Tag: cwgc

November 2, 2015

Placing of Poppy Crosses

If you happen to pass through Brandwood End Cemetery this week, you may well see members of the Friends and volunteers placing some 350 + poppy crosses. Each War Grave in Brandwood End is marked every year by the placing of a poppy cross on it. A large grid ‘poppy cross cemetery’ is also formed on the grassland adjacent to the Cross of Sacrifice on the Main Drive- to give an impression of the large numbers of those buried within Brandwood End who have lost their lives in wars around the globe.

Please pause for a moment after Remembrance Sunday to read the information placed near the ‘poppy cemetery’.

Remembrance Sunday information is to follow this article.

September 13, 2015

Hedge gets ‘short back and sides’ ……again!

One of our members pointed out that the hedge surrounding the Civilian Garden of Remembrance had suddenly shot up….despite being cut well back in June so three of the Friends took the shears to the top on Saturday morning! It looks a little better now. We hope to do its final cut just before the Remembrance Day event, so it looks spick and span that day so we will be appealing for assistance nearer that time.

Whilst on site we gave the new hedge, surrounding the adjacent War Graves, a quick cut as well but it hasn’t started to thicken up yet. We are still always looking for people who visit the cemetery and have spare time to weed under the hedge on both sites. What needs doing is fairly obvious!

April 14, 2015

Completed WW1 memorial area.

The Great War memorial bench has now been re sited close to the new memorial (on the old Oak Tree Island). It has been joined by an interpretation lectern explaining the part that Birmingham played during the Great war.

The bench is now clear of over hanging trees and less likely to be damaged by bird droppings.

The small area of Commonwealth War Graves, recently hedged by FBEC and St Albans pupils, has been planted with Primula Vulgaris and is looking especially good.

March 11, 2015

Update on ‘From Brownhills to Brandwood’

Those of you that follow our blog may remember some time ago that Barrie Simpson (FBEC Committee member) was assisting Paul Ford from Wyrleyblog to try and trace the grave of a WW1 servicemen, Thomas James. After a long search Barrie was able to inform Paul that a grave had been located!

With Paul’s permission The Friends contacted the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Barrie, as well as being a member of The Friends committee, is also a CWGC Volunteer and, under the ‘Adopt a Grave’ scheme , he has adopted all 200+ CWGC graves and was most anxious to assist Paul’s splendid research. It was hoped that the end result might be the erection of a CWGC headstone for this Coal Miner from Great Wryley.

The evidence was duly submitted, by Barrie, to the Ministry of Defence for consideration by the ‘War Grave Adjudication Team’. The response below has now been received.

‘Dear Mr Simpson,
We have recently been instructed by the relevant Service Authority that Private Thomas William James qualifies for commemoration as a Commonwealth war casualty.’

Barrie adds that:
‘Now, I move on to the next phase of pestering the City Bereavements Department to provide with me the letter that there is no known owner of the grave so I can begin the final phase to get a CWGC headstone erected on Thomas’ grave before November 2015.’ His grave will be recognised, along with 200+ others, by the Friends and the placing of a Poppy Cross in November 2015.

Both Paul Ford (Wyrleyblog) and Barrie Simpson (FBEC) spent many hours of work on this search and there is a very interesting article detailing this- to be found via this link

November 9, 2014

A poignant commemoration on Remembrance Sunday

The sun shone down today on the one hundred people who attended the annual Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery Service of Remembrance. Our thanks go to Deacon David Fairbotham for his very thought provoking address.

This year wreaths were laid on behalf of six local organisations and we would like to thank the Royal British Legion who attended with their Standard Bearer before rushing back for their own Service at midday.

The numbers at this annual event continue to grow and we hope that those that attended felt something of the atmosphere created by Deacon David’s address, the young trumpeters playing of the Last Post and Reveille, the time for reflection and the participation of all the local organisations wishing to show their respects on this special day.

November 5, 2014

Poppy Cross Cemetery in place.

