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.
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
You put a lot of elbow grease into cleaning it! I hope the special stone cleaning spray will work even better.
ReplyDeleteTrue story? Perhaps you couldpaint or spray on some kind of protective coating so the stone doesn't balcken again?
ReplyDeleteFriendship extends beyond all borders, doesn't it.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed. I have never even visted my own grandparents graves, let alone clean the grave of a neighbour? friend?
ReplyDeleteHeadstone maintenance is a good reason for cremation
What a kind thing to do. I had a similar job 2 years ago when i visited Berlin and found my great grandparents' graves, but all I had was wet wipes to clean 9 decades of moss and lichen!
ReplyDeletePeroxide?
ReplyDeleteMr pudding. You are indeed a very fine human being. Xx
ReplyDeleteWhat can I say but, nice.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely thing to do. I've watched those gravestone cleaners online and amazed at the results so hopefully you'll have similar success.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to have final resting place to visit. There are professional headstone cleaners and restorers. I keep a photo of Jean's grave on my phone.
ReplyDeleteThat does indeed look like a tough job. I regularly (in summer) clean the front of a headstone on a grave belonging to great grandparents in the cemetery close to where I live, but no fungus involved and I have only used soapy water and a brush
ReplyDeleteWow, a lot of elbow grease went into cleaning the headstone. That was a very thoughtful thing to do, and this was a wonderful post to read.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this, thank you for helping.
ReplyDeleteYou are a very good man, Mr. Pudding.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why that stone in particular seems to be supporting the fungal growth, and other stones in the background seem to be clean. Perhaps the others have already been cleaned?
ReplyDeleteYou have got a good start at cleaning it and hope the solution you buy will get the job done. I won't have a tombstone for anyone to worry about.
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely. It reminds me of so many countries where ancestors are celebrated and headstones are kept up. Well done.
ReplyDeleteChanging the subject
ReplyDeleteI think you should repeat this post
https://beefgravy.blogspot.com/2017/12/awards.html