Saturday 27th September

This was the last exhibition opening day - for the time being. The Dovecote and Cowhouse close for the winter. The buildings will get too damp in the cold weather to display prints and other material.

I have many more donated stories to be working on over the next few months, so I hope to return in the spring with new prints and perhaps some new venues around the village.

One of my last visitors to leave a story was Luke Holland who is a young community activist. He left me a story about 'guerilla gardening'. He later sent me a photo too.

"The aim was for businesses to adopt the planters, only one was adopted. One chilly evening I went out at 1am and planted out the neglected planter with tomatoes, raspberries, lavender and so on. A few months later others had added to it and to my delight school children from the school opposite were eating their five a day from the planter."

Saturday 6th September

To celebrate completing my MA and having exclusive use of the Cow House for a few days, I had a "Private View' of my prints for invited guests. My fellow MA Art and Design students Crystal, Judith, Chao, James and Anita came along and seemed to enjoy their visit.

But of course it was still open for any passing visitors. Vincenza and Leandero were both from Italy. Leandero comes from the big industrial city of Milan in the north. He is in his last year of a PhD in Chemistry at Aston University. His girlfriend Vincenza was here to visit him. She comes from the island of Sicily in the south. She showed me a beautiful photo of Mount Etna which she can see from her home.

 They left me the story of how they came to be visiting Moseley:

"We watched a TV program in Italy about a challenge between bakeries, so we heard about Maison Mayci. We came here, we visited Moseley Park, then we found this little garden and this lovely place. We enjoyed the art exhibition and the muffins. We are glad to pick up a little bit of history about this beautiful village. We are grateful!"

Michael King left a story about the times he has played and recorded songs in Moseley Park.

"Although not born or raised in Moseley, I have had the pleasure of playing and recording in Moseley Park, firstly at the Folk Festival and the latter in the fishing hut. In April 2014 I recorded 2 songs with a violin and cello player on a really wet spring afternoon. The result ended up in 2 tracks recorded live in the hut. The natural reverb and 'atmosphere' was what attracted me to the idea of recording there. The memorabilia and wholesome backdrops I think, can be heard in the recordings."

Michael sent me photos of the musicians recording in the fishing hut and of him and his band 'Boat To Row' playing at Moseley Folk Festival.

Saturday 30th August

A very busy day, with over 100 visitors throughout the afternoon. The Farmers' Market and Moseley Folk Festival brought many people into the village. Andy Hayward, pictured above, used to work in a bank but gave it up to become a sculptor working in stone.

"I worked at Lloyds Bank Moseley branch for around 10 years. During my time there, I discovered an old ledger in the bank's cellar. It turned out to be a list of deposit accounts dating back to the late 1700's. This was during the early 1980's."

Lorraine McGowan from Moseley Morris returned as promised with a contribution of a story and photographs.

"At the moment there are plenty of dance groups and three dance schools in Moseley area. I belong to Moseley Morris, which we formed over 25 years ago. we meet at St. Columba's and dance mostly North West clog style Morris. I love our costumes, especially the hats and lovely clogs. Dancers have come and gone through the years, including many of our own children who have grown up and moved away.

There aren't many of us now, but I would love to think that Moseley Morris could carry on for another 25 years with new dancers as we are growing older. Unfortunately North West Morris is not fashionable at the moment."

Two of our local Police Officers called by and left a contribution each:

PC 8446 Peters wrote: "Whilst sat on parade on the morning of Thursday 28th July 2005 looking out of the Police Station window overlooking Woodbridge Road, I witnessed the tornado approaching Moseley. A day I will never forget!'

PC 2752 Johnson wrote: "Moseley is a great place to work with its very diverse community and unique set of problems, but I wouldn't have it any other way"

Michael from the Moseley Society who lives in Russell Road left an interesting little note about seeing a red squirrel in Cannon Hill Park in the early 1960s. Researching the distribution of red squirrels, it seems that even in 1945 red squirrels were being forced out of the Midlands by greys. So by the 60s there must have only been a handful left. Perhaps Michael saw one of the last.

"When we took the children down to Cannon Hill Park, we saw a man playing with a red squirrel. It jumped from the tree to his shoulder" (about 1962 -5).

Saturday 23rd August

Despite the very changeable weather, we had about 50 people visit on Saturday. It was a scheduled open day for the Dovecote and the Ice House in Moseley Park. The Craft Market was also on in the village, which I'm sure helped numbers.

Geoff Jones came by to look at the completed print based on his story. After some consideration, he noted that he never wore gloves whilst stoking an engine and I had got the hat wrong.

He said the engine in the image was a 'standard' which he didn't like stoking as the firebox was quite high compared to other engines.

Naz has been in regular touch since leaving his story about finding the pearl. He has been trying to remember where he last left it.  He had kept the little keep sake for 30 years in a small box. Today he let me know that he had found it and I met up with him to collect it.

Naz has kindly said I can keep it for the time being to show visitors to the exhibition.

New prints at the Cow House

I have displayed three new prints, all have been directly inspired by stories donated by visitors to the exhibition since it opened at the end of June.

The prints are based on Naz's story of searching for a pearl in Moseley Park, Geoff's account of his days as a fireman on the railways and Ken's memories of taking his mother to her job as a night sister at Moseley Children's Hospital.

Sunday 17th August

Another fairly quiet afternoon, with only about 20 visitors. Sandra came by to look at the Dovecote on her way to visit the hospital. Seeing the exhibition she started telling me about the circumstances which brought her to Moseley in the mid 60s. I asked her if she minded if I wrote her story down. Here it is:

" I came to Moseley in 1966 to stay at the Home for Unmarried Mothers in Belle Walk, just off Wake Green Road. In those days it was real taboo and not spoken about. I was very innocent and knew nothing - I was 17 and was nearly 7 months gone before I even realised I was pregnant.

I had my baby in Marston Green Hospital. I had no visitors. I had even bought a 'wedding ring' from Woolworths to wear, but it turned green on my finger!

I had to fight very hard to keep my son - lots of the other girls in the home were separated from their babies when they were adopted. My father was a real tyrant and I had to be strong to go against him. My older brother helped me and allowed me to stay with him. I had a bedroom in the attic. When my son could go to nursery I was able to work and got a little flat.

I eventually had 4 sons and I now have 6 grandchildren. I'm so glad attitudes have changed today."

Saturday 9th August

About 30 visitors came during the afternoon, including Lorraine, a member of the Moseley Morris troop, who promised to return with some photos and stories. I photographed them performing in the village during the Moseley Festival last year (Lorraine is in the centre).

Another visitor was Christine Ferris, who went to school in Moseley in the late 1940s/early 1950s.

"My first school was Moseley Church of England, School Road. On Ascension Thursdays Mom and I would walk home to Cannon Hill (we left school early on Ascension Thursday). I would walk alongside Moseley Hospital and look at the cows grazing in the field. Wearing a straw boater and white 'blancoed' pumps, summer was worth waiting for."

Another visitor, Ellie, said she also remembered cows grazing in the grounds of the hospital. She thought they may have been kept to provide fresh milk for the children.