I hope that regular visitors have found the items I’ve posted on this site over the last two years or so of some local and general interest. This website will remain up and running and some of the items will, hopefully, be useful references or have some lasting value. However, I will not be able to make new postings or other additions to the site for about twelve months. Please refer to my blog at  http://michaelwilkesblog.blogspot.com where further information can be found.

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Or perhaps that should be ‘raining’! Despite the inclement weather, this year’s Middle-earth Weekend attracted many visitors from far and near to our wonderful and unique volunteer-led event based at Hall Green’s Sarehole Mill.

Our first photo shows the Cirith Ungol climbing wall on the Saturday, complete with giant spider at the top and with suitably lowering clouds.

Bravely defying the elements, the exhibitors, performers and visitors made the most of the traditional atmosphere, and much was discovered about J.R.R. Tolkien, our local heritage and Middle-earth in Birmingham - not to mention the local weather!

Our second photo shows Vivienne Wilkes and the Shire Productions team at their Moseley Bog ‘encampment’ following their Sunday performances of dramatised extracts from The Lord of The Rings.

Congratulations and thanks to all those who were involved for their hard work and dedication. Very much appreciated by everyone who attended this unique event in Birmingham.

The internet can be an interesting and surprising place. I’ve recently received some very nice emails from a former local resident who is now an expatriate living in Chile. I thought you might like to see what he had to say:

Dear Michael,

For some reason I typed in Beechcroft tennis Club into Google and came across your site. The photo of the clubhouse brings back so many memories, most of which should probably never be published, of my youth. Fifty years ago I lived in Wycome Road and spent most of my free time with other teenagers at the club. I even recall winning the mixed doubles tournament [sometime around 1955] when, due to a lack of young ladies, I played as a member of the other sex! I also recall the Friday night Whist tournaments to which I took my mother. Both a long time ago and nowadays on the other side of the planet. I am pleased to see that the club has survived the times and still projects the same objectives.

Finding your site fascinating. I started reading back issues and came across reference to David Hardy and his DVD about Hall Green. You should know that my children went to school in six different countries and two of them have triple nationality.

Hard copy evidence of the family’s early years has mostly been lost along the way. David’s DVD is a “must have” sort of thing.

Michael Sharpe

San Vicente Tagua Tagua,

Region Vl

Chile

Whatever else you do this weekend don’t forget to look in at Hall Green’s unique Middle-earth Weekend. There’s nothing else like it anywhere.

Of course there are many attractions to do with JRR Tolkien who lived nearby as a child and who took his ideas for the landscape and the people of The Shire from his surroundings in old Sarehole - a surprising amount of which can still be seen today.

But our two-day event attracts all who like the deliberately old-fashioned family atmosphere with lots of activities and medieval crafts, blacksmith, dancing, singing, drama and much else besides. Let’s all make the most of this while we can!

A recent interesting article in the Friends of the Earth Birmingham ( www.birminghamfoe.org.uk ) newsletter on water footprints reflected on the surprising demands that are placed on water supplies and the environment by the production of everyday items such as foodstuffs.

For example, no less than 12,500 pints of water are used, all told, in the production of one pound of beef. Chicken rates 3,200 pints a pound while an average cup of coffee requires the use of about 245 pints of water. Cotton places high environmental demands too, with a single shirt coming in at around 4,700 pints of water.

(Many more interesting examples of water requirements can be found at  www.waterfootprint.org  although you might have to contend with measurement in Litres and Kilos).

Readers might be interested in a related item that I have posted on my blog, which can be found at http://michaelwilkesblog.blogspot.com concerning the disastrous consequences of negligent mismanagement of water resources (related to cotton production) in the tragic desiccation of the Aral Sea.

The work of Hall Green Preservation Group chaired by Councillor Paula Smith continues to bear fruit. As a result of HGPG initiatives, the Council’s Planning Committee recently added several buildings in Hall Green to the Local List of buildings, structures and features of architectural, archaeological and historic interest. While local listing does not give statutory protection, it is often a step towards that and it means that a full effort from the City Council for their protection is warranted. Inclusion in the Local List at Grade A means that the Conservation Team will request the Secretary of State to adding the buildings to the Statutory List. The approvals were:

Millmead, 273 Wake Green Road (A). The present house was built around two former cottages and substantially extended around 1910. Older materials may have been used in the rebuilding.

Church of St. Peter, Highfield Road (A) Completed in 1964 to the design of local architect Norman T. Ryder, the church is of mainly reinforced concrete construction. The stained glass east window of five lights is by Tristan Ruhlmann.

256-266 Wake Green Road (B) A group of cottages built in 1892. One of them was originally number 5 Gracewell and was one of the Birmingham residences of J.R.R. Tolkien who lived there from 1896 to 1900.

Springfield Court, Stratford Road (B) Built in 1936 to the design of architect A. Peter Hing, the building shows clear Art Deco influence.

Petersfield Court, Stratford Road (B) Also influenced by the Art Deco movement and built in 1934. Possibly designed in collaboration with Francis W. B. Yorke RIBA.

Petersbourne Court, Petersfield Road (B) Also with clear Art Deco influence and built in 1935 and designed by Arnold and Hewitt.

Number 38 Hamlet Road (B) Nineteenth Century Domestic Revival in style with half-timbered gables and star shaped chimneys. One of a number of houses built by Fred Daniel Deebank for John Simcox of Stratford House, Bordeseley.

Webb Lane and Paradise Lane bungalows (B) The prefabricated bungalows behind the historic field hedges in spacious settings. They were constructed in a style typical of Boulton and Paul of Norwich. They were built in the 1920s on former agricultural land.

The Dingles – various elements (B) Four Arches Bridge, Whirl-hole Bridge, the further foot bridge, Sarehole Mill race, Trittiford Mill tail race, Chinn Brook mill race and the Ridge and Furrow field. These are part of a complex of historic structures and associated landscape forming an important area of open space important to nature conservation originally serving Sarehole and Trittiford Mills.