Not So Grave News # 14

A Newsletter for the Friends of Not so Grave News Cathays Cemetery o June 2018 Issue N 35 Spring gets there in the end It could be a description of what happens when you get older – slow to get going, but getting there in the end. Spring carried on where Winter left off, with an absence of warmth or sustained sunshine. The result was that natural The exception to the blooming success of the events ran about 2-3 weeks behind the season was the foxglove trees. The older tree timetable that, in recent years, seemed to have has had the least blossom in memory, while its become the custom. But eventually some child had none at all. The flower buds form in warmer, sunnier spells saw things catching up the autumn and are then dormant through the although, at the time of writing, flowers and winter, but it is a characteristic of the tree blossoms are still appearing about a week late. that, if the temperature drops below 5C for too But this is not all bad news. There has still been long, no flowers will develop in spring. While the a glorious succession of blooms and most winter was generally mild, the 'Beast from the flowers have enjoyed a prolonged life. For East' in March seems to have left a legacy that example, primroses have been enchanting us only became apparent in May. through five successive months. It has been At the end of last year, many bulbs were nice to see that these flowers have been quick planted in the area just inside the main to colonise more recently cleared areas. Or entrance. Some of the planting was done by the perhaps they have just been dormant or unseen Friends during a workday, while other bulbs in the undergrowth. Whatever the reason, were put in by young people as part of their anyone who has walked around the Cemetery Duke of Edinburgh Award programme. The regularly has been well rewarded. One of the pictures below show off the results - hyacinths best areas to see all this is the eastern end of in the border beside the lodge (easily missed Section K, around the end of April, where wood unless you know when and where to look!) and anemones and primroses carpet the ground. tulips around the memorial to those who 'bequeathed themselves to medical science'. Primroses and anemones in Section H and primula/primrose clump in Section R Primula, the hybrid relative of the primrose, has long been a popular plant used for adorning the graves of the deceased. These have both spread and further hybridised with the native wild flowers, with pleasing effect. As usual, there has been a succession of blossoms to enjoy. As an example, the picture below shows a magnolia in Section S, close to the Whitchurch Road boundary. Friends TOPICAL During a recent workday, much of the effort was devoted to clearing the untidy mass of shoots and branches which had developed all around the bottom metre or so of the trunk of the large tree, in the most westerly corner of Section N. It came as some surprise just a few days later to find a twin of the tree in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, with an information board in front of it, describing it as a hairy lime. Had we inadvertently vandalised a rare tree? Subsequent research found no references to the hairy lime, though plenty of suggestions that we really meant the character played by Perhaps the ducks were looking for a nice juicy Orson Wells in “The Third Man”. It appears meal, like the one pictured below. On a humid that the charity which runs the park is not morning, this rather pretty slug (well, in the above having a joke at the expense of visitors. world of slugs, it is more attractive than most!) was seen in the Cemetery and had us searching We are pretty confident that our tree is a the internet. It is a Leopard Slug and its common lime, one of several in the Cemetery. If scientific name, Limax maximus, tells us that it you look at the row alongside Allensbank Road, is one of the biggest. The one we saw wasn't you can see that the sprouting of shoots around very big, but they can reach more than 6” long.. the bottom of the trunk is a characteristic of It is most commonly associated with broad- this tree, though usually to a more modest leaved woodland, parks and gardens and it feeds extent. Known as epicormic growth, buds under mainly on fungi and dead plant and animal the bark sprout through, forming new shoots. matter, so is not considered a pest by most These are not, of course, the fruit bearing gardeners. limes of Mediterranean climes. The leaves are loved by aphids, which feed on the sap, but ooze a sticky fluid. Lime is an old word for sticky. If you have ever parked your car under a lime tree in summer, you will know just how sticky the aphid ooze is. Six years ago, we reported a pair of ducks courting in the Cemetery. They have been spotted once or twice since and appeared again this year. While we can't be certain, it seems likely that it is the same faithful pair, who clearly prefer the quiet of the Cemetery to the bustle and crowd of Roath Park. Autumn Miscellany We reported in our last issue that some new interpretation boards were on order, following a successful bid for a grant from the Community Not so Grave News June 2018 Page 2 Issue Nº 35 Friends TOPICAL Foundation in Wales. We are pleased to say that the boards are now in place. That at the site of the former Catholic Chapel is pictured below. Street Fayre stall Each year we lookout for new signs of Japanese knotweed and, sure enough, new threats have been identified. Readers may have seen The Cemetery has just undergone its inspection somewhat sensationalised reports in the press to determine if it can fly its Green Flag for about research carried out by Swansea another year. We are optimistic that the University. Reading the newspaper reports application will be successful as the might give the impression that there was no circumstances relating to maintenance and point in bothering to treat it. Nothing could be other criteria remain much the same as further from the truth: that would just lead to previously. even faster spread than is occurring now. The real message from the research is that there Last year, the Cathays Cemetery Geocache are cowboys peddling expensive treatments celebrated its tenth anniversary. It now has that won't work and promising quick cures that about 200 logged finds, which represents just can't be guaranteed. At the moment there something in the order of 300 visitors. The is one known effective chemical treatment, following is a selection of snippets from logs using glyphosate-based weed-killer, which has during the past year: 'brilliantly conceived to be applied in the right way, at the right time cache and a great walk': 'a definite vote for of year. Even then, it may take three or more quality over quantity of caches here': 'really years of treatment to clear it and there is still nice stroll around the cemetery': 'what a lovely a small risk that a dormant rhizome fragment cemetery'. What's a geocache? You can read all will re-start the infestation. about it in Chapter 4 of our 150th Anniversary Book. What mustn't be done is cut off the stems carelessly or fail to follow stringent transport In April, our stand at the Cathays Street Fayre and disposal requirements. Unfortunately, this attracted much attention. With fantastic can occur by accident and, sadly, this has been weather, visitors and volunteers manning the witnessed in the Cemetery, as a result of new stall thoroughly enjoyed themselves and there shoots not being spotted during strimming. was strong demand for our publications. We are very grateful to our volunteers, Ivor, Jean, The following snippet was picked up from the John, Michael and Paul, for making this so National Federation of Cemetery Friends' successful. newsletter. The National Health Service is reluctant to take back cardiac pacemakers when Not so Grave News June 2018 Page 3 Issue Nº 35 Friends FEATURES someone dies, resulting in a growing number being left on the premises of Funeral Directors, who have no means of disposing of them. One suggested potential outlet is that reconditioned pacemakers could be sent for use in the developing world. When Cathays Cemetery first opened, the final journey, for those that could afford it, would have been made in a horse-drawn hearse. Today there are more transport options available. Readers local to Cardiff may have seen in the But where is Quetta? Initial guesses took us news a report of the funeral of a builder, taken around the world, but it was only an internet to the church in Llanharan on the flat bed of a search that found the right location - in 1957 FG Foden lorry. The vintage vehicle had Balochistan. At an altitude of around 5500 feet, only just been restored from a wreck by an it is Pakistan's only high altitude city, with a enthusiast, and the possibility of its use at population today of over a million. It is on the funerals came about from a chance encounter Bolan Pass route into Afghanistan, giving it with a funeral director, when the lorry was on historic strategic importance.

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