Dogs of War-ley!

All About Dogs is back and this time it's taking place on Sunday 7th September from 11am - 4pm.

We caught up with Viv Cole, Warley Woods Trust Manager to find out more.  Viv explained that the day has become an important feature on the Warley Woods calendar and is organised by the RSPCA and Warley Woods Community Trust specially for dogs and their owners who come to the park on a regular basis.  

There will be a fun dog show with a range of categories suitable for any size and breed of dogs – including the waggiest tail and best rescue. Many of the judges come from organisations that support Warley Woods or the RSPCA, including several this year from Fastsigns who are sponsoring the event for the third time.  The 

Alongside the regular activities, such as the doggie dash and heelwork to music demonstrations, there are also new activities. Warley and District Dog Training Club will be active all day with have a go at scent work and assessments for Kennel Club Bronze

Award. There will a dog psychologist doing demonstrations and a highlight is likely to be the visit from Border Force dog team from Birmingham Airport showing the skills they use every day at work.

The Community Trust will also be promoting Warley Woof which is its new dog ownership project for regular visitors to Warley Woods. There will also be free poo bags being distributed thanks to Sandwell MBC and Serco and there will be free microchipping thanks to Blackheath Vets. With craft stalls, bouncy castles, children’s activities and dog accessory stalls there should be something for every visitor of every age.

Viv Cole, Trust Manager, said “All About Dogs is always a special event in Warley Woods, but with lots of new activities and a number of new partners involved we really hope it will be our best one ever.”

Linda Ward, event organiser for the RSPCA, said "We are so grateful for Warley Woods Community Trust for allowing us, once again, to hold a dog show there this year. We look forward to meeting all the dogs and their owners on Sunday 7th."

Janie Drury owner of FASTSIGNS®, the Birmingham based signage, graphics and visual communications company added: "Warley Woods holds very special memories for me as I used to play there when I was a child. The Community Trust has been a customer of ours for many years and we are delighted to sponsor this worthwhile event."

For more information please call the Trust office on 0121 420 1061

Thimblemill Library September 2014 Calendar

OK with the nights drawing in and more of a chill in the air you can tell September's on its way and the kids will be back at school soon.      

Thank goodness for Thimblemill Library.  They will be helping us to keep healthy with their Cook and Eat Programme through the autumn (don't miss the first one on Monday 29th September) and entertained with their new family film club which starts on Saturday 20th September.  The first film is  Despicable Me 2.

There are two events which have already caught our eye for the following months.  The Tell-Tale Heart on Saturday 4th October starring Bearwood's very own Laurence Saunders.  Laurence has already been on a nationwide tour with his version of Edgar Allan Poe's story so make sure you get your tickets to avoid a tell-tale heart-break!

And then on Thursday 23rd October Thimblemill Library goes all Shakespearian with the Two Gents Production of 'Taming of The Shrew'.  

Tickets for both productions are only £4 in advance and £5 on the door.  

Bearwood Jam

Bearwood's jamming and we hope you like jamming too!  

The Bearwood Jam's taking place on Sunday 14th September so we caught up with Bearwood's Mr Tom Naylor to find out more.

We've seen the poster for the Bearwood Jam.  What is it and when is it happening?

The Bearwood Jam is a extreme sports competition being held at Lightwoods Park Skatepark in Bearwood on Sunday 14th September from 10am till 4.30pm

We enjoyed watching the skateboarders perform at the Lightwoods Park May Day Festival earlier in the year.  What competitions are there going to be and how can people enter? 

The day will run the same as the event held at May with a few minor improvements such as longer times for each sport and more barriers for spectators .  

The categories for each competition are Scooter/Skate/Bmx, the Jam will be quite relaxed with prizes going out to 1st 2nd 3rd place, we will be also be giving out prizes for best tricks and riders of the day.

Can everybody join in?

Anyone can enter but you will only be able to use the park at certain time depending on what sport you do.

Here's the times:

SCOOTER 10-12

SKATE 12-2

BMX 2-4

Is there going to be any live music or DJs and if so who's coming to the Skatepark?

Yes of course we have live music throughout the day warming up with Bearwood Promotor DJ Craig Goodall followed by Rewind Sessions Live and Tramps Night Club Worcester Resident DJ Nash, we also have Silk City Radio DJ Esstee playing the latest underground house, summer vibes and a lil bit of everything in between. 