Every year Barrie Simpson goes beyond the call of duty and as well as organising the placing of a poppy cross on every war grave within Brandwood End he also creates a ‘poppy cross cemetery’. Every War Grave is represented by a cross in a grid pattern laid out on the grass of the Public Grave area adjacent to the Cross of Sacrifice.

Every year we encourage pupils from the two schools that lie on either side of the cemetery to come and read the information that is posted nearby and it hopefully becomes a discussion point- especially in this significant year.

Our thanks go to the staff of Wates Construction for helping with the placing of crosses on graves and S. Gascoigne and Sons for their kind donation to the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal on our behalf.

October 27, 2014

Damaged Hedge repaired.

Nicola Clarke, Horticultural Development Manager for Quadron Services, helped replant an area of hedge in the Commonwealth War Graves area after it was accidentally damaged. Luckily there had been some of the hawthorn hedging remaining after the recent planting and it had been ‘growing on’ in nearby Broad Lane Allotments.

The Friends are always in need of Volunteers to help with weeding in this area and our Civilian Garden of Remembrance. If you think you can spare some time, please contact us at friendsofbec@gmail.com.

September 13, 2014

Heritage Open Event – A Great Success!

The sun shone through the trees during our Heritage Open Event held on Sunday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the first world war and to remember all those involved.

This was the first time that Brandwood End Cemetery had featured in an Heritage Open Day event and we all agreed it had been a worthwhile experience. Dawn and her team from Birmingham Bereavement Services worked with the Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery to provide lots of interesting displays of memorabilia – and perhaps more importantly, tea and cakes!

Doug Smith, ably assisted by his team, read short monologues of soldiers experiences and members of ‘Troop Aid’ raised over £100 for their very worthwhile cause.

The Friends lead three successful walks covering a small number of graves significant in ww1, as well as chatting to members of the public who took the opportunity to come along and ‘show and tell’ their family items of ww1 memorabilia.

Our thanks to everyone who worked hard to make this a success and especially the members of the public who fitted our event in with so many others in the area today.

We met many new friends in the cemetery today and hope they will keep in touch with us via this web site.

A reminder that our Remembrance Service will take place at the Cross of Sacrifice on Sunday November 9th starting at 10.50am.

March 18, 2014

Lord Mayor joins local school at Veolia sponsored event in cemetery

We wish we could say that the sun shone today as it has done for the last week- but it didn’t. That didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of pupils from St Alban’s RC Primary School who came along to the cemetery to help plant hawthorn whips around a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial area. Brandwood End is home to over 300 war graves but there is only one small area where graves lie in rows on a specially maintained area of grassland. This area is now enclosed by a new hawthorn hedge.

We were pleased to welcome lots of visitors to the site as well as the pupils. Representatives of Veolia Environmental Services, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, New Vision, Bereavement Services, Quadron Contractors and local residents were joined by the Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress.

Following a busy morning planting they all enjoyed refreshments and a chance to talk to the Lord Mayor about his role and his regalia.

Well done!

February 10, 2014

A date for your diary! Tuesday March 18th.

Many of the regular visitors to Brandwood End Cemetery are aware of the large number of Military Graves that lie within (Over 350). Following Remembrance Sunday each year these graves are even more identifiable as the Friends place ‘Poppy Crosses’ on every grave. Most of these graves are scattered throughout the cemetery but what most people do not realise is that we have a small Military section. The area surrounding this section has, over time, lost its defined boundary so with the help of funding from Veolia, the Friends will be planting a new boundary hedge of native hawthorn.

At 10.30am on the morning of Tuesday March 18th the Friends will be joined on site by The Lord Mayor and the Lady Mayoress, children from St Albans RC Primary School, and staff from Bereavements Services and Quadron Services who will be working together to plant 350 hawthorn shrubs to redefine this boundary.

The Friends and Bereavements staff have met on site with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to agree the design and size of this hedge as their requirements are quite specific. Please come along, with your spade, if you would like to help.