'It's a privilege to work for the dead'

""We are bringing them back to life.""

""It's a privilege to work for the dead," Mick adds."

""I like telling stories and trying to build pictures in people's minds so they've actually got an idea of what I'm saying," Mick says. "If they can remember 40% of what I've said, then that's job done.""

The Friends of Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries (FOBLC) formed in July 2007 and now has about 300 volunteers who maintain two Victorian cemeteries in south-east London. Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries opened in 1858 and contain thousands of burials. Volunteers Phill Barnes-Warden and Mick Martin meet every Tuesday and research those interred to reconstruct life stories, wartime experiences, and notable connections such as a detective involved in the Jack the Ripper investigation. Phill discovered a great-great-grandfather in a common grave and uploads grave photos and records to an Ancestry database and public genealogy sites to reconnect families.

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