Category: Trees

20th Anniversary Tree Plant.

Many of our followers will know that FBEC are coming to the end of their 20th year and during that time we have been undertaking a number of special projects. One of our main objectives was to raise funds to purchase 15 large standard trees to begin to replace the mature trees in the cemetery that were lost in recent storms.

 

  

On Monday the 9th February, after a lot of planning, we arrived at our ‘special’ day when several groups got together to finally plant the trees we had purchase.

Our lead planters would be 13 pupils from St Albans RC Primary School and they would be assisted by Birmingham Tree People, Deutsche Bank staff, RLB staff, Gardening Volunteers and FBEC Committee members.

Very soon they had planted seven large trees, that dwarfed many of their planters! A really good mornings work. A huge thank you to the pupils who all showed such enthusiasm and worked really hard to dig out the holes and then place the trees  (With adult help) and finally backfill and stamp the soil down ready for a top dressing of chippings.  Several worms were rescued during this process and relocated by pupils to safer areas!

To see more photos follow this link.

Well done to all concerned.

We have many people to thank:

The Staff and pupils of St Albans RC Primary School

Steve Flood, a City Tree Officer for helping choose the trees and their sites and facilitating their transportation across the City to Brandwood End.

Bereavement Services and Gary Humphries, a member of the ground Staff,  who went above and beyond moving heavy trees, digging initial holes, delivering good quality soil and chippings for backfilling and generally helping facilitate the children’s activities.

Matt and Birmingham Tree People  who helped us order the trees and supported us with their team on site, as well as sharing their tree knowledge with FBEC and the pupils.

FBEC Committee and our Gardening Volunteers, Deutsche Bank staff and RLB staff.

The Patrick Trust and all the individual contributors who helped finance the Trees.

Seasons Greetings to all our supporters

The Friends and the cemetery  have had a wonderful year with many more volunteers than in previous years, mainly working on our special 20th Anniversary Grave Revealing and Recording Project. Nearly every month in 2025 our volunteers contributed in excess of 120 hours between them, which is the equivalent to 3 full time additional ground staff. 

The photographs below show just a few of the volunteers (community  and corporate groups) that have pitched in to clear shrubs, take photographs, create data bases, litter pick, marshall events, lead walks, plant trees, liaise with schools, apply for grants, research, honour the fallen and generally keep the community involved and informed.

We can’t forget Bereavements Service staff both on the ground and in Kings Norton office. Without their co operation we would not be able to achieve as much as  we do.

Seasons Greetings to you all and let’s hope that 2026 is as productive as 2025 has been.

Cemetery views by supports of FBEC and Cemetery lovers.

ITS NATIONAL CEMETERIES WEEK.  A TIME TO CELEBRATE OUR CEMETERIES.

Here are a few photographs taken by visitors to the cemetery that show what a peaceful and inviting green space it is. These photographs cover a very small area of Brandwood End. Pop in and take a stroll. There are plenty of benches to sit and listen to the bird song or watch the wildlife. Fifteen minutes in here will nourish your body and soul……..

                                                   

         

                          

‘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 !

Damp Tree Walk- but enjoyed by all.

Despite the damp and miserable weather we were joined by 23 people who all spent close to an hour and a half learning a little bit more about the trees of Brandwood End in Winter. Our thanks to Malcolm who had spent time planning and leading a great Tree Walk. Lots of interesting facts and questions and so many different trees still remaining to cover at another time.

Hopefully the next Tree Walk will be a ‘Summer’ one with better weather. Thanks again to Malcolm for all his time and effort, and to those that attended and make it all worth while.

If you enjoyed todays walk and want to help us replant some new trees for those you saw that were lost recently then watch this space for details on how you can donate/sponsor new trees.