Birmingham Information Centre

An artefact from the Staffordshire Hoard courtesy of the BM&G flickr page

This weekend the Staffordshire hoard returns to Birmingham.  The Museum and Art gallery website says:

The Staffordshire Hoard attracted over 40,000 visitors to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery throughout its 19 day display in September and October last year and has attracted similar numbers at the Potteries Museum in Stoke on Trent with around 45,000 visitors over the 24 day display.

A selection of around 60 items, many not previously displayed will be on show including helmet fragments decorated with stylised animals and warriors. Other previously unseen items include decorative plaques in the shape of eagles and a golden duck’s head.

The campaign to raise the money to keep the hoard in the West Midlands goes on.  You can donate here or buying this  book will also help.

These are our links for March 4th through March 9th:

• People’s history vitally restored | Kevin Morgan | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk – The Guardian reports on the revival of the Manchester People’s Museum: “Even the National Trust, which sometimes appears like a heritage version of the Countryside Alliance, has taken steps to acknowledge its wider remit. In Birmingham, the restoration of the city’s last-surviving back-to-backs has deservedly proved a popular attraction. Near Manchester, the Quarry Bank Mill, maintained by the Trust, is an industrial site of outstanding importance.”
• Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, West Midlands – Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery – “Previously unseen helmet fragments will go on display when the world’s largest hoard of Anglo Saxon treasure returns to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery from 13th March 2010.”
• Can you spare an hour or two on Mothering Sunday (14th March)? « Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery – Friends of Brandwood End cemetery say: “We need to get as many signatures as possible for our Save Our Chapels petition. Sadly Mothering Sunday is one of the busiest days at Brandwood End Cemetery so we are meeting at 11am near the Lodge to attract more support. We were very kindly received by everyone on All Souls Day last year but unfortunately we just didn’t have enough people with enough clipboards to get more signatures.”
• Newman Brothers coffin fitters, Birmingham – Midlands Heritage Forum -

These are our links for February 21st through March 2nd:

• MADE – Talking cities lecture series – “MADE’s thought provoking lecture series, supported by Cudos and Birmingham Architectural Association, kicks off on 11th March with a talk by Irena Bauman, Bauman Lyons Architects, entitled Happy Cities – Stitching the Disconnections”
• Birmingham museum in frame for national crown | birminghamnewsroom.com – The Museum of the Jewellery Quarter in Hockley has been shortlisted for the silver or gold award in the Enjoy England Awards for Excellence 2010.
• Revolutionary Players – Project Information – Revolutionary Players of Industry and Innovation is creating a website based on digitised material from libraries, museums and archives across the West Midlands region relating to the development of the Industrial Revolution and significant individuals who contributed to it. The focus is on the period 1700 – 1830.