Welcome to the Friends of Beckett Street Cemetery
Faced with heavy upkeep costs, declining income and increasing vandalism, the Municipal Services Committee decided in 1984 to close the Cemetery, clear away most of the memorials, and grass the site over. A campaign was started, led by Sylvia Barnard, and joined by local residents, relatives of the dead, ecologists and historians who united to oppose this plan, and in 1985 it was scrapped. It was agreed that the Friends of Beckett Street Cemetery, formed by Sylvia that year, would help and advise the officers of Leeds City Council in establishing a Management Plan which would ease maintenance and benefit wildlife in this heavily populated area.
If you would like to send a donation, use the PayPal Send Money option to the following email address: cash@beckettstreetcemetery.org.uk
Newsletters are regularly sent out to all our members. To find out how to join use, click on the Membership Details button at the bottom of this page.
2PM Sunday, 12th November 2023 - Remembrance Day
At 2pm on Sunday November 12th there will be a short tour of the cemetery looking at some of our war graves. A minutes silence will be observed at our Cross of Sacrifice and a wreath will be laid.
For the first time we will be stopping at the plot of Elsie Martha Atkinson, one of the Barnbow Lassies.
The tour is open to anyone...a member of the Friends or not. Meet by the main gate.
Care re uneven surfaces, please wear sturdy shoes/boots/trainers.
October 2023 Friends Newsletter
the latest edition is now avaliable to all our members. The contents include:
- Leeds Civic Trust Plaque
- Looking Back
- In the Cemetery
- Dates for the Diary
- Link to the Falklands
- Family Bonds
- Remembrance Day Walk
- A Mystery Solved
‘Heritage Open Days September 2023'
Heritage Open Days: Hour-long tours on:
- Friday, 8th September 2023
- Sunday, 10th September 2023
- Wednesday, 13th September 2023
- Friday, 15th September 2023
Once again, Alun will be leading general introductory tours all starting at 2pm from the notice board inside the main gate. There’s no need to book, and they’re free although donations are always welcome. On Sunday 10th there’ll be special mention of the Cemetery’s Blue Plaque, re-furbished after first being installed 25 years ago.
Why not preface your tour with a visit to the Thackray Medical Museum across the road, their events coincide with our on the 8th, 13th and 15th .
Full details for all events in Leeds can be found at www.heritageopendays.org.uk
‘More Women in Beckett Street Cemetery’ - Saturday 3rd June at 11am
A repeat of the one-hour tour led by Sylvia Hodges for International Women’s Day.
Very few of the 7000+ headstones mention women in their own right, rather than as 'wife’ ‘mother’ sister’ etc. Sylvia has identified and researched around 50 women whose headstones shows their trade, profession or place in society. This is the second of 4 or 5 planned tours to introduce them.
Free tour. Meet by the main gate.
Annual General Meeting - Saturday, 22rd April 2023 at 2.15pm
The Friends’ Annual General Meeting at the Thackray Museum of Medicine. Following the official part of the meeting, our speaker will be Lesley Collins, Heritage Research Co-ordinator at the Thackray MofM. Her talk ‘”More than Oliver Twist” – the real lives of the poor’ will summarise research done on the inmates from the 1881 census, part of a wider national project about the lives of workhouse inmates.
There’ll be a short walk round the Cemetery at 1.30pm with our Chairman, Alun Pugh. Meet by the main gate.
‘More Women in Beckett Street Cemetery’ - Wednesday 8th March 2023 at 11am
A one-hour tour led by Sylvia Hodges for International Women’s Day.
Very few of the 7000+ headstones mention women in their own right, rather than as 'wife’ ‘mother’ sister’ etc. Sylvia has identified and researched around 50 women whose headstones shows their trade, profession or place in society. This is the second of 4 or 5 planned tours to introduce them.
Free tour. Meet by the main gate.
February 2023 Friends Newsletter
the latest edition is now avaliable to all our members. The contents include:
- In The Cemetery
- Remembrance Tour
- Honouring Service
- Dates for the Diary
- Link to the Falklands
- New Life for Commonwealth War Graves
- De Metzger of Mabgate
A huge thank you go to our new Editors Lindsey Kendall and Jeanette Bolton on producing this excellent publication. It's worth becoming a member for the newletter alone!.
Since the Cemetery has been constantly under one threat or other since clearance was first proposed, we welcome new members to the Friends of Beckett Street Cemetery.