{"id":877,"date":"2026-08-05T11:03:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T10:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/?p=877"},"modified":"2026-08-05T11:03:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T10:03:57","slug":"green-day-progress-ahead-of-heritage-open-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/2026\/08\/05\/green-day-progress-ahead-of-heritage-open-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Day Progress ahead of Heritage Open Days"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Preparations for <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/2026\/07\/22\/heritage-open-days-2026-at-ballast-hills\/\">Heritage Open Days<\/a> are gathering pace at Ballast Hills Burial Ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Volunteers made excellent progress during the 4 August 2026 Green Day, concentrating on the Albion Row entry way, the upright gravestones, and the gravestone pathways. They carefully removed weeds, leaves, and accumulated soil, revealing more of the stonework and making the routes clearer for visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The before-and-after photographs show the difference that a few hours of patient work can make. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"881\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/GD-before-abd-after-1-1-1024x768.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-881\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/GD-before-abd-after-1-1-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/GD-before-abd-after-1-1-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/GD-before-abd-after-1-1-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/GD-before-abd-after-1-1.png 1448w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"882\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/GD-before-abd-after-2-1-1024x768.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-882\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/GD-before-abd-after-2-1-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/GD-before-abd-after-2-1-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/GD-before-abd-after-2-1-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/GD-before-abd-after-2-1.png 1448w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We are especially grateful to the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ouseburntrust.org.uk\/get-involved\/groups\/environment-group\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/ouseburntrust.org.uk\/get-involved\/groups\/environment-group\/\">Ouseburn Trust Environmental Group volunteers<\/a><\/strong>, whose hard work, care, and practical support made a significant contribution to these sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our remaining scheduled Green Day will take place on <strong>Tuesday 1 September<\/strong>, but more work remains before Heritage Open Days on <strong>Saturday 19 September<\/strong>. We hope to arrange additional sessions during the weeks leading up to the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyone interested in helping should contact <strong><a>ballast.hills@newcastle.ac.uk<\/a><\/strong>. We can also arrange a bespoke Green Day on another suitable date when a group of <strong>five or more volunteers<\/strong> can attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to everyone who has already contributed time, energy, and care. Each session helps us to prepare the burial ground to welcome visitors and share its remarkable history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"653\" height=\"871\" data-id=\"883\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/20260804_185924.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-883\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/20260804_185924.jpg 653w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/20260804_185924-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 653px) 100vw, 653px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"653\" height=\"871\" data-id=\"887\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/20260804_185936.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-887\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/20260804_185936.jpg 653w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/20260804_185936-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 653px) 100vw, 653px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"653\" height=\"871\" data-id=\"884\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/20260804_203957.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-884\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/20260804_203957.jpg 653w, https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/files\/2026\/08\/20260804_203957-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 653px) 100vw, 653px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Preparations for Heritage Open Days are gathering pace at Ballast Hills Burial Ground. Volunteers made excellent progress during the 4 August 2026 Green Day, concentrating on the Albion Row entry way, the upright gravestones, and the gravestone pathways. They carefully removed weeds, leaves, and accumulated soil, revealing more of the stonework and making the routes &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/2026\/08\/05\/green-day-progress-ahead-of-heritage-open-days\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Green Day Progress ahead of Heritage Open Days&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5556,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,8,53],"tags":[103],"class_list":["post-877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green-days","category-project-news","category-volunteering","tag-green-days"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5556"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":888,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877\/revisions\/888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/ballast-hills\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}