Friends of Barton Churchyard

NEWLETTER 4 ---------------------------- SPRING 2004

ANCESTRY WEEKEND

The Friends of Barton Churchyard are spearheading the Ancestry Weekend to be held on Saturday, 24th and Sunday 25th July 2004 to coincide with St. James' Day on the Sunday.

Book publication:
It is hard to believe that nearly three years have passed since the first meeting was held to discuss the recording of the memorial inscriptions in the church and churchyard. There were almost 50 volunteers at the first meeting and many have since joined the Friends of Barton Churchyard (founded on 1st June 2002 to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee) and there are now 135 members. All the effort of finding, cleaning and recording the gravestones is about to come to fruition with the publication of these details. Further information will follow very soon.

Help required:
Planning the Ancestry Weekend takes considerable time and effort and requires as much help as possible. We hope you will be willing to help in one or more of the following ways:

Churchyard working parties:
The churchyard will be the focus of the weekend and we need to make it as presentable as possible. Working parties are meeting every Saturday from 9.OOam -1.OOpm (weather permitting). Please join in the work of weeding, clipping, and tidying. Most of the work is lightweight. Please bring your own tools.

Flowering plants to mark visible graves:
The aim of placing flowers or flowering plants on every marked grave is a tremendous challenge. There are about 750 visible graves so a small group of three flowering plants on each grave requires 2,250 plants! Can you grow a number of colourful annuals or produce small bunches of cut flowers to make the churchyard a patchwork of colour for the weekend? Please let us know if you are going to tend specific graves. In an attempt to prevent vandalism, the plants will be set out on Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd July and this will need many helpers -- if you live in or near enough to Barton please do offer your support. Some plants will be set in the ground but others will need to be in tubs, pots or troughs.

Flower Festival:
A Flower Festival is being staged in the Church from 24th -27th July 2004 from 11.OOam - dusk: the theme "From Cradle to Grave". If you would like to sponsor a floral display, perhaps in memory of a loved one or to celebrate a birth or marriage, please contact Dr. Stephen Taylor for further details.

Services:
Were you baptized, confirmed or married in St. James' Church, Barton-underNeedwood? There will be a short celebration of suitable prayers and music for all with this link on St. James' Day, Sunday, 25th July 2004, at 3.30pm and will last about 30 minutes. It would be great to gather as many people as possible with such a connection: could you be the couple married the longest or the earliest to have been baptized? The celebration will be for all, but special emphasis will be given to those whose events occurred in St. James' Church. To bring the weekend to a conclusion there will be a service entitled "Prayer & Praise from Past to Present" celebrating worship and worshippers in Barton Parish Church across the centuries. This choral service will commence in the churchyard at 6.OOpm then move into the church. If you know that you have family members or ancestors who died long before you were born buried here, please make a special effort to come to this joyful Act of Remembrance.

Please let anyone who has Barton under Needwood connections know about these events!

Other attractions:
•  Scarecrow Festival - a competition for scarecrows with an historical theme throughout the village.
•  Teddy Bear Extravaganza with Bungee jumping from the church tower, Teddy Keneival Sky Rocket and one very special new ride this year. Bring your Teddy and his friends! All proceeds in aid of the Church Bell Restoration Appeal.
•  Newhall Brass Band Summer Concert, Saturday, 24th July 2004 at 7.30pm in the Parish Church: a varied concert of music in aid of the New Church Organ Appeal. Tickets: Adults £5 Children £3.
•  Family and Local History Fair.
•  Refreshments and Summer Fete in the Vicarage Garden.
•  Rural crafts in action.

AND MORE!
[In this instance, most of the monies raised by this event will be for general and other church funds and not for use in the churchyard] Please accept this as a personal invitation to ask you to help: please telephone Dr. Stephen Taylor on 01283 712593 or Peter Clark on 01283 713209.

Your stories! Your stories! Your stories!

