Very short notice but this is bound to be worth a free visit:

Date: Tuesday 8 April
Time: 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Venue: Library Theatre, Paradise Forum, Birmingham
City Centre

Recent archaeological work carried out during new developments in
Birmingham has revealed remains of all periods of the city’s history.
These include prehistoric pits, Roman settlements, Anglo Saxon landscapes,
medieval buildings and industries, also steam engines and glassworks from
more recent centuries.

“Archaeology in Birmingham: an update on the past” is an illustrated talk
by Archaeologist Dr Mike Hodder at the Library Theatre, Birmingham City
Centre, at 1:00pm on Tuesday 8 April. His talk will concentrate on recent
discoveries. Admission is free and there is no need to book, just turn up
on the day!

Mike said, “Recent archaeological discoveries have revealed a lot to us
about Birmingham’s past. These new finds demonstrate the great variety of
archaeological remains we do have in Birmingham and they have changed some
of our ideas about the city’s history.”

www.birmingham.gov.uk/archaeology

Our Director, Elizabeth Perkins, will be speaking about Newman Brothers at this evening meeting run by the International Council on Monuments and Sites.

Icomos UK is one of the bodies responsible for advising Unesco on World Heritage Sites, so it’ll be good to see them in an area of Birmingham which some believe warrants such a status. (Others have mixed feelings and still others don’t see the point.)

If you would like to go, the whole event is from 6.30 to 8.30 on 23rd April 2008 at the School of Jewellery at Vittoria Street, B1 3PA. Tickets range in price from £8 to £12.50 and you can find more details on the flyer which you download from here.

June 19th sees 2008 sees Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter Discovery Centre host the Paradise Preserved? West Midlands Cemeteries, a conference organised by the Garden History Society in association with Birmingham’s Victorian Society…

“There will be talks on the history of 19th Century cemeteries with particular reference to West Midland examples, the present state and conservation of cemeteries, English Heritage and historic cemeteries and a vision for them. We shall visit Key Hill and Warstone Lane Cemeteries in the afternoon with an optional tour in the evening of London Road Cemetery, Coventry, designed by Paxton. Speakers include Ian Hussein, Jonathan Lovie, Sarah Rutherford, Jenifer White and Birmingham City Council Conservation Officer, Toni Demidowicz.”

For more information try this link and thanks to D’log for spotting this.

Free entry and drinks to a series of debates/talks about architects and how they might make Birmingham a better place. For more see the Birmingham Architectural Association. Hat tip to Rob.

This weekend voting comes to an end on the rather low key campaign to hand £50 million from the Big Lottery Fund to one of four projects.

Amongst the finalist is the Black Country Urban Park which plans to turn the Black Country Green. What to do with Birmingham’s Historic Buildings? The programme includes support for a bid for World Heritage Status for the Black Country canals and their associated buildings. It’s the most local of the ideas pitching for the £50 million and will have the greatest impact on the West Midlands built heritage.

To vote online go the this site - you’ll have to log n and register to prevent us all voting oddles of times.

Another project which will have some local benefit is the Sustrans pitch - part of a national walking and cycling network which would see the money spent in Birmingham and 78 other local authorities.

You may have spotted on our website a little badge which says shop here to support the Birmingham Conservation Trust. If you use this link to do your shopping between now and January 31st 2008 we could win £1000.

Whether we win the competition or not we will still receive a small percentage of the money you spend on Christmas presents or perhaps holiday flights. With some things we get loadsamoney: if you sign up for Sky TV through the link we could receive up to £120!

I know it sounds a bit bonkers but you pay the normal prices. We are simply getting a share of the shops marketing budget for passing your custom their way.

http://www.buy.at/birminghamconservation

So please have a good browse and buy if the deals are good for you. Tell your friends. At the moment Aldershot Football Club is in the lead - lets make that Birmingham Conservation Trust!

The Buildings of Birmingham - Ben Waddington’s guided tours of Brum, are still going stong, he promises to may you say” “They haven’t knocked it all down!”.

