Category: Gardening

Deutsche Bank staff power through shrubbery to uncover graves.

Twelve Deutsche Bank staff and four FBEC volunteers worked all day to clear several large areas of established self set trees and shrubs on one of the sections in the cemetery. It’s a slow process but we are making headway in the cemetery. It is a little like the Forth Road Bridge as we are sure it grows back almost as fast as we remove it, however much of the shrubbery removed has been in place for many, many years and will only return as ”low level.

The photograph below gives you an idea of the size of coppice/shrubbery we were tackling. If you would like to see more, follow this link.

The larger trees are left as the aim is purely to make access to all graves possible. Often the lower branches may be removed if the tree is well established. Below you can see the area above after clearance.

Many hands make this process easier and so much faster. 2 areas like this and some smaller spots were cleared in todays work.

 

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.