When: Wednesday 18th April, 20:00
Where: Birmingham Irish Centre, 14-20 High Street, Deritend, B12 0LN
Tickets £10 / £8

Journey to the Fifth Province, the hit show of the 2011 Irish Writers’ Festival in London, will be performed at the Irish Centre in Digbeth.

Actor Donal Cox draws on the work of great Irish poets and writers to open unusual windows on life and create a dramatic narrative, with exciting music from Celtic harper Harriet Earis to accompany the journey. Language and music weave together story, character, humour and the inner Irish experience. A joyful and perceptive look at where we’ve come from, where we find ourselves now and what might inspire us in the face of an uncertain future.

On tour around the UK since September 2011, the show is building a glowing reputation. The Embassy of Ireland acknowledges its value in reaching out to successive generations of Irish people who have uprooted to the UK, reconnecting them with their cultural roots. ‘Journey to the Fifth Province’ is nonetheless accessible to all and speaks to everyone, irrespective of background heritage. It is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

A video trailer for the show follows; for further information, please contact Liz Newbery by email or phone 020 8540 2118 or 07759 662747.

When: Thursday 7th – Monday 11th June
Where: Edgbaston Cricket Ground

Local business Latifs are offering all Digbeth residents a £5 discount on tickets to see the England v West Indies Investec Test Match (Thursday 7th- Monday 11th June).

In order to take advantage of this great offer, all you have to do is “Like” their Facebook page and ask for the discount on their wall or by private message. You can ask for the discount by tweeting @LatifsUK or sending a message.

Howzat?!

The Birmingham Mail recently reported that Digbeth will no longer be the home of the cult TV programme the Gadget Show:

“Channel 5 has announced that The Gadget Show will return to our screens this Spring in a new, revamped format.

The brand new series, will be called The Gadget Show: World Tour, with the presenters travelling the globe to test the latest in consumer gadgetry.

While the filming will no longer be based Digbeth’s Custard Factory, a Birmingham production team would still put the show together.”

This is a loss for Digbeth, and indeed the Custard Factory. Not to mention our local universities who provided students as focus groups for the show.

Here’s hoping the producers see sense and come back to Birmingham soon!

When: Saturday 31st March and Sunday 1st April, 10:00 – 17:00
Where: The Ring, 76 – 80 Warwick St, Digbeth, B12 0NH

Calling all residents wanting to get in shape!

Bodysharp are holding an Open Weekend at The Ring on Warwick Street this weekend, offering you an opportunity to view their new premises, with indoor and outdoor training facilities.

Activities on offer over the weekend include:

• Body analysis testing
• Demonstrations from former British, European and World Champion kick boxer, Waine Turner
• Demonstrations from ABA Boxer Nasser Al Harbi
• A Zumba showcase
• Nutrition presentations
• Boxing demonstration from Mohammed and the Windmill Boxing team
• Submission wrestling demonstration

One of Bodysharp’s selling points is that they offer parent and children classes, so you can get fit while your children burn off some of their energy at the same time! What a great idea!

Where: Edible Eastside, Warwick Wharf, 122 Fazeley Street, Digbeth, B5 5RS
When: Sunday 1st April, 12:00 – 17:00. BBQ from 14:00.

Regular readers of our site will already know of Edible Eastside, and the fact that the organisation has entered into a strategic partnership with Digbeth Residents Association.

Edible Eastside is an urban garden situated on a derelict industrial canal side space, which has been transformed into a temporary garden, run as a social enterprise by a team of volunteers.

Edible Eastside will rent plots to people and restaurants, run a café using the food grown, offer training courses and sell produce. The space was developed with Digbeth-based designers, k4 Architects, who are the masterplanners for the Warwick Bar area, where the garden is situated.

The landlord, ISIS Waterside Regeneration, offered the space at a peppercorn rent, and “are extremely excited to be setting in motion projects which will breathe life back into the area.”

Add in a tie-up with Fierce Festival, who will be running a performance installation at the site, and you have yourself a veritable community hub just waiting to be launched!

We strongly encourage anyone with an interest in Digbeth to come along to the launch of this fantastic new project on Sunday – here’s hoping the sun is still shining for the BBQ!

For further information, please contact Jayne Bradley on 07970 730646 or visit the website.