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Key Hill Cemetery

Wendy we had a lovely time today ..great to meet you and Charlie..hope you didn't have much trouble getting all your tombola winnings homelollol
 
Maggie I don't know what you mean.:rolleyes:

Shera I am not sure if I will make it tomorrow although I would love to go.....all depends on family commitments

Lyn just read your post I will have a look for your Wood Family
 
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Made my first visit to Key Hill cemetery today. Really enjoyed my time there. Thank you to everyone who made my visit enjoyable
 
I have wanted to visit Key Hill for a long time as I have family buried there. This morning I asked my hubby to take me to the open day and was surprised when he agreed (cemeteries don't interest him much). I did not know where the graves were or if they still had headstones but I thought it would be nice just to walk around knowing they were somewhere there, even if I couldn't stand by the actual graves.
When I arrived I recognised Wendy (wearing a fantastic costume) from her photo and introduced myself as a BHF member and explained why I was there. With the fantastic help of Wendy and other members of the Friends of Key Hill the grave of my family was quickly located. It was wonderful to be able to stand by it and read the inscriptions. Because it did not contain all the people I expected it to I realised there must be another grave. My hubby and I walked round to try and find it but had no luck. When I returned to the first grave one of the volunteers had brushed and washed the headstone and dug the weeds out. I was overcome with emotion and started to cry - I felt very silly but Wendy understood and gave me a hug. Imagine how I felt when they told me they had located the other grave. This one also got washed,brushed and tidied up.
I don't think I can put into words what today has meant to me but I can say that today I have met some of the nicest, kindest people you could wish to meet. The Friends of Key Hill do an amazing job and they have made Key Hill a wonderful place to visit.
And my reluctant cemetery visitor hubby?...He has offered to take me back in a few weeks time to plant some bulbs on my family graves and
while we were walking round he said it was one of the most peaceful places he had ever been - quite fitting as on one of my family headstones it says "PEACE, PERFECT PEACE"
Thank you Wendy for all your help.
Polly
 
morning all:) what wonderful photos of the day..wendy you looked splendid..right regal:)the grave of thomas walker is looking lovely and how fitting with the coat of arms on it...i can just imagine some of the blue bricks laid in front of it. that would really set it off...

lyn:)
 
Pollypops, we all had a good sniff when we heard that story yesterday:cry:.
It was wonderful that you found your family graves - everyone was thrilled to bits for you.
Nice photos Wendy..didn't the Lord Mayor look distinguished? Me? I just look extinguished!:beam:
 
At Key Hill cemetery open day today Keith Klenton one of Carl Archivists is attending with others to make the day more interesting so hope more
people will come along today.As the weather is behaving come and enjoy.
 
Thank you for your kind posts.
Wendy: I think you might be right. I couldn't stop thinking about Key Hill last night - even when I checked the lottery results I found myself wondering how many graves you could get repaired for a million pounds. (Unfortunately I didn't even win £10)
Charlie: :):cry: :cry::)This was me yesterday. How lovely you all understood how I felt.
Polly
 
Another great day I am a bit exausted now! Grave hunting can be a full time job! We discovered another one today. For me it was just lovely to see people bringing trays of pansies for their new found family graves!:)
Keith had the most fantastic collecton, for me the best was a newspaper for Birmingham dated 1863 it was just amazing. I didn't have time to take it all in. It was so nice to meet Florence Butler and hubby what a day!!!!
:)
 
had a lovely time at key hill today and we all enjoyed our tour round the cemetery. won 3 prizes on the tombola too and enjoyed a lovely cuppa. here are the phots my husband bob took of the fellows memorial which was requested. wendy took us to the grave and pointed it out :) hope you can turn round the photo of the lovely wendy, ive got her sideways:rolleyes:
 
Shera said:
had a lovely time at key hill today and we all enjoyed our tour round the cemetery. won 3 prizes on the tombola too and enjoyed a lovely cuppa. here are the phots my husband bob took of the fellows memorial which was requested. wendy took us to the grave and pointed it out :) hope you can turn round the photo of the lovely wendy, ive got her sideways:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


Here you go-
 
This is for Sparhill Lad a request for Fellows public grave S 17.:)

Shera thank your hubby from me, another blond moment left my camra care in my computer!
 
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Hiya Wendy...It was great meeting you at the cemetery today. So glad I caught you in time before you left! I asked around if there were any other forum members, but they'd either gone home or were seeking out their ancestors graves....Enjoyed a lovely afternoon there.

Florence :)
 
It was lovely to meet you and your husband Florence thank you for coming.

Here is another photo of a display of old adverts for people who had businesses and are in the cemetery. There was also a display of coffin furniture plus more......This was all displayed in a recess in the sealed entrance to the catacombs. The doors and work done was donated by our wonderful volunteer Brian Southwell who works in the cemetery tirelessly.

The photo shows Colin Giles explaining the display to the Mayor and Mayoress.

100_1935.JPG
 
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Wendy said:
Another great day I am a bit exausted now! Grave hunting can be a full time job! We discovered another one today. For me it was just lovely to see people bringing trays of pansies for their new found family graves!:)
Keith had the most fantastic collecton, for me the best was a newspaper for Birmingham dated 1863 it was just amazing. I didn't have time to take it all in. It was so nice to meet Florence Butler and hubby what a day!!!!
:)
Click to expand...

Just a short follow up note, after your kind help locating my grandmother and her daughters grave.
My sister and her husband have spent the last 2 weeks weeding and planting pansies and spring bulbs.
It wouldn't have happened without your help. Thank you.

ladywood
 
Ladywood thats wonderful the grave looks lovely. What a smashing job your sister and her husband have done. It really does make the effort all worth while. The more relatives we find the better the cemetery will look.:)
 
hi ladywood..i agree with wendy..what a lovely job..:) if i get to find out if any of my ancestors are buried there you can be sure i will make sure their graves are kept up...

cheers

lyn:)
 
Here we are with the Mayor Michael Wilkes who with his wife Viviene were very interested in the history of the cemetery.
 
Astoness said:
thanks wendy...

THOMAS OAKES WOOD...DIED 2ND QUARTER 1952 AGE 89..MY GG GRANDFATHER

ALBERT E WOOD...DIED 3RD QUARTER 1938 AGE 50 MY GRANDFATHER

HANNAH S WOOD..DIED 4TH QUARTER 1906 AGED 44 MY GG GRANDMOTHER WHO WAS THOMAS OAKES WOOD FIRST WIFE...

ALL LIVING IN THE ALL SAINTS DISTRICT....

THANKS AGAIN WENDY....:)
Click to expand...
Sorry Lyn they are not in Key Hill Cemetery. At least thats one down!
 
A request has gone out from the Friends of Warstone Lane and Key Hill Cemeteries for a lost memorial. The memorial believed to have been stolen was a tall pillar with a replica of the Statue of Liberty. To read more look here:

https://www.fkwc.org/index.html
 
I went for a walk around Key Hill yesterday morning for the first time. Purely by accident from googling about Birds Custard (the joy of
google - look for one thing and end up somewhere completely different). I was on my own and the only other person in there was one of
the 'friends of Key Hill'. Ended up spending an hour chatting and looking around. The cemetry is very special and is a credit to all the helpers
who spend their time there.

If you have not been - you are missing out on a very tranquil part of Birmingham.
 
Tranquil yes but it no longer feels isolated and there is a feeling of safety within the walls. I remember all too well my first visits two decades ago. It was a lonely and only a place for those society had forgotten. Let us not forget the measure of dedication shown by the voluntary friends working in the bitterly cold weather. Hope you were wrapped up warm too.
 
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