Press Releases by Brookwood Cemetery Ltd
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and older postings
April 2008:
Thanking Mary Cockram
Managing
Director Erkin Guney was pleased to meet up with Mary Cockram at the end of
April.
Mary worked for the Company from 1980 through to 1997 as Company Secretary.
For most of this period
she worked alongside his father, Ramadan Guney,
who passed away in November 2006.
April 2008:
New Permanent Exhibition at the St Edward Brotherhood
The
official opening of the St Edward Brotherhood's new permanent exhibition took
place on the evening of 27 April.
Assisted by a grant from the
Heritage Lottery Fund, the exhibition interprets the story of the site along
with the life of St Edward the Martyr and how the brotherhood came to be based
in the cemetery.
The exhibition is usually
open to visitors on the Saturday and Sunday afternoons and at other times by
appointment. It is located in the old mortuary building, next to the St Edward
the Martyr church.

(Above) Part of the
new permanent exhibition in the old mortuary building, St Edward Brotherhood.
(Right) Father Niphon,
Mike Stonelake (designer of the exhibition), Archimandrite Alexis, Erkin Guney
and John Clarke at the official opening of the new exhibition.
April 2008:
Necropolis Railway Station
The Guardian Weekend
magazine of 5 April included an article called "Pretty Vacant". It
featured London buildings as reminders of bygone days. One of these was the
entrance to the old London Necropolis terminus at 121 Westminster Bridge Road
which was illustrated and described.
April 2008:
"Tales From the Country"
ITV1
broadcast a 10 minute documentary on Brookwood Cemetery on the evening of 3 April. Hosted by Tony
Francis it was part of the series called "Tales from the Country".
The complete series lasts 10 weeks, during
which Tony Francis and Selina Scott discover some of the weirdest and wonderful
stories which surround our daily lives - "the stories others overlook".
The series is shown across three of the ITV1
regions – London, Anglia and Central. It is produced by
Kingsfisher Television
Productions Ltd.
A Factsheet of the programme on Brookwood
Cemetery may be
viewed here.
March 2008:
Commemorating the Turkish Airmen
On
18 March the Turkish Ambassador, the Interior Minister, and other eminent guests
visited the Turkish Airmen's plot in Brookwood Cemetery.
They were accompanied
by Erkin Guney and Onder Guney, Directors of Brookwood Cemetery Ltd.
A short service of remembrance was held there. It was held
not only for the Turkish airmen commemorated in the plot but also the 27 members
of the Turkish Army who have lost their lives in Iraq.
The plot
contains the bodies of 14 members of the Turkish Air Force who were killed
during the Second World War.
The allotment also contains the mortal remains of
Arif Bey (1816-1836)
who died at Woolwich, and a commemorative plaque to the victims of the
1959 Gatwick air crash.
February 2008:
Celebrating 16 years of the Brookwood Cemetery Society
Cemetery
owner Erkin Guney presented Brookwood Society founders Mary Lucas and John
Clarke with birthday bouquets to celebrate the 16th birthday of the Society.
He said "I'm pleased to publicly thank Mary and John
for setting up the society 16 years ago. They have done so much to promote the
cemetery over the years and I'm keen to work with them and the society to make
further improvements across the site."

The flowers were presented at the grave of Ann
Cross, which was Mary's first project in the cemetery back in 1991. Her work
clearing rhododendrons from the memorial fired a fascination for the extensive
grounds and the society was born the following spring.
John described his colleague as the driving force
behind the society in the early years and added that the group was looking
forward to its new season of guided walks.
February 2008:
Proposed new Muslim Burial Ground
The
Woking News & Mail published an article about secret discussions for a new
Muslim burial ground in the borough. After a meeting of Woking Borough Council’s
executive last Thursday 7 February 2008 that a memorial site for Muslims in
Monument Road, Maybury, was being considered for use as a Muslim burial
ground. The proposed site is owned by the
Horsell Common
Preservation Society (HCPS) and is a listed Grade II monument.
