Epsom’s Mental Health Week ›

Epsom and Ewell based charities Love Me Love My Mind and The Friends of Horton Cemetery joined forces with Surrey County Council Youth Workers and others this week. In Epsom Market Square on Saturday 8th October local residents and visitors took part in the “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” Project. This Historic England supported project raises awareness of the Horton Cemetery in Epsom. There are buried 9000 patients of Epsom’s five now closed psychiatric hospitals. The largest asylum cemetery in Europe.

Borough and County Councillor Bernie Muir joined in the Market Square painting of memorial flowers.

Cllr Bernie Muir paints a flower for Horton Cemetery in Epsom — ^{Cllr Bernie Muir paints a flower}

The painting continued during a day of reflection and celebration on World Mental Health Day 10th October at St Barnabas Church in Temple Road, Epsom. Activities included a walk to Horton Cemetery beside Hook Road and a song and dance performance by students from Epsom’s Laine Theatre Arts School.

Mayor Clive Woodbridge painting a ceramic flower for Horton Cemetery — ^{Mayor Clive Woodbridge paints a flower}

Mayor Clive Woodbridge joined the event and painted a flower. 900 ceramic flowers are being individually painted by young and old throughout the Borough over the year. Workshops will be held to discuss the significance of the Cemetery and the lives of those who ended up in this paupers’ graveyard. The aim is to plant the flowers near the Cemetery on Mental Health Day 2023. The site was sold by the NHS to a property speculator in 1983 and has been neglected ever since.