Moseley B13 Magazine September Issue 522

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B13 MAGAZINE

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SEPTEMBER 2021 ISSUE 522

C O V D N A L A CE C LO IN 3

M SELEY

KATHERINE PRIDDY

MOSELEY FOLK & THE ETERNAL ROCKS BENEATH

REMEMBERING BRIAN TRAVERS

MUSICIAN AND ARTIST

LETTER FROM AFGHANISTAN

TALIBAN TAKE CONTROL

ART IN THE TIME OF COVID OPEN STUDIOS 2021

EDITH HOLDEN

150 YEARS SINCE HER BIRTH

MOSELEY B13 MAGAZINE

SEPT21 EDITOR Mark Baxter (editor@moseleymagazine.co.uk) THE TEAM Ian Cook, David Isgrove, Stephanie Silk, MariaArroja Ferreira, Tipton, Debbie Aldous, Max Jalil, Martin Jeffers, Jobe Baker-Sullivan, Izzy Knowles, Yonatan Yon, Alex Jenkins, Jenny Gwynne, Mitch Schofield DESIGN Andy Wickett (andywickett@gmail.com) CONTRIBUTORS David Spilsbury, Moseley Local History Society, Jan Berry, Ashley Lowe BUSINESS MANAGER Martin Jeffers PROOF READER Jane Barry SOCIAL MEDIA Maria Arroja Ferreira TREASURER Leanne Holloway (accounts@moseleyb13.com) ADVERTISING Yonatan Yon DISTRIBUTION Izzy Knowles,Martin Jeffers BOARD David Isgrove (Chair) Stephanie Silk (Editorial) PHOTOGRAPHER Position Vacant COVER IMAGE Mostly Jazz, Funk and Soul Festival MAIL Moseley Publishing House Ltd. Moseley B13 Magazine, c/o: Moseley Exchange, 149-153 Alcester Road, Moseley, Birmingham, B13 8JP. ONLINE instagram.com/moseleyb13mag facebook.com/MoseleyB13Magazine twitter.com/MoseleyB13Mag PHONE 0843 289 3665 COMPANY SECRETARY Position Vacant LEGAL STUFF Moseley Publishing House Ltd is a non-profit voluntary run company based in England and Wales. Company No. 07786560.

No part of this magazine may be reproduced, in whole or part, without express permission.

All material is believed to be correct at the time of going to print.

Cover image: Courtesy of Katherine Priddy Cover Magazine title: Roundel by Brian Travers

WORDS FROM THE EDITOR

Welcome to September!

Katherine Priddy is our cover star as she releases her critically acclaimed debut album and takes to the stage at Moseley Folk & Arts Festival (pages 6-8).

This issue has an art theme with Open Studios 2021 happening this month, and you can read more about the event on pages 10-13. We also look at ways we can offer support to our friends in Afghanistan as the Taliban take control of the country (pages 14-15).

Sadly, as we were going to press we heard the tragic news about the passing of Brian Travers, member of UB40 and talented local artist.

We remember Brian on page nine and you can watch his collaboration with our designer Andy Wickett on the magazine’s YouTube channel. Brian and Andy teamed up in lockdown to record ‘Captain’s on TV’. The pair also discuss memories of attending the Moseley School of Art. You will be missed by the Moseley community and beyond, Brian.

Take care and we’ll see you in October.

OUTLETS Farmers’ Market (Village Green) plus: A and R News (320 Yardley Wood Road) Aiden McDonnell Hair (56 St Mary's Row) Drinksville (23 Woodbridge Road) Greenhill Garage (89-91 Billesley Lane) Indigo Foods (50-52 St Mary’s Row) Ladypool Cycles (404 Ladypool Road) Maison Mayci (148 Alcester Road) Moseley Post Office (149 Alcester Road) Newslink (3 Alcester Road) Nima Deli (103 Alcester Road) One Stop (117 Billesley Lane) Oxfam Books and Music (101 Alcester Road) Palmyra (13 St Mary's Row), Select & Save (174-176 Alcester Road) Spend and Save (211 Swanshurst Lane)

2021 PUBLICATION DATES

ISSUE COPY SALE Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

17 Feb 17 Mar 21 Apr 19 May 16 Jun 14 Jul 18 Aug 15 Sep 20 Oct 17 Nov

27 Feb 27 Mar 24 Apr 29 May 26 Jun 24 Jul 28 Aug 25 Sep 30 Oct 27 Nov

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NO.81

IN THIS ISSUE

04

NEWSHOUND

06

KATHERINE PRIDDY

09

BRIAN TRAVERS OBITUARY

10

OPEN STUDIOS 2021

14

LETTER FROM AFGHANISTAN

15

FLIGHT FROM AFGHANISTAN

16

OPEN GARDENS 2021

18

EDITH HOLDEN

20

MOSELEY MUNCH

23

STRANGE IN THE HEAD

26

GALLERY 12

27

MOSELEY MEMORIES

30

PHLO PHARMACY

31

MOSELEY HOUSING MARKET

10

BY MARK BAXTER

NEWSHOUND

Tipton, the B13 Newshound Twitter: @B13Newshound / Instagram: @tiptonb13

GOLDEN BOY GALAL

European and Commonwealth champion Galal Yafai achieved Olympic Gold after a series of nail biting bouts in Tokyo. He honed his sparring skills while growing up in Mary Street with his older brothers Kal and Gamal by “beating each other up”, much to the consternation of their Yemeni mother. However, they have put this experience to good use in the ring and all become medal winning boxers, and there was a touching reunion between them at the airport.

Though he still has family in the area and is often seen around, including the Cannon Hill parkrun and to visit his old gym to show off his medal and see his mentor Frank O’Sullivan MBE, it is unclear where the fabled celebratory golden pillar box will be located. At 28 it looks certain he will follow his brother into successful professional boxing careers.

SPORTING OPPORTUNITIES If you have been inspired by the Olympic and Paralympic Games, cricket, Euro 2021 or the start of the new football season (now with spectators), or you have some lockdown weight to shift then Moseley Town football team will be entering the new season with renewed energy after this difficult year. If you want to support your local team they play at the Irish centre ground in Wheelers Lane on Sunday mornings and kick-off is 10.30 a.m. Everyone is welcome to watch and if you want to play they have two teams: an over 35 team and an open team. If netball is your thing then Birmingham Moseley Netball Club (sponsored by Moseley Autocentre) are off to a great start this season and provide competitive and fun netball for adults (facebook.com/BirminghamMoseleyNetballClub).

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MOSELEY MP SPEAKS UP FOR KEN LOACH Tahir Ali, MP for Hall Green joins the Socialist Campaign Group in condemning the expulsion of legendary filmmaker Ken Loach from the Labour Party. Known for worthy “gritty realism”, his films such as Boys from the Black Stuff, Kes and I Daniel Blake shine a spotlight on the injustice and indifference of society.