It is unclear how this site will be adapted for
use as a burial ground, who will manage it, who will pay for it, and who will
deal with issues of vandalism. For the site is located outside Woking and
persistent vandalism resulted in the bodies of First World War soldiers buried
there being removed to Brookwood Military Cemetery in 1969. However when this
matter was previously reported in
February 2005, the same site was rejected for being too small and open to
vandalism.
The following week, the
Woking News & Mail
includes more feedback about the secret discussions for a new Muslim burial
ground in the borough. Much of the feedback concerns the unnecessary "behind
closed doors" session held by the Council where these proposals were discussed.
Melanie Guney,
Senior Manager of Brookwood Cemetery Ltd, stated "I think something like this
should be made available to all people. I would have gone to the meeting if I
had been allowed because it could have an impact on the cemetery. Even a court
of law is held in public so why shouldn't this meeting have been?"
Brookwood Cemetery Ltd had offered the Muslim
community the same special all-inclusive rates that are offered to all people
who are living within 17 miles of Brookwood (ie £2,500 for a burial or £1,600
for a woodland burial).
The cemetery incorporates all nationalities and
religions and can offer any community or religious group what we offer everyone
else.
In addition to the article, there are a couple of
interesting
comments by letter.
The following week the Woking News & Mail
published further correspondence about the proposed new muslim burial ground.
One correspondent applauds the newspaper's
coverage despite the council's attempts "to pile as much into Part 2 to keep it
out of the Woking residents' knowledge". Another letter describes the old muslim
burial ground and why it became necessary to move the soldiers into the safety
of Brookwood Cemetery, and goes on to ask "what is the need for another burial
site?".
A former councillor points out that Brookwood
Cemetery is available "for all denominations and nationalities of Muslims and
every other culture" and queries the allegation that burial at Brookwood is
expensive. "Nothing is free, not even death. Is the assumption that, should the
plot be opened for burial again, it would be free?"
February 2008:
Cut Flowers for Sale
We are now selling cut flowers from the
Cemetery Office. These are available at £3, £4 and £5, Flowers may also be
ordered through us.
February 2008:
Cemetery Sign Refurbished
The
Cemetery sign at the junction of Cemetery Pales and the A322, giving directions
to the cemetery and the Glades of Remembrance has been
refurbished and repainted.
We
hope this will assist visitors to the cemetery.
December 2007:
W11 Opera Produce "Shadowtracks"
Unique
amongst opera companies, W11 Opera for Young People casts only school-age
singers for each new opera it commissions every year. Entirely professionally
produced, the performances are a stunningly unusual musical event.
This year's production, which took place on the
weekend of 15-16 December, was called "Shadowtracks". Here librettist Christina
Jones and composer Julian Grant mingle past and present as the ghostly
Necropolis train breaks down, bringing a collection of ghosts and memories onto
the station concourse.
Based on Brookwood Cemetery's former
railway funeral service, the opera provided a
vivid and moving mixture of fact and fiction, and of stories left behind in the
shadows of the railway tracks through time.
You can read more about
Shadowtracks here.
December 2007:
New Memorial Commemorating Thomas Hawksley (1807-1893)
A
new memorial has been placed on the grave of
Thomas Hawksley in
plot 31. Sponsored by MWH Global, the granite
memorial was put in place in time for members of the company to pay their
respects on 5 December.
MWH is a global engineering, technology and consulting services company
offering skills in engineering technology, business
consultancy, engineering design, pipeline design and construction. Its UK
origins go back to Thomas Hawksley’s water engineering practice (established in
London in 1844), and John Watson’s pioneering wastewater treatment work (begun
in 1910).
Since 2007 marks the bicentenary of
Thomas Hawksley's birth,
the company felt it appropriate to place a permanent memorial on the grave.
