Author: friendsofbec

Reasons for tree removal vindicated.

Things are often not what they seem….especially when it comes to trees. Our relatively healthy looking Poplars were hiding a potentially dangerous secret!

The ‘heartwood’, or centre of the trunks, on several trees was rotten. This is obviously something that can’t be seen by eye- but is one of the major things that the Tree Officer will have arranged to be tested. I photographed just a couple of examples…..but there were several.

I will also post some photos of the ‘kit’ and the felled trees as it was a hive of industry. It has opened up the back of the adjacent houses and must make a difference to their light?

Lets hope this great tree husbandry continues with the planting of interesting and suitable replacement trees in the not too distant future.

Removal of Black Poplar trees

Those of you that are visiting the cemetery this week, or who live adjacent to the cemetery in Sunderton Road, will be aware that there is a lot of activity on that side of the cemetery. As we posted earlier, a number of large Poplar trees are being removed as they are now reaching the end of their life and the Tree Officer felt that, for safety reasons, they need to be removed.  This is part of the tree husbandry work that has been happening in the Cemetery with trees being ‘crown lifted’, felled and trimmed.

It is hoped that these trees will all be replaced in the coming financial year with a number of unusual more suitable specimen trees, in line with the initial planting. Brandwood End has in excess of 1700 trees, many of which are unusual and were planted over 100 years ago. The Friends hope they can encourage an ongoing replacement programme by the City, as trees reach the end of their life. As usual the stumbling block will be finance!!

Civilian Garden

Following our adventures with the shears…..we moved on to a bit of weeding and pruning in the Civilian Garden of Remembrance. No shears in use on this hedge as it is now mature and used by nesting birds!  Hopefully they will all have fledged soon, as the hawthorn hedge is desperately in need of smartening up but we must remember that the prime reason for this hedge was to increase biodiversity in the cemetery.

Haircut for small War Graves area hedge.

In Brandwood End Cemetery we have over 320 War Graves but, close to our Civilian Memorial Garden, we have a small enclosed area of War Graves.  A couple of years ago local school pupils helped plant a hedge around this area, which is now finally taking shape.  As you can see, it needed a bit of a tidy up so members of FBEC (Committee and members) got their shears out and set to.

 

 

 

 

A couple of hours later…….. and you can see a real improvement !

 

 

 

 

Sad Chapels…..

We are all a little sad to see the chapels seemingly in one of the worst states since the formation of FBEC.  The Friends are continually trying to find a solution to halt this deterioration but we are very much in the hands of the owners, Birmingham City Council.  Until a sustainable future use for them is found that is acceptable to BCC, and to grant providers,  I am afraid we are going nowhere!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We can all see the huge amount of shrubbery both out of control around the chapels and also on the tower. This makes us so sad as, despite years of effort, we have still got nowhere!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Friends will continue  their efforts in all other areas of the cemetery but our main aim remains to try and bring about a solution to halt the continued deterioration of these marvelous Victorian Terracotta Chapels.

Can we add that none of this reflects on the Ground Staff and administration for the cemetery who, like us, are equally sad and unable to resolve this issue but continue to maintain the rest of the cemetery as well as resources allow.

‘Uncut’ areas within the cemetery

There has recently been some social media comment highlighting some areas of the cemetery that appear to be unmown. This has been reported to Bereavements Services but when FBEC committee members went to look they were also concerned….. but, it was a far from a simple issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You will see from the photo above that the growth is not in fact grass (you can see the narrow path has been mown) but it is actually weed growth  on individual graves.

Our understanding is that these areas are are normally treated with weed inhibitor but this year it has been ineffective- possibly because of the rain deluge that followed spraying and then this long hot spell? Not sure what they can do at this stage, as spraying now may kill whats grown, but not remove it ! When they offer a solution we will let you know.

Meanwhile, rest assured that the rest of the cemetery is spick and span…..as you can see below.

APPEAL FOR HELP- Perhaps now is a good opportunity to make an appeal for help within the cemetery. The Friends have many members nationally with an interest in Brandwood End but only about 10 people that help us physically on site, and we are all time limited ! We have a raft of projects we would like to undertake- from clearing Ivy from grave areas, removing Holly self setters, clearing brambles, maintaining the Civilian Garden (For which we are responsible) to- researching graves, placing Poppy Crosses, washing section markers, litter picking,……the list goes on ! What we lack is ‘man power’ (or women power!) –We are all getting older and WE NEED HELP. Please message us via this site or e mail us on friendsofbec@gmail.com

Please think about joining the Friends to help maintain this fantastic green space. Yes, BCC has ultimate responsibility but lack of funding means that they have very limited resources. The Friends can often access grants not available to them to undertake work to improve the environment. Many of the improvements we try to make only take ‘people’ to make them happen.

Civilian Garden hedge cutting…or not!

Just a note to remind everyone that the Hawthorn hedge surrounding the Civilian Garden of Remembrance always looks a little unkempt at this time of year, as under the ‘Protection of Wildlife Regulations’ we are not allowed to cut this mature hedge whilst there are nesting birds. It will be cut back as soon as is allowed.

Those of you that were involved in the planting, along with pupils from St Albans Catholic Primary School, will remember that this was part of a Heritage Lottery Environmental Project to increase wildlife habitat as well as hedging this area. The hedge has been a victim of its own success as it has become really well established and supports lots of wildlife…..BUT  it will be cut well back, as soon as is possible !

Tree work in cemetery adjacent to Sunderton Rd.

Our local BCC Tree Officer has been considering the plight of the exceptionally large Poplar Trees that lie directly behind some of the houses at the lower end of Sunderton Road. He has made the decision that these trees, although still beautiful, are nearing the end of their life and will unfortunately have to be removed for safety reasons. This removal will be happening soon- as health and safety issues take priority- but it is his intention to replace the trees with smaller more suitable species within the next year or so.

This work will compliment the tree husbandry being carried out in the cemetery to remove lower branches and dead limbs. It will also give an opportunity to plant new young trees to take over from the existing stock, some of which were planted over 100 years ago.