Jam-tastic! Anyone else going to be there?

Oh yes, we also have live P.A performance for Beatboxing Extraordinare SID FX & our main headline act Dantanna who have recently been doing a lot for the Bearwood scene with their live performances at Bearwood Shuffle and Picnic in the Park.

Also I will be Hosting the days events just to keep everyone update with whats going on throughout the day :)

Before I go I would just like to say massive thank to Cherie O'Sullivan, Sandwell Council and all the sponsors that have got involved in the event, home to see everyone down there on the 14th September and remember its FREE ENTRY!  

In the words of Mr Naylor....ENERGY! ENERGY! ENERGY!

It's GlastonBEARy!

Check your diaries for what you’re up to over the August Bank Holiday weekend because GlastonBEARy’s back!  The all dayer takes place at The Bear Tavern (Bearwood Road) on Sunday 24th August.

Recovered, The Up and Overs, DJ Kenny D and Beth Jack will get Bearwood dancing whilst the Beorma Morris Dancers will be showing us how it's done.  

You'll be able to meet Airbrush Artist Chris and ask him to design a t-shirt with your name on it too.

Tickets are £5 in advance and £6 on the door and include all day entry, a free shot on the arrival and even a hangover breakfast to help you recover from the night before. 

A fraction of the price of Glastonbury with none of the dirt involved! Pop into the Bear and buy your GlastonBEARy tickets today.  

Jolly Bengali

With one of the friendliest welcomes around new-ish (they opened in March) take away Jolly Bengali certainly lives up to its name, they even offered us a rather fine free filter coffee whilst we were waiting for our order too. You don’t get that at McDonalds eh? 

We plumped for the Jolly Mix menu which includes a starter, poppadom, main dish, rice or naan for a mere £9.95 with an extra 10% off the price if you pop in to collect your order (they also deliver for free within a three mile radius on orders over £9.95). Bargain! 

Both the Chicken Tikka Shashlik and Mughlai Kebab were cooked to juicy perfection and came with heaps of salad and pots of dip (we used one whole leftover pot of chilli sauce the following evening in a rather nice chilli con carne/shepherd’s pie mash up). The poppadoms were fresh and crisp too, not as oily as some can be. 

The value for money continued into the main course with the Chicken Tikka Sagwala and Lamb Rogan Josh. One of us had a decent sized portion of pilau rice, the other garlic naan and there was enough to go round between two. The meat in both dishes was well cooked – the lamb was particularly tender – and the spicing was just right. 

Having healthy (!) appetites perhaps we’d have liked a little more meat but that obviously has to be balanced with the price you’re paying. Generously topped with fresh slices of garlic the naan mopped things up nicely. 

Service with a smile, a competitively priced menu and a feeling that the owners genuinely want to go that extra mile...all in all a jolly good experience!

Jolly Bengali is at 269 Bearwood Road, Smethwick, B66 4NA

Website: Jolly Bengali

Facebook: Jolly Bengali

Phone: 0121 420 2999

Buy A Bearwood Bear!

You may have seen the new Bearwood Bear at the most recent Bearwood Shuffle.  He helped raise over £35 on the day by being raffled off with all of the money collected being donated to the Bearwood Promoters Team for future free live music Bearwood Shuffle events.

Hannah Wood, the very clever crocheter behind Chubby Pink Piggy Creations has made more bears which carry our welovebearwood logo and they are for sale exclusively at Webb’s Walled Gift Shop on Three Shires Oak Road.  The small bears cost £12 and the large bears cost £18.

Some of the Bearwood based charities which the Bearwood Bear hopes to raise money for in the future include Smethwick in a Stew, Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust, Warley Woods Community Trust, Bearwood Boys Brigade, Friends of Thimblemill Brook and Friends of Lightwoods Park and House. 

However, we would like to know if there are any other local charities which you would like him to support. Please email the details to us at welovebearwood@googlemail.com. 

Hannah's currently taking commissions for other very cute and cuddly soft toys. She’s created all sorts from dragons to giraffes to dogs to zebras but we love the one she created for us recently. 

You can contact Hannah through the Chubby Pink Piggy Creations Facebook Page right here, website right here or by popping into Webbs, check out their website right here.

