Very briefly I was approached by Mary Taylor BEM (Rustington's Historian) to take on the challenge of transforming the graveyard into the promised Memorial Garden back in 2015.

The graveyard was sold by the Church in the late 80's and purchased by a local Developer, who developed the surrounding land but the graveyard which contained 57 members of the local community – overflow graveyard from St Peter and St Paul's Church in the Village up to 1954, was agreed to be transformed into a Memorial Garden. All they did was bulldoze the area destroying many of the headstone and surrounds.

The land was basically abandoned and eventually reverted back to nature being engulfed by brambles some 20 ft tall and used as the local dumping ground.

The land is now in the hands of the Crown and, therefore, the agreed Memorial Garden will never been fulfilled.

I lived in Brookside all my childhood since 1960 – so took on the daunting challenge of making the dream a reality.

To bring you up to date we have just completed the historical stage of the project, having uncovered all the remaining headstone, grave stones, etc. I have spoken to 13 family units about their relatives and generally brought the history of the forgotten graveyard to life.

We have now entered the second phase of the project, the design and construction of the Memorial Garden.

We have a plan and work is well underway with the first plants going in this week.

We have very limited funds and have up to now relied entirely on the generosity of the community and local businesses.

We would love to commission three Benches and a Memorial Plaque - so that the community can remember those buried on the site for generations to come - never to be forgotten again.

This is a rough plan of the site - well what we would love to see. The brown lines mark where the seats would go, for love ones to sit and remember and for the community to enjoy this albeit little "green space" in the middle of an industrial estate.

Thanks for your support - however small. Every penny really does help.

If you want to learn more about the project

email sue@rustingtonpastandpresent.co.uk or

facebook - Rustington Past and Present

Sue

Chairman of the Brookside Memorial Garden

Founder of Rustington Past and Present