Balsall Heath Local History Society

2007-2008

DSCF0333
St Paul’s from Clifton Road Railway Bridge

Balsall Heath Local History
“Bringing History To Life”
Annual Report 2007-2008

This Year’s Highlights.

1. “The Living History Project”, financed by a three year grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, concluded this year although the work will continue to develop. The project has been of great benefit and has resulted in:

Our Victorian Schoolroom in the old Clifton School. This was restored as closely as possible to its original late 19th century style and continues to offer a unique learning environment. Our regular Victorian school sessions feature the teacher, Miss Green, instructing the children in a variety of Victorian school day activities ranging from object lessons and reciting times tables to practising copperplate writing with slate pencils and dip-pens. Teachers’ packs for follow-up lessons have been compiled for participating classes.

Schools’ Victorian Resource boxes: artefacts for school use based around the topics of ‘Victorian Life’ and ‘Victorian Schooldays’.

  • Schools’ World War Two Resource boxes containing artefacts, documents and worksheets
  • Resources for Family History. An excellent collection of photographs, books, maps, and local information available for the general public
  • Improved publicity materials and storage for our collection of costumes. Some of these are available for hire.

2. A new Development Worker, Chris Sutton, has joined us, replacing Dr Lynne Bevan. Chris has worked on Local History projects for many years including Digital Handsworth and Digital Ladywood. He also works at Smethwick Heritage Centre and writes for the Birmingham Historian and the Birmingham Evening Mail

3.”Sweet Freedom” The Making History Theatre Group was successful in achieving a grant from the Connecting Communities Fund for developing a play to commemorate the Bi-centenary of the Abolition of Slavery. This project has involved a lot of hard work and a lot of volunteers, resulting in an exciting and innovative production with music to be held on May 16th & 17th. After this a shortened version is due to go on tour to clubs and centres for older people in South Birmingham.

Our usual repertoire of drama presentations has been updated and includes a range of topics.

4. Meetings and trips. The Society has enjoyed a full programme of interesting meetings including: Dr Malcolm Dick on Slavery; Steve Beauchampe on the Moseley Rd Baths; Andy Bishop on Malthouse Farm; The Smith & Pepper factory in the Jewellery Quarter; David Fowler on Cheese making; Dudley Warner on the history of cinema; We have also held various members’evenings of a social nature. A highlight of the year was a trip we organised to visit Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke on Trent, which was fascinating. We would like to thank West Bromwich Building Society who part funded this trip.

Meetings are held on the last Thursday of every month at 7.00 for 7.30 at St. Paul’s Venture, Malvern St, off Cifton Rd, Balsall Heath. All are welcome to come along. For details please phone 464 1888.

5. Balsall Heath Carnival was as busy as ever this year. Unfortunately the procession of floats had to be cancelled at short notice because of road closure requirements.. A walking procession replaced it. The Society ran a very enjoyable stall at the Carnival fair and raised some useful funds.

6. “Balsall Heath and Highgate Past and Present”. Our book of photographs which was published in 2003 has continued to sell very well and has brought us a lot of new contacts as well as substantial royalties. Special thanks to Metro Photo, Church Road, Balsall Heath who have sold a lot of books for us.

7. Social Enterprise. We are delighted to have joined the Social Enterprise Cluster led by St Paul’s Trust. This is a European funded project set up by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce to encourage development and has been useful in helping us address questions of sustainability.

8. Our Website, which was updated this year to include up-to-date news of all our events, activities and publications, is attracting a lot of attention. It can be found at: www.balsallheathhistory.co.uk.

B.H.A.D.

Following on from our work on photographs over the past two years, we have joined with St. Paul’s Project to form a new group called Balsall Heath Archive and Documentation Group (B.H.A.D.). We know that a large number of photographs have been taken of Balsall Heath over the last fifty years and more, which illustrate a neighbourhood in the process of major changes and regeneration. The Heathan local newspaper, for example, has a huge collection and so do other parts of St. Paul’s Project as well as the History Society. It is our intention to catalogue these and make them available through exhibitions and displays. Some funding was secured from The Community Chest and a part-time worker made a start on the task of sorting and scanning photographs. The B.H.A.D group set itself up as an independent organisation in May, 2004 and is currently seeking further funding.

Partnerships.

Many thanks go to those who work in partnership with us.

  • St. Paul’s Community Development Trust– who provide a base for our local history worker and much support.
  • O.P.N.O.C.S. (Older People’s New Opportunities Consortium) – with whom we share events of all kinds.
  • Balsall Heath Library
  • The Local Studies Department of the Central Library who have given us valuable support over many years.

Balsall Heath Local History Society, St Paul’s Community Project, St Paul’s Centre, 73 Hertford Street, Balsall Heath, Birmingham B12 8NJ, Tel. 0121 464 1888/1890.

Committee Members. 2007-2008

President: Richard Albutt (elected November 2005).
Chair: Albert Johnson.
Treasurer: Pat Johnson.
Programme Secretary: Bronwen Salway.
Committee Secretary: Val Hart.

Committee Members:
Alan Hemming.
Diane Stead.
Anne Hemming.
Betty Thornicroft.
Margaret Pendray

Future Plans.

  • The Society is proceeding with plans to publish a book of School Day memories. Interviews are currently being conducted with people of different ages and backgrounds with the material being collated under appropriate themes.
  • Relaunch, on 2nd July, of the Victorian Classroom.
  • Visiting schools with artefact boxes on Victorian Life and the Homefront.
  • Ongoing work on cataloguing our photographic collections.
  • Ongoing work on our collection of artefacts.
  • Investigating the potential for a new website on Balsall Heath containing thousands of images, written and video memories.
  • Genealogy beginners classes.
  • Exhibitions and displays, especially in conjunction with B.H.A.D
  • Development of a Study Space for the public.
  • Development of our Society as a sustainable social enterprise.

Publications.

Any of our publications can be obtained from the Society. Please phone 464 1888.

Balsall Heath, A History by Valerie Hart.
The development of Balsall Heath from the sparsely populated farmland and heath of the eighteenth century to the ‘genteel neighbourhood’ of the 1840s, the ‘populous quarter’ of 1891, to the busy and crowded suburb of the 1930s and 1940s. A story of change spanning two centuries. Published by Brewin Books.
Size: A5 128pp. Price: £7.99

The Flicks.
Memories of the old days at the cinema in Balsall Heath. The magic of the silver screen from the early days of silent films to the glamour of the 1950s, recaptured through contemporary accounts and people’s memories.
Size: A5 48 pp. Price: £2.00

Brown Paper and Goose Grease.
A Dictionary of Traditional Remedies compiled by the Society. The old remedies in this book have chiefly been collected from the memories of people in Birmingham. Efficacy of the remedies is not guaranteed and in some cases no longer recommended.
Size: A6 48pp. Price: £1.00

The Moseley Road Trail
The Development of the Moseley Road from the 1740s.
Size: 1/3 A4 12pp, broadsheet. Price: 20p.

The Moseley Road Baths
A quick dip into the delights of this historic pool housed in a glorious old building at the heart of Balsall Heath.
Size: 1/3 A4 12pp, broadsheet. Price: 20p

Balsall Heath and Highgate Past and Present.
Edited by Val Hart and Alan Hemming.
This treasure chest of fascinating photographs of the area is arranged under topics such schools, shops, events and celebrations and places of work. It includes many striking images from long ago as well as some of our more recent pictures.
126 pp. Price: £11.99.

Charity Registration Number: 1101945