Guess what we spotted lurking in the Autumn leaves…. Some lovely Snowdrops.

10 volunteers today collected 10 bags of flower paper, plastic bottles, artificial flowers and smashed vases scattered around the cemetery. PLEASE SECURE ANY FLOWERS OR TREASURERS YOU MAY LEAVE ON YOUR LOVED ONES GRAVES. When we find them we have no idea where they have blown from – so the nearest grave benefits!

Can we ask again that you remove flower paper from your tributes and leave water bottles behind graves FULL, to prevent them blowing around.  We removed several black bags of empty bottles from hedge lines and shrubbery.  Thank you.

Our final litter pick of 2021 takes place on SUNDAY 5TH DECEMBER, MEET AT THE LODGE. 10AM-WEATHER PERMITTING. Please wrap up warm with suitable footwear and gloves. We have the litter pickers and bags. Our thanks to Pat Franklin for the ‘tongue in cheek’ poster.

The Friends are sharing a message received from Sarah Courbet, Anne’s daughter. We all will miss Anne and our thoughts are with Sarah and the family at this time.

It is with great sadness that I share the news that my wonderful mom, Anne Courbet, passed away this week after a battle with cancer. Why am I posting on here? Because mom was the driving force behind the formation of the Friends in 2005 which she served for many years. Many of the original Committee members still serve today and mom kept an active eye on developments right until the end. She was privileged to call many members her friends and she was thrilled to see Julia, Jane, Coral, Julian, Carola and others carry on her mission to improve Brandwood End Cemetery for all to enjoy. Donations to FBEC to continue her work would be much appreciated. It is such a great thing to be a Friend: https://fbec.org.uk/about/become-a-friend/

It’s well past the end of the City’s grass cutting period but the unusually warm weather has meant the garden was looking like a hay meadow!

The Friends ran a mower over it today and have managed to reduce the length, so let’s hope that’s it for 2021!

 

Remember you can support the Friends by popping a token in the box when you shop at Becketts Farm Shop.

You can also access Amazon via the link on this sites home page and when you buy we get a tiny donation via Amazon. It all helps towards the various projects we fund in the cemetery.

Ground staff had extra work on Monday as the huge amount of bramble, holly ,ivy and scrub, (removed from the graves by ‘202 Field’ volunteers), had been piled at the side of the maintenance yard gates ready tor its move to the skips. As usual Tony and his team pitched in and with the aid of the dumper truck it was all ‘skipped’.

The removal of undergrowth covering graves is a job that lies behind every other job in the cemetery for the staff,  and whilst they try to do this when they can- time is against them. When the Army come into the cemetery, once a year, they are able to attack areas that have been inaccessible to members of the public trying to trace graves by number. Many graves have now been exposed on the front area of  Section 10, some in reasonable condition as the undergrowth has ‘protected’ them from weather etc. We know we have several members with relatives in this area so hopefully some graves may be cleaned up or refurbished.

Deb and Alan Wilkes came over from Walsall today to donate and plant 2 mini standard red rose trees to replace the two failed ones in the small quarter beds.  New well-rotted compost and mycorrhizal fungi were added to the planting holes and the trees staked.

At our Remembrance event today we displayed some of our research relating to the ‘Timson and Wimbush’ graves, which lie close together on the left of the main drive as you approach the chapels.

If you select ‘The Friends’ page on this site and follow the page down to ‘Our work’ you will find files of our research attached. At Remembrance today a gentleman spoke to our Chairman about further information he had about the Wimbush grave. We would love to learn more so if he, or anyone who knows him, can contact us on  friendsofbec@gmail.com  we would appreciate it.