The Chair of the Friends of St Alfege Park, Tim Delap, has made his first comments since the controversy broke over the damage to headstones.
In the statement, the Chair says he “deeply regrets” the damage caused and goes on to say that the Friends are now “reorganising their… management processes”.
Tim Delap’s statement is below:
As Chair person of the Friends of St Alfege Park, I deeply regret and apologise personally and on behalf of the Friends for the damage caused to gravestones in St Alfege Park during work carried out at our request for our community garden project. The Friends are now urgently reorganising their work and management processes to ensure that we safeguard the infrastructure of the Park, including the memorials, in all our future activities.
Hi Jadon – I’ve continued to ask questions on this and I’m hopeful that there will be more to say on it soon.
Rob, Thanks for the encouraging words. Feels good to find that after all the dust has settled, someone such as yourself still cares and is finding a way to be heard. This one has particularly gotten under my skin. If ever I can help in any way, please do not hesitate.. Jadon
I imagine there are quite a few of us wondering if this will all be kicked under the proverbial mat and I, for one, am grateful to Rob and Jadon for continuing to follow up on this. I am in Australia but, as one who had an ancestor buried at St Alfrege I am keen to see a PROPER resolution to the issue. Hopefully that will include the resignation of Tim Delop from any future responsibility for action at St Alfrege. As efficient as he may have been in the past, this is not his own personal back yard that he has desecrated and his action is not to be condoned under any circumstances.
I have discovered that Greenwich are taking the St Alfege’s Park tombstone incident seriously. The Director Of Culture and Community, Sam Eastop, is handling this personally, and I met him in the Park and was able to give him some background and local feeling etc. He honestly seemed to be horrified at what has happened, and he listened carefully to everything I said. He told me that the Council are actively thinking about ways to create some kind of memorial with the broken stones, so I think that’s good news.
He also told me that the Payback team’s remit in the Park, as authorised by the Council was some painting, weeding and the removal of some dead shrubs. Full Stop. So even moving the stones, let alone smashing them up, was way beyond what was authorised.
I said that criminal damage to a World Heritage site had been commited and that the community needs to see that there are consequences. If there are to be no consequences, some named figure in authority needs to say so and explain why – I don’t think Mr Eastop fancies doing this. I’m sorry if you think that this is a bit retributional, but I really just don’t think whoever ordered up the sledgehammers should be allowed to just walk away from this – sorry, but that’s my position. If drunken yobs had done this the Police would have been involved by now and not one of us would have a problem with that.
I said above that this isn’t going to just go away, and the fact that there continue to be comments on this thread proves that. We should all keep the pressure up, though – they can’t sweep this under the carpet if we keep asking what is happening.
Seconded – and please see my post below.
There has got to be proper resolution of this dreadful action – we need to keep on asking the relevant people what is happening, where is this going etc, but please see my post below. The Council are now investigating the incident, and hopefully we will soon know exactly what happened.
This is a very good idea, and the Friends wuld do themselves a lot of good by following this course of action promptly. It seems that few, if any, of the rank and file members were consulted about the destruction, and the innocent Friends need to restore their credibility. Ejecting anyone who was involved in this dreadful decision and holding a public meeting is the only way forward for the Friends.
Unfortunately, it seems as if the main committee of the Friends have ostrich tendencies and think everything will go away if they do nothing. How they think it appropriate the chair remains in place is astonishing.
The blame seems to fall squarely at the door of the chair Mr Tim Delap – as was recently stated at a public council meeting – yet the Friends main committee seem determined to help him cover this episode up. Why are they not taking the appropriate course of action and oust him from his post?
I have met members of the Friends who do not sit on the main committee and they are just as horrified as everyone else. The fact Mr Delap has not stepped down only seems to imply the main committee supports him and his dreadful actions.
Quite unbelievable and it really has damaged the Friends reputation, as appears to be the view widely held and discussed all around Greenwich.
In my opinion, the only way to now rebuild the standing of the Friends of St Alfege Park would be for the entire committee to resign. A meeting should then be called for all existing and potential new members where a new chair and new main committee would be elected.
However from what we have seen so far, it now appears doubtful the main committee are capable of doing the right thing regarding this sorry affair.
I suggest prosecution for damaging the stones with payment for restoration of every one.
It is not so much ostrich-like but rather contempt for local residents’ feelings on the part of the Friends’ committee. I agree they should all resign and the meeting you suggest be convened where all of us who are horrified by what is happening join and ensure that this can never happen again.
As it stands the reputation of the Friends as a power to improve Greenwich is about on a par with that of the Luftwaffe.
