Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery

First LITTER PICK of 2026.

Jane Edwards — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 13:54:04 +0000

Join the Friends at the first Litter Pick of 2026.suitable clothing and footwear advisable. Everyone welcome but under 16’s need to have an adult with them.

These is a ‘No dogs’ policy in the cemetery.

Great gardening effort today.

Jane Edwards — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 22:17:12 +0000

Thanks to our five gardening volunteers who concentrated on freeing the Rhododendrons on the main drive from brambles and exposing some Holly trees, Lots of shrubbery removed and now some more light available for the plants that should be there.

Beautiful Crocus bulbs spread far and wide.

Jane Edwards — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 22:06:43 +0000

The crocus bulbs are now in full boom and spreading to many areas of the cemetery. A great start to the year.

Grave Gardening Session

Jane Edwards — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 19:11:17 +0000

Meet new friends and help your fitness by joining our Gardening Group as we work to uncover graves that have been hidden for years. We have the tools and volunteers welcome. Meet by the Lodge on the main drive. Suitable clothing and footwear advisable

20th Anniversary Tree Plant.

Jane Edwards — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 23:00:28 +0000

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.

Birmingham Heritage Forum

Jane Edwards — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 16:52:32 +0000

The Friends are members of Birmingham Heritage Forum who provide a wonderful leaflet highlighting many of the Heritage sites that you can visit in Birmingham. We have included a link to their ‘flip book’ version below and a permanent link will appear in our ‘useful information’ page.

Tree Planting event

Jane Edwards — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 16:48:49 +0000

On the 9th of February at 10am the Friends will be joined on site by the Forest School pupils from St Augustine’s RC Primary School to plant 15 new mature standard trees in the cemetery. We will be supported by Bereavement Services Ground Staff, Birmingham Tree People, Deutsche Bank and our regular Gardening Volunteers. Watch this site for a report on the day.

Grave Gardeners cancelled

Jane Edwards — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 10:14:36 +0000

Due to safety concerns with rain and wet shrubbery we have CANCELLED TODAY’S GRAVE GARDENING SESSION. Sunday 18th January.

Volunteer Gardeners

Jane Edwards — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 15:19:59 +0000

Gosh where does the time go? A month has passed and the Volunteer Grave Gardeners are back in the cemetery this Sunday the 18th January. Why not come along and join them? 11am till 12.30pm

Take Care in the cemetery

Jane Edwards — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 16:00:09 +0000

The weather may be improving but the pathways are still very slippery and dangerous in the cemetery so do take great care if you have to visit.

We would suggest that you wait till the snow and cold weather has gone but we know that there are many people who visit regularly irrelevant of the weather, so please take care.

There is an additional hazard because of the heavy weight of snow and ice on branches has which has meant that some trees have shed branches and the increased wind hasn’t helped. Also with the thaw large sections of snow are falling from high branches.