South Yorkshire Times January 30th 1965
Church Officer Helped to Clear Snow for Cortege
Council could not answer bereaved family’s plea
After an appeal to Conisbrough Urban Council for help had failed, an undertaker’s son and a Church Army officer cleared 50 yards of snow so that a funeral cortege could get through.
Three inches of snow had fallen last Thursday night, the night before the funeral of Mr. Milton Fowler (65), former head storekeeper at Denaby Main Colliery, and the steep and deeply rutted unadopted road where he and his wife had lived became impassable for the cortege.
As an alternative the coffin might have had to be carried several hundred yards under treacherous conditions.
Undertaker Mr. Jack Greathead appealed on behalf of Mrs. Fowler to Conisbrough Urban Council for help in gritting Highfield Road and clearing the snow, but Mr. Greathead claims a Council official said he did not think they could help.
So his son Tony, with the Church Army officer, and two of the undertaker’s apprentices, got to work to clear the snow and ice to enable the procession to pass.
CORTEGE LATE
Thanks to their efforts the cortege was only half an hour late at Conisbrough Parish Church.
“I know the Council have no responsibilities for an unadopted road, but I would have thought that in this case they could have helped out,” Mr. Greathead told the “South Yorkshire Times” on Monday.
He added, “After all, Mr. Fowler has done a great deal for Conisbrough and the people of this district. He was secretary of Denaby Fullerton Hospital for some years. I should have thought the Council could have done something. All we wanted was a load of ashes and a couple of men, and it would have saved us being late at church, as we were.
“I rang the Surveyor’s Department on behalf of Mrs. Fowler, but I was told all the men were out on busy roads, and they didn’t think it would be possible to help us.
“I even asked if it would be possible to have a load of sand and salt to spread, but I was told that would be much too expensive. Yet they are dropping barrow loads of the stuff all over the town. Mrs. Fowler is a ratepayer like the rest of us. “
ALTERNATIVES
Mr. Greathead declared, “After the Council said they didn’t think they could do anything we were left with two alternatives. Either we could carry the coffin across a neighbour’s back yard to a road that was accessible – and naturally enough Mrs. Fowler did not want this to happen – or we would have had to carry it several hundred yards down the steep road to the cars. One of my men might have slipped and sustained injury, or even dropped the coffin. This was my responsibility and I decided, for Mrs. Fowler’s sake, we had to do something.”
The church came to the rescue in the form of Captain Ormerod Simpson, of the Church Army. He picked up a shovel and joined in the snow clearing. He told our reporter, “I went along to see Mrs. Fowler last Thursday, the night before the funeral, and she said she was very concerned about the possibility of snow.
LONG TASK
“On Friday morning, after the snowfall, the Council were apparently unable to do anything. So I joined Mr. Greathead’s party and spent an hour and a half clearing the snow. It was about three inches deep. As a result the cortege was able to get right up to the house.
“I know the distress this situation could have caused Mrs. Fowler and I was very disturbed about the possibility. I hope people will realise at least one thing from this – that the church really does care abut them. A lot of people seem to think the church just isn’t bothered, and is just a kind of club for the middle class. That is completely wrong.”
The 63-years-old widow told the “South Yorkshire Times”, “Had it not been for the goodness of all these people, we should have been unable to get down to the cars.
“GRATEFUL”
“It was very good of Captain Simpson to help, and I’m very grateful to all of them.”
“But I should have thought the Council could have helped at a time like this,” added Mrs. Fowler.
Several attempts have been made to have Highfield Road “adopted” but so far they have failed. One tenant complains that a number of people have fallen down on the hill.
On Monday when our reporter visited Mrs. Fowler’s home, he had considerable difficulty in getting his car up Highfield Road, and by that time all the snow had gone.
EXPLANATION
On Wednesday Mr. R.M. Clark, Engineer and Surveyor to the Conisbrough authority, gave the reasons why the Council did not comply with Mr. Greathead’s request.
He said, “I think this matter can be exaggerated out of all proportion. The Council could not do anything at the time because all the men were out gritting the whole of the district roads and we couldn’t stop these operations for one isolated case. After all, everybody was in difficulties.”