Dinas Powys War Memorial Restored To Glory
November 30th, 2010
The restoration of the Dinas Powys War memorial, in The Vale Of Glamorgan, was undertaken by Mossfords in October 2010 in time for Remembrance Day.
The extensive work, commissioned by Dinas Powys Community Council with assistance from War Memorials Trust and the Vale of Glamorgan Council, included extensive, professional cleaning utilising a range of specialist stone cleaning techniques including the DOFF system, removing decades of dirt, biological growths and carbon deposits.
All of the joints were extensively raked out and cleaned before repointing with a specially colour toned natural hydraulic lime mortar.
The cast bronze plaques were delicately cleaned to remove surface dirt prior to re-sealing with a specialist Renaissance Wax coating specially developed with the British Museum to help preserve and protect important and ancient bronze works in external conditions.
The extensive works were completed on schedule, on budget and to extensive public praise.
Memorial BEFORE Restoration Memorial AFTER Restoration
Specialist Cemetery Safety Equipment Supplied To Herefordshire Council
June 17th, 2010
Specialist safety equipment and certified training have been provided to cemetery staff in Hereford by MemorialSafety.com.
A bespoke “all terrain” memorial sack-truck with adaptable coring rig system and specialist coring drill was supplied to help the Herefordshire Council’s staff carry out the re-erection of memorials they find fail their H&S Tests to the necessary standards now laid down by the Ministry Of Justice’s recent advice document and to meet the necessary requirements of the NAMM Code of Working Practice and to ensure that the memorials are re-erected to British Standard (BS 8415).
Diamond tipped core drills for the water-fed 110v Eibenstock Motor Drill effortlessly ensure that the correct depth and diameter holes are cored into the memorials to ensure that new stainless steel dowels and a NAMM Ground Anchor can be correctly inserted into the memorial and foundation to lock them all together when re-erected.
The drill is guided to exactly the correct position with the “drill-rig” which connects to the “all terrain” memorial sack-truck to ensure perfect accuracy whilst removing any manual handling of the memorial being rectified in the process.
MemorialSafety.com supplied and delivered the equipment, which included a special Ferrox 10l capacity water reservoir which together with a portable 110v generator means the whole kit can be used anywhere out in the cemetery without the need of a mains electrical or water supply.
The staff recieved detailed and comprehensive training from MemorialSafety.com skilled staff prior to undertaking individual assessment of their ability to safely use the equipment before being passed and certified as safe and competent operatives.
Porth War Memorial – Fitting New Granite Caps
March 26th, 2010
Costain Ltd approached Mossfords (MemorialSafety.com) for specialist advice and fixing skills in supplying specially shaped and finished granite caps to help protect the Portland Stone Sentry Posts on the recently relocated (2006) Porth War Memorial.
The cappings were carved in Mossfords workshops with a textured finish on the sides and a polished top to help protect against the weather.
Once again the Mini Crawler Spider crane was ideal for the skilled craftsmen to safely and carefully manoeuvre and position the caps on top of the tall Portland Stone sections with minimum distuption to the busy car-parking and pedestrian areas around the vacinity.
Ministry Of Justice – "Managing the safety of Burial Ground Memorials"
November 1st, 2009
Erection of New Monument – St Athan Special Forces Support Group
October 30th, 2009
Specialist knowledge and handling skills were required for this project.
A new Commemorative Garden has been established at the Special Forces Support Group Head-Quarters at St. Athan and a new 5 meter tall all polished Black Granite Obelisk and base wieghing in excess of 5 tonnes was transported and assembled in a very tight time-frame and in readiness for Remembrance Day on November 11th 2009.
In addition to te Obelisk, two large matching headstones – weighing over 2 tonnes each and 2.2 metres wide and 1.7 metres tall, bearing the names of personnel lost in recent conflicts were also erected flanking the Obelisk.
The work was completed safely on time and to an exceptionally high standard.
Health & Safety Executive Advice
October 22nd, 2009Burial authorities provide an essential service for their communities. Many people still place great store in being able to bury their relatives in local cemeteries, and derive much comfort from knowing that the remains rest in a particular location which they can visit. In most cases, families will also wish to place a gravestone or memorial to their relative on the grave. It is what both the bereaved and visitors to a cemetery expect [More...]
Wood Street Cemetery, Willenhall, Walsall
March 29th, 2009
Memorial safety work was completed on over 100 large monuments and memorials at Wood Street Cemetery in Walsall during March 2009.
The work involved initially assessing the risk many of the very old and large memorials presented.
Risk Assessing the memorials and providing safe fixing methods to safely secure them was required that also helped retain all their original features and character as the burial ground contained a lot of memorials useful and interesting for local history and the cemetery was becoming a central point to a new development area and would be experiencing a large increase in public access.
This burial ground had fallen into a state of neglect and the Local Authority was actively upgrading it to an interesting and pleasant public park area with attractive natural features and established trees.
Expert knowledge and experience was required to ensure the public safety in respect to the remaining monuments many of whom were in a dilapidated and potentially dangerous condition.
This 3 week program of works has which has seen work on memorials in excess of 6 metres high and weighing in excess of 10 tonnes in overall weight was completed ahead of schedule and within budget.
HSE Guidelines on New Ministry Of Justice publication
February 2nd, 2009The Ministry of Justice has published new guidelines on managing the safety of burial ground memorials. The guidelines were developed by representatives across the industry in response to requests for more detailed advice on managing memorial stock. Ministry of Justice guidance only applies to England, but the sensitive and proportionate approach set out in the guidance will be useful for duty holders in Scotland and Wales. [More...]
Practical advice for burial ground operators
January 17th, 2009Practical advice for burial ground operators on managing the risks associated with unstable memorials.
Although the risk of injury from unstable gravestones is very low, cemetery managers are sometimes uncertain what they need to do to comply with their health and safety responsibilities. There has also been some public concern that memorials have been supported or laid down unnecessarily. [More...]
Unity Churchyard, Warmley, Bristol
November 6th, 2008
This site had become badly overgrown and many of the memorials fallen into a potentially dangerous condition. The Church was being sold to a developer and the cemetery burial grounds needed to be made safe on Health & Safety Grounds.
The works included carryout an initial full Risk Assessment of the burial ground and then every one of the memorials (in excess of 400) contained within needed to be rendered safe with modern foundations and fixings. The majority of memorials were kept in their original positions but the memorials at the front of the churchyard had to be re-set around the parameter of the front area to allow for car-parking and other landscaping.
The works also included re-landscaping and removal of many large trees and shrubs that had overgrown the majority of the burial ground and the re-securing of many of the boundaries.
The work was carried out during a 6 week works program co-ordinated with the client and developer and was successfully completed ahead of schedule and on budget.
