Happy New Year!

Birchfield Light Night

An amazing two evenings at Birchfield Light Night with lantern parades, light installations and whimsical projections! This was all paired with musical performances, an LED hula hoop artist, hot chocolate and more.

The Light Night was a culmination of a series of workshops with children, families, and older residents, to create willow lanterns and other art works including giant domino lanterns at the Westering’s and weaving using fluorescent materials at the Secret Garden to complement the Birchfield mural which was enhanced using UV paints.

October Youth Scheme

Black History Month “Be Brave” 

During Black History Month, over the half-term week, Birchfield Big Local in partnership with Handsworth Play Centre organized a variety of activities to develop young people’s personal and social skills and their knowledge of Black History. The youth group consisted of 18-25 people and included daily activities such as drumming and tie-dying workshops, sports, attending lantern making workshops and much more! The scheme has worked with various agencies such as Ashante Chess, NK Tunes and Paul Snook Self Defence to keep the children informed and entertained over their half-term break.

“Be Brave” is all about overcoming obstacles such as Covid-19 and how it has changed lives. This scheme was aimed to promote positivity and build character for youths, as living through a pandemic can be damaging for Mental Health especially at such a young age. Engaging in social activities and being brave by participating are all steps in getting back to what the youth group know most and enjoy best.

Womens Wellness Group

Birchfield Connecting Women’s Wellness Group (BCWW) are a group of local like-minded women, who meet once a month to connect, catch up and nurture women’s wellness, were approached by the Light Night event workshop lead artists Sophie and Scylla to work with them to help make eye catching UV crafts, themed around ‘community’ to be displayed at the Secret Garden.

A welcoming first meeting at the Secret Garden soon found everyone chatting, smiling, and finding much in common about crocheting, weaving, and making pom poms. A few of the ladies from Birchfield group, had come prepared with crochet flower pieces that they had made at home and were more than happy to share their techniques with others.  Many ideas and suggestions were discussed, with the women working on their chosen creative personalised pieces, once completed they were happy for them to be used for Community Threads display including the heart frame as symbolised of the centre of the group and our Birchfield community.

Visual Art by Nenah Kumar

Christmas Tree Festival 2021

Birchfield Big Local were one of 50 participants taking part in the annual Christmas Tree Festival held at St. Mary’s Church. Our tree was scattered with images of residents from our local community and recent activities and events that Birchfield Big Local have been up to this past year. The images were attached to colourful baubles to show the eye-catching journey we have been on! It was amazing to be a part of a festival bringing together local businesses, schools and organizations.

Brackley Avenue

Launched in May 2019, Birchfield Big Local and Welsh House Farm Big Local have been working on a joint project – Hard Times Require Furious Dancing – funded through the Creative Civic Change Programme. The project has focused on the creative use of open spaces in both Big Local areas. In Birchfield this has included Lyndon Close and Brackley Avenue where artist and gardener Faith Pearson has been working with residents to reclaim open spaces for children’s play and other activities that help bring the community together.

December Youth Group Scheme

A Winter half-term Youth Scheme was held between the 20^th-22^nd of December. This involved a range of fun and engaging activities such as working in a music studio, singing and listening to music. Physical activity sessions held by Cee4Life allowed the children to bond through sports whilst maintaining their health through fitness. Another activity within this scheme was a DJ workshop held by DJ Ricky. This included a session on how to mix and blend and even covered the history of Vinyl with the youths.