GOOD NEWS: LtR MP Luciana Berger, a patron of the cemetery, Ruth Webster, Bill Maynard, Saul Marks, chairman of the cemetery committee and Cllr Louise Baldock
ALMOST half a million pounds was awarded to restore a historical Jewish burial ground.
The Heritage Lottery Fund cash will revamp Deane Road Jewish Cemetery which was a resting place of many important Victorian Jews.
Among those buried at the Fairfield site are David Lewis of Lewis’s store fame; Charles Mozley, first Jewish Mayor of Liverpool and Dr Sigismund Lewis, who wa a pioneer of school vaccination programmes.
The £494,000 project will renew important features such as the ornate listed archway and fallen gravestones will be re-erected. It will also allow the cemetery to be opened to the public.
The programme of work will include a new landscaping scheme, pathways, a seating area for contemplation and a new building for visitors and volunteers.
Saul Marks, of the Deane Road Cemetery Committee sais: “We are absolutely thrilled with the news. This cemetery is a wonderful historical gem within the city and it deserves to be appreciated by as wide an audience as possible. The Heritage Lottery Fund has finally made our long-standing dream possible and we are really excited about at last being able to restore the cemetery to its former glory.”
Sara Hilton, head of Heritage Lottery Fund North West said: “It is wonderful that we are able to support the vital restoration of Deane Road Jewish Cemetery. As a final resting play [sic] for some of Victorian Liverpool’s most influential figures it has huge significance to the local community, whilst the architectural features, such as the archway and tombstones, are important examples of the skilled stonemasonry of the era.
“By getting volunteers involved in the restoration and opening up the cemetery to the visitors more people will have the chance to learn about and explore the cemetery’s fascinating history.”
More than 1700 people were buried there between 1837 and 1904, with a few reserved plots filled later, up until 1929. When it closed, a new one was created in Broadgreen. In recent years it has become an overgrown [sic] and littered with rubbish. The restoration will allow it to take its place on the Heritage trail.
Councillor Louise Baldock, a member of the committee, who co-ordinated the Lottery bid, said: “We have spent nearly four years working towards this wonderful news. With the help and support of the Jewish community, local people, schools, organisations, agencies and partners we have kept the dream alive that one day we could be in a position to fully restore our beloved cemetery.”