Guin Round The Wrekin

“GUIN ROUND WREKIN”The (Going the long way round)

(Going the long way round)

What we’re about:

As visual communicators, our aim through this magazine is to give a more personal and familiar perspec-tive of Birmingham using illustration, photography and graphic design. We are taught to notice even the smallest things in Visual Communication as they may end up being the most significent aspect in our work; in Birmingham, the simplest experiences can be the most memorable.

Who we are:

Callum Carr Tom BennettDaniella Birtley

Find our ident on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KIM3krgPQE

The Birmingham Markets:

NOTHING goes to waste...

Photography: Tom Bennett

The Birmingham Markets:

NOTHING goes to waste...

The Bull ring indoor market is an extraordinary cultured place home to some of the weirdest foods you’ll ever encounter. Opened in 1962 the market is one of Birming-ham’s main attractions with a world famous food hall which provides an interesting selection of meats and fish. Despite the fact last year the market was shut down for several days due to an outbreak of cockroaches and mice, the place still thrives with people fro all different cultural backgrounds. If you’re into trying new foods or just out there for a bargain, get down to the bullring market and see what it has to offer. One of the strangest parts to the market is the foreign animal parts and organs they sell. In one stall there are all different parts to a sheep and a pig I didn’t even realise were edible. Amongst the foods for sale there were sheep heads, brains, lungs, livers and tongues which are surprisingly big. Then on the other side they had pig heads, hooves, tails and even the snouts. If decapitated farm animals doesn’t attract your stomachs there’s always the fresh fish section, in some cases there abit too fresh i.e. still living. This might be abit off putting for some but with Birmingham’s huge diversity there needs to be something for everyone.

Text/illustration: Callum Carr

The Irish In

There were many reasons why the Irish moved to the UK and to Birming-ham and that was mainly because of Poverty and unemployment in Ireland. During the 1820s and1950s many Irish people moved to the UK and Birmingham to find jobs and escape wide-spread unemployment in Ireland.There was a parliamentary paper, which was about the state of the Irish poor people in Great Britain that de-scribed the types of employ-ment which the Irish would try to find.

Since the 1600s there has been an existence of an Irish population in Birmingham. By the 1990s there was at least 70,000 Irish born people living in Birmingham and many others who claimed Irish decent. The main areas in which Irish people lived were areas such as Dig-beth, Deritend and Spark-brook, the more fortunate of the Irish population lived in places such as Hall green and Erdington. During the 19th and 20th century there was an Irish street and Irish quarter in every inner city of Bir-mingham.

Birmingham

Text/Artwork: Tom Bennett

Birmingham folk: the Irish Community

By the 1990’s there were at least 70,000 irish people, who were born in Ireland, living in Birmingham. During the 1950’s, many irish citizens migrated from Ireland to Bir-

mingham to seek jobs. Jobs back then were very easy to come by, there was a lot of work around. However, Irish

people looking for jobs had to be careful as many compa-nies were anti-irish.

Most of the Irish citizens looking for work were manual la-bourers and they went on to help build roads, bridges and buildings, mostly during the Birmingham re-birth. Most of the jobs which were available were of the most roughest

and dirtiest kind and the jobs which required the less skill and practice.

Other irish people looking for work found jobs in the ca-tering and service sectors.

It has been said that the rate of wages back then were lower than the wages paid to the native labourers. The

irish who gained the most money moved out of the poorer parts of Birmingham including Digbeth and moved to the

parts of Erdington and Hall green.

Text/Artwork: Tom Bennett

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Birmingham holds the U.Ks largest St Patrick’s day pa-rade and one of the largest in the world, Dublin, New York, and Australia also being the holders of large St Patrick’s day events and parades.

When the pubs in Digbeth were built, a few 25 years or more ago, the Irish population used to visit

Birmingham also is the city where you might find an Irish quarter, which holds very traditional pubs such as the oldest pub in Birmingham, ‘The Old Crown’.

these pubs then go on to meet their friends and other Irish people at the Irish centre. The pubs in Digbeth are very Irish orientated.

John Fitzgerald,

John Fitzgerald is a music shop owner in the heart of the Irish community, Digbeth.Setting foot in Birmingham for the first time in 1958, he has made his mark in the city. Anyone who knows Birmingham either knows John Fitzgerald or has heard of him…here’s why.

What made you decide to come to Birmingham?

I was working on the family farm in Wexford until my father died and my brother got the entire inherit-ance. That was how things were done in Ireland back in the day, the eldest got everything. I have never been bitter about it though, to this day.So I went to Dublin to boarding school after that, but at 26 years old I just wanted to go. At first I wanted to go to America but my aunt wouldn’t allow it; but in ’57, I packed a little case and took the boat (on the 10 pound assisted passage, the “Ten Pound Poms”) without telling anyone.

