Author: Jane Edwards

Advance notice of an interesting talk.

The Moseley Society History Group present an illustrated talk:
Bomb Alley: the World War Two Blitz and Home Front in
Moseley, Balsall Heath and Kings Heath,

by local historians Ian Binnie, Peter Streets and David Vaux.

Tuesday 21st March 7.30pm
There will be two talks each lasting about an hour:
2.00pm at the Moseley Exchange (149-153 Alcester Road, Moseley, Birmingham, B13 8JP).
This will be a live, illustrated talk. There will also be a display, produced by Matt Felkin, which
includes many unique photographs and documents about the Blitz in Birmingham and the local area.
There is no need to register in advance.
The talk will be repeated on Zoom.
The talk will include recent research done by the four historians but will also be based on the
mass of work done by many groups and individuals. If you have done research on this topic or have
personal knowledge join in the talks, either live or virtually and make a contribution.

To register for the Zoom talk email rkt16@btinternet.com . You will then receive the Zoom link a few
days before.

Last clearance of shrubbery before Spring!

This month is really the last chance we have to remove self set trees and shrubbery overwhelming some graves in areas of the cemetery as soon it will be nesting time and this activity will stop.

Please support this event  on the 18th, that is being led jointly by the committee of the Friends and Bereavement Services Activities Manager, Josie Wall. We will have some tools and some gloves but if you would prefer to bring your own, that would also help. We need shears, loppers, rakes and secateurs.

We will be there from 11am till 2pm so drop in for any length of time during those hours. 

Lots to look forward to !

Winter is a quiet time in Brandwood End but the Friends have been working away in the background on a number of projects.

We are creating a number of ‘Trail sheets’ that will cover Heritage items, trees, interesting graves, fascinating memorials, quiet corners to rest and take in the wildlife and trees plus measured routes to stroll, with distances and surface types to encourage the less able to enjoy them as well.

The sheet below, kindly produced by committee member Lisa Fair, highlights some of the cemetery heritage- both historical and ecological.

They never let us down!

This week we had to make an appeal on Social Media site ‘facebook’ for volunteers to remove some of the many geraniums that the Friends planted in the Civilian Garden of Remembrance. No sooner said than done as two of our supporters stepped up to the plate and the job was done.(In freezing conditions)

We had hoped to try and keep the Geraniums over winter as the garden area is pretty sheltered- but we hadn’t banked on the -10 temperatures just before Christmas. All that was left of the glorious Geraniums was brown mush and not an attractive sight!

Thank you Vanessa and Tricia.

Civilian Garden Hedge Tamed.

Once again we are indebted to the BCC Grounds Maintenance team who have undertaken a major reduction in the height and bulk of our hedge surrounding the Civilian Garden of Remembrance. Not only do we not have the equipment or man power to carry out this task, we don’t have the ability to remove the resulting shrubbery. It was important that this cut back was completed well before birds started nesting, so thank you again Paul’s team !

Spring is on the way!

One day is beautiful and the next is really dismal ! This is a British Winter and we all long for signs of Spring. This week in the cemetery we have had a couple of hints that Spring is on the way.

The Woodpeckers in the cemetery have started hammering out ownership of certain areas ready for the mating season. In Brandwood End we are blessed with both Spotted and Green (ground loving) Woodpeckers.

If you keep your eyes peeled you will also spot some of the hardy Snowdrops the Friends planted !