Warrington Air Cadets volunteer to clean Christ Church

Warrington Air Cadets have given up their time to maintain Christ Church Cemetery in Padgate .

The 1330 Warrington Squadron Air Cadets is made up of young people aged between 13 to 18 and they joined together this Saturday to help clean and maintain the gravestones of fallen soldiers from the First World War and Second World War.

The group consisting of 18 members and supervised by Sergeant Sheena and Sergeant Dixon, showed role model behaviour, working from 9am until 12.30pm scrubbing, washing, and brushing the gravestones and graveyard.

The church grounds, which date back to the 1830s, require constant maintenance and has been praised previously by locals for the volunteer work and efforts that take place to keep the grounds clean and clear with one resident describing it as having ‘lovely areas to sit and pay your respects’.

Church warden, Barrie Crabtree, commended the group of cadets for their hard work, saying: “To see teenagers cleaning gravestones on a Saturday during their own time is remarkable. They couldn’t help enough.

The cadets at work in Padgate

“I cannot heap enough praise for what they did. Their parents should be so proud.”

The cadets will return to do more voluntary work for the church grounds in October and January while other volunteer groups and members of the church will maintain the grounds in the meantime.

Describing the large-scale task of maintaining the cemetery, Mr Crabtree said: “It is a huge cemetery with more than 100 trees in its grounds. It requires a lot of work, and we are always looking for volunteers to help.”

To volunteer your help to Christ Church Cemetery, contact Barrie on 07882 936868.

The cadets at work in Padgate