Blog
Remembering You
Grave Tending
Call us on: 07815 462275
mail@rememberingyou.org.uk
Remembering You Grave Tending often copied but never bettered.
Flowers on Graves: A Tradition of Remembrance
In this poignant segment of Talk Radio, we delve into the deeply human tradition of laying flowers on graves. Host Ian Collins and special guest Linda Magistris from the Good Grief Trust explore the emotional, cultural, and historical significance of this act of remembrance. We examine why, even in our modern world, this simple gesture holds such power for those grieving the loss of loved ones.
Happy Halloween
Birmingham’s Forgotten Cemeteries : A Call to Action
‘I am fighting for Birmingham’s cemeteries, our loved ones deserve to truly rest in peace’ A local campaigner claims cemeteries are rife with overgrown grass, litter and neglected gravestonesA local campaigner claims cemeteries are rife with overgrown grass, litter and neglected gravestones. Read the full interview with Birmingham Mail below
Winter Comes to an End
Well, that’s February over and done with and what a month it was Remembering You had three of its cemetery maintenance contracts renewed and also gained five new customers.
So as winter comes to an end bear in mind that we have Mother’s Day, Easter and Ramadan all in March this year.
The Power of a Shout Out on Radio
Happy New Year and Happy Birthday to us! This year Remembering You Grave Tending celebrates eighteen years of trading. During January Remembering You continued to gain new customers, however, with two storms and a good few day of continuous temperatures in the minus figures we are running a little behind.
We also had a mention on Heart 80s, they were featuring the most unusual business of the day, and we won! Please listen to the clip below;
December 2023
Welcome to Remembering You’s Decembers blog. The first thing to do is to say that I hope you all had a good Christmas and hope you all have good 2024. December for Remember you was the busiest in my trading history which is some seventeen years. There where over one hundred individual tendings, eighty five Christmas arrangements, over ninety bunches of artificial flowers and over fifty bunches of real flowers.
Geography wise the tendings started in Benson in Oxfordshire and finished in Malvern in Worcestershire, with tendings in-between in such places as Wales, Rochdale, Middlewich, Birmingham, Walsall, Lecisester, Newport Pagnell, Flitwick, Speen and various other places.
Remembering You also welcomed three new customers in December all of which were over the moon with their first tendings.
As we move in to 2024 Remembering You looks forward to interacting with you all about your grave tending requirements but will be doing things slightly differently to make your experience even more seamless, for example Christmas grave tendings will take place from the beginning of December through to the December 20th 2024.
May 2023
Why Graves sink
When the funeral has finished and the deceased as be laid to rest, our thought often wonder to the next stage in the process of erecting a memorial this can be a flat plaque into the ground, a headstone or a full grave depending upon which section your loved one is laid to rest.
A grave which has been reopened or a new grave which has been freshly dug needs time to settle which is why most grave diggers leave a mound the full length of the hole so should sinking occur it won’t be noticed.
How long does it take for a Grave to settle?
The majority of cemeteries, graveyards or burial authorities recommend a period of 6 – 18 months before erecting a memorial on the grave. In some Cemeteries it is now possible to have a headstone erected straight away onto a concrete lath the runs the length of the cemetery.
If the headstone Is erected to early the headstone it will started to lean forward or list backwards because of the shrinkage and compacting of the soil inside the grave.
After the Burial
Once the funeral as been completed the grave is back filled using the soil which was originally taken from it as previously mentioned the grave digger will leave a mound of soil on top of the burial plot higher than ground level with sods of grass on top again taken when the hole was dug. This is to protect the soil form the elements and stop the loose soil from being washed away.
Older Graves Plots that have Sunk (Reader discretion advised)
The soil on top of the casket is very heavy and over the years the makeup of the soil can be altered by periods of dry weather, wet weather and other weather extremes leading to air traps within the plot causing the plot to sink The main contributor to sink age in older memorials is the casket deteriorating and ultimately collapsing causing the ground to sink.
What Causes the Subsidence?
When the grave is dug whether this be a new plot or a reopening the soil is placed on boards next to the hole at the end of the service the soil is put back into the hole but as the soil is misshapen small air pockets are created and overtime time as the air escapes and as gravity pushes down on the newly filled hole so sink age occurs.
How Remembering You Grave Tending can help.
Remembering You Grave Tending prides its self on a complete package of making your loved ones memorial look clean tided and cared for this can be from tending the memorial to levelling the ground in front of the memorial and may be adding turf or grass seed to the area.
January’s BBC Radio Podcasts
BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester
Remembering You Grave Tending April 2022
Continuing the history of Remembering You Grave Tending.
I am often asked how Remembering You gained its customers.
Back in the days of dial up internet there were only two main social media sites, Friends Reunited and My Space. With Friends Reunited, you could for example select a school and year of leaving, so, I went through all the schools in the area and just selected a year and went back from there. This is how I got my first customer, Sir John Chalstery , who remained a customer right up to his recent passing.
During this time a local BBC radio station (BBC Radio WM) were featuring unusual business in the area. The presenter was Danny Kelly and I remember the airwaves falling silent when I explained what I did, but then the phone didn’t stop ringing. During the 00’s I was interviewed by all the popular presenters on their shows, such names as Ed Doolen, Joanne Malin, Phil Upton, Graham Torrington, Caroline Martin and Mollie Green .
