When I was working, I walked with my eyes fixed straight ahead of me, paying little attention to my surroundings. Now I am retired, rich in time and a spendthrift with it, I amble as much interested in what is around me as where I am going. On my regular walks into Frimley, I go through the churchyard of our local church, St Peter’s. I look at the inscriptions on the stones and on those occasions that my interest has been piqued, I will try and find out more about the people buried there.

Given the area’s proximity to Sandhurst and Aldershot, I am not sure that it is such a surprise as it may seem at first blush, but there are monuments to three of the 1,355 Recipients of the Victoria Cross in the churchyard, those of Kenneth Muir, Charles Melliss, and William Cubitt. Awarded for acts of bravery in the face of the enemy, it is an urban myth to assume that all recipients died in combat. Far from it, and Frimley and neighbouring Camberley had its fair share of military veterans who retired in the area.

The Graves of those fallen in combat are tended by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, but there are around seven hundred VC recipients buried in churchyards throughout the Commonwealth. On a walk through St Peter’s Churchyard in early August, I noticed a small group earnestly inspecting the grave of William Cubitt. I assumed that they were military or local historians or genealogists, and passed them by. It was only later that I discovered that they were volunteers from a remarkable charity, The Victoria Trust Cross.

Founded in 2014, the charity’s mission is to clean and restore the graves of those VC recipients not buried in Commonwealth War Graves and to keep their stories alive. The Frimley graves formed part of their summer schedule of work, which aims to spruce up the graves of twenty-four of the recipients.

Keen to find out more, I spoke to one of the Trustees, Frances Adams, who told me that it costs around £800 per grave, excluding expenses, to restore each grave, as they use specialist cleaning materials and equipment, appropriate to the materials used on the headstone and surrounds. While at a graveyard, the volunteers, all ex-military or with military connections, also tend the graves of other fallen soldiers.    

As well as restoring the monuments to their former glory, the Trust’s activities give the veterans a sense of purpose and an opportunity to contribute to the preservation of the memory and stories of those who received the military’s highest honour.

Judging by the results at St Peter’s, they do a fine job. More power to their elbows!

To find out more about the Trust and its activities, follow the link below:

https://victoriacrosstrust.org/