Loach grew up in Warwickshire and has been an active voice for the left and Labour member since the Blair years.

He was expelled for his membership of 'Labour Against the Witch Hunt' who contend that accusations of antisemitism are being used to expel left wing members (including 35 Jews) from the party - Starmer has banned this group and expelled its members from the party. Loach is now being accused of holocaust denial by some journalists and the chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement.

Tahir replaced long-serving Roger Godsiff as MP after the local party triggered a re-selection. The Socialist Campaign Group’s statement is as follows:

Max Jalil, Newshound guest reporter for this month 5

KATHERINE PRIDDY: MOSELEY FOLK & THE ETERNAL ROCKS BENEATH

The Moseley B13 Magazine team always gets incredibly excited about the festivals on our doorstep – not just because they’re local, but because they’re world-class, bringing in hundreds of ‘wow’ acts that we hope we never take for granted.

favourite way to end the summer with friends and family. I can't wait."

Katherine is clearly a huge Moseley Folk fan, and she revealed a little of what the audience can expect from her set and her own favourites from this year's festival. "I One such festival is the Moseley Folk & Arts will be joined by my one-man band George Festival, to be held this year from 3rd-5th Boomsma who'll be adding some gorgeous September. harmonies and creating some lovely atmospheres. In terms of other artists to look I caught up with Birmingham’s Katherine out for, I've recently recorded some backing Priddy, due to perform on Moseley Folk’s vocals for a fabulous Irish musician called main stage on Sunday the 5th. Katherine Darragh O'Dea – he's performing there on the has just released her much-anticipated and Saturday and is just brilliant. Also excited for critically acclaimed debut album.

The Nightingales and Peat & Diesel. No doubt I'll walk away having found a new favourite “I've been going to Moseley Folk every year artist – there's always so many exciting new since I was 16 and I've performed there a artists there.” couple of times before – it's honestly my 6

‘The Eternal Rocks Beneath’ is Katherine’s hot-off-the-press debut album. She says, “it's been really exciting! I didn't really have any expectations for the release as obviously it's my first LP, and I was just delighted to have it out there, so I've been really blown away by the response and the reviews – it's definitely gone better than I could have hoped for. In terms of inspiration, a lot of the songs were written during my teenage years and I think there's a really nostalgic feel to the new release – lots of themes of passing time, changing seasons, thoughts of what's to come and what's already been. I tend to get my inspiration from personal experiences and people I meet – I keep a lot of notes of ideas

and lyrics on my phone at all times.”

A huge backlog of gigs and a world of opportunity awaits Katherine. She talks about life ‘back on the road’ as performances became possible again post-Covid.

“Ahh, it feels amazing. Getting out there on the road and playing in front of audiences is definitely the best part of the job for me, and it was really heartbreaking to have my diary emptied last year... but it's made it feel all the sweeter now I'm doing it again. The audiences so far at the gigs and festivals have been incredible – any social distancing and Covid measures don't seem to have affected the atmosphere. I think everyone's just really

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warmth and movement to the tracks. Also Mikey Kenney came and lent some fabulous fiddle to a couple of the songs on there, and Richard March on double bass – he's a total pro. There's a fair few musicians there – pipes, accordion, brass... I even got my brother on the cornet!”

Katherine left me with one final gem – a little window into her lyrical-inspiration.

“I always say to people who want to write, first you need to read. I read A LOT. I actually studied literature at uni and I have always been a massive book nerd so I think that's had a pretty big effect on the way I write now.

A couple of the tracks on the album were directly inspired by novels I've read, and a couple of the songs have their roots in the Greek myths of Icarus and Eurydice.”

happy to be out there enjoying live music again. Practice wise, I haven't felt any extra pressure really – I've had a lot of time to sit and play over the last year and I think I play better with the pressure of an audience. I definitely felt quite nervous and rusty on my first gigs back, but we're all just getting used to it again. Long may they continue.”

Fans of Katherine’s recorded work will be familiar with her lush sound-world of stringy textures, allowing her vocals to float above. I ask her a bit more about her choice of timbre.

Jobe Baker-Sullivan

“I'm definitely a huge fan of strings and I grew up listening to a lot of Nick Drake who is often accompanied by a cello, or a small string section. So it was a no-brainer for me when it came to the album – I got a wonderful local string trio and they've really added some

The Eternal Rocks Beneath is out now on Navigator Records and available to buy/ download/stream.

Tickets for the Moseley Folk & Arts Festival are available from www.moseleyfolk.co.uk

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www.moseleyb13.com

OBITUARY: BRIAN TRAVERS

visual artist and composer. He continued to write songs until his last days, and was interviewed by Moseley B13 Magazine only a year ago, alongside Andy Wickett, known for writing songs which evolved into ‘Rio’ and ‘Girls on Film’ in his early days as lead singer for Duran Duran. Both Brian and Andy attended the Moseley School of Art.

MUSICIAN, ARTIST, MOSELEYITE

“It was wonderful. We had art history and even a lesson called art appreciation. We’d study contemporary pop artists… as well as old masters!”

Reminisced Travers, during the interview. The video is available on the Moseley B13 Magazine YouTube channel, which I myself conducted. Only having met Brian once, I was taken back by his generosity, and love for music. Our planned 20 minute interview lasted two hours and was full of joy.

"Really shocked to hear such a brilliant man has passed so suddenly. Loved making music with him just a year ago. I’m absolutely chocked," was how Andy reacted to the awful news of Brian's passing. Former BBC WM breakfast show presenter Samantha Meah tweeted the following post: "Heartbreaking news that the mighty Brian Travers had left us. I have never met anyone who faced serious illness with such stoicism, dignity and humour. What a guy, what a loss."

Trinity Mirror

Brian Travers died on 22nd August – at home, As well as continuing to write music during surrounded by his family at his house in Moseley, the pandemic, recording saxophone parts following a long and heroic battle with cancer. for his friends and colleagues using his home studio, Brian was also a multi-media artist. His Brian was an artist and musician, best known as iconic roundel designs can be seen on various saxophonist in UB40. The band wrote many hit buildings around Moseley and Kings Heath. songs including ‘Food For Thought’, and are best known for their versions of ‘Red Red Wine’ and From all of the team at Moseley B13 ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’. Before the release of Birmingham, our condolences and thoughts their debut album Signing Off in 1980, the band are with Brian’s family. Rest in peace, Brian. rehearsed in the basement of a derelict house in Moseley and played their first gig at the Hare and Jobe Baker-Sullivan Hounds in Kings Heath. They also recorded the Red Red Wine video at the former Eagle and Tun pub, near Curzon Street Railway Station, in 1983.

Local comedian and actor Jance Conolly MBE, known for her onstage personae ‘Barbara Nice’ paid the following tribute just after the news broke of Brian's death. “Very moved to hear the news of the loss of the genius that is Brian Travers.

