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Start of regular coach tours of Stratford Upon Avon with National Holidays. Today was the 3rd time we have been asked to give a commentary on a coach tour around Stratford up Avon. Todays group from the North East are all members of the University of the 3rd age, a said how much they enjoyed the tour, not just the details of the Bard, but the circumstances around the closure of the Häagen-Dazs Ice cream parlour, and the name of the horse trainer in Wilmcote, just in case they might like to place an each way bet.
We are delighted to report that Newman Brothers Coffin Fittings Factory has been granted planning permission for the restoration scheme put forward by Birmingham Conservation Trust.
We have been lucky enough to have been able to take visitors into the courtyard of the factory over the last year. We have shared with them stories of the growth and decline of the coffin fittings business, along with processes used in the manufacture of the coffin fittings, and the stories from ex workers from the business. The visits have been the cherry on the cake of our Sunday “City of 1000 trades” walking tour and a number of private Birmingham ghost walks, that during the hours of darkness have been a great backdrop to stories of burial customs, especially as there has been not lighting in the courtyard. We’ve gift aided 10% of the ticket sales of every tour we take in there, and you can either make a financial contribution or offer help as a volunteer by going to the Birmingham Conservation Trust web site.
Today’s walking tour of Birmingham takes in The Old Rep and The Electric. The Rep was the brain child of Barry Jackson, and was the start of repertory theatre in the UK. The Electric is the UK’s oldest working cinema, and may have inspired the opening of the worlds first Odeon cinema by Oscar Deutsch in Perry Bar in the late 1920’s
The starting point for our weekly Saturday City Centre Walking Tour had a ship parked on it this morning.
The ship is the stage for “The Voyage” an evening performance of dance, aerial acrobatics music and a spectacular film projection onto the Town Hall. The event marks the start of Birmingham’s contribution to the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Performance Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June at 10:00pm
