Baddow & Galleywood

April 2017 Speaker

The monthly meeting took place on April 12th at The United Reformed church in Great Baddow. Eighty members attended and after a presentation of Life membership to Brian Moss ,our retiring Speaker Secretary, Martyn Lockwood began his talk on the ‘History of Churchyards’ which was entitled ‘Grave Concerns’.
Martyn has been fascinated by churchyards from his teenage years and has visited many local churchyards, aswell as other churches further afield.
He told us about how Christians took over the churchyards from Pagans and the importance of nature conservation in the graveyard areas as well as the amount of knowledge people can obtain about their ancestors.
We also learnt about yew trees providing wood for archery bows and the more sinister side of grave robbers and murderers who used the church as a sanctuary.
So although the topic appeared to be quite sobering, we were all fascinated by Martyn’s knowledge which was enhanced by his powerpoint presentation.