This is the third time we have welcomed HSBC staff to the cemetery to assist with the clearing of shrubbery from graves. Many corporate companies allow their staff one or two days a year to undertake projects in the community. FBEC are very pleased that HSBC have continued to support the Friends and look forward to seeing them on site again.
Those that follow the activities of the Friends will know that, working with Brandwood Buzz, we have been able to install extra flower tubs on the main drive and also at the entrance from Broad Lane.
Thanks to Kay, who takes charge of planting and watering the tubs, we now have a wonderful display. There are 4 large tubs and 4 small.
We do hope that they brighten your visit to the cemetery.
Gosh where is the time going! It was time for our quarterly litter pick in early June and 10 of our supporters came along and collected 6 large bags of rubbish. Well done everyone.
Another day and another group of volunteers. Why not view our album.?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/73LuEKjuwGizDZPw6
This time we welcomed 7 staff from NIQ who have visited us before so were raring to go. The mood was helped by glorious sunshine so plenty of progress was made. Every group of volunteers that come to help us really do work hard in an effort to clear long lost graves and todays group were no different. Its amazing what can be done in a day, as you will see below.
The photo below is what it looked like at 10am today..
….and this is the result after 4 hours work. A great improvement !
Lovely weather welcomed 10 enthusiastic staff from Deutsche Bank to the cemetery to carry on with our ‘Grave shrubbery’ project.
In our 20th year we aimed to clear all the shrubbery from Section 16 and photograph all the headstones for our data base. This year we continue to extend that project to another section, B12.
Ten members of staff spent all day clearing ground level Brambles and Holly and managed to uncover several rows of previously obscured graves that hadn’t been accessible for many years. if you want to see some before and after shots then follow this link to our album.
Most of our followers will know that we have been planting trees this year to replace those lost in storms and through age. Our initial planting was with Fruit and nut Village and we were able to plant a small fruit sapling tree area . We followed this in February with 15 larger standard trees, all of which were special in their own way and complimented the existing planting designed by Louden in the late 1800’s.
As warmer weather approaches we sent out a message on our facebook site to ask for Tree Guardians who would take on the watering of all of the trees for the remainder of this year and as long as they need it. Once again our supporters didnt let us down and very soon we formed a team of 8 who willingly adopted a couple of trees each to car for. Our thanks to them for offering their time to give these trees the best start in life.
Nine Deutsche Bank staff joined us for the day to do some shrubbery clearance on Section 18. The weather didn’t look too bright but everyone agreed that the temperature was just right for the hard work they were undertaking. Thanks again for Steve D, Steve E and Kay for supporting the visit. A special thank you to a Deutsche Bank staff member who treated us all to pizza for lunch.
Lots of areas cleared today and lots of photographs via this link.
Join the Friends at the first Litter Pick of 2026.suitable clothing and footwear advisable. Everyone welcome but under 16’s need to have an adult with them.
These is a ‘No dogs’ policy in the cemetery. 
Thanks to our five gardening volunteers who concentrated on freeing the Rhododendrons on the main drive from brambles and exposing some Holly trees, Lots of shrubbery removed and now some more light available for the plants that should be there.
