Category: Events

Hedgehog Project launched in local schools

Emma, from Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust, has been busy launching our Help for Hedgehogs campaign in our local schools. The pupils have been so enthusiastic and both schools are keen to create Hedgehog habitat and homes on their sites. Well done to everyone concerned!

20161017_114650 Rachel, our Community Film Maker, is also working with smaller groups of pupils at both schools, as they will be making a short film for us to show the work that everyone has undertaken. The pupils have taken to using the filming equipment like ‘ducks to water’!! 20161018_095102

Half Term Family ‘Hedgehog’ event.

Come along to the cemetery between 2-4pm on Tuesday 25th October to the second of our Family ‘Help for Hedgehog’ events, sponsored by the National Lottery and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

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Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust and the Parks Ranger Service will be showing you how to make your own hedgehog home for this winter and improve local habitat. For more information follow the link below.

www.bbcwildlife.org.uk/what-we-do/projects/help-hedgehogs

As part of a local survey we need to know:Have you seen a hedgehog locally?
Where did you see it? When did you see it? Come along and tell us your tales or contact our local Ranger, Jan Tomlinson on                                                        0121 675 0937, e mail jan.tomlinson@birmingham.gov.uk

 

Not that we mean to keep going on, but……….

We are still celebrating being awarded a ‘Silver Gilt’ medal by the RHS for Heart of England in Bloom! We now have the certificate and here is a photo of it in our hands as proof!

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Yet again can we take the opportunity to thank Nicola for her suggestion that we enter, the RHS for including Cemetery entries this year and everyone that works so hard to keep Brandwood End looking at its best both ‘in bloom’ and also on more practical levels.

Congratulations to all our helpers!

The Friends entered the RHS, Heart of England in Bloom this year without great expectations, as it was the first year that a category for ‘Cemeteries’ under  ‘Parks and Open Spaces’ had been included…….and our first foray into this prestigious award.

Today we traveled to the Awards Ceremony in Aldridge and to our great joy we achieved a ‘Silver Gilt’ Certificate !

20160915_153332Excuse the picture quality but I was so excited to post a copy of the certificate and thank everyone concerned. Over the year, our small band of volunteers have worked hard on many aspects within the cemetery to enhance the experience of those that visit- for whatever reason. During the few weeks before the Judges visit everyone pulled out the stops. Our thanks to Quadron for cutting the grass, the ground staff for emptying the bins and the general appearance of the cemetery, community members for helping with weeding , the phantom ‘hedge cutters’, all those who supplied photographs and all those that wished us luck!  It paid off………..

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These posters were on display at the event and caught our eye, especially as each one was 6′ tall!

 

 

We all had such a marvelous welcome with a jazz band and then a choir and everyone was made to feel really special. The awards were followed by a lovely lunch which Julia and I ate sitting in the beautiful churchyard adjacent to event.   Thank you all again.   Jane Edwards (Chairman- FBEC)

Keep 24th September free!

Anyone who supports the Friends will know that due to a kind donation we have been able to refurbish the Civilian Garden of Remembrance to make future maintenance a little easier for our small number of dedicated volunteers.20160622_151937We do hope people will join us for its unveiling on Saturday the 24th September at 10am, followed by tea and cake in the Lodge. (Be aware that the cemetery does not officially open till 10am on a Saturday)

Rain didn’t stop play!

We were all watching the rain filled skies with trepidation this afternoon as we held our launch event for our Heritage Lottery funded ‘Help for Hedgehogs’ project.

Jan, the Ranger and Gareth from Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust set up their displays but we did not hold out too much hope as the rain got heavier and heavier but we were all in for a surprise!

Even before we had set everything up the rain eased and families began to arrive !

20160910_141209Jan chatted to everyone about Hedgehogs before leading them off on a trail to find interesting ‘Hedgehog’ facts and then everyone collected suitable twigs and cones to make their very own Hedgehog.

I think you can tell from the faces below how the ‘make your own Hedgehog’ activity went!!

 

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Our thanks to the 30+ people who disregarded the awful weather and we hope you will all come back (with your friends!) to our next event on October 25th in Half Term.

Great News- Wildlife Project funding secured.

The Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery are excited to announce that we have been successful in a bid to the National Lottery (Heritage Lottery Fund) to undertake a ‘Help for Hedgehogs’ project in Brandwood End Cemetery and the surrounding area. The project will be delivered for us by The Wildlife Trust (Birmingham and Black Country) and the Ranger Service who will be offering events and workshops, over the next year, to encourage local residents to improve Hedgehog habitat and also surveying the cemetery for Hedgehog activity.

jpg version of hedgehog launchPlease come along and support this event and learn why Hedgehogs are in dramatic decline and what YOU can do to increase the local population.

Some of these events will be family orientated and other will be of a more serious nature, for those of you that want to learn how to and participate in surveying for Hedgehogs. Come along to the launch and find out more!