I’m a resident of the US with ancestors buried at St. Alphege (mid 1600s), and I was hoping to visit their gravesites upon my visit to London in late December/early January. I am appalled to find that, not only have gravestones been demolished, but they have been moved as well? Where, may I ask, were the bodies moved if the churchyard has now been deconsecrated and turned into a park? How in the world does a world heritage site like this get demolished and turned into a park anyway? I thought Britons cared about their history… (Full disclosure: I am a heritage conservationist myself and am not only appalled at this on a personal level, but a professional level as well.)
Shanon, the churchyard was turned into a park over a century ago. It wasn’t demolished and it isn’t a world heritage site. It is on the edge of the Greenwich world heritage site. Only a few gravestones were, exceptionally sadly, destroyed but they were mostly unreadable because of erosion. So far as I know, no bodies were removed.
I doubt that the bodies have been moved. Doing that is not a simple matter. In this country, you have to rebury them in consecrated ground.
I have posted this before about the churchyard but here it is again:
St Alfege Park was originally two orchards and the old churchyard. The orchards were given to the church in 1802 to be used as a new burial ground because the old churchyard was full.
All burials in the church crypt, the churchyard and the new burial ground ceased by 1852, when all were judged to be full.
In 1889 the Metropolitan Gardens Association moved most of the headstones to their present position around the walls of the site and laid out the area as a public park. At the same time, the church procured a Faculty that transferred responsibility for management and maintenance of the churchyard and this burial ground to the Greenwich District Board of Works, now Greenwich Council.
This man is a complete prat and so are all his “friends”. Let’s all go and trash his house!
And there it rests! The crowd walks away “Nothing more to see here folks!” The culprits who organized this vandalism have laid low and the furor has subsided and will eventually no longer be even a memory. For so many years these memorials stood and the memorialized did indeed rest in peace till the cemetery acquired some thoughtless “Friends” It is all so very sad! Nothing done! No charges, no restoration, only a half-hearted attempt at an apology with no mention of trying to make things as right as they can be made. Sad!
Hi JADon – check out this link for more recent posts on this subject:
http://www.greenwich.co.uk/tag/st-alfege-park-headstones-controversy/
Rob Powell – Thank you so much for the link to the articles (and also on behalf of others who may be following via this comment update link). Especially important to me were the references to the stones being placed in storage with an exploration of a means to remedy as much as possible this situation.
Personally I do not care as much about the fate of the “Friends” as I do the stones and some form of restoration. Hopefully the Friends are never allowed further involvement with the Park, other than to atone for the mess they created. Financially, those who ordered the destruction should be obligated to deal in some way with the expense. They have some funds and claim to be a community group. Perhaps they can hold some form of events outside the park and raise money.
It would appear that slowly light is being shed on what actually occurred and eventually someone who knows will, perhaps upon condition of anonymity, break the silence.
I find it curious that so casually mention is made of using the stones in a paving project and talk of pathways. Perhaps I am not understanding what is meant and the intention is a cairn type of memorial with gravestones implanted there and a pathway alongside
In any case Rob, I truly appreciate the detailed articles you have written and your efforts to keep people informed. Thank you especially for your responses to my fears that all would be forgotten and none held to account. There may have been no malicious intent among a group seemingly composed of seniors, just poor judgment and too much authority
It was the seeming callous disrespect exhibited that troubled me the most. Consecrated or deconsecrated, means little to me. Such reckless treatment for the sake of a few veggies has troubled me ever since I first became aware of the situation. I will continue to follow this story and hope to have my faith in the common decency restored..
Again a thank you Rob and if there is anything to be done I hope to be made aware. JADon
I’ve been away, dealing with family issues, health issues and holidays, but this has never been far from my mind and heart. thank you for keeping us abreast of the subject, Rod, I’m pleased with the outcome, so far. some loose ends need tied up, and I can’t believe how doggedly stubborn the guilty party is regarding admitance of guilt and apology, and certainly some sort of repairs are needed, but I would expect the latter to take around 5 years to complete. just know my thoughts and good wishes are with you and your work to right this wrong, and with St. Alfege to recover from it.
here in America it has been considered disrespectful to walk across a person’s grave, and being a senior, I am careful to walk between the graves in a crowded cemetery for that reason. I cannot imagine walking through a park with people buried beneath my feet. a cemetery should remain a cemetery, and respect for the dead should be just that.
It has been a very long time hasn’t it? This affair of the smashing of headstones in St. Alfege Park. In my mind it seems very long simply because there has been no admission of guilt nor adequate apology by this Friend’s group, no charges and no announcement of plans as how how “this will be made right” or at least “better”. Charges may well be the only way in which this avoidance of responsibility by Friend’s group Chair may come to an end and a proper apology and some however slight demonstration of remorse come to light
I would love to see a restoration done and the junk (greenhouse…) and any other influence these Friends put on the property, removed so that the property may have some semblance of dignity restored. The stones should be given some appropriate proximate attention and whatever funds this defunct group of Friends have, be used toward the costs We all have our wish lists don’t we?