Events in February 2016

The cold February weather has proven to be very beneficial for learning about history, with numerous events organised by both of our branches to offer people some shelter from the frost, wind, and rain! 

In Berlin, history network members were present at talks on a variety of subjects, including the modern history of Ethiopia and a lecture about postwar Polish art. Turnout was generally considerable and the feedback positive. The Berlin branch now has 554 members. 

The Birmingham branch was also very active: members were present at 5 different lectures and some also have continued to participate in our open forum for gathering historical expertise in the hopes of having a lecture programme of our own. There are now 830 members of the Birmingham branch. 

As winter turns to spring, it looks like our activity will be continuing apace, with guided tours and more lecturers being made available for historians in both Berlin and Birmingham. As ever, we are grateful to our organisers, members, and hosts for helping us to bring history alive. 

Events in January 2016

Both branches have begun 2016 strongly, having hosted one meeting each. 

In Birmingham, the branch organiser Lars Kabel began a new initiative to engage with members of the group and encourage them to become more actively involved. As a result, several members have expressed an interested in presenting talks on a variety of topics, including the history of Birmingham, Spanish religious history, and a discussion on ethnic and religious aspects of Northern Ireland's past. This event took place on 16th January 2016 in Birmingham and was attended by 10 members. 

In Berlin, members were offered the opportunity to attend at talk organised by ZeitZeugenBörse (the Centre for Witnesses to Contemporary History) at the Circus Hotel. Held on 26th January, this month's talk was on "The Legacy of a Divided Country - Memories of East & West Germany" and was attended by 32 members of the Berlin History Network. 

Unfortunately, a talk at the University of Birmingham on the First World War was cancelled at the last moment by the seminar organisers. Many apologies to all those who attempted to attend.

Please watch our calendar closely for events in the coming months!

For members interested in giving a talk/being involved in a team presentation (Birmingham branch)

Are you interested in giving a talk, taking part in a team-presentation or undertaking some research? We are encouraging you to share your current or future insight into a historic topic of your choice with an audience of members of the Birmingham History Network.

We would like to create a supportive forum where people can develop and enjoy an interest in history and possibly develop some new skills on the way.

If you are already experienced, we also would like to get you on board.

At this informal meeting we will share and discuss our ideas. Don’t worry if you can’t make it this time. Just send me a message and if there should be enough interest, I can set up another meeting.

Organiser: Lars Kabel. 

Time and date: 1300, 16th January 2016.

Place: Starbucks, The ICC, Broad Street, Birmingham, B1 2EA.

Happy 2016! Report and organisational changes

Report

I am happy to report that 2015 was a red-letter year for The History Network! The Birmingham History Network is just about to hit its first anniversary: during the year, we have gained 712 members and hosted 24 visits, talks, and tours. The Berlin History Network, now a year-and-half old, has grown from 152 members in February 2015 to 478 members as of writing. Five events have been hosted in Berlin. Feedback from our members and the places we have visited has been highly encouraging, to say the least.

It is truly inspiring to see such these successes. I would like to thank our organisers, our members, and the institutions and tour guides who have played host to us over the last year for these achievements. I hope we can continue our good work in 2016 and wish everyone in The History Network a happy New Year!

Changes

It is with sadness that we have to announce the resignation of Lesley Peat from her role of main organiser of The Birmingham History Network. I would like to thank Lesley for her contribution over the last half a year and wish her success in whatever the future holds. Lesley did sterling work organising trips such as the extremely popular participation in a talk on the Art and Science of the Lunar Society at the Barber Institute for Fine Arts.

This means that Lars Kabel has now taken over as the principal organiser of The Birmingham History Network. I would like to thank Lars for taking on this new role and wish him the best of luck. I am extremely confident that his vision for the group will take it to new and exciting places.

Dr J. M. White

Events held in the last few months of 2015

Birmingham

Three events were held in Birmingham between November 2015 and January 2016 that were not announced on this site. For the sake of good record-keeping, I now provide a brief summary of these trips. The feedback from all of these visits was overwhelmingly positive.

14th November: Visit to the Staffordshire Hoard exhibition at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Organiser: Lesley Peat. Number of people attended: 15. 

20th November:  The Crisis of Holy Russia in the 19th Century. A lecture held in conjunction with the British-Russian Society at the Birmingham and Midlands Institute. Number of people attended: 10. 

1st December: Visit to the Pen Museum in the Jewellery Quarter. Organised by Lesley Peat. Number of people attended: 11. 

Berlin

The Berlin group has also been active in the last few months of 2015, holding two events that I regrettably failed to note on this site. Again, the response from our members was very encouraging.

11th October: Topography of Terror guided tour. Organiser: Patrick Baier. Number of people attended: 15.

14th November: Allied Museum guided tour. Organiser: Patrick Baier. Number of people attended: 24.

Thank you to our dedicated organisers for making the last quarter of this year an active and successful period for the History Network!

Birmingham’s Archaeology (Birmingham branch report)

The following post was written by Emma Roberts after attending an event with the Birmingham History Network. The report is republished here with the author's permission. The original can be found at: https://arandomenglishlife.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/birminghams-archaeology-birmingham-heritage-week/

Birmingham's Archaeology

I know very little about the early part of Birmingham’s history. I probably know more about Leicestershire’s local history than I do about my home city – which is a shame, but as part of Birmingham Heritage Week, the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society hosted a lecture about their excavations and what they have discovered and then followed this by a walk, which pinpointed the sites then talked about.

Before we get into the archaeology I have to talk about Birmingham and Midland Institute, where the talk took place…their lecture theatre has to be the best one I have ever been too. Look at the fabulous historic lecture theatre – I love the colour of the seats which I can only describe as puke green! The seats were so comfortable too, unlike most university ones.

The talk was given by Dr. Mike Hodder and Dr. Stephanie Ratkai. Dr. Mike Hodder was Birmingham Council’s planning Archeologist for twenty years and together with Dr. Stephanie Ratkai has worked on excavations of numerous sights in Birmingham, including the Bullring, Library of Birmingham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The talk itself centred on the archaeological work in Digbeth, which was a historic industrial site, that was prone to flooding. The fact that it was such a damp site has undermined the legend that Beorma and his followers settled here and that is why the city is called Birmingham. If Beorma did exist, he probably didn’t settle in Digbeth.

Modern Digbeth today is actually compromised of two separate parishes, with Deritend being in the parish of Aston, which was separated by the River Rae. I have walked past the River Rae many times and always thought it was a later canal…but it turns out it was a river! Deritend was home to a pottery industry, which importantly gave it’s name to Deritend ware, which was manufactured in Deritend and in the Bullring area. The pots themselves were made by a orange local Merican mudstone and detailed with a V pattern with a white clay which came from further afield. The busy trade of other industries drew people to the Bull ring to trade, and probably either bought cookware while they were here or bought products within Deritend ware – which made for the successful distribution of Deritend ware throughout the Midlands, and it is found regularly in digs sites. During digs as well pieces of flint were found which indicate that the site was in use in the Stone Age as well. It is also home to the Old Crown Pub with a very impressive sign which claims the pub dates back to 1368, however excavations by Dr. Hodder in the beer garden have suggested that there is no evidence to support the claim that the pub is that old.

Residents in Digbeth who were actually in the parish of Aston campaigned that the needed their own church because flooding often prevented them from travelling across the river to get to their Parish church in Deritend. It is dubious whether this was true of whether villagers wanted a closer church instead of walking several miles to get to their one in Aston. Whatever the case may be the church was the site of the burning of John Rogers during the reign of Queen Mary I. He is recorded as a Martyr to the protestant faith and was involved in helping to translate the bible into English.

Just up from the Old Crown on the same side, excavations also found evidence of a man-made pool built within the medieval period, the reason behind the creation of the pool was unclear but the area was home to a significantly sized tanning industry which was probably connected in some way to the 

pool.

Finally, the bit of archaeology I did know about was located on the site of the Bullring, which was the site of the old manor house with had a moat (this is reflected in street signage with Moat Lane). During excavations they found that the medieval manor’s walls were remarkably well preserved. Just up was the corner of Moat Lane is a very tired looking building, which use to be a music hall and was frequented by the Peaky Blinders, this building is scheduled for demolition and area to be rejuvenated.

Report on Hidden Spaces (Birmingham Heritage Week)

The following report about the Birmingham History Network's visit to Hidden Spaces, an event part of Birmingham Heritage Week, was written by Emma Roberts. The original can be found at: https://arandomenglishlife.wordpress.com/2015/09/18/hidden-spaces-birmingham-heritage-week/ (report republished with the author's permission).

Hidden Spaces

I am a history fanatic and it is safe to say that the study of the past takes up a lot of my time. I am very fortunate to be a Co-organiser of the Birmingham History Network (BHN). The BHN is a meetup group which is designed to bring like minded people together and organise events. Hidden Spaces was my second organised tour for the BHN and it formed part of Birmingham Heritage Week 2015. There was so many events to pick from over the week, and it was very difficult to filter through and pick something to do. In my opinion there was too much choice. Although if I run this event next year I think from experience I will be able to plan and organise the event a little better. I decided to pick a selection of venues that are normally closed to public viewing (which the exception of a few days each year). Often I walk past their buildings and always wonder what lies behind the closed door.

Birmingham Municipal Bank

First up with the old Municipal Bank, which was first suggestion by Neville Chamberlain (who is perhaps more famous for being Prime Minster during the Outbreak of World War Two) in 1915. The idea of the Bank was to courage workers to deposit their savings which would generate a 3.5% interest which would be used by the Government, predominately to help the war effort. The Bank was created by Act of Parliament in 1916. After the war the Bank survived and it moved to it’s current position in 1933. This building located on Broad Street was the headquarters of the Bank.

This is a big and very beautiful building. There are many saves behind this bank, and the building has a spooky element of being a ghost shell. I am not sure when the bank stopped being operational, but it closed because it was too big and too costly to maintain. I was fortunate enough to meet a woman who used to work here in the 1960s and she talked about the beautiful cashier’s desk that used to be in the main room as soon as you walk in…alas it has now gone and the building is just an empty shell. Another lovely bonus was that someone else in the group knew one of the people in charge of the Heritage Open Day and he very kindly gave us a tour around the other safes. The big empty vaults hold a silent history of what was once a very busy bank.

I think it’s an absolute shame that this building is not in use today. I can understand why it is too costly for a bank, but I was thinking that it is right next to the Registry Office. I think this building would be fantastic to be reused as a wedding venue…it has beautiful charm and room to be able to have a wedding and a catering/dance facility within it. Some of the former managerial offices could also be turned into Hotel rooms. Although there would be a problem with toilet and washroom facilities which are at present would be limiting. Nevertheless I think it would work really well as a wedding venue.

Curzon Street Station

I am quite clearly not a photographer, so my photos are appalling. Curzon Street Station was opened in 1838…but what is interesting is that this building was only partially built. There were meant to be two wings to the building, which appear in drawing plans but were never built. That’s why this building has the appearance that something is not quite right…almost missing. People often think that something has been removed from the building, in fact, the opposite was true – it was never added.

I was a little more disappointed with Curzon Street Station – it was lovely to see round the building…but there was no one really giving tours around and as we did not have someone in the group who knew someone to give a private tour, nor someone who worked here there wasn’t much more to do than walk around. There were a few informative boards on one wall – but it was mostly empty. I thought it would have been better to see if there were any photographs of Curzon Street within the archive and perhaps of used one of these empty rooms to display that. I loved a collection of old keys that had been left in one of the rooms, it was like it had been left there on Friday night ready for Monday morning and it never opened that Monday, the cobwebs in the place gave it a fantastic touch. There was talk that this building was going to become a Museum, but I overheard someone discussing with someone else that it would have cost millions to comply with health and safety and they just couldn’t afford to make it a museum.

Birmingham Hippodrome

 

I thought the Birmingham Hippodrome did a fantastic job for Heritage Week. I loved the two women in traditional Victorian dress singing traditional turn of the last century songs, including ‘My Old Man’, although there is a photo of me singing this song somewhere (I am praying it doesn’t end up in the Birmingham Mail of something like that…), they were brilliant and great fun. I’m sad I did not get a picture of them. There was also a lovely guide who talked a bit about the posters which you can see on the left and briefly about the origins of the Hippodrome. He suggested that often Hippodromes were created to make a loss, and I know that often venues today make a lost. I thought they would have been more popular prior to the onset of Cinemas, Radios and Tvs; but apparently even back then they were build by wealthy people as a status symbol, but not designed to be a money spinner. Another great thing about the Hippodrome was the Historical Talk, one of the guides gave, which was an hour long sit down presentation about the History of the Hippodrome. I really enjoyed it and it was very informative.

Museum Collections

This was around about 2 O’Clock and having started at 10 O’Clock, a large part of the group decided to call it a day. A few hard corers stayed on a braced themselves for a 30 minute walk across town to go to the Museum Collections building. The Museum Collections building is like a big warehouse that houses the artefacts the museum has which are currently not on, or never go on display. It waa like an Aladdin’s Cave of Historical Goodies. It also answered a question I have often wondered. I look around and see some beautiful sculptures and busts of people and sometimes during refurbishments these disappear and never come back. I often wondered where they go and if they are destroyed. Turns out a lot of them are stored in the Museum Collections and they have a fantastic collection of random things. It was great looking through them. Although it was nearing the end of the event and the building was getting ready to close, so it was rather a rushed look through.

An expected bonus

By this point it had been a long and tiring day, the group had done a lot of walking and exploring and it was safe to say we were looking forward to going home. The prospects of a long walk back into town was not appealing, however as luck would have it a man stopped me and said there were two vintage buses which were talking people back into Town. We decided to leave on the second to last bus and travelled on the London Red Bus. We were speaking to the ‘Conductor’ who was organising the stops, he said we’d turn right and stop outside Snow Hill Station, unfortunately we didn’t and the Conductor had no way of talking to the Driver, as unlike modern buses the Driver was completely isolated from the passengers on the bus. We ended up going back to Museum collections and we were about to go and get the train, when the Conductor said he was making one final trip into town and would not be coming back to Museum Collections. So we got a second trip round on the bus…which was fantastic and a perfect end to a very historical day.