So much love for him like everyone else who had the deep pleasure of ever being in his company”.

Brian Travers had toured all around the world as UB40's saxophonist, and remained a keen

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BBC News

ART IN THE TIME OF COVID:

OPEN STUDIOS 2021 Artists have had to learn to adapt to a “new normal” as art fairs, exhibitions and workshops have indefinitely been put on hold, scaled down and changed in how they are being delivered. For many, the new norm of working online, displaying and selling their work virtually, is now business as usual, so an opportunity to take part in something like BOS, (even with Covid-restrictions), is a welcome breath of fresh air for many artists and an opportunity to once again have some face to face exposure for their work.

After a year where the arts have been hit so incredibly hard, it's heartening to see Birmingham Open Studios returning once again. Taking place over two weekends, September 18/19th and 25/26th September (11am-5pm), BOS 2021 not only has more artists exhibiting than ever before, but it also covers a wider geographical area. Edgbaston, Harborne and Bearwood are included for the first time. As always there is a good cluster of artists from the Moseley and Kings Heath area which is where founder Owen de Visser started the first Birmingham event back in 2017.

Open studio events can offer an insight into the places and the ways in which artists work, that many people may never see. Art is created in dining rooms, garages, sheds or dedicated studios, and Open Studios shows the extent of this. Many of the artists taking part are allowing the public to access their studios that are normally their own private working spaces. Artists that cannot allow public access to their personal space are using public community spaces during the event. Talking to artists directly, asking them about their work, even watching some of them during the creative process, gives visitors a real feel for the artist as a person and opens up a totally different perspective- for both the visitor and the artist in a relaxed environment.

There are no expensive gallery fees or commissions for artists to pay, and no restrictions on the amount of art that can be exhibited and sold, meaning boundless opportunities for those exhibiting.

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So whether you are a curious art novice heading out alone, a group following a carefully plotted route, an art lover and collector planning to visit as many as you locations as you can, a parent with kids in tow (or kids with parents in tow), on the hunt for new art talent, or just re-visiting a favourite artist, grab a map and join in this giant art treasure hunt.

Visitors can pick up free guide books with a map of all artists’ locations, view all the artist profiles online at birminghamopenstudios.com with links.

Many of the artists involved in Open Studios this year have talked about their experience of a level of loss from sales, delayed workshops, and cancelled openings; they were already planning ways to innovate and move their careers online. Claire Cotterill spoke to me about

her experience in the last 18 months: “It’s been a challenge! Much of my work involves public participation and I’d just been commissioned to create new work for the opening of Roundhouse, Birmingham when Lockdown was announced. I quickly created a 'Collage Kit' to enable community members to participate in the project despite Covid restrictions. It worked really well and we received some fantastic collages back. I've incorporated some of them, alongside researched contemporary and historical heritage imagery, into the three large-scale collages, 'From Summerfield to Paradise' on display at Roundhouse, Birmingham, until 26th September. An Arts Council Emergency Funding Grant was a great help, as was exhibiting a new digital artwork at 'Ikon for Artists', Ikon Gallery.”

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Claire Cotterill and work

Claire’s contact details are:

and lockdown has affected his business and creative practice over the last 18 months.

07982 246178 / clairelcotterill@gmail. com. Her work can be viewed at: https://www.clairecotterill.com http://clairecotterillmosaics.co.uk Owen de Visser, professional photographer and co-ordinator of Birmingham Open Studios is also one of the artists participating this year.

We sat down with Owen and talked to him about his photography career, his new venture, and how coronavirus

“I didn’t start out thinking I wanted to be a photographer. I actually studied music technology at university which I then realised wasn't for me. I then became increasingly interested in digital photography which led to my first paid photography job as a wedding photographer. As an inexperienced photographer, a wedding is a huge responsibility. It was for a friend’s mum.

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Completely nerve wracking – and I loved it! I didn’t have the best kit and although I was inexperienced, I realised I was good at telling people what to do and where to stand for me to get those great shots. I did a couple more weddings over the following year, again for friends of friends, and then decided that I would take the plunge and do it professionally so I did a Prince's Trust course for a week and at the end of it I used some funding to buy camera equipment, a laptop and photoshop. I also started building a website and setting up social media pages. I started to see myself as a professional photographer then.

I’ve now been a professional photographer for eight years although it's really taken off in the last four years. The business has grown quite organically and has built up year after year. I do all sorts of photography, not just weddings. And I’m still running Open Studios, and the ArtsBrum website (a website to list arts events and promote artists and sell their work).

During lockdown my work basically completely dried up. I had no photography work for nine months. I worked part time in a camera shop to pay the bills. I stopped taking photos completely during the first lockdown and didn't pick up my camera for about three months, which is the longest I have ever been without taking photos since I was about 11. Instead I did other creative projects to keep my brain active. I started a screenplay, did some DJ mixing. I can’t stop being creative – it's a part of me. I just became creative in a different way.

Now with my work there is more to do around business paperwork. Contracts with clients include extra specific clauses in case there’s another pandemic, or someone becomes ill. I have a constant fear that I'm going to do one wedding, catch Covid and then have to tell another client a few days later that I can't do their wedding. I am still wearing a mask when I’m working, or visiting supermarkets etc as I can’t stand the thought of letting a client down on their wedding day.

I am busier than ever at the moment, almost too busy, but that is actually a good problem to have. I’ve been getting more and more jobs with shorter deadlines since Covid restrictions. This year is full steam ahead for me. I am going to open my new business ‘Lux Gallery and Photo Studio’, which is an amalgamation of all of my passions under one roof: art promotion, a gallery, art retail and a photography studio. Lux opens on the 13th September all being well.”

Lux Gallery and Photo Studio,13 Greenfield Crescent in Edgbaston is part of the new Edgbaston Village. You can find out more at: https://luxgallery.co.uk

Mitch Schofield

Owen de Visser 13

LETTER FROM AFGHANISTAN so quickly and back into the hands of that wretched group of people who so tormented the population 20 years ago?

The scars are still there and wounds are reopening. She said she feared the worst.

These are quotes from specific people from within Afghanistan that I’ve received over the past week. It’s not just people who’ve helped with the UK and US forces, but also people from minority faiths such as Christianity who are in danger, and people who work in the media …

From Cindy Irwin: “During class today I got a call from an Afghan friend of mine who 30 years ago was one of my students in Pakistan. She came to the US and became a nurse right here in Indianapolis! When I saw her name on the call, I told my students I needed to take it. I put the call on speaker so my students could hear. I asked how she was and immediately she started crying as she told me she had just gotten off the phone with her cousins in Kabul. They have quit their jobs, their daughters stopped going to Kabul University and are sitting at home with the doors locked, petrified of the next steps the Taliban will take. She said they couldn’t even send them money as the banks are not functioning.

Food is scarce and prices have skyrocketed. She said she felt totally helpless and hopeless.

