News and Updates
There’s a nice bit of film on the British Film Institute website of the Redditch Carnival of 1951.
With much bowing and curtseying the new carnival queen of Redditch takes her place on what appears to be a giant wedding cake.
The film is available at the BFI player for free at ….
https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-redditch-carnival-1951-1951-online
The Fulke Greville Festival 2018 is a celebration of the history, poetry, music, life and legacy of Sir Fulke Greville (1554-1628), Alcester’s most famous Elizabethan figure.
As 2018 marks the 400th anniversary of his funding of Alcester Town Hall and the 390th anniversary of his death, a calendar of special events will bring to life the many cultural interests and achievements of this intriguing figure from Warwickshire’s past.
It is proposed that a series of organised events, lectures, talks and guided walks will run from Friday 28 – Sunday 30 September 2018, and be based in and around Alcester and Warwickshire, the town and county of his birth.
Details at https://www.fulkefest.org.uk/
Hidden away below Spaghetti Junction is the River Tame – the major river of the West Midlands conurbation.
Flowing from Oldbury through the Black Country and into Birmingham, some of the greatest industrial names of the region flourished alo
ng its banks. It was here that the blue bricks that typify much of the Black Country were made and munitions’ workers made bombs in the First World War; while today Jaguar, the car manufacurer, is found on a site where Spitfires were built in the Second World War.
Join historian Jenni Dixon as she guides Mike Gibbs of History West Midlands along the mysterious course of the River Tame as it crosses the region.
I have completely redesigned the Redditch Walks website, as part of my www.exploreredditch.org.uk websites, to give an improved usability and make it more suitable for small screen applications such as smart phones.
To simplify the site, I have decided to concentrate on the five walks starting at the town centre and the three walks covering th
e Arrow Valley park area.
For the moment the relevant walks have not been updated and some are seriously out of date since they were produced in 2010. However, I am currently working on these in a new format and design and they will be available soon and, at least, during 2018.
Walks other than the town and Arrow Valley walks which I have produced will not be updated but will still be available for download in the ‘Resources’ section. These may be out of date and are provided on an ‘as-is’ basis
I have also included the four walks produced by the Redditch Development Corporation in the 1970s in their original format and four walks around the Arrow Valley Park produced by the RDC. These are available in the ‘Resources’ section and, again, provided on an ‘as-is’ basis.
The updates to my Town (5 walks) and Arrow Valley (3 walks) will be announced in my Explore Redditch ‘blog’ when I have made significant revisions.
This is the last of my four ‘Explore Redditch’ (www.exploreredditch.org.uk) websites to be updated.
The other websites are www.redditchhistory.org.uk, www.visitredditch.org.uk, and www.alcadhistory.org.uk.
The updated Redditch Walks website can be found at www.redditchwalks.org.uk.
James Keir (1735-1820) Industrial Pioneer and Lunar Man
Among the ‘Forgotten’ players of the Industrial Revolution in the West Midlands stands James Keir. Keir was a fascinating figure – A true Renaissance man – much of whose life remains undiscovered. Today he is primarily remembered as a chemist and industrialist, but Keir was also a pioneering author, translator, geologist, metallurgist and army captain.
Researcher Kristen Schranz describes how after working at Soho Manufactory with Boulton and Watt, Keir developed the Tipton Chemical Works and the Tividale Colliery.
Read more about this industrial pioneer and innovative thinker at https://www.historywm.com/articles/james-keir-1735-1820-a-renaissance-man-of-the-industrial-revolution
I have now added my www.alcadhistory.org.uk to the group of websites which I have updated with the new software which I am now using.
This is a complete rebuild. I have simplified the site and I have added some additional information.
This is the third of my Explore Redditch www.exploreredditch.org.uk websites which I have updated and follows on from www.redditchhistory.org.uk and www.visitredditch.org.uk. There only remains my Redditch Walks site www.redditchwalks.org.uk site which needs updating.
I have already made some modifications with the previous sites I have updated due to some odd behaviour I have found, so, as always, please let me know if you experience any difficulties so that I can make any modifications which are required.
Local Historian Philip Jarvis invites you to take a step back in time, at St Philip’s Church in Webheath where an exhibition will show how transport in Redditch looked in the 1950s and 1960s.
The exhibition will be open as follows:
Saturday 12th May 10.30 to 5pm
Sunday 13th May 2pm to 5pm
Monday 14th May 10.30 to 8pm.
Tuesday 15th May 10.30 to 5pm.
The exhibition will include displays and photographs of the Railways, Royal Enfield Cycles and Motorcycles, Midland Red Buses, Coaches, Garages and Emergency Vehicles. These will be shown in model form and photographs.
On Saturday 12th May at 3pm There will be a presentation of the Changing Face of the Redditch Railway showing how the railway line from Barnt Green has changed since the edition of a loop line at Alvechurch station. This will include movie clips of the steam era in Redditch.
Admission £2.00 children £1.00.
(Image: A north bound freight train going through Redditch Station in 1962 – Source: Phil Jarvis)
I have now added my www.visitredditch.org.uk to the group of websites which I have updated with the new software which I am now using.
This is a complete rebuild and design which is more graphic based and has its emphasis on Redditch, rather than the surrounding area.
An advantage of this new software is that I can create a small screen version of the website at the same time as the standard.
Please let me know if you experience any difficulties so that I can make any modifications which are required.
In these two articles John Townley writes about the insights into the growth of Birmingham in the late 18th Century at a time when the population of the town expanded from about 42,000 in 1779 to more than 52,000 less than a decade later.
Using these maps he shows how the town absorbed the surrounding fields, new streets were added, and canals were dug.
https://historywm.com/articles/late-eighteenth-century-birmingham-a-history-in-maps
As part of my campaign to update all the websites which I am responsible for, I have completely redesigned the Redditch Local History Society website
http://www.redditchhistorysociety.org.uk/
from the bottom up.The major changes are:
The major functions of the site can be found on the top menu.
There is a new update tab which mirrors the posts which are on my Redditch Local History Society Facebook page.
The site is designed both for standard and small screens, so that, when using a smartphone, the site automatically changes to a version suitable for small screens.
The site gives direct links to our newsletter, archives, meetings programme, updates and more.
The style is designed to be clean and easy to read.
Please let me know what your views are…
Anthony Green at mail@anthonygreen.org