Onerahi Cemetery clean-up response delights organiser

Christine Stephenson, from the Onerahi Weed and Whangārei District Council cemetery manager Stephen Jenkins, at the 'Onerahi Cemetery Clean Up Day' on Saturday. Photo / Michael Cunningham

The pohutukawa trees that line up in Onerahi Cemetery look beautiful, but on close inspection, resident Christine Stephenson noticed that the cemetery itself needed some TLC - so a call to rally like-minded folk for a clean-up came to fruition.

On Saturday up to 20 volunteers turned up at the cemetery, on Church Street, to give the historic site a much-needed clean-up.

Stephenson, a member of Onerahi Weed Group, said she was enamoured by the pohutukawa lining the cemetery that are visible, and look beautiful, from the road.

“So I went in one day to have a look at them and realised that the cemetery itself was looking rather neglected and unloved. There were weeds everywhere and phoenix palms growing from some of the graves,’’ she said.

‘’So I thought to myself ‘if I put out the call will others come to help with a clean-up?’ and it took off from there.’’

Sharon Read and Rachel Arlidge, both from Onerahi, helping with the clean-up at the township’s cemetery

Stephenson is grateful to all who turned up on Saturday morning for the clean-up and she was delighted with the work they all did. And local supermarket New World provided pizza for the cause too.

‘’We’ve made a remarkable difference to the cemetery now. Stephen Jenkins, the cemetery manager came along to help too and he’s given a commitment that the council will put more effort into keeping its parts tidy,’’ she said.

‘’When we put the call out we got people who had loved ones buried in the cemetery who also came along to tidy up their graves at the same time. It was wonderful.’’

Stephenson said she would carry on efforts to keep the cemetery tidy and would let the community know the next clean-up day.

Some of the volunteers at the 'Onerahi Cemetery Clean Up Day'on Saturday