Floral Trail wins National GOLD

As we reported yesterday, Birmingham city centre’s entry in the Urban Communities category of 2009 Britain in Bloom won Gold and ‘Best in Category’.

The judges’ summarised their assessment of our entry:-

“This large Urban City Centre has become a place of horticultural excellence and an area used by the many residents who now reside within the Centre. This was amply demonstrated by members of the community and school children who take part and enjoy the facilities provided.

Floral displays and features were outstanding along with excellent sustainable planting and the quality of maintenance was generally superb. Heritage plays an important part, particularly in the canal area and also in the recognition of local historical figures such as Matthew Boulton.
There were many innovative ideas and we (i.e. the judges) enjoyed a well conducted, interesting and informative tour.”

There’s was lots more detail, too, including some useful ideas for improving further. Informally, the judges also revealed that we were ‘miles ahead’ of our competition in the category (including Manchester City Centre)!

Together with the news about the Staffordshire hoard, what a couple of days for Birmingham!!

David Foster
(Chair, City Centre Neighbourhood Forum)

Emergencies in the City Centre

A Public Meeting organised by the Resilience Group in Birmingham City Council.

Please book a place by emailing info@birminghamprepared.gov.uk , if possible by 25th September.

Find out more about Resilience and Emergency Planning in Birmingham as a whole at http://birminghamprepared.gov.uk .

I work part time for the Resilience team – generally evenings and weekends. I have been asked to help organise this meeting because the needs of city centre residents like ourselves can be somewhat different from the rest of the city, and we want you to help us make sure we are thinking along the right lines. In addition we hope you would pick up tips about ways to help yourself, family and friends, and learn about what the resilience team does.

I hope I will get chance to meet you there!

Karen Caine

Raising the level of protest on policing

The Neighbourhood Forum wrote to the Birmingham Post recently, protesting at the inadequate attention paid by the police to the need of residents. Here is a copy of the letters page on which the Post printed it:

So top billing on the letters page that day!

Artsfest 2009

We hope you have been enjoying Artsfest 2009 this weekend.

Artsfest 2009

You can see some more of my Saturday night concert and firework photos here. I enjoyed the evening, but some people were complaining that the music wasn’t popular enough, or upbeat enough, for such a varied public audience. Why not tell us about your experiences, or link to show people your photos or videos of the event.

Karen Caine

24 Carrots – Jewellery Quarter Farmers Market

www.24carrots.org.uk

Calling all Farmer’s Market fans……we thought you’d like to know about one on our doorstep, organised by members of the Jewellery Quarter Neighbourhood Forum.

The first market was on 4th July and was a great success. Take a look at the 24carrots web site for a video, photos, date of next market and more information.