A Midland Arts Centre for Young People

This autumn the Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) has been celebrating its 60^th anniversary with a programme of theatre, exhibitions, live events and creative courses. Founded as the Midlands Arts Centre for Young People in 1962, it was the brainchild of John English and his wife Mollie Randle.

Born in Dudley in 1911 into a family with a keen interest in theatre and the arts, English participated in amateur theatre productions from a young age. Educated at Dudley Grammar School and Bishop Vesey’s, Sutton Coldfield, from 1929 he was employed as an industrial chemist by the glass makers, Chance Brothers, Smethwick, until he took early retirement in 1948, at the age of 40, in order to dedicate more time to his life-long passion of theatre.

The Midlands Arts Centre seen from across the lake in Cannon Hill Park

During the 1920s and 1930s, he was involved in the amateur theatre group, the Highbury Players, which took its name from his family’s home where the group originally met. By the mid-1930s it had become apparent that a dedicated theatre space was required to progress the work of the Players and so between 1935-1942, English and the other members set about fundraising and constructing what became the Highbury Little Theatre.

Mollie Randle, a former student at King Edwards High School, also had a love of theatre and the arts as a child, and after leaving school became involved in amateur dramatics in her free time while working in an accountancy firm and as a civil servant. It was as a member of the Highbury Players, where she helped to establish the Highbury Little Theatre, that she met her future husband, John.

Tribes: How our need to belong can make or break the good society by David Lammy – A review

 

Although I had heard of David Lammy, it wasn’t until I heard him speak so powerfully about the Grenfell Tower fire on Channel 4 news in June 2017, that I really began to take notice of him and heard someone in power echo some thoughts I was thinking about this tragedy. You may have been aware of him throughout his political career whilst in government with the Labour party, through his Twitter persona, or when Lammy speaks out about the injustices of the Windrush scandal, giving a voice to members of society who we rarely hear from. When I saw that Lammy had recently written a book called ‘Tribes’ I was intrigued by what he had to say about what has certainly been a more turbulent period in society than I have seen in my life, where people seem more divided and tribal than ever.

Fleeting Moments – Every Moment Matters

Here at the Iron Room, we are proud to support our community and especially those who do good work for its residents. The John Taylor Hospice is one such organisation. They have launched an appeal for contributions to an exhibition they will be holding at the Library of Birmingham, opening in November 2020, to mark their 110th anniversary, and are asking people across Birmingham to create and donate a ‘fleeting moment’ in the form of a fabric bird which will form part of the exhibition.

For those who are not familiar with the John Taylor Hospice, it was founded in 1910 as The Taylor Memorial Home, by Dr. Mary Darby Sturge, in honour of her colleague Professor John Taylor, a renowned gynaecologist, who had died only a few months earlier in February 1910.

The Home began as a hospice for women with terminal cancer in Park Road, Sparkhill, with space for only 5 to 6 patients. The following year, in 1911, it moved to Showell Green House in Sparkhill, and could then accommodate up to 20 patients. During this time, it was affiliated to the Birmingham Women’s Hospital, formerly The Birmingham and Midland Hospital For Women, and would receive, and care for, terminally ill patients from the Women’s Hospital.