TNAG-2552-FCO40-3727-Commonwealth-War-Graves-Commission-in-Hong-Kong-1992 — Page 32

from New Zealand and Australia, whose comrades lie in Suda Bay War Cemetery. Recent re-planting in that cemetery has made use of amber of Australasian native species, including two New Zealand Pohutukawa trees, which were brought over specially by the New Zealand veterans.

The fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Britain was remembered in September at RAF plots in Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Brookwood Military Cemetery and Chester (Blacon) Cemetery in the United Kingdom, and also at the Ottawa Memorial in Canada, which commemorates members of the RAF and RCAF who died whilst training in Canada and the United States.

Remembrance ceremony at Ceuta (Santa Catalina) Municipal Cemetery, Spain

Although the Commission likes to encourage visitors to its cemeteries and memorials and is continuing to extend the use of historical notices to explain the reason for their being where they are, the fact remains that they were not designed and built as tourist attractions. Some cemeteries, for instance Kanchanaburi War Cemetery in Thailand and Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium, are nowadays very much on the tourist trail. This does not cause any particular difficulties to the Commission, except for increased wear on turf, and parking problems for coach-drivers outside, but visitors who expect cemeteries to be equipped with facilities such as toilets and somewhere to buy postcards must be disappointed. Access to certain cemeteries is sometimes very difficult because of their isolated positions but even cemeteries beside a main road can be inaccessible to the wheelchair- bound if the architect has made extensive use of steps in his design. The Commission has begun a review of access difficulties for the disabled and, although it is recognised that little can be done to improve matters at some cemeteries, the aim is to provide reasonable access wherever possible.

Horticultural Maintenance

As mentioned above, the weight of visitors can cause wear to turf at cemeteries. This only affects a minority of sites and, even at those places, the areas affected tend to be restricted to the entrance and sometimes in front of the historical notice. At many more sites, turf near the service entrances suffers because of the compacting effect of heavy maintenance equipment being moved.

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