Friends of Southampton Old Cemetery are celebrating their 180th Anniversary on 10th May this year! See more below courtesy of FoSOC

This will be commemorated in the cemetery on Sunday 10 May and more details will be posted as we approach that date.

In the weeks leading up to the important anniversary, we will be featuring, here, some of the ‘markers’ in FoSOC’s 23 years involvement with Southampton’s Victorian Cemetery.

The group was founded in 2003 by John Avery ( Founder Secretary/Treasurer), Veronica Tippetts (now a Vice President of FoSOC) and Geoff Watts (Founder Chairman).

From the very start, we researched stories and took public walks in the cemetery.

Our President from the very beginning was (the now late) Professor James Stevens Curl.

We became involved, with the City Council and Bereavement Services in caring for the cemetery itself with our ‘task work’ of helping to clear and maintain as much of the extensive grounds as could be done by a small group. All this has continued right through to the present times.

Below is a page from one of our early newsletters, 2005. A Lottery application did not go ahead!”