Spring_2026 Newsletter

Hello to all our Cemetery Friends and Neighbours

Dear Members and Neighbours of Dean Road & Manor Road Cemetery

Very sadly we lost and said goodbye to our friend Liz Blades MBE who was an inaugural member of the Friends Group and worked tirelessly in the cemetery – a place she loved. We have written a tribute to her on page 2 of this newsletter.

As we come to terms with her loss, we are trying to regroup and look ahead. One thing is certain we need more people to become involved in helping the Friends Group and volunteers to help us maintain the valuable gardening work that has been carried out over the years.
We are a small Committee of four now and are looking for people who could help us organise events in the Cemetery, including opening the Dead House on a Sunday morning, helping with grave research, which can be intriguing and helping with fundraising events. We meet every six weeks for an hour, where we discuss the running of The Friends Group, put ideas forward and plan our events and regular sessions. If you could help us we would love to hear from you? If you have a couple of hours on the first Sunday of the month to help with Volunteer Gardening Work Parties (10 am – 12 noon) we provide you with a high viz waistcoat and appropriate tools for the job. Most work includes cutting back shrubs, weeding, raking and sweeping up. We also have volunteers who litter pick. The next session will be held on Sunday 5 April. Meeting at 09.50 am behind the Chapel.

Spring 2026

We are delivering this newsletter not only to all our members but also to all the streets surrounding Dean Road and Manor Road Cemetery to give the community a Cemetery update and also in the hope some of you are able to give a few hours to help us keep the Friends group going. Many of you will walk through the Cemetery, exercise your dogs or visit the many graves. It is a beautiful space, especially just now with the snowdrops just finishing, the colourful carpet of crocuses in full bloom and the proud yellow daffodils just starting to come into flower. Shortly the many varieties of trees in the Cemetery will bud and we will have a fabulous canopy of leaves for all to enjoy.

We are pleased to announce that the Sunday opening of the Dead House will start once more on Sunday 12 April (10 am -12 noon) for the sale of books and jigsaws only. Sadly, we will no longer have plants for sale, we are also stopping the sale of bric-a-brac until further notice.

We are not accepting book, jigsaw or bric-a-brac donations for the time being.

We will also be offering a ‘Find a Grave’ service, where you can put the details of the grave you are looking for on a form, we will then do the research and contact you with our findings and even show you where the grave is situated. This service will run alongside the Sunday opening.

Volunteers Spring 2026

We would like to thank Keith Norris of Plaxton Ltd for presenting the Friends Group with a cheque for £100 for which we are very grateful.

ELIZABETH BLADES MBE (Liz)

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Liz on Wednesday 28 January in Scarborough Hospital. Liz was an inaugural and an extremely active member of the Friends of Dean Road and Manor Road Cemetery. Not only was she our Treasurer and highly valued Committee member, Liz lead the Sunday Gardening Volunteers every month and was a constant presence on a Sunday morning.

Opening the Dead House, no matter what the weather to raise funds for the Cemetery, chat to locals who visited the stall and keeping all the fundraising donations in order. Liz was always actively involved, most often quietly working behind the scenes ensuring Dean Road and Manor Road Cemetery, a place she loved, kept a high profile in the community. She loved carrying out research within the Cemetery and not only helped many people find ‘lost’ graves of loved ones; she would often be seen during the summer months carrying out informative Cemetery Walks which she had researched herself: The Bombardment of Scarborough; Time Gentlemen Please (Pubs from the Bottom End, many long gone) and A Juggler and an Uncooked Lobster (a nod to her very quirky humour.) Hopefully, we can do these Walks justice in her memory one day.

Liz’s funeral was held on Thursday 26 February at St Mary’s Church, the acoustics within the church enhanced her choices of music for the service – Bridge Over Troubled Water, Nessum Dorma and Time to Say Goodbye to mention a few. It was a beautiful service and an absolute credit to her. Liz has been laid to rest in Manor Road Cemetery looking across to The Secret Garden, a place she loved and helped restore. We, her fellow Committee members and volunteers are still in shock at her loss. We have sent our love and condolences to Bill, her husband, and thank him very much for the donation we have received from the collection in Liz’s memory.

LIZ WILL BE MISSED BY US ALL

Please contact Linda Tomczak preferably by email or Facebook, details below,

or by mobile on 07789 691863 for more information on any of the issues raised
in this newsletter.

Email – lindatomcat@hotmail.co.uk
Website: www.deanandmanorrdcemetery.co.uk
Facebook: Friends of Dean Rd and Manor Rd Cemetery