Previously there had been no memorial on what is a large private family plot in
Brookwood Cemetery.
In connection with the bicentennial
celebrations, MWH released a DVD highlighting Thomas Hawksley's career and the
projects the company is currently involved in. They also released a
commemorative booklet celebrating his life and times.
The granite memorial was made by
Tudor Rose Memorials.
November 2007: President Václav Klaus´ visit to
the Military Cemetery
President
of the Czech Republic HE Mr Václav Klaus and his wife Livia paid a visit to the
Czechoslovakian Military Cemetery during their official visit to the United
Kingdom (7-9 November, 2007).
After arrival on Wednesday 7 November,
President Klaus paid a tribute to the Czechoslovak servicemen who fought in
Battle of Britain. He laid a wreath at the memorial for the Czechoslovak
servicemen in the presence of ten veterans who had arrived from all over the
United Kingdom.
November 2007: New Green Burial Area Named "Gillian's Meadow"
We
are pleased to announce that our green burial area has been officially named
"Gillian's Meadow". It is named after Gillian King, who died in 2000, and was
the first person to be buried in this new area of the cemetery.
November 2007:
New Cemetery Sign
A
new cemetery sign has been erected at the entrance on Cemetery Pales. This
replaces the very old and battered sign that dated from the late 1940s.
It has been constructed from solid pine with the lettering in white plastic and
is designed to be durable and low maintenance. We hope this sign will assist all
visitors to Brookwood Cemetery.
It was fitted by L.F. Fisci
of Garden Maintenance (Tel. 01276 508544 or 07956551281).
October 2007:
St Anne's Westminster
Earlier this year, the missing pair of obelisks
for St Anne's Westminster were rediscovered in the cemetery grounds. They used
to mark the entrance to the unconsecrated section for St Anne's Westminster
which was designated as a private family plot following the passage of the
Brookwood Cemetery Act (1975).
The obelisks have since been temporarily but publicly re-sited inside the entrance
to the Glades of Remembrance.
This pair were removed from their original
location in the late 1970s, and are in a better condition than the pair in the
former Church of England section (plot 1) that form an entrance feature to the
Bagh E Zehra
burial ground.
Pending a final decision on their location, the
obelisks will be restored and repainted. Surviving paint fragments show that
they were previously painted green.
October 2007: Funeral of Zdenka Pokorna
The
ashes of Zdenka Pokorna (1905 -2007) were buried in the Czechoslovakian "annexe"
of Brookwood Cemetery on Sunday 28 October.
Zdenka Pokorna was a teacher and an unswerving
patriot who was hailed on her 90th birthday as the "living conscience of the
century" by the Czechoslovakian Government.
She challenged the Habsburg, Nazi and Soviet
occupations of her homeland and was forced into exile in 1948. She spent the
rest of her long life in Britain from where she continued her campaigning.
Her obituary from The Times
may be read here.
We have posted further
photographs of Zdenka Pokorna here.
October 2007: Meeting of the Directors
The
Directors of Brookwood Cemetery Ltd would like to thank everyone for their
sympathy and support following the death of their father
Ramadan Guney last year.
At their recent meeting at the cemetery, the
Directors fully approved the recent developments and improvements undertaken by
the Managing Director Erkin Guney. They also reviewed and approved the
future plans for further enhancements to the site, designed to make Brookwood
even more attractive to clients and visitors alike.
October 2007: Inauguration of the Three Wheels Buddhist Stupa of
Namu-Amida-butsu
The inauguration of the
Three Wheels Buddhist Stupa
took place on Sunday 7 October. You can also download a copy
of the relevant
Three Wheels News, which includes a fuller account of the ceremony.
The
Stupa is located in plot 36 and
is close to the graves of four Japanese students who died in London about 140
years ago. For the Three Wheels this site has been an enduring symbol of
Anglo-Japanese friendship.
