Pauline Gerrard had always thought that her fascination with graveyards made for a “lonely hobby”.
But since launching a website documenting Aberdeen’s most historic headstones, she has been stunned by the response she has received from hundreds of fellow enthusiasts.
Mrs Gerrard is now looking to recruit an army of “graveyard guardians” to team up with the council to ensure that the city’s final resting places are well maintained.
The Ferryhill resident attributes her passion for the solemn spots to a childhood visit to a relative’s war grave in France, though she understands why some would rather avoid them.
She said: “I have always enjoyed visiting graveyards, but only recently admitted it to people as many see them as places to be avoided.
“Now I have found these kindred spirits, far more of them than I expected, who see them as ways of keeping people’s memories alive.
“There are so many famous graves in Aberdeen that people don’t know about, all of them telling us something about the city, its people and its past.”
Mrs Gerrard started the Aberdeen Cemeteries group on Facebook expecting to link up with “one or two” others, but it now has about 200 members.
Her hobby yielded unexpected results recently when she posted a photograph of a relative’s grave online and was contacted by a woman in Australia.
After some exchanges it emerged that the pair were third cousins, and they now plan to meet up in Aberdeen this summer.
The “graveyard guardians” will look after individual cemeteries, helping to find the stones of family members upon request and promoting the spots as places to visit.
Members may seek to form a charity and distribute leaflets about each one in the future.
Councillor John Wheeler, the convener of the authority’s operational delivery committee, said he hoped recent talks with the group would prove the “start of a productive partnership”.
He said: “Our teams do an excellent job in tending to the city’s cemeteries, but we always embrace partnership working with organisations who share the same goals.
“We have already had very positive discussions with Pauline and her group, who have a real desire to support the work of the council and to help enhance the city’s cemeteries.”
Guardians of the Graveyard
Earlier this week, the city’s graveyard aficionados earned praise from an English pensioner after managing to track down the resting places of his 19th century ancestors in Aberdeen.
The man, who is in his 80s and lives in Newhaven in East Sussex, contacted the group over social media asking if they could discover any details relating to his predecessors.
After performing a spot of litter-picking around Trinity Cemetery they scoured the headstones there and got back to him with the results.
The pensioner has now emailed Aberdeen City Council to express his admiration for the band of volunteers.
He said: “I live in Newhaven, East Sussex, and could not get much further away from Aberdeen in mainland UK.
“I was looking for details of my relations from way back in the 1800’s and made contact with the cemetery group on Facebook, and in a matter days we now know the whereabouts of graves – including pictures.
“We are over the moon with our connection with the group, I will be in Aberdeen in October for a short visit and hope to make contact with them whilst there.”
