It was early 2018 a young man approached me at the Glasgow Friends of Israel stall on Buchanan Street and said “I am looking for someone Jewish. I live in Greenock and often take a walk in the cemetery. There is a small section with Jewish burials and it looks very dilapidated and unkempt”

I knew little about Greenock cemetery and even less about a Jewish section and any Jewish community in Greenock. Out of curiosity and a sense of Jewish’ness, I decided that I would meet him just to see what was there.

A few days later I made my way to Greenock cemetery to meet Ross. As I drove into the cemetery, I was amazed by its very wide entrance and the 2 impressive stone columns. I made my way up the hill towards the cemetery office where with Ross, I met Stephen Fulton, the cemetery manager.

Stephen confirmed that there is a very small Jewish section and the details of the sixteen people buried there were meticulously recorded in the cemetery’s records which he agreed to show me.

The Greenock cemetery is vast. Finding the way to the tiny Jewish section would have been impossible without a map or a guide. With Stephen leading the way, we drove up and down the cemetery tracks for quite a while before we reached the Jewish section.

One could easily have driven right past this area with its seven, only seven, headstones, most broken and lying in pieces on the ground and with very faint Hebrew lettering which could hardly be read.

The area was certainly a sad sight to behold. Four of the headstones were lying on the grass like fallen soldiers. Most of them had broken into sections whilst one stone was lying with the bottom of its base exposed as if it had been uprooted from the ground as punishment. It seemed a crime to let the Jewish section be seen in this state.

On my way back to Glasgow I thought that something should and could be done. Although the Jewish community in Greenock had diminished and disappeared, some of its history remained and unfortunately an important element of it seems to be eroding away.

But where do I start? Who would be willing and prepared to undertake the responsibility for the renovation of this historical story of the Jewish community in the West of Scotland?

A good place to start was the Glasgow Hebrew Burial Society. If anyone knows about Jewish cemeteries, it would be the GHBS.

It transpired that there were a couple of initiatives underway at some Jewish cemeteries in Glasgow. One of the major projects had been undertaken by the Sandymount Charitable Trust and its Cemeteries Improvement Committee.

I contacted the Chairman of the Sandymount Trustees, Stanley Coorsh, who kindly invited me to attend the next committee meeting. At this meeting, which were normally held at the St. Mungo Museum of Religious Life & Art, I quickly realised that it wasn’t just the Jewish section at Greenock that was a candidate for attention. This committee had a project that included the cemeteries at Sandymount, Glenduffhill, The Necropolis, Riddrie and Craigton.

After attending some of these meetings, I soon realised that this Charitable Trust had its hands full. Any activity and renovation at Greenock would have to be slotted at the end of the queue as in essence, the Sandymount Trust’s remit was restricted to the Jewish cemeteries in Glasgow.

It was almost back to square one but by attending the Sandymount meetings, I did learn a little about cemeteries renovation. I decided to explore the possibility of taking on this project which was significantly smaller that those being managed by the Sandymount Trust.
It was clear that the project would have 2 major activities. The renovation of the headstones and landscaping activity to prepare the area for the repositioning of the stones which would be safer if laid out flat, as now the practice in the other Jewish cemeteries.

A scope of work was completed and this was to be sent to suitable companies. Not that there was a great number to choose from when it came to Jewish headstones although quite a number of landscaping companies were identified.

It was towards the end of 2019 that the estimated cost for the work had been identified and it was time to raise the funds. As an appeal was being organised, everyone’s attention was turning to the COVID-19 epidemic. Everything else just stopped.

By mid 2021 the pandemic effect was receding and life started picking up again. I decided to resurrect the Greenock Cemetery project and attempt to identify where and how the funds could be raised. The main issue however was that due to the time lag, the previous quotations had expired and a new estimated cost was required.

But unfortunately, due to the time delay, the costs from both contractors had increased with of these by a significant amount. The estimated costs had become an obstacle.

I decided to reach out to different contractors one of which was a local landscaping company that is a charity and that was already well known to the cemetery management. When the new quotations arrived, it was pleasing to see that although the overall costs had increased, these were not as high as the previous quotes

It was mid 2021 and then all I had to do was raise the funds, as nothing could be progressed without the certainty that funding was available. From experience I know that when raising funds for a new project, charitable or not, it’s the very first donation that’s always the hardest to find. So where should I start?

I decided to contact my very old friend David Links at the GHBS who I have known since we were both teenagers. I knew that the Burial Society’s responsibility is focused on Glasgow, as the charity name suggests, but I thought that their remit could be extended to the West of Scotland. David and I met at his house, where he introduced me to his wonderful garden, after which he confirmed that the GHBS would be delighted to help with this rather unusual but very important project. I was cock-a-hoop and although there was a long way to go, I had crossed the Rubicon.

Since 2018 I have been raising funds for Glasgow Friends of Israel. Amongst our small number of financial supporters, the Jewish Charitable Trusts have always been willing and able to support our peace advocacy work. I turned to them next

Within a few weeks, both the Queens Park Charitable Trust and the Netherlee and Clarkston Charitable Trust agreed to match the GHBS’s donation. Lift-off successfully achieved. Now for the flight and the landing. I cannot just stop in mid-air.

I turned to the Glasgow Jewish Community Trust. I confirmed that I had received wonderful support from the three charitable trusts but I am still searching for additional funding and would the Trust also help and I was quietly hoping that it would help us reach the landing strip. And so it turned out.

I kicked off the project with the cemetery management, the landscaping contractor and the headstones company. It was autumn 2022. Approaching a Scottish winter is not the best time to start landscaping activities. We decided to wait until March 2023 with an estimated completion date of mid-summer.

I thought it would be appropriate to hold a rededication event when the work is complete. I contacted Rabbi Rubin who was wonderfully helpful and agreed to lead the ceremony. But who should be invited to attend?

I contacted the four charitable Trusts to update their trustees and invited them to the event. Although these will be very welcome guests, they were not as far as I knew, with the exception of one trustee, related to the people buried in Greenock. Surely he cannot be the only living relative.

And so began the investigation to find out if there are there any other living family members in Glasgow or even further away?
Following discussions with various members of the Glasgow Jewish community, we found that there were in fact relatives in Glasgow, London, Manchester and also Israel.

As the restoration and renovation work progressed, we uncovered some unexpected obstacles which could not have been identified during the initial planning and estimating process and these required some additional funding. I contacted all the relatives with an update and asked if any would be prepared to make a donation for this project and that’s how we were able to complete the funding requirement.

Working with the landscaping company, the headstones restorers and the cemetery management was straight forward and trouble free. All of them worked well together and the scheduling the tasks was a smooth operation. All the work was completed in July.

And so 5 years the restoration work is complete and the rededication ceremony of the Jewish section in Greenock Cemetery was held on Sunday July 16.

The service at the cemetery and was followed by a civic reception in the Greenock Municipal Buildings hosted by Drew McKenzie, the Provost of Inverclyde.

The rededication ceremony was led by Senior Rabbi of Scotland Moshe Rubin and was attended by over 50 people including relatives of some of the people buried in Greenock, friends, guests and local dignitaries. It was a very poignant and serene service in memory of some members of the Greenock Jewish community who were interned in Greenock between 1908 and 1945.

Following the service at the cemetery, everyone made their way to the Municipal Buildings in Greenock city centre where in the spectacular hall, we hear the story of this unique project followed by the very welcoming words of Provost Drew McKenzie.

There are numerous groups from all over the world that visit Greenock Cemetery during the year, especially during the spring and summer. Some are visitors to Scotland who come to find the graves of their ancestors and other family members. The cemetery management will now add the Jewish section to the visitors’ route