The construction of the Stupa came about in the
summer of 2007, under the supervision of Masayuki Ogawa. The Stupa is
designed to contain the ashes of departed Buddhists. It was constructed in plot
36 of Brookwood Cemetery. The project originated in a bequest by Reverend
Zenko, a Zen Priest who died on 19 February 2007. The Venerable Chimyo
Takehara decided that, as the best way to use the bequest, it should go
towards building a Stupa, and this idea was warmly welcomed by Reverend Zenko
before he died.
Over the summer, Mr Masayuki Ogawa, a
Japanese garden designer from Kyoto, and six other Dharma friends flew to London
to start work on the site. The central granite monument was carved in Kyoto by
Mr Kinzo Nishimura, the best stonemason in Japan. The beautiful
calligraphy inscribed on the granite was executed by the Venerable Chimyo
Takehara, modelled on Shinran Shonin's own writing of Namu-Amdia-butsu.
Under the Stupa is a rectangular space
surrounded by panels of grey granite where the ashes of the deceased can be
placed. The names of the deceased will be set down on a traditional Japanese
scroll by means of the ancient craft of kirikane.
The service took place around the Stupa and
included Dharma friends and Gagaku musicians. Guests then moved on to the graves
of the four Japanese students (now within the Serbian Cemetery) and went on to
visit the grave of
Professor
Alexander Williamson (1824-1904) of
University College London who did so
much to promote the wellbeing and welfare of these students.
August 2007: Funeral of Captain David Hicks
The
funeral of Captain David Hicks took place on Thursday 30 August with full
military honours.
Captain Hicks, of the 1st Battalion
The Royal Anglian Regiment, died on 11 August following an attack on his
patrol base north east of Sangin, Helmund Province, Afghanistan.
He died from shrapnel wounds after refusing to abandon his
men to seek medical attention during the frontline battle with the Taliban.
Captain Hicks has been nominated for the Victoria Cross in
recognition of his bravery in Afghanistan.
The official Ministry of Defence communiqué reporting the
death of Captain Hicks may be
read here.
July 2007: New Cemetery
Gates
We are providing new security gates at the cemetery entrances. These are situated outside
Brookwood Station and at the entrances off Cemetery Pales. Work on these should
be completed by mid-September. All gates will be locked at 7pm and unlocked
at 7am daily.
June 2007: John Sergeant
visits Brookwood Cemetery
In connection with filming for a short
piece for BBC1's The One Show,
John Sergeant visited the cemetery on 27 June.
He interviewed Erkin Guney and
other members of cemetery staff for a piece that is scheduled to be broadcast in
August or September 2007.
Our photograph shows John Sergeant with
John Clarke after the filming had been completed, and another of John Sergeant
with Erkin Guney and John Clarke.

May 2007: New
Arrangements for Walks in the Cemetery
Brookwood Cemetery is a privately owned
and managed burial ground and it is a courtesy to seek permission to explore the
grounds. Over the years this has rarely happened and so the Company is
introducing the new procedures for all guided walks in the
cemetery. Follow this link for further information.
Potential visitors are reminded of the
programme of monthly walks arranged through us with the
Brookwood Cemetery
Society. These take place on the first Sunday of the month and start at 2pm.
Further details of these walks are
posted here.
May 2007: Cemetery
Restoration Fund
To
support a number of proposed restoration projects, Brookwood Cemetery Ltd has
opened a restoration fund. This will be used entirely for the repair of
particular memorials or sections of the cemetery. Our first project
will be to restore the lake in the
Glades of Remembrance and we are currently seeking
funds to assist us in completing this project. It is estimated the work will
cost between £7,000 - £10,000. Further details of the lake may be
found here. Our leaflet on "Save
Brookwood Cemetery" may be found here.
Donations are welcome at any
time. Cheques should be made payable to "Brookwood Cemetery Restoration Fund"
and sent to the address at the foot of this page. For further information about
this fund, please contact the Cemetery Office.
For older press releases and related
information, see our
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