Lynda and Paul Hogarth – Farsley Rehoboth

“Community, Camaraderie and Friends”

That’s how Lynda and Paul described their experience of volunteering to me, quickly followed by Paul describing how it’s kept them active “physically and probably more importantly mentally”.

The married couple told me how their volunteering helped them through the Covid pandemic by giving them the chance to get out and meet people outdoors.

Farsley Rehoboth means a lot to Lynda and Paul, they have a family tie to the cemetery and live in the neighborhood surrounding the cemetery, this makes the cemetery close to both Lynda and Paul’s and their community’s heart. Lynda even joked about their connection to the graveyard extending, as they have “booked our plot” and plan to lay at rest in the graveyard.

During my time at the Rehoboth, I had the graveyard described to me as “living”, despite this obvious contradiction you get the sense stepping into Farsley Rehoboth that the graveyard is changing and developing. This includes the internment of new people into the burial site and the work that goes into changing the space by the volunteers.

Paul and Lynda say, “the last four years have been incredible”, they want to encourage others to “make a difference”. All this while having “a lot of fun and a lot of laughs” as Paul jokes that the only rough days are chosen by the weather but that even those rainy days are drowned out by the many more fun days.