Adopt a Military Grave
This might be an appropriate thread to remind ppruners that there are similar graves in churchyards all around the UK - and someone is needed to keep an eye on them.
After contacting CWGC about an issue concerning the solitary military grave in my local churchyard, I was eventually asked if I would care to "adopt" it. I was aware that there are permanent teams maintaining the large military cemeteries, mainly abroad of course, but I learned that CWGC have a major administrative and logistical headache with the hundreds of individual graves scattered in ones and twos in churchyards throughout the UK. With the passage of the generations, these graves are being forgotten and are not visited by relatives. In the end I agreed to "adopt" four other graves in my local area, in churchyards that I regularly drove past, unaware of their presence.
It is not a particularly onerous task. You are simply required to make an annual inspection on behalf of CWGC and every two years give the Portland stone a scrub with a mild biocide solution. That's all. I choose in addition to call in every few weeks to trim back the surrounding vegetation, as two of the churchyards are not regularly mown, - the work of just minutes. In November I also present each one with his poppy cross, my own personal act of remembrance for those who made the ultimate sacrifice that we have managed to evade.
Given the sentiments expressed in this thread, ppruners - in particular the mils - spread all around the country, would be the obvious candidates to consider assisting CWGC by adopting the grave of a brother in arms that, unbeknown to them, they regularly pass by without realising. Anyone willing to do so should contact the UK Area Operations Manager at CWGC.