Life in the northern wastes of Walsall
Well, what do you know – just as I published the advert for the police pop-up event taking place at Tesco today (Friday 23rd March 2018), another email dropped into my inbox from the excellent WMNow service pointing out there there are actually four separate events today – one each in Brownhills, Shelfield, Pelsall and Rushall.
I received notice of this great event from Brownhills Policing Team via the excellent WMNow service a yesterday, advertising a pop-up meet the police event this coming Friday afternoon, 23rd March 2018 at Tesco, Brownhills from 3pm until 5pm where you can meet your local policing team and get help, crime prevention and public safety advice.
Never one to sit back and let life pass her by, that there Kate Cardigan from the wonderful Lichfield Lore is involved with another project – Lichfield Repair and Share workshop – which takes place this Friday, 16th March 2018 at the Tesco Community Room, Tesco Extra, Church Street, Lichfield from 7-9pm.
I received notice of this great event from Brownhills Policing Team via the excellent WMNow service a yesterday, advertising a pop-up meet the police event this coming Monday afternoon, 26th February 2018 at Tesco, Brownhills from 3pm until 5pm where you can meet your local policing team and get help, crime prevention and public safety advice.
I received notice of this great event from Brownhills Policing Team via the excellent WMNow service a yesterday, advertising a pop-up meet the police event this afternoon, Friday 17th November 2017 at Tesco, Brownhills from 3pm until 6pm where you can meet your local policing team and get help, crime prevention and public safety advice.
I received notice of this great event from Brownhills Policing Team via the excellent WMNow service a few days ago, advertising a pop-up meet the police event this Saturday, 21st October 2017 at Tesco, Brownhills from 3pm until 5pm where you can meet your local policing team and get help, crime prevention and public safety advice.
I received notice of this great event from Walsall Police via the excellent WMNow service today, advertising a pop-up meet the police event this Friday, 22nd September 2017 at Tesco, Brownhills where you can meet your local policing team and get help, crime prevention and public safety advice.
I received notice of this great event from Walsall Police via the excellent WMNow service today, advertising a pop-up meet the police event this Friday, 21stnJuly 2017 at Tesco, Brownhills where you can meet your local policing team and get help, crime prevention and public safety advice.
I received notice of this great event from Walsall Police via the excellent WMNow service a few days ago, advertising a pop-up meet the police event this Friday, 16th June 2017 at Tesco, Brownhills where you can meet your local policing team and get help, crime prevention and public safety advice.
It’s with some sadness that today I share the news that there will be no Canalside Festival in Brownhills this summer.
Brownhills activist, local author, top bloke and Clayhanger Kid himself, Brian Stringer has dropped me a line to share with readers important information about thus year’s Brownhills Canalside Festival, which will be undergoing a change of date and organiser this year.
Kevin Osborne of the Midland Freewheelers – the voluntary organisation of bikers who perform urgent courier services for NHS services out of hours – wrote to me a couple of weeks ago to ask if I’d thank residents and visitors to Brownhills for their recent generosity.
I briefly passed through Brownhills Canalside Festival today, and had very little time there due to having some work stuff kicking off elsewhere, but this year’s event looked superb from the photos generously supplied below by the young David Evans and old online pal Dave Tucker.
I note from the informative blog of Brownhills Councillor Steve Wade that there will be a Big Tidy Up day in Brownhills this Thursday, 3rd March 2016 organised by Walsall Council, the Town Centre and Area Partnerships.
A sad enquiry reaches me from reader Susan Forster, who’s husband has had a bit of bad luck over the New Year break.
Yesterday evening I received a lovely message of thanks to the people of Brownhills from Kevin Osborne of the Midland Freewheelers – the voluntary organisation of bikers who perform urgent courier services for NHS services out of hours.
Many of you have asked me for updates on the situation with Ravens Court, the decaying, derelict shopping precinct that lies deserted in the centre of Brownhills – you’ll remember that way back in November 2014, Walsall Council issued an ultimatum to the owners that if they didn’t submit a planning application within six months, they’d initiate legal proceedings to force the landlords to tidy it up.
Sadly, the sun didn’t make it along until late in the day, but even without the sunshine it was a great event – Brownhills Canalside Festival was back for 2015 – and with Brian Stringer at the helm, it was a a great event and a fun thing for the local community.
The Clayhanger Kid – Brian Stringer who this week requested applications for new stalls for the Brownhills Canalside Festival, has been overwhelmed by the positive response, and would like to say thank you to all who contacted him and expressed an interest.
I have another request here and a bit of a plug from The Clayhanger Kid himself – Brian Stringer – who is again organising the Brownhills Canalside Festival for 2015, this year taking place on Sunday 28th June.
This is just a reminder and a request – it’s been three months to the day since the dynamic duo of UKIPs Brownhills Councillor Steve Craddock and his best mate and Walsall Conservative former Regeneration head-honcho Adrian Andrew claimed to have brought home the bacon and hammered out some progress on the redevelopment of Ravens Court.
Yesterday, I published a post requesting suggestions for bands that might be good to play at the 2015 Brownhills Canalised Festival, which is to take place on Sunday, 28th June 2015 at the canalised in Silver Street.
Just in case you haven’t seen it (you must have done by now, surely), the Tesco Express at Streets Corner, Walsall Wood is to close for good on March 15th 2015, as part of a closure program that will see 43 stores close across the country.
Here’s an important and fun request from Brian Stringer – The Clayhanger Kid himself – who is again organising the Brownhills Canalside Festival for 2015, this year taking place on Sunday 28th June.