I got to Wales where I got a job on a dump site for a while but in 1958, I came to Birmingham because I knew a lad there who had been a student of my mother’s, she was a school teacher you see.I had trouble finding a job because it was quite anti-Irish back then but my friend helped me get a job at Dunlop tyres.

Was there already a strong Irish community in Digbeth? How did you settle into Birmingham?

The Irish Centre was already there when I first came, but it used to be on Jamaica Row, father Murphy owned the place.

The Irish Centre today was con-verted from St. Paul’s Restaurant, used to go there for a cup of tea. It was around that time I met my wife Margaret, who was a trainee at the hospital and we were the first family to live in the Catholic House Association, who helped Irish folk settle in. There could be up to six or seven people in one room! They would all go down to the pubs for a drink, not much else they could do and most pubs are Irish owned and very Irish orientated.

Midlands” the “Irish Ambassador of the

Text/Artwork: Daniella Birtley

Did the pubs play an important part for the Irish community?

Oh yes. We all gathered and met at the Irish Centre, but drank in the pubs. Up in Small Heath and Small-brook are all Irish-owned pubs, and it felt like being back in Ireland to share a pint together while adapting to this new life.A lad needing a job would go there and the owners sorted them out.

How did you come to open Minstrel Music?

I’d been doing quite well and I got into the music scene; I come from a family of singers, my father was the best baritone of Ireland back in the day. I was more of an Elvis man my-self. I set up a band, The Elegant Set; I played the bass guitar, the harmonica and sang a little.

We did very well, even won a Cham-pionship competition and played at many venues right here in Birmingham, the Ball-room among many others, and also opened for major bands. Between us, they were listening to them, but they were dancing to us. After we were through 32 years ago, my friend Brendan and I looked at each other one day and said, “How about we open a music shop?” and that’s how Minstrel Music came to be. Right next to the Irish centre, I’d been involved with the Council, was even the President of the Irish Centre for a while! I’ve run 16 music festivals since then, and I organize charity events for those who need help but can’t afford it.

Text/Artwork: Daniella Birtley

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Photography: Daniella Birtley

Photography/Text: Daniella Birtley

alking around Birmingham reveals an attention-grabbing number of pubs scattered about; some right next door to one another, while others spread out between the streets of Brum. Most have been around for many decades gath-ering history along the way.The architecture alone has kept its originally traditional design with different centuries worth of buildings gathered in the same city! Boring travel guides suggest going to the Bull Ring for a spot of shopping where conveniently located is St. Martin’s Church. You don’t learn much by reading a bunch of names and dates, at least not things worth remembering.At the end of the day, there is one place to go to know Birmingham…really. The pubs, in addition to providing the perfect excuse to have a pint at 1 in the afternoon, also encompass decades worth of memories that anyone who’s been there long enough can tell you all about. A pint is all it takes to meet a complete stranger and know a LOT more about the goings on in Birmingham you had no idea about. And quite frankly, that is WAY more interesting than read-ing pages and pages in a book. There are all kinds of people hanging around in pubs, who all have their own reasons to go have a pint; drink away their sorrows, share a laugh with the lads, or chat up the barmaid, like Matt. It took less that fifteen minutes for him and his friend to come over to chat with us, seemed like they’d known us for years! Heard the most incredible stories, and received a list… a rather long one at that, of the best pubs to go to, to get a “real taste of Birmingham and of course, real ale!” You blend in instantly and you get the firsthand experience of Birmingham, it doesn’t get more authentic than that!

“So, a guy walks into a bar...”

Occupy Birmingham is a peaceful political protest about the disgusting amount of money banks (such as RBS) have caused the 99% of tax payers to res-cue their company and in turn, Sir Fred Goodwin’s pension, a strategy 1bm. The protest started on Saturday the 15th of October of this year. I was keen to know what life was like within the camp, how the people manage to eat, sleep and live on City Hall and still have faith in the cause. Sam and Katie, a couple part of the camp said, “The living quality isn’t as bad as it looks”. They have a system that keeps the place clean and keeps the campers out of trouble with drunken passers-by and makes sure the team are united as one. They also have a mutual respect with the City Council, which allows them to stay there as long as they abide by the rules. The campers have currently moved behind the Symphony Hall while the Frankfurt Christmas market takes place but be sure they will be back and their voices will be heard!

Photography/Text: Callum Carr

Artwork:Callum Carr