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Exhibition celebrates 171-year-old cemetery

Alex PopeBedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire
News imageAlex Pope/BBC Adrian Bean, standing in a graveyard, by stones, wearing a cream top, glasses and he has short grey hair and a beard. Alex Pope/BBC
Adrian Bean is a trustee of the Friends of Bedford Cemetery

A new exhibition has been created to honour and celebrate people of note buried in a 171-year-old cemetery, including a brewery founder and a religious leader.

Eleven new boards now grace the walls of the visitor centre in Foster Hill Road Cemetery, Bedford, that will be open on Saturday and Sunday as part of Heritage Open Days.

One is about the book The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes, written by Bedford author, Ruth Hogan, that was inspired by her regular walks around the site.

Adrian Bean, a volunteer, said it was to make sure all the "fascinating" information was "at hand, because most people do not know about it unless someone tells them".

News imageThe Friends of Bedford Cemetery Ruth Hogan, pointing to a display board, on a wall. She is wearing a red top and white shirt, and has long blonde hair and glasses on. The display board includes words, pictures and information, on a red backing. The Friends of Bedford Cemetery
A whole display board is dedicated to the book The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes which is about the cemetery and written by Ruth Hogan

The work marks the completion of phase one of the centre, inside its former Chapel, run by the Friends of Bedford Cemetery.

Hogan, its president, said: "I'm absolutely over the moon with my red noticeboard.

"I could not be more pleased and proud. What an honour!

"My mum and dad would be thrilled."

News imageAlex Pope/BBC Foster Hill Road Cemetery showing several graves and there is a chapel in the background.Alex Pope/BBC
The cemetery is the final resting place of Joan Christine Turing, the cousin of codebreaker Alan Turing, and his aunt Lady Fanny Jean Turing

Bean, who is also a trustee of the group, and carries out tours of the site, said all the information was now presented "to a professional standard, making it easier for visitors to know what it is all about, more like a museum or art gallery display".

"It makes you proud that the work begun by a few people over the years is all there.

"People don't know about it unless someone tells them or shows them, the graves."

It was funded by the Gale Family Trust, Bedford Architectural, Archaeological and Local History Society (BAALHS) and the Friends of Bedford Cemetery.

News imageRichard Galley An old black and white image of a regiment, the 33 Highland Division. They are in three rows, some kneeling at the front, and the rest standing. They are wearing kilts, trousers, cardigans and hats. They are by a brick building. Richard Galley
Among the most poignant burials are the graves of 33 Highland Division men, who were billeted to the town in 1914 during World War One

Some of those buried include brewer Charles Wells, members of the Panacea Society which ran a local religious group and Danuta Gruszczynska-Alasinska - a member of the Polish Resistance who was captured and imprisoned in Germany in World War Two.

The aunt and cousin of World War Two codebreaker Alan Turing have also been laid to rest at the site.

Among the most poignant burials are the graves of 33 Highland Division men, who were billeted to the town in 1914 during World War One.

The new exhibition will be open from 10:00 - 16:00 BST on Saturday and on Sunday a History of the Cemetery walk will take place from 14:00.

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