How could Afghanistan fall

I told her that I and the people in my church were praying for Afghanistan and how sorry I was for her. As she wept I couldn’t keep back the tears. After we hung up there was a long silence as I tried to get control of my emotions.

We’ve all seen the scenes on TV but I told my students it wasn’t just stories in the news, it was happening in real time with real people, right now; my friends and their families with whom I had worked for 29 years.”

Another Afghan friend of mine who was a translator for the US troops for many years told me his family in Kabul has gone into hiding because of his association with Americans. He fears for their lives. His words: “I’m just hopeless they destroyed the country, there is no hope for having a safe and secure country anymore.”

A Christian media team posted this: "How do we address our Afghan audience at such a time as this? How do we speak to those who contact us and say it’s all hopeless?

How do we relate to seekers and believers, many who expect help to get out of the country? We don’t know how we can respond. Of 14

course, we pray, but do we help them? Should we send funds? It’s complicated, as other networks also relate to believers. We are devastated.

So much of what we’ve tried to do over the years seems to be falling apart."

Here is an email from an Afghan believer couple, Abraham and Sarah, living in Afghanistan sent to a family who work with Afghans in Greece:

"Today, the Taliban entered Kabul and took control of Afghanistan. And we could not leave the country. We have to close all our email and WhatsApp accounts for security and the Taliban have shut down the media and television in Afghanistan and may cut off the internet soon, so we may not be able to contact you again. The big problem that was created for us from Zohra, whose husband had thrown acid on her face. Her husband was in prison, and today the Taliban took over Kabul and released all the prisoners, including Zohra's husband. And her husband intends to kill Zohra and her children, as well as those who took her abroad for treatment. And he has joined the Taliban and he tries to find Zohra and us."

Whatever our faith we need to pray and remember the people whose lives and way of life are now irrevocably changed and could be under threat.

David Isgrove www.moseleyb13.com

FLIGHT FROM AFGHANISTAN tragedy, both as a waste of potential given the money, time and love spent on educating and assimilating them, and their fate at the destination – a country they last saw as a child.

Yes, Birmingham may have borne more than its share, especially considering that London boroughs were secretly housing their asylum seekers here for “reasons of cost”, but I see these people being more of a blessing than burden. This diaspora has enriched our city immensely bringing us doctors, chefs, engineers, journalists, sportspeople, artists and at least one Nobel prize winner, but it is hardly full. They are not the reason our veterans are homeless and didn’t see much of the $50,000 per head spent. I As the last flights from guess some is still on their Afghanistan arrive at fields in unexploded cluster Birmingham airport and the desperate lucky few are swept munitions but most will have off to their quarantine hotels, found its way back into our banks and hedge funds – arms they are following the path and banking being Britain’s of many before them. From biggest exports. There is a those that have served and reason Birmingham has a Gun returned in a box or with Quarter, and the Elbit drone physical and mental scars, factory is just down the road. alongside the medics that treated them at the state-ofthe-art trauma centre at the I am not going to dwell Queen Elizabeth Hospital (a gift of the conflict that I hope on the other effects of the Birmingham does not find too war on terror – the creeping much use for) to the refugees Islamophobia, radicalization of both sides, rise of the that have made their homes security state, attacks on here including many who freedom and privacy (both arrived as unaccompanied personal and of the press) but children and grew up here.

I hope that we can still be a Many were recently sent back when they turned 18 as nice country; if we aren't “a force for good in the world” “it was safe there now” – a It’s two decades this month since the shocking attack and collapse of the Twin Towers kickstarted Bush and Blair’s war on terror, and Jeremy Corbyn’s subsequent Stop the War movement. As we watch in horror at the collapse of the Western sponsored regime in Kabul following Trump’s behind the scenes deal, I reflect on the impact of the past 20 years of Afghan engagement on our city, and the deep ties that have grown up between here and there.

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then at least don't be a bad one. The scenes of people falling from planes echo the desperation of those drowned or suffocated as they try to get here, stories we have heard again and again over the last few years.

There’s also the trope of recent times that they just want free money and an easy life.

I hope that you, the people of Birmingham, open your hearts and maybe even doors to these people. If you want to help any of those mentioned in this article, there are many ways you can contribute.

Help4homelessveterans. org does what it says on the tin; combatstress.org. uk helps former servicemen and women deal with issues like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression. Kings Heath Action for Refugees are collecting clothes for those that have lost everything, BIRCH (Birmingham Community Hosting Network, for refugees and asylum seekers) are holding family befriending and hosting training and you can even go to an event held by Celebrating Sanctuary, such as the Migrant Festival at the Ikon raising money, awareness and having fun at the same time.

Max Jalil

OPEN GARDENS 2021

Moseley in Bloom's the seasonal festive lights.

The year 2020 brought Open Gardens started in quite a small way in new challenges, but we 2005, partnering up with still celebrated the gardens of Moseley, by going online. Last year’s virtual event was a great success reaching a wide audience and it was even enjoyed internationally.

Happily, for 2021, Open Gardens will be ‘real’ once again.

The Moseley in Bloom Open Gardens team is delighted to announce that the gardens of Moseley will be welcoming visitors on Sunday September 12th between 11:00 and 5:00.

We are looking forward to exploring Moseley gardens as they move into their Autumn colours.

We have a full programme of 21 gardens, including both familiar favourites and those opening for the first time. You will be able to fortify yourself with the Moseley Festival and Prosecco, tea and cakes opening up seven private en route, and enjoy live gardens for people to music performances. You visit. Over the years it can even catch our free has grown and matured dedicated MiB bus service to become that firm to help you on your way. fixture in our horticultural (All details are provided in calendar. Open Gardens is the Open Gardens booklet.) our main fundraising event Tickets at the discount of the year. The proceeds price of £8.50 have been beautify Moseley with floral available online for several displays, give gardening weeks, and from August scholarships to local 29th they will be selling schools and contribute to 16

at the full price of £10.00 online and then at selected gardens on the day.

We look forward to seeing

you on September 12th and are certain that you will really enjoy your day out and about in Moseley.

Kate Stocks, chair, Open Gardens For more details and to buy tickets, visit: https:// www.moseleyinbloom.org. uk/

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Layla Tutt

Open Gardens 2021: Secret Garden Event

Sunday, 12 September

Line-up:

12.00 Tessa Lowe intros welcome and 'poetry' 12.10 Jack Goodall (Music) 12.30 Dave Barber (Poetry) 12.40 Steve Ison (Music) 2.00 Chris Fewings (Poetry) musical accompaniment by Abi Budgen 2.10 Joe Smith( Music) 2.30 Abi Budgen Poetry and Music 4.00 Judy Tweddle (Poetry or other Performance) 4.10 Peter Churchill and possible guest Barbie Norden ( Music) 4.30 John Beynon (Poetry) 4.40 Layla Tutt ( Music)

The Secret Garden is a secluded piece of private land behind 8 Alcester Road (opposite Diwan Restaurant) available for sometime use and enjoyment by individuals and small community groups for social and artistic gatherings.