At this point the business was picked up by a local Radio station then called “The Bridge” by Dr Paul Collins, who, over the years has been a good friend to Remembering Grave Tending. The Bridge, has now been renamed Black Country Radio and I was interviewed on there a few months ago.
April was an exceptionally busy month for Remembering you Grave Tending with over ninety six Easter grave tendings in locations over the Midlands, i.e Manchester, Leicester, Worcestershire and Staffordshire and more.
Remembering You Grave Tending
March 2022 Blog
For my March blog I wanted to share a little history of Remembering You Grave Tending
My business was initially started in 2004 on a part time basis. At that time I was employed by a major printing company based in the West Midlands, as Sales Manager. Having been in sales for a number of years I decided it was time for a change, but didn’t know which path to go down.
As we approached Christmas that year, I was tending family graves in Dudley Cemetery, when I noticed a lady in her senior years, dropped off at the narrow entrance by Community Transport, making her way slowly to a grave, then literally dropping her lovely flowers on the ground, where she stood for a while, presumably with private heartfelt thoughts, before slowly making her way back to the entrance and the transport.
I walked over to the stone she had visited, and arranged the flowers to look a little neater. I noticed the inscription on her stone, “REMEMBERING YOU” A dream became an idea and a company was born , REMEMBERING YOU GRAVE TENDING
This month Remembering You has been nationwide tending Graves including Birmingham, Oldham, Manchester, Rochdale, Wolverhampton, Leicestershire and welcomed new Customers who have wanted a deep clean but wanting Remembering You to return quarterly to keep it looking clean and also new customers wanting me to attend on a regular basis as they cannot attend.
As we close March and go in to April Remembering you hopes all those who are celebrating Easter a Happy Easter and a good bank holiday. Should you wish to contact Remembering You my phone will be on during the holiday period.
Part Two next month
January 2022
First of all Remembering You Grave Tending would like to wish you all a peaceful and happy 2022. In January Remembering You gained a new customer in Exeter so we are pushing ever further south.
Have you seen and do you follow Remembering You Grave Tending on Instagram take a look at rememberingyougrave to see lots of images on there you won’t see here.
December 2021
December was a really busy month for Remembering You Grave Tending completing some 96 tendings across the UK. Remembering You would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2022.
November 2021
Welcome to Novembers blog, well Remembering You again goes from strength to strength working in three new cemeteries Kenilworth, Greater Malvern and Kingsley with each of those customers leaving me fantastic testimonials.
The high light of the month has to be Remembering You winning a gold award from the Lichfield diocese for the management of one of its Cemeteries, but I do have to say this could not have been achieved without the help of two fantastic voluntaries.
August 2021
This month Remembering You extended its services to Burnley and had pleasure tending two memories belonging to a religious order.
Remembering You gained another international customer based in Canada who has a young loved one laid to rest within a local cemetery.
As we draw closer to the festive period Remembering You is now taking bookings for Christmas Tendings. All customers who wish for a specific date during the holiday season should contact me as soon as possible so this can be arranged.
July 2021
July was the all change at Remembering You Grave Tending, when Remembering You first came on to the marketplace (many years ago) it was using a company called Mr Site for its Web Hosting and Email, but they have recently taken over and the new organisation put their prices forward quite substantially, so now a local company called Five12 Design based in the West Midlands is hosting both the Remembering You Website and email package.
Also Remembering You is proud to announce that it was recently awarded another cemetery maintenance contract in the West Midlands Area and also now in tending graves in Somerset and in Rochdale.
May
May saw lots of interesting changes for Remembering You. Remembering You is working with a major cleaning company testing a range of new stone cleaning products. The main types of stone found in graveyards and cemeteries are either Marble, Granite and stone called Nebraska each one of these stones require a different product.
Also in May Remembering You Grave Tending expanded in to Bedfordshire where a family only wanted Remembering You to look after their family memorial.
April 2021
This blog starts with Remembering Grave Tending offering its condolences to Her Majesty the Queen with the loss of her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh who passed away on the 9th April 2021.
April was a busy month for Remembering You Grave Tending, with my company going into many new graveyards such as Worcester and Fladbury. Remembering You also extended its international reach with a new customer in Germany who now has a memorial tended every quarter.
February 2021
Towards the end of 2020 Remembering You Grave Tending was approached by four students from Farnham University (creative arts) who were studying peoples attitude to death and graveyards and here is the final result.
January 2021
Welcome to the first of the monthly blogs for Remembering You Grave Tending. There are going to be some exciting and slightly unnerving changes coming in 2021 the first and most obvious one is my new website. My original website was hosted by a company called Mr Site whom had been hosting it for 13 years but in the latter half of 2020, Mr Site was taken over and the new hosting company put their prices forward drastically. So the new site has been re-designed and hosted by Graham who owns Five12 Design #five12designuk based in the West Midlands (Whom I can highly recommend). The next thing that is changing is my Facebook Page it is going to show lots of pictures my old work from years gone by and all of my new work. The main thing I want to share with you is that April/May time my email address is going to be changing (I told you it was unnerving) but all existing customer are going to be notified prior to this. As foot note if you have come across my site, because you are looking for a grave tending company, Remembering You Grave Tending covers the whole of the UK and I am more than happy to quote for regular scheduled tending or may be just that one off deep clean. Finally if your on instagram please follow me and I will follow you back.Wishing you all a belated Happy 2021
Contacting Us
Telephone: 07815 462275
E-Mail: mail@rememberingyou.org.uk
For international customers Whats App is also available please email me, for more details.
