Join our Grave Gardening team, along with Fruit and Nut Village, to plant some new trees in the cemetery. We are making a start on replacing the trees lost in last years storms. Meet opposite the Lodge at 11am on the 6th April.
Category: Gardening
Spring has sprung?
Spring has sprung in a really unusual place. This was obviously a very determined daffodil!
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.
Reminder Grave Gardeners Session Saturday 11th January
Please meet opposite the Lodge at 11am on Saturday 11th. We will be carrying on clearing some areas of the cemetery of self set trees and shrubs as well as clearing smaller fallen branches.
Last Grave Gardeners Session of 2024
SATURDAY 14TH DECEMBER. MEET OPPPOSITE THE LODGE AT 11AM.
As you can imagine we will have to confirm this literally on Friday (So watch this feed in case we have to cancel) as things in the Cemetery are not as they usually are BUT there are many areas of the cemetery unaffected by the current fallen tree issues so we should be OK to go ahead.
We welcome anyone who fancies some outdoor exercise whilst helping to clear graves. Feel free to bring your own gloves and tools such as secateurs and loppers but please make sure you have stout footwear.
WE WILL NOT BE WORKING NEAR ANY OF THE FELLED TREES. THESE WILL BE LEFT TO THE PROFESSIONALS !
Graves uncovered by FBEC and Deutsche Bank
We were pleased to welcome yet another Team of volunteers from Deutsche Bank to Brandwood End this week to help with our ongoing project to make every grave in the cemetery accessible. Many of the older graves have been lost for some years under Ivy, Holly or in some cases self set trees. The Friends, assisted by various Corporate groups, have been working all over the cemetery to try and make sure visitors can get to family graves.
The coppice area they were working on and how it looked afterwards, graves revealed
Sometimes this involves removing Ivy or small Holly bushes and other shrubs that have grown out of control. There are lots of self set trees, mainly conifers, growing on or between graves. Many of these have now reached significant height and width and can obscure maybe 6 or 8 graves! If possible we remove lower branches (crown lift) to allow access to graves but occasionally the tree will be removed.
Deutsche Bank have been on site on several occasions this year and we hope to welcome them again in the New Year. Follow this link to see further photos.
Grave Gardening Session in December 2024
Our last Grave Gardening Session for 2024 will be on the 14th December starting at 11am and running till 12.30pm Meet by the Lodge on the main drive near the entrance. Please try to arrive on time as we will be moving to another area on this 53 acre site and may be hard to find.
Everyone is welcome but under 16’s must be accompanied by an adult.
Stout footwear is advisable and you may want to bring your own heavy duty gloves, although we do have some available.
Eleven Hardy supporters
Our thanks to the eleven Volunteers who turned up this morning to help clear even more shrubbery, but this time we spent some time specifically cutting back the end of Section 41, which was encroaching on graves.
Follow this link to get a flavour of their morning.