On Saturday 12 August residents of Highgate and Bordesley Residents Forum joined friends from Balsall Heath on a coach trip organised by the volunteers of Birmingham Peoples History Archive. On the journey were many who had participated in the Everyday Heritage Grants: Celebrating Working Class history project funded by Historic England.
These community-led and people-focused projects aim to further the nation’s collective understanding of the past, with a focus on heritage that links people to overlooked local historic places and celebrates working class histories.
The BPHA has recorded dozens of oral interviews with many retired workers whose factories and industries have now closed. A part of the project saw two schools in Birmingham hear the stories of these workers and produce school art work with professional artists to interpret what they had learnt from our disappearing industrial heritage. An exhibition during Birmingham Heritage Week will display many of the activities of the BPHA during this project. The exhibition can be seen at the BPHA rooms at the Birmingham & Midland Institute, Margaret Street where the BPHA is based. The coach trip was an opportunity for the retired workers, archive volunteers and the local community to reflect on the project at a wonderful industrial heritage museum. Many abiding friendships have been made over the last twelve months and the BPHA has learnt an awful lot. The support of Historic England has helped build our capacity and develop stronger links with the community.
Story of the day.
Hello, I’m Fred and I went on the BPHA’s (Birmingham People’s History Archive) community trip to Nottingham Industry Museum. I am 12 years old and a year seven student in Birmingham, I live in Balsall Heath.
I thoroughly enjoyed the trip to this fascinating museum! I think it was good for the community to get together and learn about our nation’s history.
At around 9 am on Saturday 12th August, around 50 people had come, and we all got on the coach. There was no space spared, and we all got in and settled down for the one-and-a-half-hour trip.
On the way there, I chatted with my best friend who had come as well. We also listened to music on the MP3 player.
When we got there, everyone was suddenly excited because we had spotted a park and a large deer reserve on the grounds around the museum.
We all piled out of the coach and got all the stuff we wanted. Then, we headed in.
We were welcomed by the view of an open courtyard and walked in through its entrance. We were then guided into the main building.
Inside, they had many intuitive toys for the younger kids to play with. One such one was a gyroscope that would go back and forth upon a suspended piece of string on only one wheel. This, even I, a 12-year-old boy, found interesting.
They had various challenges for kids to complete and get stamps on their card. For example, they could design something to help lace workers be comfortable while working.
After helping my younger brother and sister do this, I went in to look at all the vehicles in the gallery. It was amazing how many different old vehicles they had in there. There were motorbikes, cars, coaches and even a penny farthing bicycle. I loved seeing all those old coaches.
We were even there to see a replica of one of the old lace machines working to see how it worked. It was cool to see one in live action!
I then went into the steam hall and saw all the different steam engines that were developed around that time to help with production in the local lace industry.
After this, we had some food in the restaurant area outside the café.
Then, to all the kids’ excitement, we went to the park. As we were going down to it, we spotted a herd of deer that had settled and the youngest among us ran towards them. After this fleeting pursuit, we finally got to the park and had some well-earned fun.
At the end of this, we got back on the coach and went back to Birmingham.
Overall, I found the visit to the museum very informative about Nottingham’s industrial history.
Fred, aged 12
Birmingham People's History Archive 
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