By Mark Squibb | July 29, 2021
A Conservation Corps Green Team is busy this summer cleaning up and beautifying the Cape Broyle Immaculate Conception Cemetery.
Last year, a Green Team cleared brush, trees, and overgrowth in the cemetery. This summer, the team, consisting of Kelly Aylward, Dylan Francis, Nicholas Dalton, and Christina Aylward, is working to make the cemetery more accessible by filling dips and clearing pathways, while adding some new features to the cemetery.
“We’re beautifying the cemetery,” explained Kelly. “We’ve made two flower beds and are in the process of making a seating area.”
The team has also helped clean several gravestones.
Because of the delicacy of the stones, some of which may date to the mid-nineteenth century, earlier this summer the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador hosted a headstone cleaning session, conducted by Robyn Lacey and Ian Petty of Black Cat Cemetery Preservation.
“We ended up cleaning nine or 10 headstones,” said Dalton. “You use a brush and a chemical which sticks into the stone and cleans it over a couple of weeks, so over time it get brighter and brighter. It was a success overall. The headstones there now are looking a lot better than the way we found d them.”
Several residents from the community have also come out to lend a hand, or just to visit.
“People from the community have been really involved,” said Christina Aylward. “We’ve had a lot of people drop in and out for a visit, and they were really impressed with the headstone cleaning. They’re happy that we’re making the cemetery more accessible, because it is a really rough spot to try and get into to. It is a heritage site, so it’s nice to see it being taken care of and restored.”
In addition to the manual work, the team has to put together five community environmental awareness presentations. The program runs for about eight weeks.
“We are really having a lot of fun, it’s a great outdoor job, we get to be out in the open, as well as helping people in our community,” summarised Kelly Aylward.
