they had, as this provided them the opportunity to meet and exchange stories with each other. They also improved their knowledge of the work of the Commission and also on the criteria used by our Operations Team to deem whether a headstone needs any further attention.

As the first Eyes On, Hands on volunteer group event for the East region, all staff and volunteers went home happy and are certainly looking forward to the next meet up.