Rest and recreation

I live near a cemetery.  It’s our nearest “open space” and we tend to use it as place for quiet walks on days that we don’t manage much else.   When I was on maternity leave and not enjoying the best of health, I frequently took my son for quieting buggy rides among the tombstones.  Of course, you do have to be careful and respectful.  Other users of burial grounds, i.e. the bereaved, especially the recently bereaved, can be in a lot of emotional distress, and our recreation needs to take back seat to their pain.

A couple of years ago, CABE (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) called for local authorities to include cemeteries in their green and open spaces strategies and to view them as places for the living as well as the dead.  And while I know it’s not everyone’s idea of a fun day out, our nearby cemetery has been a boon to us.

Lambeth Cemetery (“our” graveyard, owned by LB Lambeth and located in LB Wandsworth) seems to be largely managed in keeping with this philosophy.  Although it’s definitely still in use as both a burial ground and a crematorium, there are some grand old late Victorian tombs, war memorials and a monument dedicated to the civilian victims of the Blitz which are worth a visit.

One of the many fine memorials at Lambeth Cemetery

And once a year they hold an open day; yesterday was the fourth in the annual series and the best one yet (I’ve been to the past three.)

There’s some educational stuff, including tours of the cemetery which is the final resting place of many music hall greats.  There are exhibitions from vendors (memorial markers, colourful coffins, eco-burials) and funeral service providers.  You can take rides around the cemetery in fancy hearses.   I took my toddler on the horse drawn hearse ride, which he loved.  I thought it was pretty cool, too – and I didn’t even mind the commentary (Usually my passengers are quieter or  Not many riders get to tell the tale)

Return journey, please

The event isn’t well advertised and thus not as well-attended as it could be, which is a shame.  But there was a new set of visitors this year, probably attracted by the mini-train ride set up at the cemetery perimeter – kids.

Many were the kids who live on the tower block estate just across the street from the cemetery.   Most of them were unaccompanied by parents.  And they had a great time.  In some respects, it was a little heartbreaking to see how excited they were by the cemetery events.   I expect they don’t often get to take horse drawn carriage rides or get ferried around in a Rolls-Royce.   The undertakers showed them how to brush the horse and paint linament on their hooves to give it that extra shine.  There was cake and refreshments.  I overheard one young boy say “I wish every day could be like this.”

Cemeteries can be for the living as well as the dead and I congratulate Lambeth Council on a fine event.