There was a terrible plane crash at Digbeth Midland Red bus depot last night. The German are not coming any more so it was one of ours, and the three crew men were killed.
Followed by SATURDAY 25th MARCH 1944 We went to Granma and Grandad’s for dinner and everybody was talking about the plane crash. There was a picture of the firemen looking at the wreckage in Thursday night’s Evening Despatch and another in yesterday’s Birmingham Gazette. Granma said she had shed a few tears for the men. People in the Bull Ring saw the plane in difficulties and then saw it nose-dive on the bus depot. It hit a Midland Red bus which was outside and then reared up onto a workshop and burst into flames. One of the crew was pulled out by a police sergeant from Digbeth Police Station across the road but the man was already dead. Last night’s Birmingham Mail said that one of the men who was killed was Sergeant Observer Wireless Operator David Huddleston. Before he joined the R.A.F. he used to work at the Alliance Assurance Co. Ltd. in town, only half-a-mile from where the crash was. His father Mr. R.R. Huddlestone lives at 220 Chelmsley Lane, Marston Green. Four Birmingham City bus conductresses were sitting in the Midland Red bus station just before the crash but went to have a cup of tea in the canteen, so they were not hurt, but I feel very sad about the airmen.
If anyone can help me find any more information that would be great. You can read this wonderful diary here:
well first i feel i should start by giving a hearty ‘Cheers m’ Dear’ to Nicky for trusting me with a login for this excellent source of all things Digbeth related.I’m Midge (the Diabolik bit is a FaceBook ‘thing’), i occasionally blog Here and often slog around Digbeth and it’s fringes attending various gigs typically of the ear bleeding variety. I’ll probably mostly be posting up music type events but i’ll try and mix it up with some other relevant stuff that comes my way, i promise to try my damndest not to nause it up and lower the tone.
So to ease in gradually here’s some events this Weekend…
On Friday promoters Wacky Weird and Wonderful present another great line-up at The Old Wharf with the Black Bombers, LoveKate KillGeorge and veteran Brum punks Dead Wretched headlining, £5:00 admission.
Also on Friday in an always entertaining quirky Alt. Country vein Bo Pilar & The Mountain Valley Boys play The Moseley Arms (no flyer so here’s a YouTube clip of an early gig at Digbeth’s Wagon and Horses, he’s learnt all the words by now i assure you), i believe this gig is Free Entry (go twice!)
Saturday is a full day of class retro riffs and quiffs with the Second Birmingham Rhythm ‘n’ Booze Rockabilly Alldayer at The Irish Centtre ft.The Excello’s, Bill Fadden and Slim, Slip ‘n’ the Sliders, 3PM till 3Am, £18:00 admission
Some interesting things have come to my attention that are beyond the Digbeth borders (yes, I do occasionally look beyond them). Here are a few:
Oubliette
Above is Pete Ashton’s lovely ‘Through the Viewfinder’ picture of the sad, neglected Curzon Street Station, which as Pete rightly says, ‘seems such a waste, sitting there in the middle of nowhere like an old man abandoned by the next generation, or something.’ Pete’s post touches on the whys and wherefores of the council seeing fit to watch their pennies and board the place up rather than allowing interesting things to happen there and concludes that ‘something needs to be done’.
Too right, and if the current owners don’t have the means to do anything with it or allow others do so….how’s about just moving in and taking things over in the style of Dan Simon’s London Oubliette? This isn’t squatting, mind. Oh no: ‘They are using the enormous empty space to run what they refer to as an “artshouse”, an independent cultural organisation called the Oubliette (“the dungeon” in French), which aims to support the arts without the need for public or private sector funding.’ Right then, where did I leave my crowbar…?
Dumbo
No, not the big-eared baby elephant. Helga Henry has flagged up the rather brilliant dumbonyc.com, a site for the New York neighbourhood where ‘these old factories have been converted into luxury lofts and old warehouses into art galleries and theaters….Dumbo is not quite Brooklyn brownstone and not quite Manhattan glass condo. With its exposed Belgian block streets anchored by massive bridge structures, Dumbo has a unique character all its own.’
Sound familiar? Yep, Helga thought so too and already has ‘a whole Birmingham/Brooklyn and Digbeth/Dumbo comparison thing going on in my head.’ By far the best thing about Dumbo is, of course, its name, which ‘was conceived by resident artists as a way to make the area sound silly and unattractive to people looking to buy real estate here.’ Is that all we need to do to guard against the over-gentrification of Digbeth? Give it a slightly silly name? Suggestions in the comments box, please…
Grand Opening
Chris Unitt discovered Grand Opening, I’m guessing whilst doing some research for the now-open Created in Birmingham shop in The Bullring. Grand Opening, another one from New York, ‘create interactive stores and events that get public attention and engage the community’. They take over stores for about 6 weeks and theme them up beyond recognition, turning them into environments that range from a wedding chapel to a drive-in cinema. Let’s face it, the empty shell of the now-closed Cocoon store on the High Street will need something pretty spectacular to fill the latex shoes they left behind. Perhaps we take a leaf out of Grand Opening’s book and turn it into something extra special.
