Contractors working on Lowdham’s Flood Alleviation Scheme (FAS) have given the churchyard at St Mary the Virgin Church a late season glow-up after Lowdham Parish Council asked for help.
Jackson Civil Engineering (JCE) is currently constructing the FAS on Lambley Road, Lowdham on behalf of the Environment Agency. The FAS is just down the road from St Mary’s Church in Lowdham.
The local volunteers that have been looking after the 2.5-acre churchyard and its 340 metres of hedging for years hit a recent run of bad luck when two of their mowers gave up the ghost. When one of the regular gardening volunteers had to retire from post, it made keeping up with the vigorous grass, weeds, self-setting shrubs and hedge trimming a real challenge.
The Parish Council approached JCE to see it could help. A quick phone call and site inspection with subcontractors DTMS Group saw assistance on its way. DTMS sent a team of three to spend three days cutting, strimming and mowing, removing five cubic metres of trimmings in the process.
David Moore, a Reader at the church and a member of St Mary’s Parochial Church Council (PCC) was one of the first people to see the renovated churchyard.
“On behalf of the PCC, I would like to express our thanks and appreciation to the Jackson Civil Engineering contractors who have done such a wonderful job of pruning, cutting and clearing the ‘rather successful’ foliage that was taking over the churchyard. It is a great help to our small team of volunteers and will enable them to keep it under control in the coming year. Thank you.’ said David.
Andy Fairbrother is the JCE Project Manager for Lowdham FAS. He said: “The DTMS team totally transformed the churchyard and handed back a community asset that the whole village and parishioners can be proud of again. We even uncovered a family group of large headstones that David had not seen before. Supporting and enhancing the communities we impact on with our projects is a key part of our business plan and we are very proud of the outcome with this work.”
Nick Rogers is the Contract Manager for DTMS Group and worked with JCE to plan the project, said: “DTMS Group was more than happy to assist Jackson Civil Engineering and St Mary’s with this project. We were really pleased to give our landscape apprentices the opportunity to be involved in the clean-up of the church grounds. It’s rewarding to see them putting their skills into practice while doing something that benefits the local community. For our apprentices, it’s not just about learning the trade — it’s about taking pride in the work they do and seeing the positive difference they can make to places that are important to local people.”