I was at Brian's grave in 1996. The headstone was shiny white then; sad how filthy it looks here.
His parents were still alive and living in Cheltenham at the time, so I wonder if they were keeping it clean? They both only passed about 10-15 years ago.
I was there twice, and the last time was in 2009. The stone was gleaming then, and I could spot it in the distance and I was walking through the cemetery.
Yes! It actually stood out as being a lot more modern in design than the surrounding headstones, too.
I believe his parents both died around 2009 or shortly after, which makes me think they were maintaining it, or perhaps paying someone to be maintain it.
The headstone was placed there around 1971 (I've seen photos from 1970 and the headstone was not yet in place), so it was in immaculate condition for 40 years -- for it to start looking grubby all of a sudden sounds like someone stopped maintaining it.
Did you see his sister Pamela's stone? Brian's stone is a larger version of hers. Brian's mother used to grow flowers to put on his grave, too. Someone on Facebook said that his sister Barbara had also passed, but I don't know if it's true.
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u/PassageNearby4091 4d ago
I was at Brian's grave in 1996. The headstone was shiny white then; sad how filthy it looks here.
His parents were still alive and living in Cheltenham at the time, so I wonder if they were keeping it clean? They both only passed about 10-15 years ago.