The Friends of Bellie Churchyard

Gordon and Ian Baxter proved a formidable and successful team while building their distinctive family business, Baxters of Speyside, on the banks of the River Spey at Fochabers. This teamwork continued into later life when after a visit to their parents’ graves at Bellie Churchyard, the two brothers pledged to one another to try to improve the unsatisfactory condition of this sacred place, the last resting place of many generations of folk from Fochabers and area, but largely uncared for for many years.

Sadly, in May 2001, Ian passed away, and a considerable bequest was left towards the improvement and upgrading of the Churchyard … and from this kind act, an exciting new ecumenical initiative was born. The congregations of Fochabers have a long history of helping each other and, as expected, they rose enthusiastically to this new challenge.

Gordon Baxter had an initial talk with three key players in Fochabers at the time, Reverend Canon Bernard McDonald of St Mary’s Church, Mr Hamish Moir of Bellie Church and Reverend Susan Wiffin of Gordon Chapel. Their response was very encouraging and during the winter of 2002, these discussions led to the creation of ‘The Friends of Bellie Churchyard’.

And so began a happy union of like-minded souls who pledged to promote for the benefit of the community, the conservation, restoration and improvement of Bellie Churchyard, Fochabers, and encourage public interest in its monuments, records and buildings, its ecology and in the natural beauty of its setting and to seek ways of enhancing public knowledge of the churchyard’s historical association to a much wider audience.

For many years, Moray Council cut the grass and tended the paths, but self-seeded Elder, Sycamore and Yew trees had been allowed to grow wild in many parts of the Churchyard. Ivy, bramble, moss and lichen covered many headstones, while a number of stones had fallen over or, sadly, had been broken. Our friends from Moray Council have given enthusiastic support to a number of projects put forward over the last 5 years by The Friends. The initial programme of clearing ivy and self-seeded plants, planting bulbs, upgrading paths and roadways, improving the drainage was undertaken by Garry Morrison and his team from the Environmental Services Department of Moray Council.

Further works have included the installation of seating in the new cemetery, repairs to damaged stones and the creation of an appropriate car parking area, a joint venture with Moray Council. The ‘greencrete’ material used is an environmentally friendly development and prevents the ground becoming soft and muddy underfoot – a welcome improvement to the surroundings.

The Churchyard has also been the focus of a good deal of attention from members of the Moray Burial Ground Research Group who, under the guidance of one of The Friends, Bruce Bishop, have spent many hours carefully collating the inscriptions of the gravestones, now published in conjunction with the Aberdeen & North East of Scotland Family History Society ‘Monumental Inscriptions – Bellie Churchyard and New Cemetery Parish of Bellie’. During many interesting Sunday visits to the Churchyard for recording purposes, the MBGRG aided by a few local volunteers successfully uncovered some 40 flat burial stones dating back to the early 1700’s. Each stone was photographed and carefully covered up again for their preservation for generations to come. The Friends have also commissioned a book by Bruce on the history of the Churchyard and its environs, providing an interesting insight into the general history of our native Speyside – ‘The Story of the Old Church and Churchyard of Bellie’

General funding has been achieved from membership subscriptions, a series of very entertaining Ecumenical Services featuring singing and musical accompaniment by local children at Baxters Highland Village, the sale of the book featuring the story of Bellie and a sponsored walk by a lively group of children from local schools with friends and families.

In 2007, the Friends were delighted to commence Phase 2 of their upgrading programme, which included the successful erection and official launch in 2008 of a splendid stone cross signage at the entrance to the Churchyard, highlighting the site to passers-by and the fact that it is a historic site since 1130. An interesting and informative plaque has also been designed, with the help of a local artist, John Tasker of Drybridge, and is to be erected at the gate of the Churchyard. The creation of a website to promote all these fine works, and to bring this news to the many families with Fochabers connections at home and overseas, became another part of our Phase 2 initiative and an Awards for All grant of £2,504 has been received to assist with the funding of these projects. The next stage of this Phase will be to work on a long-term planting programme which will further enhance the churchyard and the approach roadway. Recommendations for a comprehensive planting programme have been received by members of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, who are now providing their expertise to the Friends and also to members of the Burn of Fochabers Community Woodland Trust. Once again, the Friends will be working closely with Moray Council and the Crown Estate Office on these exciting new developments.

Mr Ian Baxter’s original legacy has been a wonderful catalyst in the creation of this exciting ecumenical project. I am sure visitors to the Churchyard will agree that The Friends have achieved a great deal since the inception of the group and, God willing, will continue to make progress with further developments to enhance our historic Churchyard for generations to come. We look forward to reporting on these developments … and much more … during the coming months.

We would also welcome practical help and ideas from all those who share our interest in this very special project.

The Dove

The Friends of Bellie Churchyard chose the 'dove' motif as a logo after discovering a beautiful little porcelain dove buried in the Churchyard during one of the Moray Burial Ground and Research Group's many visits there to record information on monumental inscriptions and uncover a number of buried stones. The little dove was carefully washed and presented to the Friends by a member of the Moray Burial Group. As the dove symbolises peace, it was felt that this was a very appropriate symbol to use.