Friends of Redcar Cemetery are asking for help to find family members of former Northern Echo editor William Stead in a bid to refurbish the Stead’s family memorials.

They would like anyone related or linked to the Stead family to contact them to discuss the plans before June 14.

The group of volunteers over the past four years have worked in close co-operation with the Local Authority and Correctional Institutions to improve and maintain the overall appearance of Redcar cemetery and natural beauty.

Redcar’s Stead hospital which closed in 2009 served the community for many years. And was originally the Stead family home which they later donated to the local community.

John Edward Stead was head of the family and a prominent metallurgist in the local iron and steel industry, while his son John Kenneth Stead died serving his country as a pilot in the First World War.

William Stead went down with the ill fated Titanic, though he is not commemorated on the memorial. But it is of interest to note that he was said to be the most famous person on board the ship, being a prominent spiritualist and having written many books on the subject.

Member of Friends of Redcar Cemetery, Camille Nertney, said: “We believe it is important to maintain the memorials in the cemetery.

“Some are in a sad state of repair and in danger of being lost, so the history of this family’s commitment to the local community would also be in danger of being lost - particularly as the Stead Memorial Hospital is now closed.

“We know that many people of Redcar and the surrounding area are grateful for the care that this hospital has provided.

“Funding bodies are reluctant to offer monies to cemeteries and we have to be self financing, this we do by having craft fayre stalls, concerts, wish trees at Christmas and tombolas.

“It is important to understand that a cemetery is in reality a place for the living to visit, and that generally the visitor is suffering from the loss of a person who was important to them, a loved one, therefore, it is more than helpful if the cemeteries appearance is pleasing to the eye, well maintained and a place of natural beauty.

“We hope you will support our effort which we believe benefit all those who have cause to visit our cemetery.

“This has included the renewal of the perimeter fencing, the planting of thousands of bulbs, the placing of memorials for those who have died at sea and those who rescue others from the sea and who are buried in the cemetery.

“A moving memorial for babies buried in an unmarked corner has been established, all of which have given comfort to our visitors knowing that ordinary local people are well remembered and recognised.

Mrs Nertney added: “Our cemetery contains a huge amount of local and national history interest, monuments and memorials, name but a few, the casualties of the Boer War, World War One and Two, and the minister who took Christianity to the Eskimos and the Stead Family.”

The next Tombola is to be held at Morrisons, in Redcar on June the 19th between 10am - 4pm.

If you have any prizes to donate or if you have any information for the Stead memorial, please contact Friends of Redcar Cemetery: 471064 or 01642 478349