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Moseley Society History Group

Edith Blackwell Holden:

Celebrating 150 Years since her Birth

Edith Holden

Edith Holden was born on 26 September, 1871 at Holly Green, Church Road, Moseley, where she lived until 1876. She was the author of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, a naturalist’s diary for the year 1906, which recorded in words and paintings the flora and fauna of the British countryside through the changing seasons of the year. It was published in facsimile form in 1977 at a time of concern for the

vanishing countryside and nostalgia for the turn of the century, and became a bestseller. It was a private notebook never intended for publication though she illustrated several published books and completed fifty or so oil paintings.

Edith’s father, Arthur Holden, moved to Birmingham from Bristol after the death of his father in 1865, and arrived with his new wife, Emma Wearing, a well-educated governess.

He bought a firm of varnishmakers, which he turned into a successful business, Arthur Holden & Son's Paint Factory. The Holdens were Unitarians and Spiritualists who worshipped at the Birmingham Labour Church alongside Joseph Chamberlain.

Arthur Holden was a member of the Liberal Party and, 18

when Edith was two years old, he was elected to the town council for the ward of Deritend. He served on the Free Libraries, the Baths and Parks and the Gas committees. The family were all interested in literature and the arts and donated to and became involved in a range of good causes centred on Birmingham.

The family first settled in Aston, moving to Holly Green, Church Road, Moseley, in 1871 with three children, Effie Margaret, aged four years, Winifred, aged two years, and Arthur Kenneth, eleven months, and two servants,

Victorian houses in Church Road in the area where the Holdens lived

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one of whom remained with the family into old age. Within the year Edith was born,and two more children followed, Violet Mary and Charles Bernard.

Moseley was gradually expanding during the period the Holdens lived in Church Road; between 1871 and 1881 the population of Moseley increased from 2,400 to 4,200. Church Road was an ancient highway with a few cottages and John Avins’ early Victorian house (now the All Services Club), but the houses were mostly substantial detached and semi-detached new builds rented by successful businessmen like Arthur Holden.

The Holden house was somewhere below Woodbridge Road, probably between Coppice and Sandford Roads. The house was convenient for transport into Birmingham where Arthur Holden had his factory; a new station, opened in 1867, backed onto Church Road with easy access from Woodbridge Road and, in 1871, horse omnibuses going to Birmingham from the Fighting Cocks Inn were ‘very frequent throughout the day’.

The Holdens moved several times after this. In 1876, when Edith was five years old, they moved to a larger house, The Elms on Warwick Road, Yardley, where they remained until 1880/81. They then

Edith's Holden published book

moved further out into the countryside to Troutbeck, Darley Green, Packwood, where they lived until 1890,and then to Gowan Bank near Kingswood Station, Lapworth. They remained there until 1897 when they moved to Dorridge to a smaller modern house, Woodside, in Knowle, Solihull. Mrs Holden died in 1904. In 1905 the family moved to Olton, renting a much smaller, recently built house in Kineton Green Road which they named Gowan Bank.

Edith started at the Birmingham Municipal School of Art in the Elementary Class in 1884 when she was aged thirteen, studying on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings in 1884, and she was very successful there over the years. She spent 1891 training in the art of animal painting in Scotland and exhibited regularly at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists’ Exhibitions.

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1906 was the year of Edith’s Nature Notes that were published in 1977 as The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. From early in 1906 until about 1910 Edith taught art on Friday afternoons to the older girls at a private Girls’ School in Solihull.

Edith married Alfred Ernest Smith, a sculptor seven years her junior, on June 1, 1911, by special licence at Chelsea Register Office, and they moved to a flat in Chelsea behind Cheyne Walk.

Edith Blackwell Holden died on Tuesday 16 March, 1920, aged fortyeight. She drowned in the Thames near Kew Gardens Walk after supposedly reaching for a branch of chestnut buds.

Jan Berry Find out more about Edith Holden, her family and her work on our website (moseley-society/localhistory.org.uk).

Holden's illustration from The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady

MOSELEY MUNCH

A Sprinkle of Savory Magic

'Chinese Restaurant Syndrome' came to be when a letter was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1968.

The writer speculated about his cause of ailments (lip tingling, migraines, confusion) that occurred after he ate Western Chinese food stating it could be the high sodium content, soy or cooking wine OR the use of monosodium glutamate. The letter was signed “Robert Ho Man Kwok, MD Senior Research Investigator, National Biomedical Research Foundation, Silver Spring, MD." It is believed that this in fact was a hoax but the propagation of it would start a 50 year worldwide campaign against MSG and, more specifically, Chinese restaurants.

I have a distinct memory of being over at a friend’s house for dinner when I was about eight years old (in the 1980’s) and her ordering a Chinese takeaway. The first thing she said over the telephone in a serious, warning tone was “No MSG please!!!!” I recall asking her what this “MSG” thing was?

She then sat me down in a dark corner, lit a torch under her face and in a ghostly manner told me that it was called “monosodium glutamate” and that it would give you tingles, brain fuzziness and in the wake of a full moon you would start to grow hair in odd places!

MSG is a naturally occurring substance that is found in foods such as cheese, heirloom tomatoes and even breast milk. The powder form is an extraction of fermented sugar beets, starch or molasses which creates umami, “the fifth taste”, and adds depth and richness to dishes. From KFC to salad dressing, crisps and canned soups, monosodium glutamate is in a lot of things that we consume.

An outing to a Chinese restaurant of my childhood was like taking a trip to an exotic island. They embraced Hawaiian/Chinese themes where drinks would be displayed “Tiki style” with dainty paper umbrellas. Fried appetizers, even though already cooked, would have some bizarre blue volcanic live fire display within its centre. Then there were the ubiquitous make-shift paper signs in the windows that would cite “No MSG!”. Even though I have trodden through an MSG world and have come out completely unscathed, that childhood memory was enough to avoid purchasing it and using it in my cooking…until recently.

A year ago I started reading about the suggestion of adding a dash here and there in recipes. That memory of being a frightened eight-year-old came back to me.

Doesn’t that make you turn into a werewolf or something, I thought? There have been studies that suggest ingesting copious amounts of it can cause health problems, but the consensus is that there is no substantiated evidence pointing to it being 20

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harmful. Seeing as I happily consume a lot of things that probably are not considered great for me (salt, wine, fried chicken...to name a few), I decided to do my own research and go buy a bag in Chinatown. A dash of it on your tongue is reminiscent of unctuous chicken fat….it makes your salivary glands go nuts.

I then made my first 'MSG Martini' which was delightfully intoxicating in flavour and substance. I have now sprinkled it on steaks, vegetables and in quick soups which made them sing with a lot of richness and little effort.

