Members of the 1^st A Birmingham Boys' Brigade and 14^th Birmingham Girls' Brigade spent some of their summer holiday helping tidy up Key Hill Cemetery.  They worked with the local Environmental Wardens Jill and Laura and BB and GB Staff, following an invitation from The Friends of Key Hill Cemetery.

Key Hill Cemetery was Birmingham's first, dating from 1832, and was open to all.  Many famous Victorians are buried here including Joseph Chamberlain, three times Mayor of Birmingham and MP for Birmingham in 1880; George Dawson, a preacher; Alfred Bird, the chemist who invented Birds Custard; James Hinks, who perfected Duplex Oil Lamps;  Joseph Gillott - Pen Maker; and Thomas Avery, Scale Maker.

Also buried here is John Skirrow Wright.  He was one of the forty people who started the People's Chapel in 1848 and was the grandfather of the founding captains of both this BB and GLB. 

Now forgotten, he was one of the prominent pioneers and social improvers of the 19^th century who made Birmingham great.  He supported hospitals, schools, the Saturday Hospital Fund and the Chamber of Commerce; always concerned about achieving the best for the ordinary people of Birmingham.  When he died suddenly in the Council House, aged only 58, thousands of people wanted to attend his funeral so the cortège diverted to a local park where people were organised in groups of 1,000.  300 policemen lined the route.  A marble statue was erected in Chamberlain Square paid for by the working people of Birmingham.  It was removed in 1958 but a bronze bust of John Skirrow Wright still commands a place of honour in the entrance to the Council House.