Our last Grave Gardening Session for 2024 will be on the 14th December starting at 11am and running till 12.30pm Meet by the Lodge on the main drive near the entrance. Please try to arrive on time as we will be moving to another area on this 53 acre site and may be hard to find.
Everyone is welcome but under 16’s must be accompanied by an adult.
Stout footwear is advisable and you may want to bring your own heavy duty gloves, although we do have some available.
Our thanks to the eleven Volunteers who turned up this morning to help clear even more shrubbery, but this time we spent some time specifically cutting back the end of Section 41, which was encroaching on graves.
Follow this link to get a flavour of their morning.
We will be hosting this months Grave Gardeners in the cemetery on this Saturday, the 9th November at 11am for a couple of hours. Why not come along and enjoy the fresh air whilst helping to keep Brandwood End Cemetery looking at its best. We have the tools and gardening gloves but you are welcome to bring your own. Meet opposite the Lodge by the main entrance in Woodthorpe Road.
Please arrive by 11am as we will be moving to other areas of this 53 acre site
Under 16’s must be accompanied by an adult.
You may think we seem to be doing a lot of ‘grave clearance’, and we are ! We have a very short window Between September and the end of March to remove any large areas of Holly or Ivy as during nesting season DEFRA have regulations regarding disturbing nesting. This also affects how and when we cut the hedge surrounding the Civilian Garden.
Today, Saturday the 12th, was the turn of our ‘community supporters’- or Grave Gardeners as we call them. They meet once a month generally and help clear self set trees and shrubs as well as keeping hedges in check and the flower beds and tubs weeded. We welcome anyone who may be interested to join us. Our next session will be November 9th. Meet at the Lodge at 11am. You may want to bring your own heavy duty gardening gloves but we do have spare pairs. We also have tools, but again if you prefer to work with your own tools they are very welcome. (Loppers/shears/rakes)
Staff from Deutsche Bank turned out again on the 9th to help clear a huge coppice of Holly and Ivy that had overtaken a number of graves making it impossible for family to locate or visit.
The photograph below shows the effort it takes to clear Ivy once it has got hold. Great care has to be taken to prevent damage to lead lettering. Follow this link as it shows the events of the day and a sequence of photographs detailing the progress to reveal this memorial. There were many more as well but this one took almost an hour of two peoples time and determination.
Last week we had to cancel the visit from Nat West Staff to help clear graves. As you all may remember, we were suffering from heavy rain and storm conditions -so we were concerned when it appeared things were going the same way with their replacement visit today! We needn’t have worried as three of their staff turned up undaunted and made amazing inroads into clearing the front of Section 8.
I think the difference is evident from the photographs above.? Thank you ladies and thanks to the FBEC volunteers that organised the day.
This is the first time that NIQ have been on site with the Friends and we hope they will return again as they all worked very hard……..and we are pretty sure they all enjoyed themselves! The area that they were working in had a section almost completely covered with large shrubs but NIQ staff worked hard and changed the end of the section completely.
Take part in some of the Heritage Open events in Brandwood End Cemetery. Add them to your diary now…
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