You may not realise it, but the Ground staff you see at Brandwood End are also responsible for Kings Norton Cemetery. Kings Norton Cemetery was entered into the Green Flag Awards again this year and was awarded Green Flag status yet again. Well done to all the staff for their ‘Green Flag’ efforts at Kings Norton but also their work at Brandwood End on a day to day basis.
Gosh, such a frenzy of activity in the cemetery. We are sure the RHS and all our visitors will appreciate it! Gates mended, benches varnished, beds weeded, roses pruned, hedges cut, notice boards washed, section markers scrubbed, litter picked…….. but hey…..we actually do all of these things all the time- but not usually all at the same time. Well done to all our supporters and committee members for stepping up to the plate. Fingers crossed.
Can we invite anyone who is interested in the visit of the Judges to Brandwood End to pop along and join us. We will be meeting them at 3pm by the Lodge, on Wednesday 27th July.
Sarah has spent two weekends re varnishing our two benches- so why not come along and sit on them!
Our thanks to the Ground Staff from Bereavement Service Dept at BCC who, finding they had more Geraniums than they needed, deployed them in a ‘new area’ adjacent to the old lodge garden.
Keep an eye out to your right as you enter, almost opposite the entrance to their workshop area. Beautiful ! If you are wondering why they are not further out towards the path, the fear was that they might disrupt the track of the large grass cutter operating in that area meant that it was safer to inset them into the hedge area. We think they look rather lovely.
As I am sure we have mentioned before, The Friends have been accepted as entrants into Heart of England in Bloom and will get a judges visit towards the end of this month. Whilst we are not able to affect much of the horticulture or upkeep of the cemetery we feel sure that Bereavement Service staff will be supporting our efforts.
There are a few things we can do, so the hard work in those areas has begun. Our thanks to one of our committee members, Sarah, who has started washing down some of the rain/mud spattered Section Markers. What a difference a bit of ‘Fairy’ makes!!
Before….and after !!
Our thanks also to Julia who has been popping in and out weeding under hedges and Barrie- who’s shears have been working overtime! All of these jobs and many more are undertaken continually by volunteer members of FBEC and the community, and happen as if by magic…..but we are making just a little bit of extra effort for this, our first, RHS entry!!
We hope you have noticed the difference we have made over the last 11 years and we thank all those that have offered their help.
The Friends offer lots of opportunities for members to take part in projects that inspire them, be it gardening ,war graves, social history, or trees, birds and wildlife. We are always keen to involve anyone with a skill they would like to share. Please e mail us on friendsofbec@gmail.com.
Can we make a special appeal for someone to be responsible for keeping a digital archive of our activities. We know most of our activities are recorded on our Facebook page and within this blog but we would like to have everything kept in one place, and free time restricts the existing committee members from taking this on. Please can you help?
Great news…..FBEC have been accepted as entrants into the ‘RHS Heart of England in Bloom’ in the Cemetery category but we could do with some practical help before judging , towards the end of July, just to make sure we make a good impression.
We have at least one wooden bench in our Civilian Garden of Remembrance that needs rubbing down and re-varnishing.
We have an area under a newly planted hedge surrounding a small group of War Graves that needs serious weeding…..
Some of the Section Markers on the main drive could do with a wash …..
…..and a few other small items.
All of these jobs could be done at a time to suit yourself. (Provided the cemetery is open!) If you think you can help, can you contact us by e mail on friendsofbec@gmail.com. to arrange times and dates etc Many thanks
FBEC have been lucky enough to receive a donation from one of our members that has enabled us to revitalise the Civilian Garden of Remembrance in the Cemetery. Our main concern was that the beds had become over full and hard to maintain and that the quality of the soil needed improvement. The work was beyond our members abilities but we were able to engage ‘Rudge and Wood’ who are based at Winterbourne Botanical Gardens to undertake this project with some of their students.
It started like this…….and is nearly complete, so it looks like this…
It should be complete by the end of the week and we hope to hold an official unveiling in the near future so watch this space. Our thanks to Darren and his team and you can see more photographs of them at work on our facebook page.
On a visit to the Civilian Garden of Remembrance in Brandwod End today we noticed these beautifully delicate Narcissi. They truly brighten the space!
Glorious sunshine helped our ‘Clean for the Queen’ litter pick in Brandwood End today. A dozen volunteer and the local Ranger dodged the heavy traffic in the Cemetery today to collect 32 bags of litter! Most of the collected rubbish consisted of flower papers and we would like to appeal to visitors again to remove the papers from flowers left at grave sides.
The recent winds have created pockets of rubbish along the Sunderton Road boundary fence and Broad Lane, which will soon be enveloped in brambles so todays efforts were well worth while.
Our thanks to our volunteers and the Ranger for giving up their time on Mothering Sunday and we hope to see you all again at our usual quarterly litter pick in June.
We were also able to use this event to promote membership of the Friends and an awareness of what we do in Brandwood End.
All the volunteers were amazed at the volume of traffic that we observed passing through the cemetery today. With vehicle numbers in the hundreds every hour, speeding was not an issue and there were queues on all the main drive areas!
This should give you an idea of the volume of rubbish we managed to collect, and these two bins were just in one area! 32 black bags in all…
All in all….a good mornings work.
The main drive of the cemetery was a riot of colour today as Crocus flowers and Snowdrops vied for position in the sunshine.
The Cemetery was looking good for Mothering Sunday and the constant stream of vehicles carrying relatives visiting their mother’s and grandmother’s graves were a testament to the amount of visitors that Brandwood End still receives.
This Sunday, 6th March, the Friends of Brandwood End will be carrying out their usual quarterly litter pick, but you may have noticed that it falls during a special event weekend. This weekend is ‘Clean for the Queen‘ weekend when local residents are encouraged to work together to rid their area of litter.
The Friends will be meeting at the Lodge on the main drive at 10am so please come along and help. Normally we will finish at about 11.30am. This is a chance for us to promote FBEC on one of the busiest days in the cemetery and for you to enjoy a stroll around this beautiful green space while collecting any litter you may find.We have had some windy days so we are sure there will be lots of blown flower paper around!
We do have a number of ‘litter pickers’ but please bring your own if you have them. Stout shoes and gloves are also advisable.