Tag: Birmingham

Celebrating our services – Libraries

Do you remember the name of your local Librarian when you were a kid?  The person who helped you work your way through different sections of the library, from the toddler ‘Ladybird’ books through to the Enid Blytons, the Roald Dahls, the Dick King Smiths, the Judy Blumes and the Paula Danzigers?  Who helped you navigate your way through the non-fiction for your school projects?  Who organised holiday activities which got you touching wild animals, writing book reviews and taking out huge piles of books in order to get a sticker at the end of the summer?  I remember Gill, the librarian at High Heath Library vividly.  I was in awe of someone who worked with books for a living.  The library was divided into a child and adult section, and I still recall how special I felt when I crossed the threshold for the first time, turning right instead of left as I went in.

That library closed years ago and it’s always saddened me that pupils from my local primary school will never get the chance to skip down there, two by two and hear a story sat on those tiny chairs, then frantically battle with the rest of the class for the ‘best’ books to take out.  That now looks to become the norm as libraries are faced with closure throughout the country.  Some councils are considering closing all of their local libraries.

Closer to home where I live in Balsall Heath, the magnificent terracotta library which greets people as they enter the area is covered in scaffolding and has been for several years.  Whilst it’s still functioning and providing a fantastic service, particularly for local pupils, the building needs extensive work.  Meanwhile, the library up the road in Kings Heath is completely closed to the public.

A few years ago I was commissioned by a dedicated and passionate librarian, Jenny York, to produce a series of films about the work that libraries in Yardley were doing with the local community.  Even back then it was important that they could produce evidence of the impact of their work to help secure funding.  The result was seven short films about different projects.  There is more information on them over on the ‘Libraries’ page.

One of my favourite films is the ‘Yards Ahead’ film.  I think it really shows the passion that kids, teachers and librarians have for their community library.  I could continue to wax lyrical about the service, but I’ll let the film speak for itself.  Enjoy.

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Pool of Memories at Anderton Park School

We’re now full speed ahead with the Friends of Moseley Baths’ Heritage Lottery Fund supported Pool of Memories project after months of planning and interviewing the public.  Last month I went into Anderton Park School and worked with eight Year 6 pupils, researching the history of the building, learning how to make films and then interviewing people with memories of the building.

Pupils at Moseley Road Baths

I had a huge amount of fun with the group, and it was especially exciting to see the enthusiasm for the building that the pupils developed over the course of the week.  The aim of the project, as well as teaching research, speaking and listening skills, technical film-making skills and interview techniques, was to instill a sense of ownership of the building in the pupils.  The upshot is that they can’t wait for it to reopen so that they can go swimming with friends.  They can also reel off a whole list of facts and figures about the building, particularly the boiler room, which is astounding!

We’ve now got two short films, edited down from almost an hour of interviews, which we showed to all of Year 6 at the end of the project. The reaction we got was great, and both pupils and teachers asked lots of questions and were interested in running the project again. It really is the case that Moseley Road Baths inspires and excites people of all ages and backgrounds.

Here are a few short films we made with the Flip which is the pupils talking about the project in their own words. The first is a rehearsal of the presentation that the pupils gave to the rest of the Year group. Enjoy and feel free to add your own thoughts on the project using the comments box below!

I’m starting projects at Clifton Junior School and Park Hill School in the next month… more news to follow on that soon!

What we did this week from Rachel Gillies on Vimeo.

Ibrahim talks about the project from Rachel Gillies on Vimeo.

Umar’s thoughts on the project from Rachel Gillies on Vimeo.

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Moseley Road Baths

As you may or may not be aware, when I’m not making films I’m running around doing stuff with the rather lovely group that call ourselves the ‘Friends of Moseley Road Baths‘. As the Baths’ friends we highlight its current plight (open at half capacity with just one pool, in need of urgent repairs and with its future hanging in the balance), campaign for its future and importantly, help celebrate its past.

Pool of Memories Day

As part of that I worked with members of the group to make a successful funding application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a whopping great £48,000 for a ‘Pool of Memories‘ project!  I won’t go into huge detail about the project here as I’ve already spent the evening blogging, tweeting and mailing like crazy. However, I draw attention to it now as we have a rather exciting event coming up on Saturday 30th October.

It’s the Memories and Memorabilia Day and there’s loads of stuff going on, including a talk by the lovely people at Victoria Baths in Manchester, tours of the building, and yours truly interviewing people about their memories of the place.  We also have cake!

Come along and find out more about it!

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Birmingham’s Culture blogged

As I type the seconds are ticking down until midday on Saturday 24th April, the deadline for submitting your cultural shenanigans in Brum onto the Birmingham Big City Culture Blog.

The blog is part of Birmingham’s bid to become the ‘City of Culture’ in 2013. It’s hoped that through allowing people to add their ‘cultural activities’ over a 24 hour period that the website can get a snapshot of the broad range of exciting activities taking place across the city. Reading through the blog so far I’m really enthused by the variety of events, both in the city centre and in local neighbourhoods. It’s really lovely to see children’s events in community libraries next to contemporary art exhibitions at the IKON, next to research projects by students, next to lunchtime chamber music at the CBSO centre.

What really strikes me is that we seem to see culture as encompassing all kinds of different activities, many of which would never normally register on the radar of those who spend time hand-wringing over Birmingham’s lack of culture. The blog is incredibly refreshing, and really highlights the passion and pride we have about what happens in our city.

