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Federation of Cemetery Friends AGM

Newbury Hosts National Meeting

We hosted the AGM of the National Federation of Cemetery Friends on Saturday 11th June in the Phoenix Centre. Delegates came from across England, Scotland and Wales and were impressed by our welcome (of course) and by the facilities of the Phoenix Centre.

The event was opened by the new mayor Julian Swift-Hook who gave a short introduction to the history of the town of Newbury. Brian Sylvester presented an overview of the Cemetery Company and the work of the Friends. The group then walked down to the cemetery where we had three different tours on offer: Introductory (Yvonne Paris), Commonwealth War Graves (Brian Sylvester) and Angels, Artists and Authors (Trisha Whitaker). It was our railings that caused most interest; comments were made about how beautiful they are and amazement that they had not been taken away in World War 2.

Co-operatve Funeral Care provided a delicious cold buffet lunch and then the serious business began. All in all a successful event by one of the smallest cemeteries in the Federation.