Gravestones at Fraser Cemetery will once again be delicately cleaned throughout the month of August.
The New Westminster Museum is bringing back last summer’s Saving Our Stones project, which trains volunteers about best practices.
“It’s pretty simple,” heritage programmer Michelle Taylor told the Record. “You examine the stone. If it’s showing any sign of deterioration, we won’t clean it because you can do more harm than good. We always tell people to be as gentle as possible.”
Taylor said the only tools volunteers are given are water and soft brushes, like a toothbrush. Popsicle sticks are another one. Metal, however, is a no-no.
“That’s because stones are composed in minerals and salts. We don’t know what the material is, so we don’t want to cause a chemical reaction,” she said, adding markers are cleaned from the bottom up to avoid streaking and further staining.
Last year, about 15 to 20 people showed up for each Saving Our Stones session. Despite the hot weather, Taylor said most of the volunteers stayed for the whole two hours.
“It was great. We had people come out who said they had family in the cemetery and they wanted to concentrate on their stone. Some people have actually said, ‘I never thought to clean my family’s gravestone.’”
The inaugural event also garnered some interest from a local cadet group, who were all 18 or younger. They rang up Taylor and organized a separate cleanup.
“I think they were really touched. It was something that was very physical and they were able to translate it into reality. When you talk about war, about death, especially at a young age, it’s not necessarily easy to understand. When you look at these gravestones, looking at when they lived, when they died, I think they were quite moved by it,” said Taylor.
She noted she was also contacted by other museums looking to do something similar, as well as a New West woman who was heading off to England to clean her family’s markers.
Interested in helping out? The cleanups are scheduled for Aug. 4, 7, 13 and 17, from 10 a.m. to noon. All ages welcome. Volunteers can stay for as little or as long as they’d like. Registration is required. Call 604-527-4640 or email [email protected]. Fraser Cemetery is at 100 Richmond St. Meet at the cemetery office.
