Category: Gardening

Deutsche Bank battle the weather!

Today we were pleased to welcome five Deutsche Bank staff to the cemetery to continue the clearance of section B10 that their colleagues, and our Grave Gardeners, had begun this summer.

     

Despite really heavy rain for half an hour they were able to clear an amazing amount of shrubbery and expose another 8+graves that have been hidden for many years. Well done everyone.

This section is one of the older areas and has been neglected for some time but recent work by our Grave Gardeners and Deutsche Bank staff has meant that we have now made serious inroads. Well done to you all as I think you will agree the result is stunning.

If you would like to see more of the action today you can follow this link.

Grave Gardeners in National Cemeteries Week

The Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery celebrate the cemetery all year round as a calm and peaceful place to visit but this week is a special week to ask everyone to remember their local cemetery and maybe pay a visit as part of NATIONAL CEMETERIES WEEK.  Cemeteries may be well kept or they may be neglected. Nationally many  will have Friends groups, some will not. Wherever they are they will be especially celebrated this week and so will all the paid and volunteer staff that work within them. 

This Sunday, the 8th June, our Grave Gardeners will be meeting by the Lodge at 11am to continue their work in Brandwood End. They meet every month and, along with corporate groups, they strive to keep Brandwood looking loved and cared for. It’s a 53 acre site so progress is sometimes slow and not evident but we assure you we are all working hard to make this space welcoming.

A big thank you to all our Volunteers.

Well done to all our volunteers. In April  volunteers gave a total of 108 hours of their time to keep the cemetery looking cared for. (In many months the hours given exceed this total) Supported by Bereavements Ground Staff and BCC Grass cutting team we all work to make Brandwood End Cemetery a welcoming, safe and secure space.

‘Fruit and Nut Village’ Tree plant with FBEC

Gardening Volunteers from FBEC had a fantastic morning in the sunshine with Laura and her helpers from Fruit and Nut Village. They kindly donated 5 trees,( 3 Hazels and 2 Walnuts) to kick off our 20th Anniversary Tree Planting project. Our aim is to try and plant an minimum of 15 trees in the cemetery to replace 21 lost in recent storms. The tree stock has been depleted by over 150 in the last few years due to storms, disease and general age and as most of the cemetery was planted up over 125 years ago we can expect to lose many more in the next few years. We have raised over £4000 already but need to get to £6000 to complete the project next Autumn.

If you would like to see some of our planting photographs from today then follow this link.

Protecting our last tree planting.

Before Covid we worked with Birmingham Trees for Life to plant 15 standard size trees on the boundary with Broad Lane and Sunderton Road. A few years on these trees needed their tree ‘guards’  and stakes removing so this morning seven volunteers from our Grave Gardening group set about that task and also made a start clearing brambles around the. Our thanks to all of them for their efforts as brambles are especially unpleasant to deal with !

Grave Gardeners

The Friends are continuing with their monthly sessions to clear shrubbery from graves and also around some perimeter areas. We welcome help at each of these events and whilst we do have our own group tools we always welcome supporters bringing their own tools with them. Can we suggest that you bring your own gardening gloves, if you have them, and wear suitable footwear.

We will be meeting by the Lodge at 11am but then moving to another area of the cemetery.

 

Grave Gardening session

Fancy some free outdoor exercise? Why not join us at a gardening session clearing graves and shrubbery ?

The next Grave Gardeners Session will be on Sunday February 2nd. Meet at 11am by the Lodge on the Main Drive. Some people stay about 2 hours but others Remember to stay just an hour.

Wear suitable footwear and bring your own tools and heavy duty gardening gloves, if you prefer.(We will have tools and some spare gloves available.)

Please arrive by 11am as we will then be moving to another area of this 53 acre site.