"Professor Morello" Photo: Ivan Morison

When: Friday 22 March 2013, 18:00-20:00 (Launch)
Where: Eastside Projects, Heath Mill Lane, Digbeth

From 23 March to 18 May, Digbeth-based art gallery Eastside Projects will be taken over by puppets for their new exhibition.

Artists and film-makers from around the world will transform the main gallery into a stage for live performances and moving image works. Gallery staff will become puppeteers, bringing to life the miniature characters to interact with visitors as they explore the exhibition.

Including work by Turner Prize nominees Spartacus Chetwynd and Simon Starling, the exhibition explores the importance of puppets not just as objects for telling stories, but as stand-ins which allow us to ask difficult questions about society and human behaviour – “who is pulling the strings?”

Puppet Show will be accompanied by ‘While it Lasts’, a programme of films by six UK based artists which will be screened in the second gallery. For more information, visit the Eastside Projects website.

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When: 30th March 2013, 11:00-16:00
Where: The Custard Factory, Digbeth
Free Entry

The Bicycle Basket Bazaar will be like a car boot sale, but more compact and kinder to the environment, and will feature a host of other activities:

• The Ministry of Cycles and Pod Projects present a unique array of retailers, all cramming their wares into bike baskets and pannier racks.
• From 12:30, the Flatpack Palais will be devoted to free-wheeling films of every shape and size, from brilliant Canadian short The Man Who Lived on His Bike to a crisp 1964 documentary about Nottingham’s Raleigh factory.
• There will also be a bike polo demo by Birmingham Bike Foundry, pedal-powered cinema courtesy of Sustrans, and much more!

For more information and information on booking a ‘stall’, please click here.

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When: Tuesday 19th March 2013, 18:30–20:30
Where: Saltley Methodist Church, 140 Alum Rock Rd, Birmingham, B8 1HU

Dear Forum Member,

Please find below the relevant documents for the Washwood Heath to Curzon Street Community Forum next week:
Agenda 19.03.13
Action Log
Draft Meeting Notes

Following the launch of the new HS2 Ltd website, HS2 Ltd will be decommissioning the HS2 Consultation Website (highspeedrail.dft.gov.uk). It is intended that this work will be completed by Friday 29 March 2013 or shortly thereafter.

As you may already be aware, the judgements on the five Judicial Reviews brought against HS2 were made at the High Court on 15th March. Of the ten broad areas of challenge made against HS2, the court has upheld only one.

The court has upheld the challenge that the consultation process for the original compensation scheme (February 2011) was unfair, as not enough information was provided to consultees and the criteria by which compensation options were considered were not adequately explained.

The Judge also found that the Government had not fully considered the detailed consultation response of the HS2 Action Alliance to the compensation proposals.

The Secretary of State has decided that instead of appealing this decision, the Government will re-run this consultation in line with the judge’s finding that further consideration should have been given to other potential compensation models. A re-run of the property compensation consultation will not affect the HS2 construction timetable. We will provide further information about the next steps on property consultation as soon as we can.

The Judge rejected the other areas of challenge. For more information on the Department for Transport website please click here.

Kind regards,
West Midlands Community & Stakeholder Engagement Team | High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd
Email: community.forums@hs2.org.uk | Website: http://www.hs2.org.uk

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When: Thursday 21 March, 18:30-20:00
Where: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (AV Room, Gas Hall)
Tickets: £4 per person (advance booking required)

With the St Patrick’s Festival in full swing, and the Parade taking place in Digbeth this coming Sunday, the Irish in Birmingham are in particular focus this week.

To celebrate and mark St Patrick’s Day, popular Birmingham historian Dr Chris Upton will present a talk on The Sons and Daughters of Erin at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery next Thursday.

Book your tickets through the box office (0121 303 1966) or at www.bmag.org.uk. As this talk takes place outside of public opening hours, access will be from the Gas Hall and the adjacent lift entrance.

For more information, please email Julia Kirby or Louise Alden.

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When: Monday 18th March, 19:30 onwards
Where: The Spotted Dog, Warwick Street, Digbeth

Stuck for something to do on Monday night? Never fear, Filum Night is here!

As ever, your host and landlord John will be on hand with free ‘tay n buns’ (that’s tea and cream cakes to the uninitiated!) and his wicked sense of humour.

Next week’s filum is:

Rocky Road to Dublin (1968)
Rocky Road to Dublin was the last film shown at the 1968 Cannes festival which was shutdown in solidarity with the student revolts in Paris. The students adopted Rocky Road and screened it in the vast amphitheatres of the Sorbonne, which was still besieged by riot police.

Lennon’s theme was what do you do with a revolution once you’ve won. Lennon found that you give it straight back to the Bourgeoisie. At the centre of the film is the iron grip the Catholic Church held on Ireland after British occupation.

We see the young and hip Fr. Michael Cleary singing Chatanooga Shoeshine Boy to a maternity ward. We then see him extolling the virtues of celibacy and sex within marriage, this long before it was known that he had fathered 2 children by his housekeeper.

The film couldn’t be banned in Ireland (the censors comment to the director was: “Since there is no sex in the film, Peter, there is nothing I can do against you.”) It was only picked up by one Dublin cinema for a short run. The church’s iron grip on the country was thus shown when no other cinema dared show the film.

Enjoy!

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