A NEW group has been set up to keep Trowbridge Cemetery looking its best all year round.

Friends of The Down Cemetery was set up by 53-year-old Robert Wall and had its first outing on Thursday (January 12), with 10 people tidying the graves in the pouring rain.

The group will meet on the second Thursday of every month to give the cemetery a spruce up and also to document fading inscriptions on people’s headstones for historical research.

Mr Wall, of Foxglove Drive in Hilperton, said: “A few years ago I saw a post on Facebook about people taking down inscriptions of headstones in a graveyard and wondered if I could do a similar thing in Trowbridge when I walked past the cemetery on my way to town.

“It took a while to get set up, mainly due to getting permission from the council, but I’m delighted that it’s now up and running and that 10 people came to the first meeting despite the harsh weather.

“Lots of the headstones in the cemetery are made from soft stone which means the inscriptions are fading away.

“We will write the inscriptions onto paper and eventually plan to transfer them onto a website so that they can be used for historical research.

“There’s a lot of local interest in that cemetery including Sir Roger William, who built the town hall, and some of the Knee family.”

Mr Wall said he would like to see even more volunteers at the next meeting on Thursday, February 9 to assist with preservation, conservation and headstone recording.

“To have 10 people come along on Thursday was great but there’s still a lot of work to be done so we’d love to see more faces,” he added.

“It’s not just a case of cleaning the cemetery every month, we also need people to take down inscriptions and write them up online. It’s a vast site with a lot of important people buried there.”

In the summer the group will also meet on Saturdays in addition to the monthly Thursday outings.

For more information, attend the group’s inaugural public meeting at 7.30pm on January 23, held at Paxcroft Mead Community Centre, or email Mr Wall on Robertw@fotdc.org