Last week members and friends attended a very interesting and informative talk about the war graves in the church graveyard by Brenda McMahon. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an intergovernmental organisation of 6 independent member states, whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members, who died in the two World Wars.First World War ( 1914-1918)Second World War ( 1939-1945)The graves are listed below.Private H.D Gibson 51st Btn Northumberland Fusiliers DOD 11/06/1918 Private H Crone Northumberland Fusiliers DOD 15/11/1916 age 28Private W Coulson 10th Btn East Yorks Reg DOD 6/10/1919 age 20Lance Corp Thomas McKenzie 10th Btn Durham Light Infantry DOD 25/12/1915Leading aircraftman Alan Richardson 602 Sqdn Royal Airforce volunteer reserve DOD16/5/1942 age 27Private Robert Redshaw Durham Light Infantry DOD 28/5/1940 age 25Private Alice Wilkinson Auxiliary Territorial Service DOD1/8/1945
On 7th and 12th June 2022 volunteers from St Andrew's , supported by Gateshead wildlife group (GWG) , carried out a survey of the flora found in the ancient burial ground. Books were provided by (GWC) to help with identification. It was a very interesting and absorbing task. Amazing to see how many different species were there. At a first glance lots of grasses looked the same but closer scrutiny showed subtle differences. Thank you to Marie and her team from (GWC) without whom the survey would not have been possible.
