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Volunteers restore grave of Victoria Cross recipient

BBC Sir Henry Wilmot's grave BBC
Sir Henry Wilmot died in Bournemouth in 1901 but was buried at St Mary's Church in Chaddesden

Volunteers have cleaned and restored graves belonging to a recipient of the Victoria Cross and five members of his family.

Sir Henry Wilmot, who was born in Chaddesden, Derby in 1831, was awarded the honour for an act of bravery during the Battle of Lucknow in India in 1858.

The restoration work at Chaddesden's St Mary's Church was carried out on Tuesday by national war grave charity The Victoria Cross Trust with local volunteers.

Volunteers from Jericho House, an addiction rehabilitation centre in Derby, also helped out.

Sir Henry Wilmot's grave
The graves had been in need of some attention

Among those lending a hand was Pam Helm, 85, from Chaddesden, who told BBC Radio Derby the story of how Sir Wilmot earned his Victoria Cross, the highest award available to members of the armed forces.

"Sir Wilmot ended up as a brigadier general during the Battle of Lucknow in the Indian Uprisings", she said.

"He and four of his men were trapped in an alleyway and one of his men was shot in both legs. While the men dragged the injured soldier away, he held the enemy at bay, which is what he was awarded the VC for."

'Proud of what we do'

The Victoria Cross Trust is a charitable organisation that aims to ensure the graves of all Victoria Cross recipients are maintained.

Chair of trustees, Keith Lumley, said the team deep-cleaned the grave, put a steel rod inside of it alongside a resin bond to make sure it remained in a good state in the future.

"What we are about is maintaining the memories for the next generation to understand who the real heroes were that give them their freedom today," he said.

Volunteers at Sir Henry Wilmot's grave
Volunteers restored the graves of Sir Henry Wilmot and five of his family members

Jason Ward, vicar of St Marys Church said he would clean the graves himself but did not have the tools to carry out the job.

"Sometimes I feel guilty that we haven’t done this", said Mr Ward.

"The reality is that we cannot do this as we need specialists to do the job properly and these volunteers are wonderful. This is how it should be done, it’s magic."

Steve Abell, a manager for Victoria Cross Trust has been cleaning graves for the last 12 years.

"We are proud of what we do and get a lot of satisfaction out of it", he said.

Graham Anderson, who served for 13 years in the Royal Engineers, was also among the volunteers from the trust.

"I was given a lot by the army so it's my chance to put stuff back in to the military family," he said.

"It's very, very rewarding once you see the results at the end of the day."

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