So, in the spirit of the blog, and not wanting to fall into the stereotype of the unassuming Brummie, here’s my contribution on what I got up to yesterday!

For more information on the bid you can go to the bid’s website or follow them on Twitter.

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Friends of Moseley Road Baths

I’ve been a member of Friends of Moseley Road Baths since 2006, and to my shame we’ve only just got round to putting up our own website. OK, that’s not strictly true – we’ve tinkered a bit with a MySpace page, we have a Facebook Group and we also launched the fantastic Virtual Tour last year which is packed full of photos, video and facts about the Grade II* listed building.  The Virtual Tour explores many places which are strictly off limits to the public at present.

So, it’s taken a while but eventually here is the official Friends of Moseley Road Baths website which will be a one-stop spot for information about the campaign, events such as the ‘Memories and Memorabilia Day’, our ‘Pool of Memories’ project and articles in the press, such as the recent news that the building has made the Victorian Society’s Most Endangered Building list again for the third year running.  In time as the project expands we hope to add more information, but in the meantime have a look and please get in touch with your thoughts and ideas!

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Jelly

I’m off to the Birmingham Social Media Café again this Friday (last Friday of every month in the Coffee Lounge, Navigation Street). This month I’m planning on sticking around for a while afterwards to see how I get on with a spot of ‘Jelly’ type activity.


What is Jelly? from Amit Gupta on Vimeo.

Jelly is the name of a co-working scheme that started in the States.  Everyone brings along their shiny laptop (many of the attendees are freelancers or run small businesses ) and gather somewhere with free wi-fi, comfy seating and refreshments to get some work done.  The cost?  A cup of coffee.  And maybe some cake if you feel you’ve done enough work to treat yourself!

The idea is simple, but if, like myself, you spend most of the working week working from a home office, the idea of having a bit of company, even if it’s just a handful of people in the same room for an hour or two a month, is a welcome relief.

I’m convinced that so many projects and businesses fail because people feel trapped and isolated without the support networks and sociability that come with the work environment.  ‘Working from Home’ seems to be the magic wand for saving us from recession, being better parents or lowering our carbon footprint.  However, I’ve yet to see anything really address the emotional aspect of making this transition.

Silly name, potentially fantastic idea. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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Viv’s website

Over the past few years I’ve been part of the campaign to save Moseley Road Baths in Balsall Heath. As a group we’ve had some fantastic events and produced some great work. Not only are all the members of the group incredibly passionate about the building and the need for swimming in this inner-city community, they all seem to have a multitude of talents!

One member who has shared her skills for the campaign is Vivienne Harrison. A few years ago she took some wonderful photos of the building for our Strategy Document which outlined the group’s proposals for turning the building into a viable swimming and community facility. The fact that a voluntary organisation with limited resources was able to put out such an impressive looking and beautifully laid out booklet was really testament to her hard work and skill.

Last year she also worked on bringing these images to life through the Moseley Road Baths Virtual Tour which takes visitors to the site through the whole building, including areas not currently open to the public.

So, although shamefully I’ve not made it to any of her exhibitions yet, I’m pleased to let you all know that a selection of her work is available to view on her new website at www.vivienneharrison.co.uk. Please have a look and keep an eye out for upcoming exhibitions!

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Social Media Surgeries

Here’s a plug for a really useful event happening this Wednesday. These guys know their stuff and I know people who have been to previous surgeries have really benefited….

If you belong to a Birmingham based community or neighbourhood group of charity please come and join us for the April 22nd 2009 Surgery.

When & Where

Drop in anytime between 5.30pm to 7.00pm at Fazeley Studios, 191 Fazeley Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 6DR. It’s opposite the Bond and a go kart track. Push the large pale blue door with the silver door knob.

Lots to learn, little to lose. We promise you friendly advice.

These surgeries are organised by volunteer members of the informal Birmingham Bloggers group. Non of them are getting paid to provide the help.

What happens at these surgeries?

Volunteers from the Birmingham bloggers group are offering to show voluntary and community groups in the city how you can make best use of social media. It doesn’t matter if you are the head of communications at a major charity or an active citizen in your neighbourhood, if you’re at all curious come along.

No boring speeches, no jargon.

Tools like blogs, podcasts, video and social networks can give a real boost to campaigning organisations, often for no or little cost. So these experts are offering you approachable one to one help and support because they believe it can help. You may just want to see what is possible and go away and think about it. You might be itching to set up a blog and start using it.

Perhaps you think video might help you tell your story but don’t know where to start? All is possible. There’ll be no lectures, just people with knowledge, ideas and a passion to help you make best use of the internet for your organisation.

For more information and to sign up in advance go to www.paradisecircus.co.uk or contact Nick Booth on 0777 909 5692

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4am

The Birmingham Social Media Café has put me in touch with some lovely, lovely people, Karen Strunks being no exception.

Not only did Karen badger me to sign up to Twitter (@RachelGillies if you’re wondering!), but she’s the brains behind the inspired 4am Project. What began as Karen wandering the streets of Brum taking photos in the early hours has led to a global photography project with people posting up a whole host of images documenting the world at 4am.

As if dragging people from their slumber wasn’t ambitious enough Karen is asking people to rise early (or stay up for those with enough stamina!) to get some snaps of the world wherever you are at 4am on 04/04 – that’s 4am this coming Saturday. She’s asking people in Brum to converge at the Bull in the Bull Ring for some nocturnal adventures round the markets, followed by a cuppa.

Have a look at the 4am website for more details and to get some inspiration.  More photos are appearing by the day!

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