Watch for more Bearwood Bears to be won in a raffle coming soon!

Dexys Midnight Strummer

Uke'll like this!  Bearwood musician, Pete Williams, one of the finest singer songwriters we've ever seen perform (we can't wait to hear his new album) and Dexys member, is going to be holding ukulele tuition classes.

The classes start on Monday 18th July and will be taking place between 5.30pm - 6.30pm at Thimblemill Library.  They are limited to 8 learners and cost only £10 per person. Bearwood Bargain!

Pete mentioned to welovebearwood that he would love budding ukulele players to "come along, learn and have fun" and explained that his classes are the perfect way to "increase your enjoyment and appreciation of music with this little big instrument currently enjoying a tidal wave of popularity." 

You won't need to worry about bringing your own ukulele as instruments and all learning materials will be provided.

Can you play it? Yes 'uke' can!  If you are seriously interested please phone 07736 523476 or pop into Thimblemill Library for more details.

Take The Jumble Trail!

There's nothing better than a good old mooch in a jumble sale and finding lots of bargains so we were over the moon when we found out that Bearwood is getting its first Jumble Trail on Bank Holiday Saturday, 23rd August.

The Jumble Trail is a FREE (hooray our favourite word again!) community event which helps people sell their bric a brac and goods in need of a new home.  As the old saying goes one man's trash is another man's treasure! 

What we particularly like about the Jumble Trail though is how it works.  The whole day is co-ordinated online on the Jumble Trail website, click right here, where you’ll be able to access a colour coded map showing where you can buy all kinds of treasure from house to house and street to street in Bearwood. Sellers can also show off their wares on the website too.

If this sounds right up your street, visit the Jumble Trail website and the Facebook page, right here, too. 

We're hoping the first Jumble Trail is a real success because there's a lot more planned in the future.

Anarchy in the Uke-K!

New Bearwood Band Alert!  Well to welovebearwood at least which makes us very excited. The Strumtroopers, you'll recognise one of the band if you're a regular at The Midland Real Ale Bar, are a 7 piece instrumental ukulele covers band with their roots very firmly in the wood.

We’ve done some digging and found out how the band got together….

  

"It started with a gift. Tom ‘Capt. Mountain (ret’d)’ Reed was given a ukulele as a joke in 2008, and began formulating a plan with Ben ‘The Librarian’ George. The plan was to assume lead and rhythm parts in a ukulele band which would one day change the face of music.  Two years passed.

The band began to finally take shape with the addition of other neglected music genii from the West Midlands. Paul ‘The Beard’ Horn was found wandering the beer desert of Erdington bearing only a PhD thesis, a bass guitar and an owl. Adam ‘Hickman’ Hickman was the straight backed guitar king of St Andrew’s, willing to drop down a level on the promise of having the Strumtroopers’ attack built around his play. Sean ‘Sunshine’ Harris was recruited from the Bolivian jungles, where he had continued the fight of Che Guevara’s rebels until his discharge for demanding 43 years back pay. The Owl that had been nesting in Paul’s beard turned out to be Ben ‘Bezzy Bebbs’ Bebbington, who joined the line up providing bongos, a finely decorated cajon, and was almost always able to count to four without stopping. 

Two years of gigs, in front of almost totally perplexed audiences, passed.

With the completion of The Beard’s PhD he was allowed to graduate to the front row, but this left the side unbalanced, and the solution was the addition of Dave “Wolfman” Hingley a man with both the abstract alt-country stylings of Billy Wright, and the leadership and vision of Jeff Tweedy.”  Life's what uke make it!

 We’ve been told that “The Strumtroopers are not to be missed, and should under no circumstances be approached with seriousness. They are reported to be uke’d and dangerous."  

You’ll be able to find out for yourselves when The Strumtroopers play at The Midland on Saturday 23rd August in aid of Magi 4 Afrika, raising money for WaterAid.  Pop into The Midland to find out more. We’re sure uke'll love 'em !

For more info please visit their Facebook page right here and their website right here!

P.S.  Are you in a band based in Bearwood?  Get in touch by emailing us at welovebearwood@googlemail.com and we’ll help you spread the word. 

P.S. No more ukulele puns we promise…uke betcha!