A DISUSED cemetery sprang to life at the weekend with a host of activities, to celebrate the awarding of two grants, which will help restore the area.
The Friends of Houghton Hillside Cemetery were granted £25,000 by the Local Heritage Initiative and £7,500 from Sunderland Council's Coalfield Strategic Initiative Budget.
The funding is for the restoration of the lych gate entrance, an oral history project and primary school scheme.
The cemetery, in Sunderland Street, Houghton-le-Spring, was controversially consecrated on the site of a former quarry.
Residents at the time called it the quarry hole, but many noteworthy people were buried there during its 150-year history.
The open day featured talks, tours, stalls, photographic displays, and coffin and stonemason workshops.
Friends of the cemetery dressed up in period costume and a vintage hearse and horses were in attendance.
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