Authors Panel – How Writers work: Loneliness and company

April 20, 2026

Join us on Saturday 30th May – 10am to 11am for a 1-hour panel discussion with three Midlands-based writers (chair Leila Rasheed, Charlie Hill & Sue Brown), including short readings from the Royal Literary Fund archive.

About this event:
Most people experience feeling lonely at some point in their lives. Sometimes this drives them to write. Many people see writing as a lonely job, but it can also bring you into companionship. In this panel, we’ll discuss how we as writers work in company and how we work alone – and whether and when ‘being alone’ tips over into …

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Stirchley Library in Pictures

October 22, 2025
Exterior view of Stirchley Branch Library. Photographed by Lewis Lloyd in 1913. Held by Birmingham Archive.

Opened in 1905, Stirchley Library is one of Birmingham’s ten Carnegie libraries, built with funding from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to bring books and learning into local communities. Designed by architect John P. Osborne, the library is a fine example of Edwardian civic architecture, with its red brick, stone dressings, and distinctive gabled frontage.

Inside, the library once featured a traditional entrance desk where librarians presided, while light filtered through skylights and tall windows to illuminate the reading rooms. Over time, spaces have been adapted – but the …

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Bournville Market (Stirchley Flora-entis)

October 14, 2025

Have you ever noticed this cheerful chappie when walking down Bournville Lane from Bournville Station towards Stirchley Library?

Or his sleepier companion – dreaming beneath a flourish of scrolling leaves, and echoing the green men that gaze from church nooks and crannies across Britain and Europe?

During Heritage Week (12-21 September), local artist Jen Dixon led a walk exploring Stirchley’s architectual flora – those stone flowers and leafy faces hidden in plain sight. It was an excercise in looking up, and noticing the overlooked details we miss in daily life.

The two faces appear on one of several surviving, intricately …

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Stirchley Library Archive

October 1, 2025

Stirchley Library has a small archive of phorographs and other documents relating to both the library and wider Stirchley and its history.

We are slowly, with the help of out volunteers, adding these to the website. Below is the list of photographs in “Box 2”.

Photographs in Box 2. View all images of the photographs in box 2 here.

Series Ref.Item Ref.Date/date estimateDescriptionNotes written on document
1031967Black and white photograph of the River Rea.R. Rea near Wychall Reservoir
1051967Black and white photograph of the River Rea.R.
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Photographs of the River Rea

Box 2-Series1/03. The rear of the image says “R. Rea near Wychall Reservoir” 1967.

These photographs are included in a small archive of photographs and other documents held at Stirchley Library. The see the list of these photographs, click here.

These photographs are “Series 1” contained in “Box 2”, and depict the River Rea along its route. They are taken at several points along the river, but each one is taken further downstream from the last.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Box-2-Series-1-No-05-1024x767.jpg
Box 2-Series1/05. The rear of the image reads “R. Rea alongside Wychall Reservoir” 1967.
Box 2-Series1/10. The rear of the image reads “Old
…

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