Allan goes above and beyond for cemetery

ALLAN George has been awarded the ‘Above and Beyond’ award for 2021 from the Cemeteries & Crematoria Association of Victoria.

Allan has been a member of the Grantville Cemetery Trust for 51 years and secretary/treasurer for 21 years now.

Allan is a compassionate person who spends many hours with grieving families. He has been known to spend several hours with a family in the morning and then return in the afternoon to be with them as their thoughts and requests have changed.

He has said that people at this difficult time in their lives need as much time as they need, and his thoughtfulness and patience shines through.

He spends many hours on the telephone for cemetery business, speaking with funeral directors, stonemasons, manufacturers, gravediggers, other cemeteries, information requests, organising burial sites, ashes and internments, which he sees as a normal part of his role in being a member of the Grantville Cemetery Trust.

This is all done voluntarily, with Allan on so many occasions donating not only his time, but instead of claiming reimbursement, has financially donated many things for the good of the cemetery and the community.

Allan has cared for and looked after the cemetery and used his initiative and engineering skills many times to ensure the best outcome is achieved for both the family and cemetery.

Allan has been instrumental in ensuring the cemetery has purchased equipment to make operational activities run more easily and smoothly.

Among other things, this has included the burial frames required for graves, ensuring a safe working environment at the cemetery.

Due diligence, strength and determination and just plain hard work was shown by Allan when in the old section of the cemetery, a burial site had to be dug by hand as a particular size machine was unavailable.

With time restraints, Allan quietly made it happen by completing the task with the help of his son while adhering to all the required safety regulations.

Allan is conscientious through the whole process with families and his attention to detail is shown when making sure the plaques are ordered promptly and when received, immediately installs them manually so the family can have some peace of mind that their loved ones’ wishes have been completed.