Saturday 19 June 2010

Hello there, sorry not been in touch for a few days - I am hoping to work on this blog much more after I have handed in my final uni essay in July, so I look forward to then!

In the meantime, check out this website, the background on something dear to many Stirchley resident's hearts - as testified by many of the comments left on the thought flowers - Tescopoly... I didn't know there was a website. I hope you find it informative.

Friday 11 June 2010

Stirchley plants feature in city centre artwork 'An Incidental Estate'


You might be interested in attending this - it is one of a handful of artworks that will be shown in car parking bays in the city centre called 'An Incidental Estate', part of the wider activity 'Roadworks' that is taking place as part of the ongoing drive for the title of City of Culture.

It will be taking place on Monday 14th June - from 11am until 6.30pm outside RBS on Colmore Row - the work has been curated by Trevor Pitt (of 'Soft Bench' fame) and Carolyn Morton.

I have lent some of the plants that had been rescued from gardens of the derelict houses in Hazelwell Lane, that formed Stirchley Thought Exchange, to the artwork for the day, so that their stories can be shared with residents from further afield.

More about An Incidental Estate:
Plants, turf and mulch have been borrowed from the back gardens and parks of Birmingham for a day to create a suburban garden in the heart of the city. Trevor Pitt and Carolyn Morton are on hand to give guided tours of The Estate, which will feature plants grown by students at the Horticultural Training School in Kings Heath Park, plants from gardens of derelict houses from the Stirchley Thought Exchange project by Roxie Collins, turf from Kings Norton, Soft Bench knitted by the ladies of Glebe Farm and The Estate flag, specially designed by Kate Pemberton. To mark the occasion visitors are invited to use flowers and wool to craft a personalised buttonhole as a memento of the day.

I hope you are able to visit the garden... I am certain that it will be an inspiring gem in the midst of the lunchtime army of grey business suits! They wont know what's hit them!

More pics!





What a beautiful sunny day was Saturday







Sorry it has taken me so long to upload these photos, but here - a visual depiction of what happened on Saturday...

Sunday 6 June 2010

Say it with flowers craft activity...




On Thursday afternoon I enjoyed the company of thee young adults and their mothers at the 'Say it with Flowers' children's craft activity at Stirchley Library.

It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for parks rather than indoor craft activities! But still, three very creative individuals made flowers and butterflies in the Stirchley Thought Exchange theme. We had interesting discussions about 'Rocket Flowers' (buddleias), and some wonderful imaginative flowers were created, which ended up with more of a mechanical/ space theme following from these discussions... We also had a lovely tissue paper butterfly creation from an enthusiastic 2 year old, who had just learned the word 'amazing'.

Later on Thursday evening, I was walking back from the mac and just happened to see this very same butterfly creation blu-tacked up in a window. A very touching way to end the day!

Thank you all for attending, and thank you to the Library staff, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Thank you!

Hello there, sorry I've been a bit quiet with the blog and answering emails and facebook messages in the last couple of days... I had been very busy preparing for yesterday's event.

Thank you to all of you who came along and either stopped for a chat to see what was going on, or shared your thoughts in exchange for a plant and its story. I'm yet to unpack everything but am very much looking forward to making a nice cup of tea and reading through all your comments and memories.

Very soon I will upload some of the photos and and give more of an insightful update as how the day went... but in the meantime I would like to say thank you to the following people (in no particular order):

Matt Powell (Town Centre Manager) and Selly Oak Constituency staff for their support in answering queries and giving permissions

John Boyle, Matt, Andy and the other duty managers at the Coop Superstore in Stirchley for their enthusiasm and support

Sam at Touchstone for granting permission to remove plants from gardens and car parks

Ann, Denise and everyone at the Stirchley Library

Chris, Gen and Tom at Stirchley Happenings for practical help - and Chris for volunteering on the day

Pete, Mick and everyone at Stirchley Neighbourhood Forum for spreading the word and their support

Carla Smith, Jessie Cape and Neil Winkles for volunteering on the day and taking photos

Nerys James for the tips on graphic design

My mother Mary for listening

My colleagues at work, especially Debbie, Adrian, Karen, Pat and Helen for listening to all my project updates and offering advice

The Ranger Service: Adam for his support and assistance, and Steve for all the leaflets!

Hazelwell Lane neighbours Martin and Tracey

A huge thank you goes to my father Martin for his botanical knowledge and practical support throughout the project

Thank you to all the businesses/organisations who helped by advertising the event and for taking an interest in it

Thanks to everyone in the facebook group who gave their ideas/ links for the project

And again, thank you to all the community and visitors to the area who participated on the day, and to Tony of Friends of Cannon Hill Park for volunteering

And thanks to everyone else.... I hope I've not missed anyone out!

Will catch up with you soon...

Wednesday 2 June 2010

More information on upcoming events!

Hello! Update about the children's craft activity tomorrow and the event on Sat - more information is below:

You are invited to participate in the 'Stirchley Thought Exchange' on Saturday 5th June outside Coop in Stirchley (Pershore Road). There will be a range of activities that will run between 11am - 4pm:

People, Plants and Places:
Add you name and favourite plant (and why) to a Stirchley seedling and pop it on the Birmingham map - so we can trace people's favourites...

Say it with Flowers:
You will be invited to contribute to the garden of thoughts...

Plant thought exchange:
Plants rescued from Stirchley's derelict sites will be given back to the community - come and take a plant and its story - information on where it has come from and where it would like to live, but be quick, there are around 40 plants looking for new homes, and they're sure to be popular!

Plant Poetry board:
Feel inspired by the plants and their stories? Contribute to the plant poetry board...

Plant quiz:
Take a quiz sheet and try your hand at identifying parts of Stirchley by its plant life... there might be a prize in it! So be sure to enter...

Please circulate to anyone you think will be interested, and any friends and family you may have living in Stirchley.

There will also be a children's craft workshop held at Stirchley Library on Thursday 3rd June from 2pm until 3pm under the 'Say it with Flowers' theme.

I hope to see you on either tomorrow (Thursday 3rd) or Saturday 5th June

Over and out!