Deep flavour can most certainly be accomplished with layering elements and time sans MSG. But there's many times when we cannot stew bones and meat for an entire day.

And for those moments when there isn’t time, I happily embrace a sprinkle of savoury magic.

For the Marinade:

Crispy Ginger Chicken Thighs with Sauteed Lettuce and Lemon Sauce

6 large chicken thighs (skin on bone in) ¼ Tsp. MSG, plus more for sprinkling

Here I have created an umami dish that is loosely inspired by the rich Chinese chicken wings of my youth and a sweet and tart lemon chicken. In addition, if you have not delighted in sautéing lettuce or popping it into hot soups, you most definitely should. MSG is of course optional. It will still be extremely tasty without it, but if you are interested in cooking with it, please do!

½ Tbsp. light soy sauce 1 Tbsp. neutral oil such as vegetable or peanut 1 Tbsp. Shaoxing wine or dry sherry 2.5 cm fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated 2 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely grated Salt For the Lemon Sauce: 80 ml fresh lemon juice 50 g caster sugar 60 ml water 2 Tsp. corn flour For the Lettuce: 2 large romaine lettuce heads washed and cut into thirds 2 minced garlic cloves 1 Tbsp. of the chicken fat Flaky salt, coriander and Chilli oil to garnish 21

fold some aluminium foil onto the bottom of the pan*.

Wipe off any excess marinade off the chicken.

Working in batches of three, place the chicken skin side down and place the heavy pan on top. Cook for 10 minutes then carefully remove the weighted pan, turn the chicken over and cook for an additional three minutes.

Sprinkle chicken with a dash more MSG, place on a warm plate in your oven and repeat.

Reserve a Tablespoon of the chicken fat for cooking the lettuce.

For the Lettuce: Heat a wok or large frying pan on high, add chicken fat and garlic and fry for about 10 seconds. Add the lettuce and stir fry until wilted and slightly browned. Sprinkle it with salt.

Deboning Instructions: Using a sharp paring knife, place the chicken thigh skin side down and cut a perpendicular slice through the meat to reveal the bone.

Using your hands and knife, scrape the meat down off the bone on either side until it comes loose. Set bones aside or freeze for chicken stock.

Plate: Plate the lettuce with some chilli oil and coriander. Cut the chicken into crisp slices and plate over the lettuce. Drizzle with a smattering of the lemon sauce... and enjoy!

Marinate: Whisk marinade ingredients together to form a loose paste. Salt the chicken and then rub the marinade into the chicken concentrating the ginger and garlic on the underside. Place in a plastic bag or dish and marinate for at least four hours or overnight. Take the chicken out of the refrigerator about 45 minutes before cooking.

*If you do not have a second heavy pan you can use any frying pan weighed down with a couple of canned goods.

This method of cooking skin on deboned chicken thighs is appropriated from the cookbook Salt Fat Acid Heat – it is a wonderful versatile method that results in a crispy rendered chicken skin and a juicy moist meat.

For the Lemon Sauce: Whisk sugar, lemon and water in a small saucepan on medium high heat then slowly incorporate the corn flour. Whisk until it boils and thickens. Set aside to reheat for serving.

Jenny Gwynne

Cook the chicken:

Jenny is “The Salty Chilli” an obsessive cook and food writer who lives in Moseley.

Preheat the oven to warm. Using two heavy (preferably cast iron or carbon steel) pans heat the larger one on medium low with two tsp. oil. The smaller pan will act as a weight so

To read more check out her Instagram @ thesaltychilli, her blog www.thesaltychilli.com 22

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Head (now The Cuban Embassy) in Moseley.

They have gone on to be invited to various events, self-curated exhibitions, organised D.I.Y events and guerrilla art installations, and transform The Art Rooms into an immersive dystopian neon-neuromantic vision of a Gibson/Gigeresque post-cyberpunk future (or present).

I visited on Saturday and in addition to the exhibition, performance met art outside as artists demonstrated their live graffiti talents, and there was even a chance to have a go yourself. The exhibition will have finished at the end of August but don’t worry if you have missed it - DMC individuals are always busy on projects. You can see some of them paint at the Junkyard jam in Crewe, at Upfest next year and there’s the High Vis graffiti festival in Digbeth on September 18th.. They say: “We are stoked with the response we have received to the Art Rooms exhibition and we are planning on getting together soon to discuss how we can make the next one more immersive. More installations, weird soundtracks and performance art are the way forward!”

Now that The Moseley Exchange has created a pop-up venue in the old Pizza Express building and are seeking ideas to fill it, perhaps DMC could be persuaded?

Meet the artists. The Distorted Minds Crew currently comprises: British artist Mose78 is based in Digbeth, Birmingham. His work ranges from Newbrow art, contemporary urban art to fine art but his roots are in graffiti. Mose78’s passion is painting large scale walls and other Just south of our patch but well worth outdoor structures but you can also find his crossing the border for is the pop-up gallery artwork in galleries such as the Ikon and in the Art Rooms in Kings Heath. The space has D.I.Y scene style exhibitions. Forming the been taken over by DMC – no, not the rap Distorted Minds Crew through many nights group from the 80s or the hosts of the World spent drinking and drawing with like-minded DJ Championships but but the Distorted creative weirdos. He’s also the co-founder Minds Crew who are just as hip (hop). The of Birmingham’s street art High Vis Festival DMC describe themselves as “eight Socially which took place in 2018 and 2019.

Awkwards thrown together to create as an Iwalkadifferentpath is known for both hand entity for the distorted”, and in my words a drawn and digital cosmic geometric shapes collective of fantastically talented artists. They merged into psychedelic patterns to form met through the infamous Dead Pixels nights some super sci-fi images which bring back of retro computers, geeks, electronica and live memories of the old skool rave flyers of the art which was most recently at Mama Roux’s 1990s. (Insta: @iwalkadifferentpath) in Digbeth, but has its origins at the Hare Monkey paints murals which channel both and Hounds, Kings Heath, and at the Bull’s

STRANGE IN THE HEAD

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old skool graffiti and illustration. He’s been recently getting some shout outs from Kid Koala and the Herbaliser about his Ninja Tunes mural tributes. (Insta: @mrmonkeysee) Crom is a street artist whose work is inspired by doom and psych metal records. Robotic skulls and twisted forms and psychedelic colours echo throughout his work.

Chunnx is an illustrator and street artist.

He creates ghost forms who seem to resonate from vintage cartoons to form landscapes which are sandwiched between a stack of alternate realities. (Insta: @ chunxxillustrations) Gillan McNally Stone aka GilRunner, is a Birmingham based artist. He's been creating for the last four years after meeting some like-minded individuals, namely the DMC. His main work is in graphite portraits but likes to work in posca to create graphic cartoon images with a twist. He also has the ‘Splat Worm’ which is his signature character and is available for commissions via instagram as @ gilrunner.

