Cairnbrae Eco-Burial Ground

Early in the year the branch was approached about becoming involved in an exciting new venture: Cairnbrae Eco-burial site near Kellas. This project is the vision of Alma Kettles, whose family farm nearby.  www.cairnbrae.co.ukThe project involved the building of a cairn, obviously a job for the professionals among us, a 6 metre curved wall with niches and repairs to the outside walls of the site.  This cairn was successfully built by Gregor Smart and Billy McCallum.  At 2 metres wide at the base and 2 metres high it makes an impressive central feature.The wall was started by the members under the supervision of Gregor, but with small stone and various other criteria to be met this proved to be a challenging group task.

By the end of the 2nd day members had built approximately half the wall.

With Alma  keen to finish this part of the project as soon as possible in order to get the rest of the grass planted, and with care needing to be taken with the placing of the niches, Gregor agreed to complete the task the following week.It took another 4 days for the wall to be finished, so that will give readers an idea of how much labour and intricate detailed work was involved, in particular retaining the curve and incorporating three niches at different levels.Gregor is to be commended for his commitment to this project and his willingness to learn new skills: it’s not every day that niches are required.  The outer wall has still to be completed, but the site is already looking good.