As many of you know, this is FBEC’s 20th year but we share our anniversary with another organisation.  Birmingham Open Spaces Forum (BOSF) were also formed 20 years ago and have created a strong alliance for Friends groups in parks and open spaces in the City. They provide support in many areas from grant application to first aid training, event organisation and risk assessment.

They came up with a brilliant way to link some of their sites across the City together by passing a crafted ‘baton’ from site to site….on foot!  Luckily they had a volunteer in Professor Christopher Millward who undertook all the running/walking!

Brandwood End Cemetery were at the end of the route, which has taken several weekends before finally making it to Cotteridge Park and the finish line!!

The Friends were joined by Chris, our Patron Dr Carl Chinn, Professor Paul Cadman, their support team and of course, some of our volunteers.

What a wonderful morning we all had and our thanks to our ‘tree water team’!! A chance to recognise the work of volunteers in the City in all our parks and green spaces.

#BOSFbatoncelebrations

We seem to have had a busy month doing lots of routine things in the cemetery. We have had our usual Grave Gardeners who come in every month and help clear graves. Sue and Ray, our Civilian Garden champions, are overjoyed as the Hedge has now been deemed free of nesting birds and brought back under control.

Two of our larger trees have shed branches, probably as a result of the drought, so the Tree Surgeons have remained as regular visitors. Our new trees and flower tubs have flourished, but only because our volunteers have watered (almost daily) during the hot weather.

Our Facebook followers have leapt in to photograph graves and never cease to amaze us with their historical Knowledge and their willingness to share their research. A special thank you to Matt Felkin. who  runs his own WW1 Facebook page but still finds time to share information to our page and answer queries from contributors. His knowledge of BARRA  information is extensive.

Our followers on Facebook, who have Ancestry accounts or access to historic newspapers, have filled in background and helped us identify a number of Military and Civilian graves that we had no records of previously. (The Corporate and Gardening groups have uncovered the graves from the shrubbery and then another volunteer team have photographed and recorded them )

Without our volunteers and supporters we would not be able to achieve as much as we have in the cemetery and we hope you will agree that things have slowly improved over the last 20 years that FBEC have been about. Special mention to Bereavement Service Ground staff who go above and beyond.

This Sunday 3rd August we will have a gardening session in the cemetery helping to clear graves and low level shrubbery. We meet at the Lodge on the main drive at 11am and work till 1pm (or for as long as you want.)

Its a great chance to keep fit in the fresh air and enjoy company, as well as helping to keep this 53 acre site as tidy as manpower allows. (Under 16’s  must be accompanied by an adult)

We have the tools but rely on volunteer labour. Please bring your own kneeler and/or gloves. We do have some gloves available.

It certainly was hot, hot, hot when a team of Deutsche Bank staff came into Brandwood End Cemetery to help us clear shrubbery from headstones and tidy up the front of Section 10……again!

Some of this area was cleared about 6 years ago by 202 Army Reserves but I am afraid it was mostly back. Ivy is persistent !

Despite the heat we did manage to find a shady spot and 5 hours later it looked very different.  Thank you to all the staff and we hope to see many of you returning in the future.

Watch this space as there are lots of photos and we will be installing a link to the album.