Category: Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery

A Living Memorial for the ‘Unremembered’ of the Labour Corps

Today, on Remembrance Sunday, The Friends took part in a ‘Living Memorial’ to highlight those groups of people who have often been forgotten for the service they provided during conflicts. In highlighting the Labour Corps we wanted to remind people of the work done by this group, especially in WWI.  We have 9 members of the Labour Corps either buried or remembered on the screen walls in Brandwood End.

Their names and information about each individual can be seen above but also displayed on a large poster that members of the public were invited to read. We also included a short story of how the Labour Corps came to be formed and how it was made up from various regiments and initially staffed by those who had been wounded but deemed unfit to return to the front line. This information will remain on display on our notice boards and also is available for local schools and individuals with an interest.

Attendance grows at every Remembrance Day Event

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.

Remembrance Service 2017

A final reminder that this year we will be holding our Remembrance Service at Brandwood End Cemetery on Sunday 12th November – 10.50am start.

Remembrance Service at Brandwood End Cemetery

Wreaths will be laid by a number of organisations at the Cross of Sacrifice on the main drive, and then at the WWI memorial.  Everyone welcome.

Please note that for the short duration of the Service the Main Drive will be closed in this area, but access to the whole of the cemetery will still be available via the side roads.

New Birmingham City Council web site for genealogical research

There is a new website now available for people to search for ancestors- for family history/genealogy projects.  This website covers all the burial/cremation records for Birmingham City Council.

The Offices will no longer carry out genealogy research and families will be directed to this website.

The Offices will however  continue to provide grave location information for people wishing to visit the Cemetery, they will require the full name and year of death to be able to provide this.

The website is www.birminghamburialrecords.co.uk

Moseley and Kings Heath SHED

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 September Litter Pick Reminder

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.

Heritage Hedge maturing well.

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.

Trim for our hedge!!

Despite agreeing that no serious hedge cutting would take place to our hedge surrounding the Civilian Garden of Remembrance (for ecological reasons), we had to give in- and do a slight top trim today as some of the uppermost shoots were stretching nearly a meter above the hedge itself!!

 

Before, with the stragglers standing proud!

Back under control below. We have made sure that the main body of the hedge remained undisturbed.

Julia, assisted by our youngest gardener…and an after view, looking much tidier.

Can we also report that our redesigned and replanted beds are now coming into their own and reflect a riot of colour and texture, whilst needing minimal attention. Mission accomplished !

Hedge uncut in this one …..           Beautiful  texture filled   beds

                   

Rachel, our Community Film Maker…..

Our thanks go to all those that helped with the Hedgehog Project, and there may still be a little more to come…but we must thank Rachel for her brilliant work with us and all the local pupils, resulting in our lovely Hedgehog Film. We really hope we can work with her again on our next project. Watch this space…….and visit Rachel’s site via this link to see what she says about working on our Hedgehog project.

 

At Last- your chance to view and share our Hedgehog Film.

Today we shared our Hedgehog Project film with our last group of Film Makers so now we are able to share it with you. Please take a look and share with as many people as possible. This film was made by pupils of St Albans RC Primary and Woodthorpe Primary with the help of Community Film Maker   Rachel Gillies 

Our thanks to Emma from The Wildlife Trust and BCC Rangers Jan and Dean- and of course The Heritage Lottery, who funded this project.

http://www.bbcwildlife.org.uk/hedgehogs

Please share this with as many people as you can to help the plight of the Hedgehog.