Here’s the blurb…

Join your tour guide Ben Waddington on a fascinating journey through Birmingham’s history, looking at the often overlooked architectural history of the city. Two tours explore the city’s Industrial heritage (tour A) and the City Centre (tour B) Expect to encounter timber framed buildings, C18th beerhouses, richly ornate Victorian terracotta, ‘Birmingham Gothic’, Arts and Crafts and more.

Tour A starts in Old Square, Corporation Street, tour B starts outside the Town Hall entrance, both at Noon. This info also appears on the ticket, which you can buy from Central Library reception, by phoning 0121303 2323 or by visiting www.birminghamboxoffice.com . You can also pay on the day, but places are limited to 15 people per tour.

Upcoming Dates:

Sun 2nd December a
Fri 14th December b
Sat 22nd December a
Sun 30th December b

Tickets cost £5 (kids go free!) All tours start at noon and last about 90 minutes.

Lifted straight from Jon Bounds. Thank you!

Most of the 70,000 artefcats have now been catalogued and removed from Newman’s in preparation for buildings work. Some remain, including this samples bag.

We’ve already had a number of people contacting us to book their places on the two tours the trust is running. We’re opening Newman Brothers, which is emptying fast as volunteers and a team of professionals catalogue and store the contents, and Curzon Street Station. To book your place please follow this link.

Of course we’re not alone. For all the buildings open in the West Midlands please follow this link. The link to Birmingham buildings is here, and below is the full list of places you can visit.

* A Kings Norton Trail
* Aston Manor Transport Museum
* Back to Backs
* Birmingham Cathedral
* Birmingham Tours Bull Ring Walk
* Birmingham Tours Canal Walk
* Blakesley Hall
* Bull Street Quaker Meeting House
* Civic Sculpture in the City Centre Walk
* Curzon Street Station
* Department of Art
* Guided Walk - Moseley Hall & Village
* Guided Walk - The Lost Farms of Harborne
* Handsworth Old Town Hall
* John Hardman & Co (est 1838) Stained Glass Manufacturers
* Key Hill Cemetery
* Museum Collections Centre
* Museum Collections Centre
* Museum of the Jewellery Quarter - Walking Tours
* New Hall Water Mill
* Newman Brothers’ Coffin Fittings Factory
* Old Grammar School and The Saracen’s Head
* Pen Room Museum
* Selly Manor
* Singers Hill Synagogue
* Soho House Museum
* St Andrew’s Church
* St Chad’s Cathedral Guided Tour
* St John’s and St Peter’s Church with Ladywood Arc
* St Nicolas’s Church
* St Paul’s Church
* The Midlands International Buddhist Association (Birmingham Buddhist Maha Vihara)
* The Museum of the Jewellery Quarter
* Warwickshire Masonic Temple

Have fun!

Work will soon begin on cataloguing and storing the contents of Newman Brothers, a critical part of recording the story of the building and the business and preparing for building work.

Hundreds of you have already had a chance to visit the building and for some you may be keen to get involved in this part of the project. So we are looking for:

Volunteer Cataloguers for the Coffin Works

At least one half day per fortnight over four months, starting in June 2007

The contribution of the volunteer cataloguer will be invaluable to the development of the Coffin Works project and to helping us understand the significance of the contents of the factory. Cataloguers will be given an initial induction and training for the role, and on completion of the task there will be the opportunity to comment on the proposals for the factory and its interpretation, as well as discussing possible future involvement in other roles, such as demonstrators or guides.

The role will involve some physical work, including lifting. It should be noted that the Coffin Works was a working factory using some fairly unpleasant chemicals. The risks from these have been minimised but cataloguers will be working in quite dirty and dusty conditions. The building has been unoccupied for a number of years so it is does leak when it rains and it is not especially warm. Volunteers will be expected to conform to the health and safety requirements of the site so protective clothing will be supplied. For more detail of the work please download this pdf briefing.

Oral History Volunteers

We will be able to give you more details of this soon, but the work breaks down into two main areas:

Recording oral histories related to Newman Brothers
Transcribing existing interviews from DVD into word documents.

The latter work can be done at home for those with a computer which plays DVD and has Microsoft Word or compatible software.

If you’re interested in helping with any of these please use the contact details above.

Thank you.