(From left) Bert Wilson, Shayne Murray, Val Ferrel and Bryan Collins look after the grounds at Whanganui's Aramoho Cemetery. Photo / Bevan Conley
(From left) Bert Wilson, Shayne Murray, Val Ferrel and Bryan Collins look after the grounds at Whanganui's Aramoho Cemetery. Photo / Bevan Conley
"What's not to like about working in a garden with more than 4500 roses?" Whanganui's new cemetery manager Val Ferrel asks.
She heads up a team of four Fulton Hogan staff which took over maintenance of the Aramoho, Heads Rd, Brunswick, Maxwell and Matarawa cemeteries on October 1.
Shayne Murrayis the youngest of the team. The remainder have stacked up 46 years of cemetery maintenance between them.
Ferrel has horticultural qualifications and has worked in Horowhenua, Rangitīkei and Manawatū cemeteries since 2003. Bryan Collins has been based at Aramoho Cemetery for 17 years, under the management of first Richard Grieve and then Gary Gleeson.
Digger driver Bert Wilson has been there 10 years.
The cemetery contract involves burials, cremations, the interment of ashes and grounds maintenance. There's also "an awful lot of record keeping", Ferrel says.
The cemeteries hold huge amounts of information, which is being digitised. When people want to know where their relatives are, they can look online and in the records room, and staff can walk them out to the grave sites.
Val Ferrel is the new manager of all Whanganui's cemeteries. Photos / Bevan Conley
What Ferrel enjoys most about the job is helping the public.
"I find it really enjoyable. You meet lovely people, all with a story to tell."
Being surrounded by all those remains and memorials can be spooky. Fulton Hogan staff who clean the public toilets at the cemetery on dark winter evenings were initially a bit scared - but they got used to it.
On a fine day can bring a lot of people in the cemetery; some visit their loved ones' graves every day.
"It's quite peaceful most of the time," Collins said.
The cemetery services contract is just one of many for infrastructure company Fulton Hogan. It doesn't do any roading work in Whanganui District but does "open space management" for Bason Botanic Gardens, Rotokawau/Virginia Lake, Pukenamu/Queen's Park, Cook's Gardens and Kowhai Park, and staff also clean about 25 public toilets.
This is all managed from the company's Hinau St office. If there is extra work at the cemetery those other staff can be called on, Ferrel says.
