• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

For those interested in Black country History

The Black Country Society are trialing a Virtual Heritage Group, delivered over Zoom, mainly aimed at members away from the area, and those who are unable to attend the regular face to face meetings, although all members are welcome.

The first one entitled “An Ecclesiastical Affair” by Chris Baker, a fascinating story of Pensnett’s history can be seen on YouTube…

 
Having read the mailing again it looks like the live recordings will be put on the YouTube channel a few weeks later, so you could subscribe and obtain notifications.
 
One hour video talk from the Black Country Society talk on the Cradley Heath Chain-makers lock-out by Andrew Homer.

 
Not only a good History to do with industry etc , they've had some good comedians down through the years Anuch and Ayli , Harry Harrison poet (a good laugh though) and Dolly Allen
 
The Birmingham Post, Thursday, April 17, 1975.

"It was a very cruel life and a very hard life"_ and the Black Country Society is determined not to lose sight of its heritage, typified by these two pictures. Left: workers at the Josiah Parkes factory in Willenhall in 1922 and, right, chainmakers at Crodley Heath photographed in 1910.


IMG_3401.jpeg
 
Also from the above article…Wonder if he ever completed this venture ?

Harold Parsons at work in his Kinver home on the latest venture- a Black Country dialect translation of the Bible, "We get criticised, but its our dialect," he says.

IMG_3402.jpeg
 
Gaffer Parsons e writ the gospels along o Kate Fletcher a while agoo in the spake.

The Gospels in Black Country Dialect Paperback – 31 Oct. 1989​

by Kate Fletcher (Author), Black Country Society (Author), Harold Parsons (Editor)

Er also edited some ov the Ole Testament.

Of course, they didn't work from Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic texts but probably from the King James Version.
There isn't any standardised way of writing down the accent and many of the grammatical constructions and vocabulary have fallen from use. A bibble woz a cobblestone wen I woz a kid.

There's some academic interest in the dialect these days amongst linguists like Esther Asprey and creative writers like Liz Berry, Rob Francis, Emma Purshouse and others. Anna Lawrence published a novel 'Ruby's Spoon' with Chatto and Windus who also publish Liz Berry. Anna's editor made her take out some of the dialect.

As a literary form Black Country can be somewhat artificial as the grammar and vocabulary fall away with succeeding generations. I confess I'm more interested in new writing in the dialect and out of it.
 
Next live Virtual Heritage Group features 'Black Country Miners - A Struggle for Justice', by Keith Robinson.
7.30pm, Wednesday, 13 December 2023.

The book is very informative in an area not well covered, the talk usually appears on YouTube a couple of days later.
 
Two centuries of boat building.

Next live Virtual Heritage Group features talk by Geoff Taylor on the history of a boatbuilding family that had its origins in the Black Country in the early 19C. Geoff is the great-grandson of Joseph Taylor who had a boatyard at Herbert’s Park, Darlaston in the late 1800s. ( via Zoom. No charge for members or non-members - email [email protected] for Zoom log in details…Normally placed on YouTube a couple of days later.)

15 January 2024 at 7.30 pm
 
Last edited:
Herewith are details of the next Friends of the CMHC seminar (online):

​

“Opening up”: telling the stories of 1940s-1960s life at the Black Country Living Musuem

Dr Simon Briercliffe

Thursday 18 January 2024

7:00 – 8:30pm

In 2023, the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley opened the first buildings in its £30m Forging Ahead project. The new shops, homes and public buildings tell the story of life in the post-war period in this West Midlands region. This talk will reflect on the opening of the new areas of the museum, and the challenges and benefits of telling stories of everyday life, industry, immigration and other subjects through living history interpretation.

Dr Simon Briercliffe completed his PhD on the Irish in nineteenth-century Wolverhampton at the University of Birmingham in 2022 and is now an Honorary Research Fellow at the University. He is also a researcher at the Black Country Living Museum, covering the whole of Black Country history with a recent focus on the post-World War Two era. His first book, Forging Ahead: Austerity to Prosperity in the Black Country 1945-1968 was published in 2021, and his second, 50 Years of Bangla Brummies, in 2023, part of a community history of the Bangladeshi community in Birmingham.

TicketSource (no charge) for Zoom meeting

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/friends-of-the-centre-for-midlands-history-and-cultures
 
mikejee said:
Herewith are details of the next Friends of the CMHC seminar (online):

​

“Opening up”: telling the stories of 1940s-1960s life at the Black Country Living Musuem

Dr Simon Briercliffe

Thursday 18 January 2024

7:00 – 8:30pm

In 2023, the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley opened the first buildings in its £30m Forging Ahead project. The new shops, homes and public buildings tell the story of life in the post-war period in this West Midlands region. This talk will reflect on the opening of the new areas of the museum, and the challenges and benefits of telling stories of everyday life, industry, immigration and other subjects through living history interpretation.

Dr Simon Briercliffe completed his PhD on the Irish in nineteenth-century Wolverhampton at the University of Birmingham in 2022 and is now an Honorary Research Fellow at the University. He is also a researcher at the Black Country Living Museum, covering the whole of Black Country history with a recent focus on the post-World War Two era. His first book, Forging Ahead: Austerity to Prosperity in the Black Country 1945-1968 was published in 2021, and his second, 50 Years of Bangla Brummies, in 2023, part of a community history of the Bangladeshi community in Birmingham.

TicketSource (no charge) for Zoom meeting

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/friends-of-the-centre-for-midlands-history-and-cultures
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike

I didn't know about the book so just bought it from https://historywm.com/podcasts/forging-ahead where Simon Briercliffe also has a podcast.
 
Black Country Society.

'The Brunels, the Great Western and the Black Country', by Felix Schmid.
7.30pm, Wednesday, 24 January 2024, at Bilston Town Hall, WV14 0AP.
Admission: Members Free - Visitors £4.
 
Pedrocut said:
Two centuries of boat building.

Next live Virtual Heritage Group features talk by Geoff Taylor on the history of a boatbuilding family that had its origins in the Black Country in the early 19C. Geoff is the great-grandson of Joseph Taylor who had a boatyard at Herbert’s Park, Darlaston in the late 1800s. ( via Zoom. No charge for members or non-members - email [email protected] for Zoom log in details…Normally placed on YouTube a couple of days later.)

15 January 2024 at 7.30 pm
Click to expand...

 
Black Country ghosts and hauntings

“The next Virtual Heritage Group meeting will be on March 18th at approximately 8.15 (later than normal) and will be preceded by the Society’s AGM at 7.30. Details of the AGM have been sent out separately. The talk at 8.15 is entitled “Black Country ghosts and hauntings. Haunted Highways” by Andrew Homer. A summary of the talk is given below. There is no charge for members or non-members – please email [email protected] for Zoom log in details.”
 
Black Country Society…The April Virtual Heritage Group Meeting

Gornal Wood - the transformation of a Black Country Village by Ward Jones Monday 15th April 7.30pm via Zoom.

No charge for members or non-members - email [email protected] for Zoom log in details

The underlying theme of the talk will be how, especially in Victorian times, the village changed dramatically after centuries of isolation. Ward will explore the unchanging years, why and how change came, and some of the consequences.

(Normally this will appear on YouTube after a few days)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top