The Friends web site is due to have an update in the near future, so we will be unable to post for a couple of weeks once that update starts. With that in mind we are posting information about this years Service of Remembrance well in advance.
It is 100 years since the end of WW1 this year, so please try and join us on what will be a significant date- 11.11.2018
Despite a wet and drizzly morning well over 40 people turned out to support our Heritage Event at Brandwood End. We had a packed morning with 2 grave walks to uncover the history of The Labour Corps , led by our Chairman Julia Griffin.
Luckily for us the weather lately has been very dry so the passage between the graves was relatively easy to negotiate.
Those that decided not to brave the weather were able to browse the wealth of information we had prepared about WW1, the Suffragette Movement and the Labour Corps as well as reading about ‘Frederick Clifford Alabaster’ and ‘William Shakespeare’ both of whom are buried in Brandwood End. Today we were honoured to welcome William’s Grandson, who came to deliver a precious copy of a photograph of his Grandfather and Grandmother. A member of the Alabaster family had also visited us at our 2017 Service of Remembrance.
Another incentive to remain behind were the amazing cakes that had been baked by Dawn, who is in charge of the day to day running of Brandwood End for Bereavement Services Department. Dawn and her staff went way beyond their job descriptions to help facilitate this event, not least of all- giving their time on a Saturday to erect gazebo’s and move tables and chairs.
In between our guided walks, visitors were treated to an insight into the lives of some of our soldiers buried in Brandwood End who died towards the end of the War, or soon after, as a result of wounds or the Spanish Flu. Doug Smith and his team made the selected Soldiers ‘come to life’ for just a short while. An amazingly revealing performance that enthralled everyone, despite the rain.
Our thanks to everyone who supported us today, especially Bereavement Services Department-for their muscle and refreshments!
We must also thank Pam Wallace of Kings Heath British Legion, who provided some of the wealth of information and our Chairman Julia for providing most of the rest! We hope everyone enjoyed our displays and found them as interesting as we did when we were preparing them! Next year…….100 years of Brandwood End Cemetery…..maybe !!
You can see a few more photographs in our album via this link
On the morning of Saturday 8th September between 10am and 1pm the Friends will be taking part in Heritage Open Week.
Please come along and join us. We will have plenty of interesting items and displays and you can join one of our Grave Walks (numbers limited) highlighting the plight of ‘Labour Corps’ members who are buried and remembered in Brandwood End.
If you have any interesting memorabilia concerning the activities of local Suffragettes we would really love to see it !
It is with regret that we have to announce the sudden passing of our deeply respected long term friend and colleague, Barrie Simpson, whom we all held in great regard.
He was such an integral member of FBEC that his loss will be very keenly felt, but he will continue to live on in our thoughts especially when working in the cemetery.
Of late we have observed Barrie’s decline, but his ability to find ways of communicating at committee meetings revealed his continuing perseverance and determination to be engaged in what he held dear. The photograph above is how we will all remember Barrie !
As this wonderful man passes from our lives to being indelibly marked on our minds and in our hearts, we are all reminded of the massive hole he leaves in FBEC.
Many men fell at the Battle of Passchendaele, which is especially remembered this week for it is 100 years since that bloody conflict. As a small part of this, The Friends of Brandwood End have been encouraged to research graves to highlight at least one of those Soldiers. We were looking for a casualty who was returned to England wounded, but subsequently died and was buried in Brandwood End. Research by Doug Smith and Julia Griffin found us William Shakespeare (Obviously not the one of normal fame).
William was born in Birmingham in 1882. His mother and father both worked for Parkinson Cowan and were gas meter makers. He left Mary Street Board School when he was 12 in 1894 and went into the trade as well.
William married in December 1903 when he was 23 to Elizabeth Chambers who was just 18. They lived in a back to back in Wrentham Street.
William and Elizabeth had several children. William and Nellie in 1906 – twins! Unfortunately William was sickly and died. Next came Alice and then George, in 1912. The family then moved to Lime Grove, Walter Street, Nechells.
The news from the Front was bad so William enlisted in June 1915 and was accepted in the 16th Warwickshire Regiment, or the 3rd Birmingham Pals.
He fought in the many battles in 1917 but was hit by a shell burst at the Third Ypres battle, or Passchendaele. His Battalion were ordered to take the Polderhoek Chateau with the 2nd Norfolk’s and began the attack on 9th October 1917. Many men were lost.
William was brought back on a stretcher having been injured by a shell burst as they retreated. When we got back to England he was sent to Dewsbury in Yorkshire but never recovered from his wounds. Elizabeth was nearly full term with their final baby, John, who was born the week after William died, aged 35 on 6th November 1917.
His father paid for him to be buried in Brandwood End – He is buried in Grave B.2 ‘C’ 883.
Thank you to all those that stopped to hear about William as they passed through the Cemetery today and also those who remained behind after our Remembrance Service to hear about his life and others who fought at Passchendaele. The information will remain on display in our Notice Boards.
Proudly supported by the Passchendaele at Home project. #Passchendaele100
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 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.
The Department of communities and Local Government (DCLG), have funded an inclusive and thought-provoking programme to invite communities to commemorate the sacrifices of the Labour Corps and their contribution to the First World War.
On July 14th between 9.20am and 10.40am pupils from Swanshurst School will be in Brandwood End Cemetery, where they will recite monologues to highlight Labour Corps members commemorated on the screen walls at the Cross of Sacrifice on the main drive.
This event will be filmed for the School’s Youtube channel. Members of FBEC Committee will also be attending.
https://www.bigideascompany.org/project/the-unremembered/
Every May, cyclist travel from all over the UK to visit the National Cyclists Memorial in the village of Meriden. This year a small contingent decided that, as they were unable to visit Meriden, they would lay a wreath in Brandwood End.
Built to honour the memory of those members of the cyclists battalions of the Army Cyclists Corps who died in World War One, the Meriden Memorial was erected in 1921 and on 21st May over 20,000 people turned up for its inauguration.
Following Morning Service at The Cotteridge Church Centre on Sunday 21st May 2017, Rev. Loraine Dixon and Rev Michael Claridge, accompanied by Joy Anibaba from the Joyful Bellas and Fellas Community Cycling Group, cycled from Kings Norton Recreation Ground to Brandwood End Cemetery to mark our own commemoration.
After a short prayer service, a wreath in the style of the original laid at the 1921 inauguration service at Meriden, was laid at the Brandwood Cross of Sacrifice. Four Standard Bearer Members of the Federation of Birmingham Ex-Service Associations performed Tribute during the Last Post, a two minute silence was observed and Reveille played at the cessation.
The Cemetery trees in full spring foliage and the bird song during 2 minute silence added to the simple beauty of the occasion. All those who attended the event left in the knowledge that a fitting tribute had been paid to preserve the memory of The Fallen, and also took away with them a very good impression of what the Friends of Brandwood End continue to achieve in the cemetery.
Some of you may remember that our committee member, Barrie Simpson, and others were making efforts to get official recognition for Thomas William James.
We have included a link to the Official site which details, at length, the history behind these efforts. It is a long but extremely interesting story……but everyone’s efforts have been rewarded!
