Chair of The Friends of Greyfriars Kirkyard – October 2024
On the 26th March 2024 I joined the Committee & became Chair of the Friends of Greyfriars. This is a brief update on activities carried out & plans made since then.
Our priorities during much of 2024 have been to improve our on-line presence, increase our level of engagement with the other stakeholders in the Kirkyard, strengthen our Committee, increase our Activity levels in the Kirkyard with Members and other groups and work towards a better understanding & appreciation of the value of the Kirkyard and its vulnerabilities.
We have brought new members on to the Committee and worked to ensure all committee members have clearly defined Roles. We have held monthly committee meetings via Zoom and maintained clear Agenda, Minutes and Action Lists.
We recruited Susan & Marc Conaghan to the committee and they have created our first dedicated website at http://www.fogk.org There is still a lot of work to do to make this a fully functioning and well populated website, but we are making progress.
We have sought regular engagement with other Stakeholders, such as Edinburgh Bereavement Services, Edinburgh World Heritage, Greyfriars Kirk and Tour Guides who operate in the Kirkyard.
We have been actively inputting to the developing Conservation Management Plan for the Kirkyard.
We documented full Risk Assessments for the Activities and Locations in which we operate and ensured these were well understood by Activity Leaders.
We have organised First Sunday sessions in the Kirkyard each month (other than August), carrying out light maintenance and developing our understanding of the Kirkyard. These sessions have been really enjoyable and interesting, although participation levels have been lower than we had hoped.
We have been communicating Condition Reports to Edinburgh Bereavement Services. These have focused on the extensive Budleiha growth and the condition of the Bayne Mausoleum in particular.
We organised a Doors Openday event over the weekend of 28/29 September and had over 1,000 visitors look around and learn about The Covenanters Prison & the wider Kirkyard. This allowed us to raise our profile and raise over £600 in donations.
We sold out of the First Edition of 500 copies of our Guidebook and organised a second edition at a very reasonable cost, with a print run of 500 copies, which is now in stock.
We have procured FoGK branded Badges & Business Cards to help with our Marketing & Promotional activities and extra jackets and equipment to help with activities in the Kirkyard.
We have given Talks & Tours for other Local History Groups which raises our profile and increases the understanding and appreciation of the historic value of the Kirkyard and its vulnerabilities.
We have increased our Membership numbers by 30%, but still have a long way to go to increase the volume and participation of Members to the levels we aspire to.
We have developed an Action Plan & Priorities for 2025. The key items in that plan are as follows :
- Further develop the FoGK website to add new content including articles, photos & videos about the Kirkyard and its history and increase our ability to attract new members and sell our books.
- Design & deliver a program of online talks for members & guests to learn more about the Kirkyard, aimed at increasing the level of understanding & appreciation of the Kirkyard by people who don’t necessarily live in the area.
- Design & deliver a program of presentations & tours for local history groups around Edinburgh & The Lothians, aimed at increasing the level of understanding & appreciation of the Kirkyard amongst local residents.
- Continue our “First Sunday” monthly program of activities in the Kirkyard and work to increase participation levels.
- Increase our membership numbers by utilising the above activities to attract people to join the FoGK.
- Continue to create & develop links with other stakeholders & groups who have a role in the Kirkyard and where possible contribute to joint programs of research, preservation & maintenance of the Kirkyard.
- Continue to develop the Management Committee by recruiting new members, ideally with specific experience & to play specific roles.
- Play an active role in the formulation & roll out of the new Cemetery Management Plan that is currently under development.
- Work towards an improved level of maintenance, monitoring and restoration of the fabric of the Kirkyard and the monuments in particular, with fund raising to resource such programs.
- Measure all activities against their contribution to our principal objectives of increasing the level of understanding and appreciation of the Kirkyard’s historic value, a greater awareness of its vulnerabilities & more effective actions to address those vulnerabilities.
Friends of Greyfriars Kirkyard 