NATIONAL CEMETERIES WEEK 2022 will be running from 30th April till 8th May this year. It is a chance for Cemeteries and their Friends Groups to shout about what they are doing in relation to the many aspects they are involved in- from Remembrance to biodiversity. During that week the Friends will be signposting you to items of interest in Brandwood End. Watch this site and our notice boards within the cemetery for more information.
As the Spring takes over from Winter the project to record the memorials and their inscriptions in Brandwood End continues.
This project, led by Caring for Gods Acre, has two parts to it at the moment. The first is to manually record the information and so far we have welcomed many volunteers to undertake this task. If you would like to get involved then you can sign up via this link.
The second part is to convert this information into a digital record that can eventually be embedded in a map! All very exciting. If you know your way around a computer key board, then maybe you could help with this very important task. Interested? Then sign up here.
On the 7th of April the Friends held their Annual AGM, but this year it was a bit different as we were able to hold it in the Lodge at Brandwood End. Our thanks to all our members that attended and also to Dawn and her staff at Bereavement Services for their support to make this possible.
We have had a busy year and achieved a lot, as well as strengthening our links with other cemetery and history groups. Why not have a quick look at what we have been up to?
FBEC – AGM 2022 – our year 2021/22
It has been a year of highs and lows with Covid, but we also sadly lost Anne Courbet. Anne had been a founder member of the Friends and up until the last few weeks of her life she had still played a part in our organisation. We are pleased to say that her daughter, Sarah, has agreed to become a Patron of the Friends so the Courbet name will remain part of FBEC.
What will our next year bring? Our Chairman’s report is also available via this link for those who couldn’t make the AGM. The Treasurers report will soon be available and posted via a link on this web site.
At FBEC we know that many of the projects we promote in Brandwopod End entail working outdoors and an element of fitness. We do have plenty of other tasks for those of you that do not want, or feel able, to work outside in the elements!
Caring for Gods Acre and The Friends have been working on a fascinating project to records the inscriptions on the memorials in the cemetery and load this information onto an interactive map. We will also have the facility to imbed historic information we have discovered about some of those who lie beneath, or are remembered on, family memorials.
This is a job that requires patience, accuracy and an element of typing/computer skills. If you think you can help with this then follow this link to book a place. Full instructions will be given and its something you will either enjoy doing or not- so why not give it a try as it is completely free. Once you are happy with what you need to do, this task can be continued from home. Please bring a lap top if you have one and can easily transport it, but it is not essential.
No previous experience is needed.
Come along and help record the inscriptions on the headstones in Brandwood End. You can also learn what they really mean and how word styles have changed over the years.
Dates are now available for the whole of the summer but you do need to book a place as numbers are restricted. Once you take part in this event, organised by Caring for Gods Acre, you will want to come again.
These sessions are free, just book your place here.
Thank you to the 19 volunteers who helped remove 27 bags of ‘rubbish’ from the cemetery. Sadly lots of the rubbish consisted of windblown artificial flowers that had been swept far from their original graves by wind and squirrels. Our message is MAKE SURE ANY FLOWERS OR OFFERINGS ARE WELL SECURED. If you, or someone you know, have a grave in the cemetery we would advise that you check that all is OK. We have no idea which graves wind blown flowers come from so they find a home on the nearest grave or in the bin if they are in a poor state. 
Birmingham is undertaking surveys at the moment to see what the public think of their dealings with BCC staff etc. Last week the Friends took part with our views on our organisations interactions with Bereavements Service Department. Watch media sites- as they are reaching out via various organisations.
Oh how we wish we could secure the millions of funding that Key Hill and Warstone Lane cemeteries have, as it has enabled them to carry out so much practical work and also improve their digital presence. The ability to hire professionals to achieve results can be seen from their web site below. We would recommend one of their tours….but we would also like to recommend our own events!
Fear not… Our benches in the Civilian Garden of Remembrance have not been stolen. They are heading off to be refurbished. Hopefully they will be back in a week or two.
Regular visitors to Brandwood End are aware that we have a large number of Commonwealth War Graves but for some unknown reason a small number are placed together in an area in Section 33. We have tried, as have Bereavement Services staff, to find the reason why these flyers have been buried together, when all the other CWGC recognised graves are scattered throughout the cemetery. We are all unable to find any tie between them.
Following a recent visit from a representative of CWGC it was decided that the site needed to be refreshed, and we reported on the start of this work. This is an update and the turf is now in place. We suspect that not much will happen now until this turf has bedded in, but perennial planting should follow and continued maintenance by CWGC gardening staff.