The first meeting of Brandwood Forum in 2017 takes place on January 18th at Monyhull Church 7-8.30pm.
This is your chance to find out the issues that concern residents in Brandwood and meet local Councillors.
Author: Jane Edwards
Welcome to 2017!
Happy New Year to all our followers. January is now well under way and FBEC are planning their events. February will see our next family ‘Hedgehog’ event during half term (22nd February) followed closely by our March Litter Pick.(4th March)
Merry Christmas Everyone
The Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery would like to wish all their supporters a very Merry Christmas and hope that you all enjoy a healthy 2017.
We have called on our supporters a lot in 2016 to help with lots of projects and they have not let us down. We know that many of you are unable to come along and help physically with projects as your distance to travel, time available, physical capabilities etc all vary dramatically. All we ask is that you continue to renew your memberships each April and/or keep an interest in what we are doing via this site and our facebook page as the day will come when numbers of supporters count when important decisions are made!
Just a reminder of some of the busy work we have undertaken with your support in 2016.
We have enjoyed working with Woodthorpe Primary and St Albans RC Primary, and continue to do so as part of our community filming of our ongoing Hedgehog Project
We ‘Cleaned for the Queen’ earlier in the year and litter picked once a quarter as usual
We have won a Silver Gilt Medal in the Heart of England in Bloom, organised the refurbishment of the Civilian Garden of Remembrance, held lots of Hedgehog events (thanks to funding by the Heritage Lottery Fund)and held our usual annual Remembrance Service. None of this would have been possible without your support.
As Chairman can I also give special thank you and Seasonal Greetings to all our committee, present and past, for their efforts. Many of our past committee still continue to work on our behalf and I would like to give a special thank you to Pat Franklin who tirelessly takes people on historic Grave Walks on our behalf. Working with you all is a joy!
In 2017 we will continue our work to try and raise the profile of Brandwood End Cemetery and especially the plight of our magnificent chapels. We believe the more people who visit via events etc……the more support we will have when the time comes for some serious lobbying! Thank you all again.
Tree work underway.
It is good to see that trees are being kept in good order by a reputable Tree Surgeon! Can I remind you that you may be seeing quite a lot of tree work in Brandwood End over the Winter. This is good for the public, for obvious safety reasons, but also good for the trees as they need a ‘haircut’ now and then, just like we do .
If you look carefully you can just see them at work, on the right in the tree in orange high viz!
Just a reminder that if you ever need work done on your own trees try and use a reputable company as an enthusiastic amateur can cause damage to the tree (and your view) that may take years to correct.
Young film makers show their skills.
Our final ‘Hedgehog’ related event for 2016 !. Pupils from St Albans RC Primary have been training with our Community Film Maker and spent time at Jasmin Fields Nature Reserve putting their knowledge into practice. They will be making a short film for FBEC about our whole Hedgehog project. Don’t they look professional?
Pupils proudly display their bug hotel. They had been set the task of making some pallets into an appealing hotel for ‘bugs and beasties’ to become a larder for visiting hedgehogs.
I think we can call their efforts a success? They have also placed their own Hedgehog house in the school grounds.
Christmas is coming…….
Christmas is coming and we are sure some of our supporters will be buying items via the internet. If you are going to buy from Amazon please consider going via this FBEC web site. If you click on ‘Amazon’ on the top right of our Blog page we receive a small sum for every purchase you make. It costs you nothing.
Please consider supporting the Friends by this method at any time of the year, but especially in the run up to Christmas.
Second Lieutenant F C Alabaster, commemorated at this years Remembrance Service
FBEC felt they would like to share with you an article prepared by Edwina Rees, for the Moseley History Society newsletter. It sums up our recent Remembrance Day Event. Thank you Edwina.
The centenary year of the Battle of the Somme was very much in everyone’s thoughts, in this year’s commemorative service held at the Cross of Sacrifice at Brandwood End Cemetery. Before the laying of wreaths, the last post rang out and during the two minutes silence, instead of poppies, the last golden leaves of autumn fell on the heads of those reflecting on the loss of the many young men who fell that fell during the course of the war in 1916.
