Alderley Edge Cemetery

The Parish Council has been ‘on the case’ of the cemetery, following complaints from A.E. people.
A report was produced, after a visit on May 30th, by Parish Councilors, to inspect the cemetery.
Meetings have been held with Cheshire East Officers.
The cemetery is already looking tidier and improved; following a meeting today (Oct. 23rd.) between two of the C.E. Officers and Councilors Joseph & Herald a further list of improvements have been agreed.
Once the works have been completed, there will be a great need for a ‘Friends of A.E. Cemetery’ group. Quite apart from the cemetery itself, there is perhaps much interest in the wildlife of the cemetery e.g. barn owls, little owls, blue tits, bats, badgers, rabbits etc. etc.
If anyone is interested, please let me know and I’ll be happy to put you in touch with the relevant Officer.
Duncan Herald

It’s a shame that C/E never made improvements to the footpath leading to the cemetery, it’s still impossible for a wheelchair user to safely go from Alderley Edge !

Hi Jon,
I had a walk along the footpath today…the worst bit I thought was from where Chorley Hall Lane meets Ryleys Lane, as far as where Ryleys Lane becomes Chelford Rd. I doubt that length of footpath has been swept/cleaned for some time! You’d be hard pressed to tell there was even a footpath underneath the fallen foliage! I’ll pass this on to Highways etc. Hopefully it’ll get dealt with soon.
Duncan Herald

Jon…are you content with the cleaning up of the pavements leading to the cemetery?
As for the possible formation of a ‘Friends of the Cemetery’ group; so far 4 volunteers have come forward…roll up, roll up and join in?
Duncan Herald

Duncan, the issue of the pavement between Rileys School and the cemetery was raised on here at least four months ago in a thread that you were involved in. It’s a bit dissapointing to hear that, on the 8th November, you acknowledge the problem.

Now,(mid November) we see that action has been taken by Cheshire East and the path has been cleared and access has improved considerably.

Without wishing to sound cynical, It’s not practical to walk to the cemetery on dark November / December / January evenings, but let’s hope that the path is maintained in good condition so that it can be used all year round.

Ooh, and one other little thing…can we please get rid of those ridiculous pill-box things that have the sole purpose of displaying a deregulation 30mph sign? They make pedestrians, trying to cross a busy road invisible to traffic and will cause a fatality. They are currently sited at the junction of Chorley Hall Lane / Rileys lane and at the crest of the hill on Macclesfield Road - both locations were walkers are crossing the road - LETHAL!

Thanks Duncan, I am not disabled but I will only be 100% happy with that footpath when it’s wheelchair safe and the route (from the school) is safe, it’s not at the moment due to car parking on what footpath there is and the need to re-surface the path.

Alan…just because I didn’t mention a particular matter here doesn’t mean that we were not already chasing Cheshire East; the Parish Council ‘gets onto’ C.E. rather a lot but we don’t always ‘brag’ about it e.g. we are trying to get them to remove not-needed signs from the village and perhaps getting yellow lines on Ryleys Lane etc etc We try to ‘do good’ quietly! (‘cos we’re a modest little group!).
I’ll try to go look at the ‘pill-box things’; can’t say I’ve noticed them but if a member of the public brings something to our attention, we will at least ‘go look’; whether we can get ought done remains to be seen.
Jon…we can but nag on with C.E.
‘Friends of the cemetery’ volunteers still needed; come on and ‘play’ with your peer group?
A general reminder please, that the Parish Council doesn’t ‘own’ highways, signs etc. so what we do is try to present to C.E. detailed ideas and sometimes costings and then urge ‘them’ to do it; sometimes it works and sometimes its head on brick wall!
Duncan Herald

Today I visited the cemetery along with a C.E. Officer; to monitor what has been done in the last 3 months.
The cemetery is looking so much better; mown & trimmed & cleaned & tidied etc.
The first headstones have been re-errected.
A third chap has been drafted in and is pretty much full time in A/E Cemetery now.
We are quite close to a first meeting of the ‘Friends of the Cemetery (thanks to Georgina Speake for that).
Many of the benches have been cleaned, re-stained and varnished; thanks to the families for that.
The weeded and re-planted flower beds by the entrance are an improvement.
We are working on getting some large/moveable planters in place: the delay so far has been the cost of buying planters that are large enough not to be stolen and robust enough not to be vandalised…what do you think of using half-barrels?
Still much to do, but we’re getting there!
Duncan Herald

Small improvement…as of tomorrow (supposedly) there will be two half-barrels, filled with flowering plants, outside the entrance to the cemetery…the Parish Council paid for the half-barrels (approx. £50…from ‘Ned Yates Garden Centre’) and C.E. pay for the compost, the plants & cementing the two half-barrels into the ground (hopefully that will thwart the thieves and/or vandals!).
Onwards & Upwards…Duncan Herald