YouTube – digbeth, Birmingham, UK – I *think* I know where filmer Kraftwekmod is standing. Anyone to comment the place I have in my head wins a bag of nuts.
bethdig – A tumblr site created by Pete Ashton, here he ‘tracks the Digbeth tag on Flickr for the good stuff so you don’t have to’. So basically a site of lovely pics of Digbeth.
4am Project in Digbeth – I inevitably did Karen Strunks’ amazingly successful 4am Project in Digbeth and found it a strange experience. First I went past St Anne’s Church and down Cheapside, which was very quiet and quite peaceful.
But when I hit the High Street things started to get a bit lairy and hairy. It was full of drunken raised voices, people staggering about or squaring up to each other and taxis practically kerb crawling me to get in them. The scariest part was when I went into the Devonshire House site at the back of the Custard Factory to find some horrible little man was watching me from the entrance, blocking my path and waiting for me to come out. I psyched myself up for God-knows-what only to be asked, “D’ya know the way to Sparkbrook?” No. Go Away.
And then there’s the photo of the guy holding his hand up to hide his face – although he was reluctant his rather angry girlfriend insisted I snap him and I was far too terrified of her to refuse. Underneath the blue arches of the Allison Street car park felt like a tranquil haven after the madness along the main road.
Here’s a slideshow of my efforts. The girl climbing over the High Street railings in her quest for a taxi and the poor Salt ‘n’ Pepper’s staff clearing up after a busy night of kebab serving are my favourites.
As Digbeth tries to clear it’s collective head after possibly the best St Patrick’s Day ever it is time to look forward once again. Perhaps not only forward but upwards, up 27 stories in fact.
I’ve spent some time reading the BCC release on it’s Mipim site re the proposed Beorma Quarter at the top of Digbeth High St and these couple of paragraphs have caused me to return to this piece again and again:
“In medieval England, enclosed fields extending the confines of a medieval settlement were called burgage plots. The original Birmingham settlement consisted of over 300 burgage plots, of which the seven that remain are all located on the site of Beorma Quarter.
The staggered form of the proposed 27 storey tower has been purposely designed to reflect these remaining burgage plots, with seven defined zones within the building. By extruding in three dimensions, the building is giving a physical form to the original land ownership at the heart of historic Birmingham.”
The Eastside Bloghas some handy impressions of the size of the beast.
I can’t help but ask if there might be a better way to “Give a physical form to the original land ownership at the heart of historic Birmingham?”
It’s worth a hell of a lot. Capsule, organisers of the fantastic Supersonic Festival rather tellingly say their ‘success has happened in spite of the city rather than because of it’. Their suggestions to make Digbeth blossom as a cultural quarter are:
Why do people get on planes and trains to come to Supersonic – because we offer them a totally unique experience of the highest quality. There is a real opportunity to acknowledge what makes Birmingham a unique city and invest in independent and niche activity. Steer clear of a homogenised approach – learn from those that do it well and have a track record.
Lets learn from other cities like Berlin, Glasgow and Manchester and take risks with our empty buildings – an opportunity to invest in content to be housed in these empty spaces to animate the area, lets not be so precious i.e. noise restrictions – creativity is often loud and messy lets embrace and celebrate this.
Encourage more creative companies to have the opportunity to be able to buy their own buildings rather than be tied to short-term leases.
Create flexible spaces that can house a variety of activity which changes from week to week, this will keep the area vibrant.
Don’t just invest in a couple of landlords this creates a monopoly.
Lets get the basics right – look at infrastructure: cash points, post offices, signage, and streetlights.
Think about the visitors experience as well as what its like to work in this area, lets make it the highest quality experience – currently feels like quite an intimidating, unfriendly area.
Creative quarters need to grow organically, invest in supporting growth rather than imposing structured ideas of what you think creativity should be.
Whilst in The Spotted Dog last night a guy told me his take on the origins of the name Digbeth. According to him, Digbeth used to be wet marshland ducks loved to wash themselves in. Hence Duck Bath, which became Digbeth. John Mostyn was unconvinced by this explanation, but I’m blogging it anyway because I want it to be true.
