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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We will be hosting this months Grave Gardeners in the cemetery on this Saturday, the 9th November at 11am for a couple of hours. Why not come along and enjoy the fresh air whilst helping to keep Brandwood End Cemetery looking at its best. We have the tools and gardening gloves but you are welcome to bring your own. Meet opposite the Lodge by the main entrance in Woodthorpe Road.
Please arrive by 11am as we will be moving to other areas of this 53 acre site
Under 16’s must be accompanied by an adult.
You may think we seem to be doing a lot of ‘grave clearance’, and we are ! We have a very short window Between September and the end of March to remove any large areas of Holly or Ivy as during nesting season DEFRA have regulations regarding disturbing nesting. This also affects how and when we cut the hedge surrounding the Civilian Garden.
Today, Saturday the 12th, was the turn of our ‘community supporters’- or Grave Gardeners as we call them. They meet once a month generally and help clear self set trees and shrubs as well as keeping hedges in check and the flower beds and tubs weeded. We welcome anyone who may be interested to join us. Our next session will be November 9th. Meet at the Lodge at 11am. You may want to bring your own heavy duty gardening gloves but we do have spare pairs. We also have tools, but again if you prefer to work with your own tools they are very welcome. (Loppers/shears/rakes)
Staff from Deutsche Bank turned out again on the 9th to help clear a huge coppice of Holly and Ivy that had overtaken a number of graves making it impossible for family to locate or visit.
The photograph below shows the effort it takes to clear Ivy once it has got hold. Great care has to be taken to prevent damage to lead lettering. Follow this link as it shows the events of the day and a sequence of photographs detailing the progress to reveal this memorial. There were many more as well but this one took almost an hour of two peoples time and determination.
