Across the entire West Midlands, more communities are being empowered to nurture pride of place in a major digital initiative

Let us introduce you to the most innovative, pioneering and sustainable digital initiative ever to be devised as a collaboration between community, business and the public sector.  

Using a digital product called Community Passport, the entire West Midlands region is being mapped in a neighbourhood led programme that empowers, equips and skills people in the shaping and promotion of the places they live in and grow up in.

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With a regional focus and digital devices at every location where people meet or make their travel connections, projections are that views of our digital content will increase from between 60,000 and 100,000 to over 500,000 every month.  The support this will give to the region, economically and socially, will be huge. 

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Every neighbourhood, by having access to a Community Passport and with the option of setting up its own Centre for Pride of Place, will be engaged and involved in creating and sharing their own content that can be used in the shaping and promotion of their neighbourhood.  

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Here are the locations of the first Centres for Pride of Place we propose opening along the Metro line between Birmingham and Wolverhampton.

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This will result, we predict, in a 5% increase in the volume of trips made by residents to experience what their region offers and will dramatically increase the number of visitors coming to the region.  The Pride of Place generated by engaging and involving community will result in an increase in businesses locating to the region, an increase in the value of real estate and greater investment in the West Midlands.

Birmingham's real estate is already mapped and featured

Take the link HERE to view our map of Birmingham's real estate

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A platform dedicated to the coverage of all of Birmingham's real estate can be found at www.ItsyourBuild.com 

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Developments that engage and involve the local community we will feature as Centres for Pride of Place.  By inviting the local community to follow the build, this rich locally created content we can process and map at It's your Build, a public expression of the pride people have in the buildings rising up around them. 

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Birmingham's culture, and increasingly its hospitality, is mapped, featured and searchable

Take the link HERE to view our map of Birmingham's culture.  

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Every neighbourhood will be mapped and showcased in this totally inclusive initiative.

HERE for example is Sparkbrook mapped and featured. 

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In Sparkbrook, as with all the region's neighbourhoods, there is some wonderful culture and great community assets to introduce people to.  The maps are not just for people who live in the area to see what's on offer, but aimed at everyone, inside and outside the West Midlands. 

For example here's a wonderful open green space in Sparkbrook called Farm Park.  Take the link HERE for our coverage of Farm Park.

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How many people knew that Sampson Lloyd, founder of Lloyds Bank. lived in Sparkbrook.  Now, more people do.  Go HERE for more images. 

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There's amazing art on the outside of the Concord Youth Centre. 

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There's some great history in the classic architecture across Sparkbrook.

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There's a Peace Garden in memory of those who lost their lives at the Carlton Cinema. 

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The rich culture of Ladypool Road can be mapped as more businesses get involved. 

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By mapping and featuring major developments taking place such as this housing development by Morro Partnerships on Highgate Road, more people can be engaged and involved in the future of their neighbourhoods. 

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All of this with a community that's engaged and involved because they are empowered and given the tools and the support they need to help shape and promote the places around them. 

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Centres for Pride of Place to spring up all over the region

With more mapping of neighbourhoods, and with more Centres for Pride of Place opening up to engage and involve people in the rich culture around them, just think what this can bring to local communities, to cities and towns and to the region, socially and economically.

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An Academy and A Society for Pride of Place

Within Community Passport is everything needed for gathering and analysing the rich insight that will come from all those engaged and involved in nurturing Pride of Place.

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With both an Academy and a Society for Pride of Place, this wealth of valuable insight will be pooled, analysed and made available for all to use in the drive for more cohesive and inclusive communities, improved health and wellbeing and shared prosperity.

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For more details, contact:

Jonathan

jonathan.bostock@yourplaceyourspace.com

07432 637322

Victoria Square - Public Realm Works - June 2024 update

Had an opportunity to go up to the top of Three Chamberlain Square thanks to an invite by Paradise Birmingham. So here is views to Victoria Square, Colmore Row and Waterloo Street with the on-going Public Realm Works. Colmore Row looks complete, but new bollards covered over. Waterloo Street is half done.

Thank you to Paradise Birmingham for the invite on the 10th June 2024.

General views of Victoria Square over Birmingham Town Hall from the top of Three Chamberlain Square, including the Floozie in the Jacuzzi (River and Youth), the fountains and pools still flowing. Also scaffolding is up Waterloo House near Nandos.

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Colmore Row as far as Newhall Street and Bennetts Hill has been completely relaid, with new bollards. The cones were still out at the time. I wonder if after this bit is done, if they will need to complete the rest between Victoria Square and Colmore Square past Cathedral Square (where the buses stop).

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Waterloo Street is partially repaved, there is a lot left to do here near Adams and the Lost & Found. This also goes as far as Bennetts Hill.

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New Street from Victoria Square to Rotunda Square is in urgent need of repaving. It was pedestrianised in the 1990s, and the bricks keep getting dug up and relaid. Plus some of the Metro paving near Corporation Street (dating to 2015-16) is all cracked and broken, and also needs fixing. This is all due to cars, vans and lorries driving up and down (deliveries, police etc).

