At Birmingham Lives 10 (2016)

Last Sunday I attended the 10th annual Birmingham Lives Local History Fair at the Girl Guides Centre near Holloway Head, despite the best efforts of the Council to frustrate my crossing the Scala Roundabout.

The fair was opened by Professor Carl Chinn, Birmingham and the Black Country's ‘goto man’ for local history. I didn’t make a list but it was good to catch up with the work of various family and local history organisations including the Erdington Local History Society, Heartlands Local History Society, Ladywood Past and Present as well as the thriving Balsall Heath LHS and the Barr and Aston group with their impressive display of photographs. I again met the dedicated volunteers of the Birmingham Air Raids Remembrance History Society with their memorabilia and significant collection of W.W.2 casualty records, plus the Birmingham and Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry who almost certainly had the longest name! I didn’t see the Banking History guy this year nor the Back to Backs but the Pen museum stall was great and it’s always good to practice writing with a dip pen. Nice to see the West Midlands Fire Service this year whist The Co-operative (CWS) History Group were out in numbers in the side room with lots of interesting stuff including display on the history of Co-operative Group transport.

I didn’t stop long in the café area but enjoyed the cuppa I grabbed from the group of women who could actually make a decent cup of tea!

Hello to those I’ve forgotten, who may come to mind when I look through my photos, and also to whoever tipped me off about the opening up this week of the Central Methodist Hall as part of Birmingham’s Hidden Spaces Project. I paid a visit yesterday and have written about it here.

Below I have added a selection of links to the various societies etc. mentioned above. I have added the best I could find and not all of them have their own website nor much of an internet presence:

The Carl Chinn Archive http://lives.bgfl.org/carlchinn/index.cfm?mr=401

Erdington Local History Society Erdington local History Society

Heartlands Local History Society Heartlands Local History Society

Balsall Heath LHS Balsall Heath Local History Society

Barr and Aston group Barr and Aston LHS

Birmingham Air Raids Remembrance History Society (BARRA) Birmingham Air Raids Remembrance History Society

Birmingham and Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry Birmingham and Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry

British Banking History Society British Banking History Society

Birmingham Back to Backs Birmingham Back to Backs

Pen museum Pen Museum

Co-operative (CWS) History Group http://www.archive.coop/

Central Methodist Hall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodist_Central_Hall,_Birmingham

Birmingham's Hidden Spaces http://www.hidden-spaces.co.uk/#latest-news

And finally a plug for my local Society who weren't able to make it this year The Moseley Society