On Saturday the 3rd March between 10 and 11.30am we will be supporting the latest Keep Britain Tidy SPRING CLEAN- LITTER PICK campaign.
Please come along to Brandwood End Cemetery in Woodthorpe Rd, Kings Heath and support this event. We will supply litter pickers and bags. Please wear stout shoes/boots and gloves. Meet at the Lodge on the Main Drive.
We are now seeing a small amount of work starting to move fences in and then make masonry safe. Planning permission is still pending for a temporary roof on half of the building to protect the walls from the weather etc. With Bereavement Services we hope to raise funds for some ‘interpretation’ so members of the public can follow what is happening in this area. This is not a renovation project at this time, just an effort to prevent further deterioration, pending ideas for asuccessful bid to give this building a sustainable future.
Follow this link to our photo album and thanks to our photographer!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ya8ung9oipus8mVA3
Gosh, where has 2017 gone. Today saw the last scheduled Litter Pick for 2017 and hopefully by the time we ‘pick’ again in March, we may be seeing some signs of Spring in 2018! Our thanks to today’s volunteers. Here….yet again ….are some more early snowdrops we found today and also some of the fungi nestling in the leaves around the cemetery.
On Wednesday this week we unveiled our latest addition to Brandwood End Cemetery….a lovely Interpretation Board displaying lots of information about how to ‘Help Hedgehogs’. This is the final event in our Heritage Lottery sponsored ‘Help for Hedgehogs’ project.
Lots of people to thank today…. Councillor Tristran Chatfield, who unveiled the board for us , Bereavement Service Office and Ground Staff, all our local Councillors, The Wildlife Trust (Birmingham and Black Country), The Park Ranger Service, SHED, Woodthorpe Primary School, St Albans RC Primary, Rachel (our film maker), FBEC volunteers and finally the local community.
Attendance was up again at this mornings Remembrance Event. Our thanks as usual go to Deacon David for a very thought provoking few words and also to Bereavement Services staff, who made sure the area of the Cross of Sacrifice was leaf free. Every year wreaths are laid on behalf of the Royal British Legion, local Councillors, The Masons, The Order of Buffaloes, Selly Oak Royal British Legion and ourselves but this year we were joined by our Local Neighbourhood Policing Officers who try to attend all their local events.
Our thanks to Moseley and Kings Heath SHED
Their members stepped up to the plate and helped make lots and lots of Hedgehog Houses and ‘do it yourself’ kits for events, as part of our Help for Hedgehogs event.
Today we were able to present Mark, who attended events on behalf of SHED, with a cheque to help them buy replacement timber etc.
Please follow this link to see more information on SHED, who are a registered charity.
Once again, our thank to the National Lottery, Heritage Lottery Fund for funding this project.
Final reminder, our September Litter Pick will be taking place on this Saturday morning, the 2nd September. Please meet at the Lodge on the main drive at 10am and we will finish at 11.30am. This will be our final Litter pick before the onset of Winter! Our next visit will be in December.
Please think about joining us for this event as the cemetery is such a beautiful environment and we want to help keep it that way. Combine your litter picking with wandering around its tree lined pathways and listen to the bird song. What a good use of a hopefully sunny morning! 
Litter pickers and bags will be provided but we do advise stout footwear and gloves as well. Children under 16 are welcome but must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
FBEC are pleased to announce that Heritage Lottery, the grant providers for the above project, have agreed a 3 month extension to our time schedule and some additional expenditure.
We would like to thank all the people that provided items free of charge and gave their time for free. This has resulted in an under spend! Unusual in this day and age!
After discussion with Heritage Lottery it has been agreed that we can spend the remaining funding on an interpretation board, highlighting Hedgehog facts, to be placed in the cemetery. A time extension has been agreed to allow for design, manufacture and installation.
Our thanks again to all the organisations involved as we were dependent not only on their expertise, but also on their hours of dedication to this project.
Those of you that follow the activities of FBEC will know that a few years ago we enlisted the help of local pupils to create yet another hedged area to surround a small section of War Graves that we felt needed to be defined. The majority of our 300+ War Graves are scattered throughout the cemetery.
The original project took place in early 2014 so barely 3 years later and the hedge is now well established.
Whilst we were in the cemetery with our shears we also removed stragglers from this hedge.
Both these hedges were planted in define areas but also to increase habitat for birds, insects and especially Hedgehogs within Brandwood End.
Three years on…… a well established hedge.
Year 5 pupils at St Albans RC Primary were one of our many partners in the making of our Hedgehog film and completion of our Hedgehog Project. Today they viewed their efforts and we shared a few gifts to remind them of their work.
Well done St Albans and we look forward to working with you on our next project.