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Photography by Elliott Brown

Chamberlain Square from above from the top of Three Chamberlain Square

The view of Chamberlain Square from the top of Three Chamberlain Square. Was invited with other photographers by Paradise Birmingham on the 10th June 2024. Most of these views to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and the Chamberlain Memorial below. There are other views over the city centre from up there.

Views of Chamberlain Square from Three Chamberlain Square

To the left is Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and Birmingham Council House. Plus the Council House extension, with 103 Colmore Row and the BT Tower behind.

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Chamberlain Memorial below. The pair of pools look a bit dirty from up here.

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Panoramic including Chamberlain Square and Victoria Square and beyond.

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Birmingham Town Hall from above.

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Two Chamberlain Square is next to Three Chamberlain Square. And One Chamberlain Square is behind.

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Photography by Elliott Brown

 

Thank you to Paradise Birmingham for the invite! Go here for their Topping Out blog.

More photos in the Sky High Birmingham gallery. Includes views from other sides of Three Chamberlain Square.

Victorian Radicals in the Gas Hall

There hasn't been a major exhibition in the Gas Hall at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in about 5 years (since the Black Sabbath one I think in 2019). Then BM & AG was closed on and off since 2020 (pandemic, later re-wiring and restoration works etc). The Gas Hall only reopened in February for the Victorian Radicals from February to October 2024. A late April 2024 visit.

Three generations of British artists, designers and makers revolutionised the visual arts in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Pre-Raphaelites, William Morris and his circle and the men and women of the Arts and Crafts movement transformed art and design.

Selected from the city of Birmingham's outstanding collection, Victorian Radicals presents vibrant paintings and exquisite drawings alongside jewellery, glass, textiles and metalwork to explore their radical vision for art and society. Fresh from an award-winning tour of the US, Victorian Radicals is the first comprehensive showing of the city’s Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts collections in Birmingham for over five years. Discover the story of the Pre-Raphaelites themselves and their influence on artists and makers well into the twentieth century – especially in Birmingham itself. Paintings made by artists including Kate Bunce, Joseph Southall and Arthur Gaskin combined the poetry and intensity of the Pre-Raphaelites’ work with a distinctive identity all their own. Open Wednesday - Sunday, 10am - 5pm. In the Gas Hall at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. Pre-book to guarantee entry. Alternatively you can buy tickets on arrival (subject to availability). This exhibition is organised by Birmingham Museums Trust and the American Federation of Arts. Supported by the Friends of Birmingham Museums.

 

Book your Victorian Radicals ticket(s) at the link and go. Adults from £11 (can be more with gift aid etc). Note that if you buy anything from the shop in the Gas Hall, it's card payments only (no cash). February to October 2024.

 

This visit on the 27th April 2024.

 

The Victorian Radicals signs outside of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, as you pass through Chamberlain Square, and onto the part that was Edmund Street. Entrance at the Gas Hall. The rest of BM & AG remains closed for now.

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Some general views of the Victorian Radicals inside of the Gas Hall.

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Looking to the Future: New approaches to Victorian Art and Design at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.

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The First Industrial Nation. Mid-Victorian Art and Design

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Various landscape paintings.

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Gather the Rose of Love While Yet 'Tis Time, 1848. William Etty (1787-1849). Oil on canvas.

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Work, 1859-63 Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893) Oil on canvas.

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The Long Engagement, c. 1854-59. Arthur Hughes (1832-1915). Oil on canvas.

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Two Gentlemen of Verona (Valentine Rescuing Sylvia from Proteus), 1851. William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) Oil on canvas. Based on a play by William Shakespeare.

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Portrait of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1882-83. William Holman Hunt (1827-1910). Oil on mahogany.

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Portrait of John Everett Millais, 1853. Alexander Munro (1827-1910). Marble set in carved slate frame.

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The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple, 1854-60. William Holman Hunt (1827-1910). Oil on canvas.

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The Last of England, 1852-55. Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893). Oil on wood panel.

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Medea, 1866-68. Frederick Sandys (1829-1904). Oil on composite wood panel with gold leaf.

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La Donna della Finestra, 1881. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) Oil on canvas with underdrawing in chalk and graphite. Depicts Jane Morris as 'the lady at the window', unfinished, due to the artists death a year after it was started.

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Morgan le Fay, 1864. Frederick Sandys (1829-1904). Oil on wood panel.

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Beata Beatrix, begun 1877 (completed by Ford Madox Brown). Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882). Oil on canvas.

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May Morning on Magdalen Tower, 1888-91. William Holman Hunt (1827-1910), artist and designer Guild of Handicraft (London), frame maker Oil on canvas in original copper frame.

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Musica, c. 1895-97. Kate Elizabeth Bunce (1856-1927). Oil on canvas.

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Beauty and the Beast, 1904. John Dickson Batten (1860-1932). Tempera on canvas.

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Stained glass window: Dante and Beatrice II: The Wedding Feast, 1910 Florence Jane Camm (1874-1960), designer T. W. Camm & Co. (Smethwick, Birmingham), manufacturer.

