2 December 2025

Headstone


Dear Jo,

At long last, I went up to Ecclesall churchyard this morning with the intention of sprucing up your Uncle Ken and Auntie Doris's gravestone. It was a bright, dry day and not too chilly for December 2nd.

I guess that a couple of years have passed by since I last went up to see it and I was pretty shocked with what I saw. What had once been a clear, creamy white headstone was now blackened with fungal growth. I could hardly read the inscription.

In my bag, I had brushes, cloths, kitchen cleaner and two milk containers filled with warm soapy water. I got on with the job but it soon became clear that a lot of the fungal growth would not budge.

There was certainly significant improvement but I was not satisfied.

Back home, I checked out a couple of YouTube videos about cleaning gravestones and realised that I would need some kind of special stone cleaning fluid or spray to complete the job to the best of my ability.

Research led me to the discovery that I could only buy the necessary spray off the shelf at Williamsons in Broomhill. I phoned them to confirm this and I will be heading up to Broomhill on the Number 6 bus tomorrow morning as it is so hard to park a car at Broomhill these days.

By the way, in a strange co-incidence, just as I was about to set off to the graveyard this morning, the postman brought me your Christmas card - all the way from New Zealand! Thank you so much!

I hope that you and Keith are in good health just now and no doubt looking forward to yet another Christmas - perhaps with your family. Please see the two attached "before" and "after" photos but I hope that the next picture I send you will evidence an even bigger transformation.

Ken and Doris were such a sweet old couple and I was privileged to be able to help them as they reached the ends of their lives. As I scrubbed at their headstone this morning, I swear I could hear them singing folk songs beneath the turf.
Kind regards,
Neil

No comments:

Post a Comment

Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

Most Visits