I’m pleased to note that despite the celebratory tones of a report in the Express & Star a couple of weeks ago, Walsall Council are reinforcing the hard line taken on the owners of the derelict eyesore in the middle of Brownhills, Ravens Court, with a strongly worded press release issued a couple of days ago.
Well, it seems congratulations are in order – Steve Craddock, UKIP councillor for Brownhills and the man whose holiday was more important than political control of a borough governing 269,000 people – has apparently brought us the bacon. Or it could be a sack of magic beans, it’s hard to tell the difference. Last week (24th…
Don’t forget that this Saturday (6th September 2014) there’s a great music and entertainment charity event at the Shoulder of Mutton pub in Church Road, Brownhills.
Local lady Susan Matthews has been in touch to ask if I’d let you readers know that there’s a great music and entertainment charity event coming up a week on Saturday (6th September 2014) at the Shoulder of Mutton pub in Church Road in Brownhills.
Police are becoming increasingly concerned for the welfare of a teenage girl who has gone missing from her home in Coronation Road, Walsall Wood, and are appealing for the public’s help in finding her.
Well, today was the day – and as it happened, it was a great event – Brownhills Canalside Festival was back for 2014 – and it’s very clear indeed that with Brian Stringer at the helm, it was a much better affair than the washout of 2013.
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Loved this pirate.[/caption]
Two Brownhills community activists lock horns in the Walsall Advertiser letters page over the subject of Ravens Court – the exchange is interesting, and deserves to be read widely.
Five years ago, when I started this blog, one of the largest looming topics was that of the then proposed new Tesco Store in Brownhills – we’d been through a consultation, and the proposal was to build a large hypermarket fronting the High Street.
I see the genius of SalmonCorporation has been at work again – this film is an uncomfortable piece of genius that needs to be spread far and wide, like it’s precursor ‘Walsall: Everything a pound’.
I like this a lot – way back in 1998, an officer for Walsall Council was given the job of taking some pictures of Brownhills town centre, the lady in question was handed a digital camera that took floppy disks, which lay filed away for 15 years until yesterday, when they came to light again.
I have to say, the weather was dire, and I didn’t arrive until late, but there was much to like about the Brownhills Canal Festival today – I don’t know if it was the poor weather or what, but there seemed a tad more atmosphere to it than usual, and I did genuinely enjoy pottering around.
The whole Brownhills-Tesco thing has left me interested in the breadth and spread of local opinion, in a way I don’t normally see it. I’m interested in theories people have, their perceptions, and what they see the future to be. I’ve also become aware of quite a lot of misconception, which is natural, but concerning…
This is a quick post to draw more attention to the rapidly growing, weird and wonderful Panoramio gallery being created by Brownhills George – Since I last featured George’s work here, he’s added loads more stuff, and it’s breathtaking.
In the miasma of stuff that passes by in the local news stream, I spotted this one from the Express & Star the other day, and It’s puzzled me…
I was too busy to pop down yesterday, but I’m very thankful to friend of the blog and long-time reader Andy Hollyhead, who popped over to the opening of the new Co-op store in Walsall Wood yesterday.
Friend of the blog Lee Braggington, Walsall Wood Group Scout Leader, has been in touch to let me know that the new Co-op store at Streets corner will finally open this coming Thursday, 21st March 2013, as I noted on my 365daysofbiking journal on Wednesday.
My thanks to Stuart Williams, curator of the Bloxwich telegraph, who spotted this short film this evening. It’s a tribute to the lost buildings of Walsall.
Watch it to the end. It’s very, very sad. A totally brilliant, beautifully animated piece of work. Turn your sound on too.
I’m a bit puzzled by a recent press release from Walsall Council Labour Group relating to recent events in Brownhills, and I wonder if readers can help me with this as I’m not certain of the facts, and feel certain there will be people out there more clued-up than I.
Reader Mick Roseblade writes in with a surprisingly common email enquiry. I’m answering this publicly, as I must have answered this four or five times by email to different people over the last couple of years. I’m not sure why it generates such interest, but here goes. Hi Bob, Another one of your avid readers….
Thanks to the keen eye of reader and friend of the blog Trevor Bond, I now know that the long awaited cycle parking at Tesco in Brownhills has arrived and been installed. Trevor alerted me this afternoon on twitter, so on the way home I popped down for a look. @BrownhillsBob Bike park being installed at…
So, the Tesco Brownhills turd polish – known by Tesco fans as a ‘refresh’ – has apparently concluded. We have nice new wooden benches for the drunks, vagrants and teens; charming flower beds, new signage and a patched-up car park. The store has had a lick of paint, and everything smells of new plastic, including…
I noticed the above item, oddly tucked onto the front page of the Walsall Express and star last night. I can’t believe they’ve just twigged this, months after Radio WM and I spotted that Tesco had got cold feet. This project isn’t just ‘delayed’; I’d tenure it’s shelved. The company have just spent money revamping…
Shopping giant Tesco, fresh from expecting the residents of Brownhills to get excited over the fact that they have painted their store and fixed a few leaks for the first time in nearly two decades, seem to be intent on creating their own little retail island. The people behind the ‘Refresh’ (a mere turd polish…
There’s something odd going on at the moment, that I’d like to get to the bottom of. I’ve now seen four separate instances of the incorrect assertion that the Senior Citizen’s protest stopped the Brownhills Tesco Redevelopment. The first was the letter in the Express & Star I dismantled a couple of weeks ago. I’ve…
The above image of water leaking from the cladding of Brownhills Tesco certainly makes you think. With buckets dotted about the store to collect other ingress, just how bad to things have to get before Brownhills deserves a decent place to shop? Rate this post…
