One or two people were concerned as the ashes memorial plots had nearly all been purchased. The good news is that another area has now been developed.

Gardening Volunteers from FBEC had a fantastic morning in the sunshine with Laura and her helpers from Fruit and Nut Village. They kindly donated 5 trees,( 3 Hazels and 2 Walnuts) to kick off our 20th Anniversary Tree Planting project. Our aim is to try and plant an minimum of 15 trees in the cemetery to replace 21 lost in recent storms. The tree stock has been depleted by over 150 in the last few years due to storms, disease and general age and as most of the cemetery was planted up over 125 years ago we can expect to lose many more in the next few years. We have raised over £4000 already but need to get to £6000 to complete the project next Autumn.
If you would like to see some of our planting photographs from today then follow this link.
Join our Grave Gardening team, along with Fruit and Nut Village, to plant some new trees in the cemetery. We are making a start on replacing the trees lost in last years storms. Meet opposite the Lodge at 11am on the 6th April.
Most of you know that we lost a lot of trees in the recent storms and have started a campaign to try and slowly replace them. ‘Fruit and Nut Village’, who have been planting orchards in Druids Heath, have kindly agreed to plant some lovely nut trees in the cemetery and we will be holding a small event on April 6th at 11am. Everyone welcome. Boots and gloves advisable.
Before Covid we worked with Birmingham Trees for Life to plant 15 standard size trees on the boundary with Broad Lane and Sunderton Road. A few years on these trees needed their tree ‘guards’ and stakes removing so this morning seven volunteers from our Grave Gardening group set about that task and also made a start clearing brambles around the. Our thanks to all of them for their efforts as brambles are especially unpleasant to deal with !
The Friends are continuing with their monthly sessions to clear shrubbery from graves and also around some perimeter areas. We welcome help at each of these events and whilst we do have our own group tools we always welcome supporters bringing their own tools with them. Can we suggest that you bring your own gardening gloves, if you have them, and wear suitable footwear.
We will be meeting by the Lodge at 11am but then moving to another area of the cemetery.
Despite the damp and miserable weather we were joined by 23 people who all spent close to an hour and a half learning a little bit more about the trees of Brandwood End in Winter. Our thanks to Malcolm who had spent time planning and leading a great Tree Walk. Lots of interesting facts and questions and so many different trees still remaining to cover at another time.
Hopefully the next Tree Walk will be a ‘Summer’ one with better weather. Thanks again to Malcolm for all his time and effort, and to those that attended and make it all worth while.
If you enjoyed todays walk and want to help us replant some new trees for those you saw that were lost recently then watch this space for details on how you can donate/sponsor new trees.