Second Lieutenant F C Alabaster was one of those who lost their lives that year. Clifford, as he preferred to be known, was wounded in the head by shrapnel, just before the Battle of the Somme, but the protection afforded by the new ‘Brodie’ helmets lessened the impact and he was expected to survive. Unfortunately, this was not the case and he died in the Empire Hospital for Officers, London just over a month later. His great niece Wendy Alabaster represented the family on the day
His grave and those of others buried here who served in WW1, are now recognised by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission thanks to the campaigning endeavors of the Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery. He is also commemorated at St Mary’s Church, Moseley on their WW1 memorial.
Second Lieutenant F C Alabaster was highlighted at the request of the Commonwealth War Grave Commission as part of their ‘Living Memories’ project, but in remembering him we must also remember all those who are buried here or on foreign soil who gave their lives for their country and those killed locally as a result of enemy air raids.
U3A, Local History Group Members enjoy Brandwood End.
FBEC member, Pat Franklin, gave up her time to lead a group of U3A (Local History Group) members on a walk through Brandwood End Cemetery. During Heritage Open Week, in September 2014, the Friends devised a Grave Walk highlighting a small number of War Graves in the cemetery and providing a short background to each of them.
Our thanks to Alison Gove-Humphries for taking some lovely photographs at the event.
The tour itself consisted of an introduction and overview, the formation and role of the Friends and then to the CWGC, their policy and philosophy. Next came a brief summary of the First World War, the burials elsewhere [unless stated] and the commemoration on family headstones on the walk. Then on to the Cross of Sacrifice and the recent Commemoration. Thence, the Screen Walls and a walk to the more recent Tree Island Memorial, with tablet and benches. The group were particularly taken with the Poppy Cross Field and its significance.
Our thanks again to Pat for leading this walk. We do occasionally get requests from individuals to attend a walk but unless Pat can get a group of 8 to 12 together it isn’t really worth while. With this in mind, if you would like to take our Grave Walk (Probably not until Spring 2017) can you e mail us on friendsofbec@gmail.com and we will add you to this list then contact you with proposed dates when we have enough prospective participants.
Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries struggle on with their campaign
You may think we have ‘issues’ with the City Council, Bereavements Department in Birmingham but they pale into insignificance with those of the Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries in London.
Follow the links to find out what is happening there and the reuse of grave areas.
We must stress that, as far as we are aware, Birmingham has no plans to adopt this method of creating burial areas, and locally we are lucky that we have a fairly recently established Cemetery at Kings Norton, with a large amount of ground available there.
www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/soldiers-graves-mounded-over
www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=1cLb1krd3Cc
Our thoughts are with The Friends of Camberwell Cemeteries and their allied struggle for Southwark Woods.
We need you !!
Many of you follow our web site or will have visited events at Brandwood End Cemetery recently- whether they were to do with Hedgehog preservation, WW1 Grave walks, tree walks, litter picks, celebrating our RHS award or Remembrance last weekend. Can we appeal to you to consider if you could spare a couple of hours a month to become a member of our committee, who are the driving force behind these activities which happen in the cemetery. Fresh members bring fresh ideas!
If you are not a ‘committee’ person you can always come along and see what happens at our meetings before making a decision. Please consider ‘joining’ the Friends (for a very small membership fee) to receive our twice yearly newsletters and be part of our driving force to encourage Birmingham City Council to join us in a Heritage Lottery bid, to provide a future for our magnificent chapels.
Perhaps you are more of a practical person? We need help keeping our Civilian Garden and its hedges in order, making bird or bat boxes, keeping notice boards up to date, leading litter picks…..so much to do and at the moment….so few people ! You can help all of the time or as and when. Its up to you-
Please contact us via this web site or our facebook page or, of course, you can e mail for more info on- friendsofbec@gmail.com
Whether you are a planner, a campaigner, a ‘doer’ or an ideas person…..we need you! We can offer history, environment and community based projects. From trees to heritage, hedgehogs to gardening, war graves to bats.
Even if you just help by following us and sharing our posts on facebook or the web site, we need your support.
Our thanks to all of those who support our events, follow our web page and facebook page and make us feel all our work is worthwhile. Jane Edwards (Chairman FBEC)