Saturday 12 September 2009

VOTE MARIO - He (or she) is at it again !!!

Thanks to sharp-eyed Jo Doggett who found this beermat in the magazine rack in the Spar at Crestwood on Sunday 5th June 2009.

Click => here <= to see more examples of AJW's art.


STOP PRESS -

Article and photos in Autumn 2009 magazine

New book - "Japanned Papier Mache and Tinware" By Yvonne Jones

This book byYvonne Jones is due for publication soon. However, due to the recesssion publication is only possible if sufficient pre-orders are received. Please click >-here-< to find out more information

Winterbourne and GKN

An oral history project discovering the history of the Arts and Crafts house and garden built for John Sutton Nettlefold and his wife Margaret (nee Chamberlain) in 1903 is being funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Organisers are looking for people to share their stories of living or working at Winterbourne, experiences of working for the Nettlefold firm GKN or memories from Moorpool Estate or Back to Back housing.
Contact Anna on 0121 414 9115 or a.e.keast (at) bham.ac.uk
Winterbourne Botanic Garden, 58 Edgbaston Park Road, Birmingham, B15 2RT.

Dialect poetry Website

Ross Holland recently wrote to me to say he has a website dedicated to publishing original poems in traditional English dialects online. You can find it here...
http://www.freewebs.com/englishdialects
Currently he has poems from most English regions, but as of yet no one has submitted one for the West Midlands. He is keen to get the West Midlands represented on the site.
Ross is an East Midlander myself, though lived in Bromsgrove for a couple of years and worked in Birmingham. He says it is such a contrast to the East Midlands Dialects that it would be fascinating for any budding Black Country Poets to submit an entry.

MAJOR OVERHAUL OF CANAL SOCIETY WEBSITE ANNOUNCED

The website of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal Society (SWCS) has undergone a major upgrade and is now ‘live.’ Just about every aspect of http://www.swcs.org.uk/ has been refreshed with updated text and images and browsers are presented with a completely rebranded appearance right from the front page onwards.

The website is a ‘work in progress’ spearheaded by SWCS members Dave Hart, SWCS Electronic Communications Officer and Webmaster Andy Walder, of Tech Office Ltd. (Brierley Hill) and is amended or updated on an ongoing basis. However, this latest overhaul offers a dynamic new window onto the activities of one of the most prestigious canal societies in the country which this year is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Contents include an overview of SWCS and the eponymous canal it represents, details of activities, gatherings and awards, archives, a free-to-access open message board and much more besides. Central to its continuing success is its innovative Education and Resources (E&R) Section. This provides a ‘one stop shop’ for anyone wishing to know more about the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal in particular or waterways in general and is linked directly with the on-line reference Wikipedia. The E&R section is aimed directly at educational establishments and has been a major factor in the website already having been ‘hit’ from every continent on the planet.

Immediate Past Chairman of SWCS Graham Fisher MBE says: Dave Hart and Andy Walder are to be congratulated on producing once more a website that is well up there with the big guns. Their design flair, content and accessibility parameters will ensure that the message of SWCS continues to be carried forward. This can only be of benefit to anyone interested in the future of our wonderful inland waterways heritage.’

JEROME K JEROME SESQUICENTENARY (1859 TO 2009)

Jerome K. Jerome, the world-famous author, best known for his immortal classic of English humour, Three Men in a Boat, was born in Walsall 150 years ago on the 2nd May, 1859.
The Jerome K. Jerome Society, based in Walsall, is looking forward to a year of celebrations to mark this momentous anniversary. 2009 is also the 25th anniversary of the Jerome K. Jerome Society. A variety of events are planned including a trip down to Ewelme in Oxfordshire to visit Jerome’s grave and to deliver the coffin-shaped gravestone of his younger brother Milton Melancthon Jerome, who died of whooping cough in Stourbridge in 1862. This pilgrimage will take place on the weekend following the Society’s annual dinner on May 1st – the day before Jerome’s birth date. The annual dinner is always the highlight of the Society’s calendar and this year the Society has been able to persuade Sir Donald Sinden CBE D.Litt to be the guest speaker at the dinner.

CARL CHINN BECOMES PATRON OF BMSGH

Well known Historian, Professor Carl Chinn MBE has agreed to be Patron of the Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry (BMSGH).

“I am delighted to become patron of such an important and pioneering body such as the BMSGH” said Carl. “Through its vital work into family history ithas shed light not only on individual families but also on communities and in so doing has enhanced our understanding of local and national history”.

Chris Leigh, Chairman of BMSGH, said: “It is really exciting that Carl Chinn has agreed to become our Patron. He is a very popular speaker who has the ability to combine social history with local history in a unique way, bringing the subject alive for his audience. Carl has always been a active supporter of the work carried out by the Society and its volunteers in transcribing and preserving records”.
Professor Chinn is a well-known broadcaster, writer and public speaker both nationally and locally. His ever popular talks and books cover poverty, housing and urban working-class life in Victorian England both in Birmingham and the Black Country.

Friday 11 September 2009

Welcome to our blog

This blog was created on Friday 11 September 2009. The aim is to provide a chronological account of Black Country Society news and information, news of events and news from the region.