Posts Tagged ‘backtobacks’

Engaging Places

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

English Heritage and CABE (The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) have launched a new website which helps teachers make the best use of outside space and historic buildings in their teaching. The site is called Engaging Places and explains what it is for:

Learning about the built environment is about learning to see the value of well-designed spaces, and to understand the relationship between the natural environment and the local community. Young people can learn about the built environment in the classroom and the school grounds or through the buildings and spaces that make up our cities and streetscapes.

Learning about the built environment is about learning to see the value of well-designed spaces, and to understand the relationship between the natural environment and the local community. Young people can learn about the built environment in the classroom and the school grounds or through the buildings and spaces that make up our cities and streetscapes.

The most popular built environment activities are:

* school visits to buildings and places
* school-based projects using external learning providers, architects and designers
*  creative learning projects on the Building Schools for the Future (BSF)  programme and school design processes.

But built environment education can also take the form of:

* projects focusing on the relationship between people and places
*  using spaces to enhance learning
* conducting a maths class in the school playground
* students’ exploring their own communities and local built environments.

There are 300 ideas about places to visit and for Birmingham they recomend our last big project The Back to Backs and Selly Manor.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Heritage News, Other sites, Websites | No Comments »

Old film of Back to Backs in Birmingham

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

There are few things more seductive than old film. Jon Bounds has been rootling through the online footage at  MACE — that’s the Media Archive for Central England.

There is a 1956 colour film about living in Back to Backs which I’ve added there:


Get the Flash Player to see this player.

The blurb from the original page tells us:

We see shots of terraced houses included back-to-back properties filmed from the top of St Alban’s church tower in Highgate, Birmingham. The panorama also shows factories, warehouses, back yards and children playing in areas planned for redevelopment. We then see more scenes of Birmingham life prior to redevelopment including children in a school playground and classroom and work in a small engineering factory. Using maps and diagrams and a voice over the film explains how several areas in Birmingham are to be redeveloped focussing on the Bath Row and Gooch Street areas of the city. We also see establishing shots of St Alban’s Church, the ruins of St Thomas’s Church on Bath Row which were badly damaged during a bombing raid in 1940. Not all of the old terraces are being demolished and we see a street that is being refurbished and improved. We then see the exteriors of new flats, houses and maisonettes in the Bath Row and Duddeston areas that have recently been constructed as well as new premises for P & M Jig and Tool Co. Ltd.

The Back to Backs are incredibly imprtant to the trust because our most recent major project restored Court 15 Inge Street before handing the buildings over to the National Trust to run as a locally and nationaly significant historical atracton.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Birmingham News, Film | No Comments »

Could you reach out from the Back to Backs?

Tuesday, May 15th, 2007

The National Trust is looking for two new people to help them reach members of BME communities in the West Midlands. The four year “Whose Story” project will include work to involve a wider range of communities in contributing to and understanding the Back to Backs – the biggest project yet undertaken by the Birmingham Conservation Trust. The advert tells us:

To ensure that Black and Minority Ethnic communities are also involved in our unique work across the
West Midlands as visitors, volunteers and employees, we are embarking on an exciting four year programme of work with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

As one of two Outreach Officers you will work with community groups to create new resources and deliver a series of outreach projects at the Back to Backs (Birmingham), Wightwick Manor (Wolverhampton), Croome Park (Worcestershire) and Charlecote Park (Warwickshire).

You will need experience of outreach work with BME groups in a heritage, arts or community context.

The jobs will be based in Birmingham. Applications close on May 25th 2007 and you can find more details by using the search facility at the NT website.

Tags: ,
Posted in Birmingham News, Heritage News, Heritage jobs, Volunteers | No Comments »