The Rt Hon Sir John Whittingdale MP and Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP switched on the Christmas lights at the annual Memory Tree Event held at Heybridge Cemetery last Saturday (December 10).

Organised by the Friends of Heybridge Cemetery, the event was also attended by Councillor Robert Boyce OBE, Chairman of Maldon District Council, and Councillor Sue White, Chairman of the Council's Strategy and Resources Committee.

Miriam Lewis, Chairman of the Friends group, told Nub News: "Every year, we have our remembering event, which is a time when all of us with an association with the cemetery can get together with people in the same situation as we remember our lost loved ones.

"We're all members of a club that none of us wanted to join."

Sir John told Nub News: "I was delighted to join the [House of Commons] Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, in switching on the Christmas tree lights in Heybridge Cemetery.

"It was great to welcome him and his daughter to Maldon once again and join them (and Miriam and David) for a curry afterwards.

Heybridge has the only cemetery friends group in Essex. Members meet regularly to help maintain the local cemetery in memory of their lost loved ones.

The group has planted between ten to twelve thousand daffodils at the cemetery, which are set to bloom in the springtime.

Miriam added: "As you walk down the drive in the cemetery, it's just a mass of Wordsworth-like golden daffodils.

"It just means that when it's a bit dark, a bit gloomy, and still a bit wet and miserable, it lifts you so much. It's just like life starting again."

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