Explore our North East Region

Hi, I’m Elizabeth and I am the Public Engagement Coordinator for the North of England. I joined the Commission in March 2018 and since then have been working hard to promote the hundreds of cemeteries and memorials in the North East and North West regions to the public.

One of my biggest achievements has been researching and writing a tour of the war graves at Stonefall Cemetery in Harrogate, where over 1,000 servicemen and women of both world wars are buried. Last year I hosted more than 500 local primary school pupils at the site and gave tours to the general public.

I feel a connection with all those casualties I research and for some of those buried at Stonefall I have been fortunate to be in contact with their families too. There is nothing that makes me prouder than knowing that I am helping to keep the stories of our casualties alive. 

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To get in touch with your regional public engagement coordinator, please email public.engagement@cwgc.org

Hi, I’m Stephen and I am the Regional Manager for the Commissions work across the North of England. I lead the hardworking and committed team who look after 42,000 grave markers spread across 2,200 locations across the North East and North West Regions.

I’ve worked for the Commission for 38 years, following in my father’s footsteps. Starting as a pupil gardener in Boulogne at 16, I spent the next 28 years in Europe, ranging from Belgian Flanders through to the Somme, and on to Normandy, Marseille and Corsica.

In the North of England my team work across a large area (including the Isle of Man) and spend a lot of time navigating the region. Even so, I make sure our team gets to meet up on a regular basis. We have a regional operations co-ordinator, four skilled maintenance craftsmen (SMCs) and seven gardeners. Each of my SMCs has more than 10,000 headstones to look after, which gives you an idea of the size of our task.

Our largest sites in the North East Region have well over 1,000 burials, including at Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, where our operations base is located, but our work takes us to every corner of the region, often to a churchyard with just a handful of war graves.

To get in touch with the regional operations team, please: 

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Hello, I’m Stephen and I’m the Regional Operations Coordinator for the North of England. I am directly responsible for the operations team and all operational activity in the North. The operations team consists of seven gardeners and four skilled maintained craftsmen.

I have worked for the commission for 18 years, starting as a gardener on the renovation team based at Leamington Spa from where I worked across the UK. Following that role, I moved back to Yorkshire to work as a gardener based at Harrogate where my work took me all over the North East of England. After some years as Head Gardner I am now in my current role of Regional Operations Coordinator (ROC).

Being a ROC is varied and mixed, some days you will find me at my desk working away on the computer, and other days I’m out in the cemeteries mowing the grass and maintaining the borders.

As direct line manager to the team it is my responsibility to make sure they are equipped with all they need, this includes supplying them with PPE, uniform, tools and equipment, and assisting them with any issues that may arise as well as organising the operational work required within the region.

I assist the Regional Manager making sure all health and safety policies are followed and are up to date, help with enquires and assist with contractors. With a region that spans from the Scottish Boarders down to South Yorkshire travel is a big aspect of my job. One week I maybe visiting sites in large city’s such as Leeds and Sheffield, and other week I can be in the scenic surroundings of the Yorkshire dales or Northumberland which makes my job enjoyable and interesting.