Untold Stories events

Gym, Highbury Hospital, Reproduced with permission of the Library of Birmingham

A series of talks will be held in February and March 2016, open to members of the public as well as Co-operative members. Do please get in touch if you would be interested in volunteering for this project, or have any family stories that you'd be willing to share.

HLF fund untold stories of Birmingham's injured soldiers

Soldiers at Highbury Hospital in Moseley. 

Reproduced with permission of the Library of Birmingham

We are pleased to announce Untold Stories: Birmingham's Wounded Soldiers from WW1, a new project funded by a Heritage Lottery Fund First World War Then and Now grant. The project will focus on the untold stories of soldiers returning to Birmingham from the Great War with serious physical and psychological injuries. It will map the sites of hospital treatment and convalescence that were set up in the city and will explore what happened to the soldiers after their treatment ended.

Edwardian Baths saved and restored

Birmingham Opera Co ‏@BirminghamOpera  Jan 14

Byron Jackson @stirchleybaths opening ceremony!

Stirchley Baths were officially opened on 14th January 2016, or strictly speaking, the re-opening of the Baths after some 105 years!

Richard and I attended this official ceremony as Stirchley Baths reappeared in its new guise as a community centre with halls, meeting rooms, cinema space and café.

Have a go at National Archives webinars

SOLD OUT webinar for 'Using the National Register of 1939'

I recently took part in one of the webinars organised by The National Archives - in this case 'Using the National Register of 1939'.  These 'webinars' are a relatively new service and offer a combination of a live broadcast and an element of interactivity as you can pose questions during and after the broadcast. I have signed up for a couple of these now and they have been a useful introduction to similar topics - I'd recommend having a go!

Favourite thing in archive? An archivist

The young archivist team at Paganel Archives

We've been asked to blog about our favourite things in Archives for explore your archive week.  Archives are great, but my favourite thing in Paganel Archives are the young archivists. They're (literally) what makes the Archives!

Suffragettes Unseen

Christina Broom,
Museum of London Collection

Listening to Meryl Streep’s interview this week, about women in film, films made by women and about women, following the release of Suffragette!, we are reminded of how much unseen history of women there is, not necessarily undocumented but certainly undervalued in its potential, particularly that recorded, made by and about women.

A visit to Museum of London last week to see the Christina Broom exhibition ‘Soldiers and Suffragettes’ was an eye opening experience for me in many ways. Museum of London Docklands is a lovely space, situated along the Thames at the evocatively named West India Quay, giving you a sense of the river’s trading history, a very different feel to it’s sister site in the heart of the City.

Moseley St Mary’s Heritage & Access Project

GeoPhysics survey by StrataScan prior to path realignment

I’ve recently become involved in an HLF funded heritage project at St Mary’s Church Moseley – or more specifically the churchyard. The large churchyard at the back of the church on St Mary's Row is the only piece of public green space in the village but having fallen into disrepair and becoming a focus for anti-social activity it has been much underused for many years. 

Parishioners and local residents have made great strides over the last 5 years to cut back overgrown vegetation and make general improvements to the site – and a Project committee was formed which, following public consultation, produced a MasterPlan and subsequent funding application.