Team completes ground works at Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery

A team of four CWGC operational staff in Scotland has just spent ten days working in Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery on Hoy which is part of Orkney Islands.

We maintain 545 war graves at this significant location overlooking Scapa Flow with graves from World War One and World War Two.

The team made up of a Regional Operations Coordinator, Head Gardener and two Gardeners spent the ten days completely replanting the headstone borders helped by our locally engaged contractor.

Seven Hundred running meters of headstone borders were replanted, this involved removing the existing plants introducing organic matter by digging all the borders and replanting, requiring a lot of hard work and commitment by the team in the challenging weather conditions on Hoy. 

Getting to and from this cemetery was a major challenge in itself, involving a long drive and two ferries to reach the island of Hoy taking took two and a half days alone.

Thanks to the dedication of our staff and contractors, we have significantly improved the standard of this unique and challenging location.