I have to confess to being a big fan of Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4, I am usually listening whilst working with Flowers for Graves or on the BBC Sounds app as I tend a Grave. Each year they have a ‘listeners week’ with all subject’s suggested by the listeners.
I know lots of people still don’t know that Grave Tending is a service they can use when unable to tend the graves themselves for all good reasons, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to share with the audience of Woman’s Hour. To my delight I was selected to be interviewed by Jane Garvey on Wednesday the 26th August.
Jane rang me early on the morning of the interview, she had never heard of the service herself and very interested. As well as talking about my journey to Grave Tending and floristry, I was also able to talk about my work for CRUSE and also the fantastic support I received from the networking organisation WiRE (Women In Rural Enterprise).
I am second being interviewed … be great if you could have a listen … the BBC website even has a photo of me tending a grave!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000lzhb
Following the interview I received lots of contact from listeners. Some thanked me for sharing that such a service exists, giving them the comfort to move forward and place their loved ones ashes in a grave - others asking for similar businesses around the UK to help with their graves, some just being made redundant and inspired by my journey.
The next day a lady from Germany contacted the show about a well known and used service in Germany, where the rules different around what can happen with ashes. She said that Cemeteries have flower stalls at the gates of the Cemetery and offer the service of Tending, they are very keen to keep their cemeteries tidy and well cared for … a fantastic idea and one I will be talking to the Councils that run the Cemeteries about .. watch this space 🙂
I was completely overwhelmed by people’s generosity with their feedback and interest in Grave Tending, thank you if you were one of those listeners.
Hope you enjoy your listen, take care and be safe.
Jo 🙂
