The second poster of our exhibition introduces some of the directors, officers and employees who played key roles in the early days of the cemetery.

As you might expect, most of them are buried in the cemetery

Today's poster provides the details of our first burials in the cemetery.

During the first five years the cemetery experienced financial problems but when the General Board of Health closed existing burial grounds for health reasons, its position was secure.

Today's poster highlights how the cemetery thrived during the latter part of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century and includes some of the notable funerals that took place in that period.

The fortunes of the cemetery began to change when Weston Mill cemetery was opened in 1904 and Efford cemetery was opened in 1907.

Ford Park Cemetery did not escape unscathed during the Blitz as one of the two chapels was completely destroyed, a block of vaults was lost and many headstones in the cemetery still show the damage that was inflicted from bombs that exploded in the grounds.

The post war years saw the decline of the Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse Cemetery.

As the number of burials decreased, the reducing finances forced the company to lay off staff and so the grounds became overgrown and the paths became impassable, which led to even less burials.

The demise of this large cemetery as a private company was inevitable.

Today's poster features some of our Commonwealth War Grave and Ministry of Defence graves

So today we arrive at the point where the Plymouth, Devonport and Stonehouse cemetery went into administration.

 The Ford Park Cemetery Trust was formed to save the cemetery and run it as a going concern.

Today we celebrate all of the volunteers and supporters who, through their hard work and endeavours during the first three years, changed the area from a wilderness into a cemetery that was once again open for business.

The Victorian Chapel was being used as a machine store when the Trust took over the cemetery.

The generous donations of our supporters matched with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund enabled the Trust to return it to its former glory.

With the restoration of the chapel completed, the Trust wanted to find a way to place in the chapel a memorial to all the civilians who had died during the Blitz.

After the war a memorial had originally been proposed to be placed in the remains of Charles Church, but this proved impractical.

So, thanks to generous donations from many of our supporters and diligent research from our volunteers we were able to commission a memorial to those who fell.

With the Victorian Chapel restored and able to be used for funeral services, now it was time to turn the other chapel into a visitor centre where we could celebrate our heritage and offer refreshments to our visitors.

Our penultimate poster for this exhibition celebrates the work of the Heritage Team

The final poster of our exhibition celebrating 20 years of the Trust pays tribute to the Friends of Ford Park Cemetery who have done so much to support the venture since the group's inception in 2006.

 The group organise and run many of the fund-raising activities throughout the year and its members can always be found helping out in one way or another.

Thank you to them and to everyone who has contributed to the success of the first twenty years of the Trust. Long may it continue.