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Tracery light from the east window of Holy Trinity Church, Grazeley, 1849-50. Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852) and John Hardman Powell (1827-1895), designers John Hardman & Co. (Birmingham), manufacturer Stained, painted, and leaded glass.

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Stained glass panel: Saint George Slaying the Dragon, 1872 (designed c. 1862). Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882), designer Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (London), manufacturer. Stained, painted and leaded glass.

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Stained glass panel: Winter, c.1865 William Morris (1834-1896), designer Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (London), manufacturer. Stained, painted and leaded glass.

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Stained Glass Panel: Saint Mark, 1883 (designed 1874) Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898), designer Thomas G. Bowman (1836-1917), glass painter Morris & Co. (Merton Abbey, London), manufacturer Stained, painted and leaded glass.

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Pair of Stained Glass Panels: Sleepe after Toile, before 1905. Mary Jane Newill (1860-1947), designer and maker Stained, painted and leaded glass.

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Day dress, с. 1865. Maker not recorded Silk, with black ribbon, braid and cord trim.

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Another dress and a tunic.

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Paolo and Francesca by Alexander Munro (1825–1871). Marble statue.

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Chest: The Garden of the Hesperides, 1887-88. Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898), designer Charles Lumley (active 1887-89), cabinetmaker Osmund Weeks (active 1879-95), gesso moulder and gilder.

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Bedcover, c. 1908. Mary Jane Newill (1860-1947). Linen embroidered with wool.

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Carpet: 'Old Master', c. 1851. John Crossley & Sons (Halifax, West Yorkshire), manufacturer. Woven wool.

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Wallpaper design: Jasmine. William Morris (1834-1896), designer, 1874. Graphite, red chalk, and watercolour on paper.

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Floor tile, 1851. Minton & Co. (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire), manufacturer Earthenware, inlaid with coloured slips. Made for the Great Exhibition of 1851.

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The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, now newly imprinted (the 'Kelmscott Chaucer'), 1896. William Morris (1834-1896), Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898) and co-workers at Kelmscott Press, designers and makers Kelmscott Press (London), printer Joseph Batchelor and Son (Little Chart, Kent), paper manufacturer Bound book with 87 woodcut illustrations on handmade paper.

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Photography by Elliott Brown. Some captions from Birmingham Museums.

Handsworth Park Arts Trail

Here is some of the main works of public art that you can find on the Handsworth Park Arts Trail, and some details on each piece. In no particular order. We recommend catching the no 16 bus from Birmingham City Centre to do the trail, find the pieces. Here and Now by Tim Tolkien installed in 2023. The Benjamin Zephaniah mural by I Create Not Destroy (Bunny Bread) unveiled in 2024.

Handsworth Arts Trail

SS Journey

It was sculpted in 2017 by Luke Perry as part of the Handsworth Arts Trail. Near the large lake.

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Here and Now bench

Commissioned for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Resembles a fairground waltzer car. Installed August 2023, artist was Tim Tolkien.

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Here and Now figures

Commissioned for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Installed August 2023, artist was Tim Tolkien. Part of the same work as the Here and Now bench. Near a path opposite Handsworth Cricket Club.

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Hands and Minds Speak

Located on an island within the small lake at Handsworth Park. It was sculpted in Lawson Oyekan and made in 2010.

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The Pyramid Tower by Veranda Stories

Located half way between the Sons of Rest building and small lake / pond at Handsworth Park. It was by the visual artists Pauline Bailey & Ola Brown, of Veranda Stories. It had many mandala patterns, which was then laser cut. It was designed with the Women's Sewing Group and Saathi House. Made in 2017.

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The Anchor

Located within the Handsworth Park Community Garden, near Holly Road. The artist was Katie Sturridge.  A symbol of the Birmingham Assay Office. Made in 2015.

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The Sons of Rest Mosaic

Located next to the Handsworth Park Community Gardens. The artist wasClaire Cotterill. Based on stained glass windows found in the Sons of Rest building in Handsworth Park. The mosaic was made in honour of the centenary of the end of WW1 in 2018.

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Handsworth Revolution: Steel Pulse

The large mural at the entrance to Handsworth Leisure Centre was commissioned as part of Punch Records’ BASS Festival’s celebration of 50 years of Reggae and coincided with National Album Day and Black History Month.

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Benjamin Zephaniah mural

Located on a wall at the Sons of Rest Building in Handsworth Park. Mural in tribute to the late Benjamin Zephaniah (1958 - 2023), a Birmingham born poet. By I Create Not Destroy, aka Bunny Bread. It was unveiled on the 14th April 2024. Commissioned by the Black Heritage Walks Network (BHWN).

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The Big Sleuth Birmingham 2017

At least two of the painted bears can be still found in Handsworth Park, years after the trail had ended.

Sun Guardian Bear

It was created by Goosensi (Mat Barber) working with Friends of Handsworth Park and the Handsworth Community. In the Handsworth Park Community Garden.

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Well Active Bear

It was created by Mark Copplestone and Jennie Saunders working with Birmingham Wellbeing Service. Seen outside of the Handsworth Wellbeing Centre. Also called Handsworth Leisure Centre.

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Photography by Elliott Brown