The Friends and the cemetery have had a wonderful year with many more volunteers than in previous years, mainly working on our special 20th Anniversary Grave Revealing and Recording Project. Nearly every month in 2025 our volunteers contributed in excess of 120 hours between them, which is the equivalent to 3 full time additional ground staff.
The photographs below show just a few of the volunteers (community and corporate groups) that have pitched in to clear shrubs, take photographs, create data bases, litter pick, marshall events, lead walks, plant trees, liaise with schools, apply for grants, research, honour the fallen and generally keep the community involved and informed.
We can’t forget Bereavements Service staff both on the ground and in Kings Norton office. Without their co operation we would not be able to achieve as much as we do.
Seasons Greetings to you all and let’s hope that 2026 is as productive as 2025 has been.
Despite the warning of bad weather we were joined by volunteers from AVOVE in an attempt to clear a large coppice area that was covering a number of graves.
You can see the coppice that lies behind the volunteers and the outline of a number of graves hidden within the shrubbery. When the team arrived there was none of the predicted wind but the drizzle soaked through your clothes! That drizzle later became torrential rain, but the team were determined to clear the whole coppice.
As you can see by the photograph below, they totally cleared the coppice and uncovered lots of graves that had been hidden for many years.
Come along and join us in the Civilian Garden as we listen to the Choir of St Alban’s R C Primary school as they deliver a selection of Carols for Christmas .
The venue will be signed in the cemetery. The Civilian Garden is near the Broad Land ‘walk in’ gate.
Wednesday 10th December 2pm.
Thank you to the15 supporters who turned out, in really horrid weather, to collect 17 bags of wind blown litter at our final Litter Pick of 2026.
Thank you to the ‘Foster family’ (on the left) who were supporting their daughter in her volunteering journey with us for her Duke of Edinburgh award.
Mark Wednesday the 10th December at 2pm in your diary and come and enjoy the Choir from St Albans R C Primary as they sing Carols in the Civilian Garden area of Brandwood End Cemetery.
The Civilian Garden is signed to the left off the main drive as you head towards the Broad Lane entrance (from the direction of the chapels). This will be an outdoor event so we would suggest that you dress for cold weather!
For the last few years we have welcomed St Albans and their Carols have been more and more popular, so spread the word.
Come and join the Friends at their last LITTER PICK of 2025. We will be meeting by the Lodge on the main drive at 10am this coming Sunday the 7th December and will be finishing at 11.30am
We have the litter pickers and bags. All we need is the man power!
We are so pleased to be welcoming St Albans pupils back again to the cemetery for a short burst of Christmas Carols. This will be their 3rd visit and we hope this tradition continues for years to come!
Please come and support the choir on December 10th at 2pm in the Civilian Garden area, near Broad Lane gate on the main drive.
Twelve Deutsche Bank staff and four FBEC volunteers worked all day to clear several large areas of established self set trees and shrubs on one of the sections in the cemetery. It’s a slow process but we are making headway in the cemetery. It is a little like the Forth Road Bridge as we are sure it grows back almost as fast as we remove it, however much of the shrubbery removed has been in place for many, many years and will only return as ”low level.
The photograph below gives you an idea of the size of coppice/shrubbery we were tackling. If you would like to see more, follow this link.
The larger trees are left as the aim is purely to make access to all graves possible. Often the lower branches may be removed if the tree is well established. Below you can see the area above after clearance.
Many hands make this process easier and so much faster. 2 areas like this and some smaller spots were cleared in todays work.