Craig Earp, is a Birmingham based mixed media Artist and an art teacher working within Special Education. Craig’s style combines abstract and psychedelic forms with a mindset which leans towards the outsider art and low brow movements. Craig is often working within art collectives such as The Distorted Minds Crew and Miasma with artists Boswell, Zeke Clough and Iksentrik, who constructed a Temple installation for Upfest street art festival in Bristol several years ago. Craig was one of the original co-founders of High Vis Festival and has collaborated with DMC members Mose 78 and Iwalkadifferentpath in forming the duo 24

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projects Attuned and Stygian. A more recent focus for Craig is producing Electronic music as part of the duo HALT who released their debut album Memory Fields on vinyl last year which received widespread acclaim. Over the past few years Craig's work has featured in many international shows and publications.

His creations have recently featured in the 'Scary Stories to Tell in the Art' exhibition in Texas USA; a show in Rome alongside the late great HR Giger; the Psychedelic Blasphemy art book by USA based Howl publications; and for the French Macabre arts collective The United Dead Artists.

Daniel & fellow DMC member, Craig Earp, produced over 40 artworks in ‘Once Upon A Time, A History Of Pantomime’, an exhibition at the Birmingham Hippodrome that lined both walls outside the main auditorium.

Void One is “a product of a broken home, hostels, council estates, gang violence, drugs and poverty. An obstreperous, angry, partially deaf, dyslexic and overly hyperactive child, given sedatives from the age of two because he used to smack his head off walls, and drive people up them. Void One was told he wasn't an artist by a faculty of sociopaths at school who just hadn't spotted he learned differently, so he stopped going, and spent his time racking pens, listening to punk music and breaking into abandoned warehouses and psychiatric hospitals.” Void One makes a living painting now, which was all he ever wanted to do in the first place.

Max Jalil 25

Gallery 12 annual arts exhibition

2021

Gallery 12 are delighted to announce that their annual art exhibition will be resumed as usual at the Woodbridge Gallery following last year’s Covid cancellation.

The exhibition displays a wide range of art forms from painting and prints, photography and cards, ceramics and sculpture to textile art and hand-crafted jewellery. Entry is free and the exhibits are available for sale.

Gallery 12 was started in 2008 by a group of 12 friends who had studied art together at Bournville Institute of Art and Design and formed lasting friendships through their interest in the arts. This creative artistic collective has gently evolved since then as some members leave and new artists are invited to join.

The 12 artists exhibiting at Woodbridge Gallery are Angela Orme, Brigitte Thomas, Christine Marshall, Irena Wyszynska, Jayne Lea, Julie Kay, Meriel Hutton, Shikha Bose, Stephanie Redfearn RBSA, Usha Khosla RBSA, Victoria Lineham, Viv Astling OBE RBSA.

The exhibition opens on Friday September 3rd from 7pm to 9pm and on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th September from 1030 am to 5 pm. www.gallery12.org

Woodbridge Gallery 47 Woodbridge Road Moseley B13 9DZ

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MOSELEY MEMORIES MAKING THINGS IS SO SATISFYING

Austin A70 Hereford

Although I was brutally rejected for Woodwork at Moseley Grammar School, I was always interested in making things, including gliders and rubber-powered planes that actually flew, and models carved by hand from solid blocks of balsa wood, suitably painted and mounted for display. Nowadays, people usually only stick plastic mouldings together, with minimal skill.

Becoming an engineering apprentice at ‘The Austin’ meant learning a new range of skills to be exploited personally. Being a design draughtsman meant solving problems so things worked as efficiently as possible.

In Production Design, I laid out a set of machines to turn aluminium castings into finished gearbox extensions for the A35. The problem was that the available space included a busy aisle. My lightly sloping overhead rail carried a simple hanger where the weight of the casting took it across to the next machine and a weighted wire pulled it back. Satisfying.

My big failure was spectacular. Press tools made all sorts of sheet metal parts for cars and were usually large steel and cast-iron structures weighing up to a ton. Many had cutting edges of tool steel which had to be hardened by heating red hot and water

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Standard Ten

quenching. I was given a turntable and asked to design a larger platform with a raised edge and channel to drain water away.

increase the compression ratio and fitted better carburettors, it was held back by the stifling effect of the silencers in the exhaust system. He came up with a brilliant solution: Despite my college training, I made no why not switch between legally silenced calculations on weight and strength, but and illegally straight-through exhaust while designed an elegant triangulated structure to in motion? The bifurcated valve, with lever join my large bath to the smaller turntable. All projecting through the car’s floor, was a machines were painted in a pale green colour, source of great curiosity in the tool room.

Coniston Green, and when the foreman in When we tested it on our measured half-mile the Press Toolroom saw my self-evidently (two trees alongside a straight road near weak structure, he leaned it up against the Alvechurch) we gained more than 15 mph and back wall, where it still stood when I left the it was by far the fastest A70 we knew. company two years later.

At that time, I had not formally learned to Foreigners drive, although I drove cars in the factory grounds quite competently. My great interest A long-standing tradition in British industry was ‘foreigners’. These were things made for was photography and I realised that I needed a clamp, to hold my camera firmly to various personal use from factory materials and with their equipment. On the shop floor, they took structures while I took pictures of landscapes precedence over company work and, although and places, using an extension lead. I made never openly approved, management turned a wooden mould, as I had learned in the Foundry Pattern Shop, and got a cast-iron a blind eye and charged it to ‘wastage’. structure made, turned a threaded lock and My mate Graham had bought a big heavy two mountings for the camera at right angles.

A70 Hereford car and was not satisfied with Painted, inevitably, Coniston Green, it is still in its performance. Even after he had brought my camera bag 60 years on. the cylinder head block in, had it milled to 28

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car showed a maximum of 58 mph. Driving around the Midlands, I never drove at that maximum or for any great time at speed, but then I had to go to London for a CND executive meeting. Although only driving at around the motorway speed limit of 70 mph, as I approached the turn off to St. Albans, a loud clattering signalled that the connecting rod bearings had melted. I drove off the M1 carefully and found a garage where I could phone, so my brother could use Dad’s car to tow me home. Rather than spend time on rebuilding my ‘Super 10,’ I sold it for scrap. A sad lesson.

Making a Fattipuff Teaching at Queensbridge School in 1975, I was asked by a friend if I could help with a problem her daughter had. Farah was a spindly 7-year old cast as a Fattipuff in a school summer play, based on André Maurois’ Fattipuffs and Thinifers. Stuffing her sufficiently for the role would be too heavy and make her sweat.

Years later, after I had trained as an English teacher, I had a flat above a butcher’s shop in Wolverhampton, including a garage at the back. By a series of odd happenstances, I found myself with three Standard 10s, one given to me and two bought at knock-down prices. While driving one to school, I took the engines out of the other two and dismantled them on paper spread over the garage floor.

