Just a reminder that our next family Hedgehog event will be happening in the cemetery next Tuesday 25th October 2-4pm. Meet by the Lodge. 
URGENT NOTE
Can we also make an appeal for donations of unopened cans of cat and dog food for the local Hedgehog Rescue Centre as they are running short of food!! Please bring them to the event.
We all breathed a sigh of relief to see that the weather was dry this morning for the Friends to welcome over 20 people to the ‘official’ unveiling of our Civilian Garden of Remembrance. Our thanks to Councillor Eva Phillips who made a short speech about the uncertainties in the World today and the value of peace internationally. We all hope that we may see a time when there is no need for ‘civilian dead’ to be laid to rest following conflict.
Eva then cut the ribbon and declared that the garden refurbishment was now officially completed.
Our thanks to our anonymous donor, who meant that we were able to engage horticulturalist Darren Rudge with a team of his ‘Homebase’ students to complete the work. I am sure all our visitors today agree that the garden looks a picture!
Afterwards we all made our way to the Lodge and enjoyed a leisurely cup of tea and some excellent home made cake (thank you Coral!)
Well done Darren and his team!
The Friends entered the RHS, Heart of England in Bloom this year without great expectations, as it was the first year that a category for ‘Cemeteries’ under ‘Parks and Open Spaces’ had been included…….and our first foray into this prestigious award.
Today we traveled to the Awards Ceremony in Aldridge and to our great joy we achieved a ‘Silver Gilt’ Certificate !
Excuse the picture quality but I was so excited to post a copy of the certificate and thank everyone concerned. Over the year, our small band of volunteers have worked hard on many aspects within the cemetery to enhance the experience of those that visit- for whatever reason. During the few weeks before the Judges visit everyone pulled out the stops. Our thanks to Quadron for cutting the grass, the ground staff for emptying the bins and the general appearance of the cemetery, community members for helping with weeding , the phantom ‘hedge cutters’, all those who supplied photographs and all those that wished us luck! It paid off………..
These posters were on display at the event and caught our eye, especially as each one was 6′ tall!
We all had such a marvelous welcome with a jazz band and then a choir and everyone was made to feel really special. The awards were followed by a lovely lunch which Julia and I ate sitting in the beautiful churchyard adjacent to event. Thank you all again. Jane Edwards (Chairman- FBEC)
Those of you that follow our blog will know that back in June the Friends engaged ‘Darren Rudge Landscape Designs’ and some of his students to refresh and partly redesign the Civilian Garden of Remembrance flower beds. The beds had become overgrown and following a donation we were in a position to carry out work to reduce future day to day maintenance by our small team of volunteer gardeners. You will see from the photographs below that the results are magnificent, but we would like to invite you to join us at an official unveiling on Saturday September 24th at 10am, followed by tea and cake.
As I am sure we have mentioned before, The Friends have been accepted as entrants into Heart of England in Bloom and will get a judges visit towards the end of this month. Whilst we are not able to affect much of the horticulture or upkeep of the cemetery we feel sure that Bereavement Service staff will be supporting our efforts.
There are a few things we can do, so the hard work in those areas has begun. Our thanks to one of our committee members, Sarah, who has started washing down some of the rain/mud spattered Section Markers. What a difference a bit of ‘Fairy’ makes!!
Before….and after !!
Our thanks also to Julia who has been popping in and out weeding under hedges and Barrie- who’s shears have been working overtime! All of these jobs and many more are undertaken continually by volunteer members of FBEC and the community, and happen as if by magic…..but we are making just a little bit of extra effort for this, our first, RHS entry!!
We hope you have noticed the difference we have made over the last 11 years and we thank all those that have offered their help.
The Friends offer lots of opportunities for members to take part in projects that inspire them, be it gardening ,war graves, social history, or trees, birds and wildlife. We are always keen to involve anyone with a skill they would like to share. Please e mail us on friendsofbec@gmail.com.
Can we make a special appeal for someone to be responsible for keeping a digital archive of our activities. We know most of our activities are recorded on our Facebook page and within this blog but we would like to have everything kept in one place, and free time restricts the existing committee members from taking this on. Please can you help?
All members are invited to the Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery which is to be held on Thursday 14th April at 10.30am till 11.30am in the Conference Room at St Dunstans Church, Kingsfield Rd, Birmingham B14 7JN. As you enter from the main gate in Kingsfield Road the Conference Room is on the right. Copies of the Annual Report and the Audited Accounts will be presented and circulated to the members present. Following the meeting these will be posted on our website fbec.org.uk.
Under the rules, existing members of the Executive Committee will be offering themselves for re-election but we welcome enquiries from prospective new members. All nominees must be members of FBEC and nomination forms can be obtained from the Chairman and must be completed and submitted by 31st March 2016.
Any questions to be tabled at the AGM should be submitted in advance to the Chairman by telephone /email by 31st March 2016.-07811 393259 / friendsofbec@gmail.com
The Committee sincerely hopes that you will be able to join us for tea and cake and to learn of our successes to date and plans for the future. We work on your behalf and depend on your support.
A belated 2016 welcome to all our followers, from the Committee of The Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery.
Who knows what 2016 will hold for the cemetery and all those that visit? The good news is that we appear to have escaped relatively unscathed from the high winds that have battered the area and other than the usual cascades of water from our blocked Victorian drains…….life (as far as we know) has been smooth. The Friends will be meeting with Bereavement Service staff in the next few weeks to discuss a number of issues, not least of all improving fencing around the chapels and our up and coming Lottery Bid with Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust to investigate the Hedgehog population in Brandwood End.
Please keep watching our page and spreading the word.
We were a small select crew that set out on the final litter pick of the year- just 4 of us, but we managed to collect 12 bags of litter before rain stopped play!
The cemetery itself is always kept pretty litter free by the ground staff but there are always pockets of litter that gather, especially in the wind, along fences and hedgerows. The worst offending area is the corner of the site where Broad Lane service road meets the fence. Huge piles of rubbish accumulate road side here …..or are dumped, and blow into the cemetery shrubbery. Below is a before and after photo to give an idea of the problem! You can see the rubbish piled just the other side of the fence.
We also observed another strange phenomenon today and that was the sight of snowdrops blooming along side daisies!
Our thanks to everyone that has helped at any of our litter picks in 2015 and we hope you will join us in 2016 to continue this very important task. The next litter pick will be on Saturday 5th March 2016
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!
Forward notice that the next Litter Pick will be held in the Cemetery on the morning of Saturday 5th September. Please meet at the Lodge House on the main drive at 10am.
