Arts 50 Alive Network

03/06/2026

Thanks to another grant -Healing Arts - to deliver and support more community sessions. See details below -all welcome

26/05/2026

Today come and join our open event

Half term arty family fun for our heritage project ‘Pitch Putt and Paddle’

Tuesday 26th May 1-3pm
The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Venue- Oddingley Hall - Northfield Community Partnership

22/05/2026

More Pitch Putt and Paddle

Wednesday afternoon PPP sessions at West Heath Community Centre, Hampstead House exploring the story of the "Bathtub" - the West Heath Lido which was in West Heath for 3 years - closing in 1937.

The Bathtub was Birminghams first and largest open air lido - had a fun fair, chalets, dance hall shops and cafes. It was opened by the 1930s star Gracie Fields & huge numbers of local people attended the opening. However it was not financially viable & closed in 1937. During WW2 it was used to make munitions & after the war the company Edduson Radio ran a business there.

Wonderfully interesting session led by artist Fran Littlehales

Funded through The National Lottery Heritage Fund

18/05/2026

Age Connects West Midlands Monday art group working with arts 50 alive vice chair Saeed Ghinai & artist Jill. Learning glass designing which they will be using as part of the Pitch Putt and Paddle project

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

18/05/2026

Half term arty family fun for our heritage project ‘Pitch Putt and Paddle’

Tuesday 26th May 1-3pm
The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Venue- Oddingley Hall - Northfield Community Partnership

06/05/2026

Our Pitch Putt Paddle project continues
The National Lottery Heritage Fund

We took the completed mural into school to show the children their finished masterpiece. This will be displayed in school and hopefully displayed at our exhibition later in the year.

Our artists put together all the panels that the children have drawn into, colourful textured designs for the sectional elements of the overall design.

creating an eclectic and exciting mural representing all the elements of the project.

Thank you to The Scrapstore Birmingham for the affordable resources spreading our project resource funding so much further.

So proud of the work of year 4 Hawkesley Church Primary School it looks absolutely amazing!

06/05/2026

More fabulous work continues for our ‘Pitch, Putt and Paddle‘ project

Last Friday we spent another colourful session with year 4 at Hawkesley Church Primary School painting their clay creations of barges, golf balls, prefab houses and nature we would find on the canals.

The children had a great time so much fun
Thank you for having us

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

09/04/2026

We have two open events coming up to come along and try our community creative classes

Book in with Janice via text or WhatsApp to secure your place.

Look forward to seeing you

Northfield Neighbourhood Network Scheme - Northfield Community Partnership

02/04/2026

Paintings for ‘Pitch, Putt and Paddle’ - our heritage lottery funded project.

Age Concern /connects carers group at Hawkesley community centre led by Stacey Mills.

The group have worked hard to show the canals & prefabs heritage with Stacey's help. Stacey is now moving to Cumbria so thank you for all the hard work from all of us at Arts 50 Alive Network

Memories and stories wonderfully captured

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

02/04/2026

This wonderful mural has been created by Hawkesley Church Primary School and our artists to represent all the elements of our The National Lottery Heritage Fund funded project ‘Pitch Putt and Paddle.’

Thank you to our friends at Allens Cross Community Garden for allowing us to finalise the work and stick the panels on -utilising your large tables at art group, lots of discussions were had around the project and heritage of the area with the art group too, everyone’s so supportive of creativity in the community and shared memories of the area.

We’ve included in the design the historical ‘bath tub’ -the outdoor lido that formerly resided in West Heath as many of our participants have great memories of the time. Memories of Prefabs, the golf course and the canals, shared life and chapters past and present of the area. Developing local communities

Each child in year 4 -coloured panels in acrylic paint markers with bright bold textures and colour choices to the design created by our artists. We think you’ll agree they’ve done an amazing job of bringing to life all the elements.

Thank you to The Scrapstore Birmingham for the resources of affordable mountboard and poster plastic sheets that have helped create a movable easy to transport mural for the school to display.
We love using sustainable resources in our projects.

More sessions to come with the school after Easter.

We hope you enjoy the children’s wonderful work