Author: Jane Edwards

The Holly and the Ivy !

A few weeks ago Josie Wall, and the Friends, put a shout out for help to remove acres of Holly that were taking over many areas of the cemetery- especially the main drive. Little did we know that 20+ people would turn up and spent hours clearing such a mountain of Holly and some Ivy !. Josie is showing the scale of one of the two piles volunteers removed.

The effect was obvious after 30 minutes, but 3 hours later it was amazing. The photograph above is a before. The one below is the same space afterwards.

 

Thank you all, The community stands up and shows its commitment yet again. We hope to do this again in November, which will probably be our last chance this side of Christmas. Watch this space.

Grave Gardeners Volunteer Day.

If you can spare even an hour on the 15th please come along and help- anytime between 11am and 2pm. Stout footwear and gardening gloves if you have them, but we do have tools and some heavy-duty gloves. Many of the graves have no living relatives to visit and help clear self-set shrubs and trees, so we are hoping to be able to make a difference. This is always a rewarding experience as you can see the impact you make as graves ‘appear’ from the shrubbery.  Brandwood End is a 53 acre site and has been used for burials since 1899. The days of 20+ on site Gardeners (as there used to be) have gone so we need to encourage community help with this never ending battle.

Fantastic Fungi

Despite short notice there were 18 keen attendees at our wonderful Fungi Walk led by Lukas Large. We even  have a waiting list for our next venture into the world of fungi.  The weather was with us but  unfortunately there was very little fungi, as despite the previous day’s heavy showers the ground was still very dry.

Luckily, Lukas had also bought some interesting specimens along with him so we all had a very interesting and informative couple of hours. Thank you for your time Lukas and Josie, for arranging this.

Welcome on board Josie!

Those of you that follow our Web site or Facebook site may have noticed a new contributor. Josie Wall has been appointed on a 12 month contract as Bereavement Services Activities Manager. Josie’s role covers 9 Birmingham Cemeteries and 3 Crematoria and involves supporting existing friends groups, encouraging the formation of friends groups in other cemeteries and resolving a number of issues not directly involved with ‘funerals’ but no less important to the general community.

Fbec have already enjoyed working alongside Josie as part of the ‘God’ s Acre’ project in Brandwood End and are very pleased to welcome her in her new role.

Heritage walk in Brandwood End.

A large group of over 20 people enjoyed a well researched and delivered walk today taking in the graves of interesting Balsall Heath residents.

Julia Griffin, our Chairman, and Val Hart from Balsall Heath History Society had originally designed this walk to be delivered to Society members but there was so much interest that it was repeated in full today. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and a chance to learn more about some of those buried in Brandwood.