John Sephton, remembered
For many years I walked in the New Forest and regularly passed a small memorial to John Murray Sephton As the years went by, the small stone began to sink lower and lower into the ground, the weeds began to encroach and the grass slowly grew over the edge of it. Occasionally I used to pick away the edges and a few weeds, but was always a little reluctant as I didn't want to be seen to "interfere". The dog I walked there so often has long since died, and now I have a 6 year old son. I took him there for a walk the other day, after many years of not walking there and I was sad to see that the memorial stone for John Sephton was even more covered over and the lettering beginning to disappear.
After I took my son to school this morning, I loaded up my car with a variety of gardening tools and went back to Bartley Cricket pitch were the stone is. I did a bit of tidying up. I hope the family don't mind. I have reclaimed and re-exposed the full memorial stone, trimmed up the edges and used a bit of shoe polish to make the lettering stand out. I don't know if his ashes were scattered there, or if it is just the memorial stone, but hopefully he'll feel better for a wash and brush up!
I am currently undertaking a project to photograph and record all Armenian graves in India, hence my interest and concern that John Sephton's memorial was weathering a bit too quickly. He's not part of my project, but I couldn't just walk on by.
Best wishes, Liz Chater
Contributing to the Garden of Remembrance
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