A Friend Remembered - Marie Howard

When gathering the data on the inscriptions one gravestone suggested a tragic tale with a couple engaged to be married buried in the same grave in 1935. Further enquiry revealed that one of the Friends of Barton Churchyard was a friend of the young lady and her recollections are recorded here.

Marie Howard was a quiet, gentle girl. She was well known and it was a tragedy when she and her fiance Richard (Dick) Frederick Inwood died as the result of a motorcycle accident on their way to work in Burton. The accident occurred near 'The Halfway House', now gone, about half way between Barton Turns and Branston village. Dick died on 4th and Marie died the next day on 5th November 1935. Marie Howard lived in Wales Lane and her fiance lived in Victoria Street, Burton on Trent.

Marie was twenty years of age and Dick was twentyseven. They were both buried in Barton churchyard on 9th November 1935 and their headstone is the shape of an open book (see the accompanying photograph). Their grave is adjacent to that of Edwin Arthur and Hannah Edith Howard (known as Edith), Marie's parents. Marie was the youngest of the family.

    Some of the lead lettering
    on the right has fallen out

Edwin Arthur Howard was a coal merchant and delivered the coal by horse and dray. He died 13th [buried 17th] March 1945 at the age of 72 and his wife died on 23rd [buried 27th] December 1955, age 83.

Mrs. Noreen W. Upton

The 1901 census lists Arthur E. Howard in Bell Lane, then aged 28, a carrier ["& coal merchant" is crossed out] and a native of Long Eaton, Derbyshire. His wife Hannah E. Howard, also then 28, was born in Horninglow, Staffordshire. At that time they had a daughter Edith M. Howard, aged 5, and a son Arthur E. Howard, aged 1. The daughter was born in Burton on Trent but the son was born in Barton under Needwood. S. W. T.

More News

Website

A website for the Friends of Barton Churchyard has now been set up by the expertise of June and Jim Yardley's son-in-law Andrew Lewis, to whom we are very grateful. We can now publicise ourselves to the wider world and give details of the Ancestry Weekend in July to anyone who does not live in the Barton area. Have a look at it if you can at www.bartonchurchyard.co.uk and tell all your friends about it. There are also links to St James' Parish Church website. Anyone with any suggestions or ideas about what else to add to these sites is welcome to make their contribution.

(This has changed to the website you are on now)

Friends support path re-surfacing

The Parochial Church Council has had the two churchyard footpaths that lead to the Parish Council cemetery re-surfaced at a cost of £2,499.52. The Friends have made a contribution towards this work of £500. The paths were much in need of repair and were quite dangerous in places. The new paths are now very smooth and this also makes the walk through the churchyard both safer and more pleasant. At its most recent meeting, the Vicar and all PCC members expressed their gratitude to the Friends for this generous gift.

Notelets for sale

One of the Friends has produced some very attractive Notelets for sale in aid of the New Organ Appeal. These are in sets and consist of four beautiful colour photographs, two of the Church and two of the Churchyard. Sets are available in Church and at the Post Office, Main Street, Barton under Needwood for a minimum donation of £2.00 per set. Sets may be obtained by post from Dr. Stephen Taylor for a minimum donation of £2.50 per set (inc. postage and packaging). Cheques should be made payable to St. James Church Barton Organ Fund. This is a limited edition and is only available while stocks last so order immediately to avoid disappointment.

Subscriptions 2004

Subscriptions for the year 2004-2005 are due on 1st June by all Friends who joined prior to 1st January 2004. A numbered slip is enclosed with this Newsletter if a subscription is now due. Please return this slip with your payment. Receipts will no longer be issued unless specifically requested. Thank you for continuing to support the Friends of Barton Churchyard.

FBCY Contacts - for any information or comments:
Chairman: Dr. Stephen Taylor, 14 Station Road, Tel: 01283 712593
Editor: Peter Clark, 34 Oak Road, Tel: 01283 713209, stjamesbarton@tiscali.co.uk