THE CHURCH CLOCK

No I haven’t got a problem. I am ticking along quite nicely, thankyou. As I am the only part that has one, the church building has asked me to voice a big thank you to the Council people at Swadlincote.

I expect you have noticed the nice new path from the main steps to the porch door and up through the churchyard to the Almshouse’s Bakewell gate and then along the railing from Church Hill to Ivan Way. This is all thanks to the Council. It may come as a surprise to learn that the responsibility for the upkeep of the paths does not lie with my carers. The ground in which we stand is what is known as a ‘closed churchyard’ and is in the care of South Derbyshire District Council. Some years ago the gravestones that stood over the graves in the churchyard were sympathetically removed and carefully stood along the almshouse wall of the cemetery at the top of Ivan Way.

The new path has come as a great relief to pedestrians and to those on wheels and especially to the pall-bearers wheeling coffins to our porch door. Our carers are also very pleased as it helps toward their plans to welcoming more newcomers to enjoy all the services and functions that they organise. A viewing screen has already been installed to supplement books and service sheets that will be extremely helpful to those not familiar with the pattern of the services.

Looking down on the path from the main steps we have admired how the colour of the ground cover geraniums has been accentuated by the blackness of the paths. They have been particularly abundant this year. For the gardeners you may like to know that they are a variety called Claridge Druce, named by George Claridge Druce (1850 – 1932) a botanist and author of the Flora of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire and a past mayor of Oxford.

September 2024