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Gravedigging course gets new recruits

A local college is offering a course that’s not for the faint hearted…

East Durham College will be putting on a course for gravedigging in the New Year after a shortage of people coming forward for the job was reported.

A total of ten potential gravediggers have enrolled on the course, which will form part of an NVQ qualification.

Tutor Dave Miller, who has dug graves himself as a cemetery groundsman in Hartlepool, said: “It’s not simply a matter of digging a hole the right size.

“That is obviously a very important part, but it is of course a sensitive time for families and it is vital that nothing goes wrong during a ceremony.

“ grave is often dug a week or so before burial and it is important to ensure rain does not flood it out, earth does not collapse, and that is remains fit for burial.

“Local councils have a statutory duty to provide burial plots and to bury the dead and there is currently a need for gravediggers.”

Jane Pringle, curriculum head of land based studies at the college, said a modern day gravedigger would also combine duties of grasscutting, road gritting, and street sweeping as part of his or her duties.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .