Newsletter – July 2016
July 23rd, 2016It is a sad fact that when we are walking around our towns and cities we spend most of our time looking downwards, for all sorts of reasons, to watch where we are putting our feet. We rarely look upwards to admire the beautiful facades of our historic buildings.
This was a point made by our speaker this month, Tim Bridges. Tim is a conservation advisor for the Victorian Society and his topic was ‘Victorian Buildings of Birmingham and the Black Country’. We are lucky that the wealth generated during the Industrial Revolution centered in the ‘Black Country’ was lavished on many fine public buildings, churches and industrial buildings many of which still survive today. He showed many examples of these including St. Chad’s Roman Catholic Church in Birmingham which is a fine example of Augustus Pugin’s work. Nearer to home he cited the Red House Cone near Stourbridge as a now rare example of a building used in the glass industry. He did admit however, that it would be a brave man to suggest that Stourbridge was ever in the Black Country!
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 6th September. There will be a presentation by Simon Buteux, Director of the Birmingham Conservation Trust entitled ‘The Coffin Works – Birmingham’s Newest Museum’. His talk will describe the Trust’s major project over the last decade to create a sustainable ‘rescue’ package for the Newman Brothers coffin fitting factory on Fleet Street in Birmingham’s historic Jewellery Quarter. It is hoped we may be able to visit the Coffin Works later in the year. Visitors are most welcome at all our events – see Home page for details and contacts.