The Diocese of Leeds DAC, in conjunction with their Diocesan Environment Officer and a number of other organisations from around the country, has organised a day conference on Caring for your Churchyard on Friday 6th September, 10.00am to 4.00pm at St Chad’s, Headingley, Leeds LS16 5JT. This will cover crucial legal aspects of managing churchyards alongside exciting new projects and ways of making the most of your churchyard.
The conference is of interest to anyone who has responsibility for a churchyard and will cover the following areas:
Legalities of churchyards – the Leeds Diocesan Registrar will talk through all the legalities of looking after your churchyard. This will include how to approach the problem of families who wish to have a memorial stone which falls outside the churchyard regulations; how to create a new area for cremated remains or extend your churchyard; the responsibilities of looking after a closed churchyard and which works the Local Authority is legally obliged to undertake to maintain the churchyard; the responsibilities of looking after an open churchyard including trees and boundary wall issues; and some of the legalities around new development of churchyards for increasing biodiversity.
National Burial Ground Survey – this is an exciting new project being piloted in Yorkshire and launched at this conference, to map all churchyards in the diocese to show the exact location of memorial stones and other churchyard features. The team behind the project will show how this information can be used to create a ‘virtual map’ of your churchyard with each memorial stone photographed and recorded. The benefits of this is a management tool for churchyard maintenance will also be outlined.
The Beautiful Burial Ground - A representative from Caring for God’s Acre will advise on how to explore new ways of developing your churchyard to make it a more attractive place for visitors, including increasing biodiversity.
The day will also include case studies from two churches in the Leeds diocese and practical talks on identifying and conservation of trees and how to produce a ‘forest church’ service.
This is going to be a packed day with talks aimed a range of different interests.
The cost is £15 per person which includes a sandwich lunch.
To book your place, please go to their Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/caring-for-your-churchyard-conference-tickets-64613000223