Using micrometers and other measuring instruments, I carefully sorted out the least worn parts. I got some machining done on the cylinder head block and made a special induction manual in the school metalwork shop. After cleaning, all the parts went together to make the most powerful Standard 10 engine ever. Fitted in the better of the two bodies, now painted BOAC white, dark blue and silver grey, and turned over by the starter crank with spark plugs out, to make sure everything was properly oiled, it fired up at the first attempt and ran as smoothly as could be imagined.

On the Alvechurch half-mile, it achieved 82 mph. The Motor review of the original

I went back to childhood basketwork for a solution. We softened some cane in warm water and while Farah stood patiently in vest and knickers, we shaped a close-fitting chest plate hanging on her shoulders and tied with ribbons at the back. We shaped an enormous canework paunch on the front and with one of Carole’s nightshirts on, she was the fattest Fattipuff imaginable, with minimum weight and plenty of air circulation.

While her companions sweated under masses of padding, Farah stole the show at the King David School summer play. Sadly, proud mother Carole has since died, but what of spindly little Farah?

Now a retired Professor and writer, she is busy making patchwork armadillos to publicise the World Science Fiction Convention to be held in November 2024 at the SEC Armadillo hall in Glasgow (see the following website for more information: https://glasgow2024. org). As a specialist in SF, she has a long list of academic publications, her most recent being the definitive study of Robert A. Heinlein.

Quite an advance from the Farah I knew.

David Spilsbury 29

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PHLO PHARMACY

SAME-DAY DELIVERY SERVICE

The U.K.’s first online pharmacy providing a same-day delivery service, Phlo Digital Pharmacy (Phlo), has launched in Birmingham. Phlo initially launched its service in London in early 2020 and its second site in Birmingham is their first pharmacy outside of the capital.

Phlo’s on-demand, same-day delivery service combines four-hour same-day

directly with the GP and sending reminder notifications when you are due to run out of your medication.

Patients’ prescriptions are sent directly from their GP to Phlo via the Electronic Prescription Service. Phlo’s pharmacy then safely and securely dispenses and delivers their prescriptions for free in under four hours in their same-day delivery zone. The pharmacy process is fully trackable on a live map, from placing an order to a patient’s chosen

delivery location, meaning commuters or those living rurally delivery slots with regular updates and can order live tracking that provides prescriptions to, for example, their patients with a safe, reliable office, for ease. and effortless online pharmacy Since its launch in early 2020, Phlo experience. has built a loyal patient base Phlo is a registered NHS pharmacy, and its service is rated as 4.9/5 on with pharmacy hubs in London and Trustpilot. With a diverse Birmingham. Phlo also provides a patient base ranges from as young as national mail order service, with 5 to 88 years old, patients can speak 24 and 48-hour delivery across to their experienced pharmacy team the U.K, and the user-friendly app via phone, email saves patients time in ordering and managing their medication by liaising

or live chat.

Nadeem Sarwar, Founder & CEO of Phlo Digital Pharmacy, commented: “We are absolutely delighted to have launched the same-day pharmacy service in Birmingham, offering patients an easier, more convenient and, above all, a safe way to manage their prescriptions. Our Pharmacy is based in the heart of Birmingham employing local staff and courier drivers. We look forward to engaging with the people of Birmingham, ensuring that our service makes their lives easier by removing the hassle and stress of managing their prescriptions.”

Phlo is the only digital pharmacy service in the U.K. to offer same-day prescription deliveries which are trackable on a live map, and has over 14,000 registered NHS and private patients.

For more information on Phlo or to register as a patient, visit: www.wearephlo.com

WHERE DO WE ‘MOVE’ FROM HERE? Summer is nearly over... hopefully still some more sun to come! The stamp duty holiday has ended in the main part and we have hit the holiday period. So, what has happened to the housing market, and will it change?

If any other year is anything to go by then you would expect the market to pick up again come the end of August, September and October with the race for school places and Christmas beginning to loom. These are usually some of the busiest periods in the market. However, for this to happen there needs to be a shift in agents' views and how they treat those people who are not sold or not on the market. The guidelines so far have been to only view those ready to proceed with their purchase, i.e., their house is sold or first-time buyers. This was to cut down on unnecessary physical contact with viewings due to Covid. This is quite understandable.

Initially, this brought more homes to the market after the ending of lockdown. Now we have the opposite position. People don’t want to go up for sale as they may have nowhere to go with so little on the market and homes selling so quickly, with houses coming on the market they then can’t view if they would like to, and so the vicious circle goes on. If and when we get back to a normal market place then people will move for the right house. This will mean viewing a few properties and then probably putting theirs on the market so others will view it, followed by making an offer and then selling their homes. Like normal! At present this is happening but many agents are still denying people viewing until they are sold… this needs to change. Careful management of viewings will get people moving again. Until this changes then the lack of supply will mean that prices keep increasing and the market will continue to be as cut-throat as I’ve known it in 16 years of experience!

We need to take a sensible view. As it stands there is not enough on the market to satisfy demand. Now is a great time to sell but trying to find somewhere to go...well, that is the issue.

As ever for a realistic view of the current value of your home and the market in general please do give us a call. We would be delighted to help if we can.

ST MARY'S SATURDAY COFFEE CONCERTS

Live music triumphantly returns to Moseley, as St Mary’s Church prepares for another year of ‘Saturday Morning Coffee Concerts’.

25th September and 30th October are two projected dates for some light, interesting classical music.

The new season is spearheaded

by St Mary’s own music director, Michael Perrier. Mick himself is due to perform on the 25th September at 11am. "I'll be performing a fantasia on the National Anthem by composer Vernon Hoyle – hot off the press. I’ll perform some Bach, as well as the famous Albinoni Adagio. I'm hoping to be able to work up an organ arrangement of ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’!”

Ashley Lowe. Rice.Chamberlains. 0121 442 4040 "The purpose is to reach out to tried, tested and honed in other the community - to invite them venues around the midlands, to engage in music making with so will be coming to Moseley us. We offer hospitality in the well rehearsed and polished. church. We have an organisation that collects places of hospitality “I’m delighted to be singing this that people can come and be song recital at the St Mary's, sure of a welcome, and St Mary's Moseley, Coffee Concert in is one of them. On Farmers’ October. The songs are quite Market Saturday, we beef up varied in style, although they our offer with cake, scones and come from about the same time all sorts of stuff - as well as 45 period. And the Spirituals are minutes of live music, so they so beautiful and so enjoyable have somewhere to sit - they can to perform. We love them be refreshed in body and soul!" and it's wonderful to see the smiles on the listeners' faces.”

Jeanne Conard Jones is a local mezzo-soprano, familiar to readers of Moseley B13 Magazine during lockdown, who broadcasted her music “to America and Adelaide” from her back garden in Kings Heath, with people commenting from all around the world.

Jeanne will be performing her recital ‘Spirituals and Beautiful Songs’ at 11am on the 30th October. The concert Mick goes on to explain that programme has already been

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