During this Collaborative Craft Campaign (July to Oct 25) we crafted bugs from a range of materials for display along the no. 27 bus route from Brandwood to Billesley and created a Bus Bug Bingo Activity for people to enjoy.
This project was funded by Selly Oak Neighbourhood Network Scheme.
Following on from Access for All Kings Heath part I, our resident-led project to improve access for more people in and around Kings Heath High Street has moved on to Part II! In this next stage we have been buying and gifting access solutions to independent businesses to make their premises more accessible.
This project is funded through the Shared Prosperity Fund and is being delivered in partnership with Kings Heath Business Improvement District Enjoy Kings Heath.
As a local craft group we were delighted to help make a visual presence in a new Zebra Zone around the school, with the aim of keeping children safe between school and home. The craft group painted zebras, while individual members and other local residents made signs, bunting and a post box topper. This project forms part of the Cultural Action Area in Brandwood.
Ready to launch on World Poetry Day, 2025 we created a trail of post box toppers is inspired by poetry. We also made 100s of hand-crafted boxes to contain gifts of poetry to give away to care homes. In this project, This project also involved working with 4 local schools to create Poetic Boxes with poems they had written to give out as a free gift of poetry through local shops.
This was delivered as part of the Cultural Action Area consortia-driven place-based project to ‘boost’ Brandwood.
During this disabled-resident-led project to improve access for more people in and around Kings Heath High Street the team conducted surveys, reviewed and gathered access information for almost 300 businesses and published maps and icons on the Enjoy Kings Heath website to help shoppers plan their visits. The team of residents also produced guidance and a training film to support businesses to improve their accessibility and tap into the purple and dementia pounds through making changes and removing barriers to access.
This project was delivered in partnership with Kings Heath Business Improvement District and was funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
The Good Yarners craft group met up at The Brandwood Centre and St Bede’s Church to create ‘baubles’ to decorate Dawberry Corner Community Garden on its first Christmas. They made tree and fence decorations which really helped Dawberry Road feel festive! Decorations will be used in years to come.
This project was funded by Selly Oak Neighbourhood Network Scheme.
Ready for October half term ’24, The Good Yarners craft group met up at The Brandwood Centre to create a kaleidoscope of colourful butterflies which fluttered around Brandwood on display as an art trail for people to discover and enjoy.
This project was funded by Selly Oak Neighbourhood Network Scheme.
Stories Unite was a project bringing together neighbours, from different cultures and ethnicities, to chat about their personal stories of moving to and living in the area for a film, which was then screened at ‘pop ups’ around the neighbourhood during the summer of 2024. The aim of the project was to help build trust and new friendships and promote unity.
This was a partnership project with Kings Heath United Against Racism.
The resident-led ‘Beautifying Billesley’ environmental improvement campaign is about working together to brighten up the Billesley ward with displays of flowers and artwork. To support this initiative, Our Scene CIC and the art departments of Wheelers Lane Technology College and Swanshurst School teamed up to create 40 pieces of art for 4 park trails for people to enjoy over the Easter school holidays 2024.
With a commission from the Beautifying Billesley group, and funding through Selly Oak NNS, we ran a six week project with a fabulous team of local citizens aged 50+ to build 21 fantastic wooden planters of various sizes, now dotted around locations in Billesley ward, with seasonal planting, bringing a splash of colour and joy to many residents for years to come.
We love these woodworking projects which are about ’empower-tool-ing’ people with new skills, helping increase people’s social connections and boosting community spirit.
During 2023 and until March 2024 we worked with residents, community groups, stakeholders and partners, local councillors, the police and council services within Brandwood & Kings Heath and Billesley wards to shape, coordinate and deliver environmental improvement projects and run activities to improve the quality of life for people through increased access to and activities in our wonderful green spaces.
This is a 18 month commission from the Neighbourhood Development Support Unit, Birmingham City Council.
We designed and printed a free three-month Social Calendar for Brandwood and Kings Heath ward residents aged 50+ to help them stay connected and fill their days with community warmth, food, company, activities, new hobbies and possibilities over the Winter of 2023.
To mark the end of
our year-long programme of Beaming Brandwood-themed activities, we programmed
two days of fun activities over 7-8 October 2023 for the community to enjoy together
in our wonderful Brandwood places and green spaces. The programme included an Autumn Community Day event, Bhangra and dhol drumming procession through the streets and almost 1000 primary school children in a World Smile Day project.
As part of our Neighbourhood Action Coordination work over in Billesley ward, we secured a grant and coordinated a brilliant project in Billesley in collaboration with the West Midlands Fire Service, The Friends of Swanshurst Park, young people local to the park and with input and support from Cllr Katherine Iroh and Park Ranger Jan. Mural created by Tom from ‘ForThem’ with support from Thea, Harry and Chad.
We love bringing people together through film, and thanks to funding from the Co-Operative Dividend Fund and a Local Giving Magic grant, we were able to host low cost pop up film events for families and Autism-friendly screenings during most school holidays during 2023.
We enjoyed our collaboration with Screen B14.
We will be back!
The aim of our pop up café was to help people to connect within their streets and neighbourhood within Brandwood, boosting community spirit and helping to reduce social isolation and loneliness within our community. Our Chatty Brew Crew met some amazing people over 12 months and over 35 ‘pop up’ cafés serving free drinks and snacks, including at community events.
Our Scene CIC was commissioned to create the Swirly Snail Activity Trail by Birmingham Open Spaces Forum as part of their City of Nature Project in Kingston Hill Local Park. Thank you to Birmingham City Council for funding the project through a Neighbourhood Action Coordination grant. As well as the trail we supported the development and delivery of a fantastic community event in the park.
During the summer 2023 we brought fun-filled, active and inclusive holiday play sessions for children aged 8-12 to Brandwood in partnership with local charity Parks For Play!
With funding from The Children’s Quarter and Bring it on Brum! We ran 14 holidays clubs from St Bede’s Church for local children
Thanks to funding from Sport England and support from the Active Communities programme, we have created a series of walking and fitness trails with a smiling-making twist, to help people get active, be social, have a laugh and enjoy our wonderful Brandwood green spaces and neighbourhoods together. Plus, we have commissioned three Treasure Hunts around Brandwood working with Trove!
Pick up a free Activity trail booklet from Brandwood venues to get started.
Over four months, the wonderful Good Yarners group , went ‘owl out’ making owls for the summer yarn bomb to make people across our Brandwood neighbourhoods smile and and to raise community spirit!
We tried to encourage people to get active and see how many post boxes they could find, and there was a joke to share along the way!!
amaOver the Christmas
holidays in 2022 our ‘The Good Yarners’ group yarn bombed 16 post box toppers and we created a Step
and Smile Challenge trail around Brandwood to encourage people to walk, run or
cycle and explore the area as well as admire the artworks.
This project was part of our Laughter Lines programme funded by Sports England as part of the Active Communities scheme.
For twelve weeks we ran a community DIY build & environmental improvement project for the over 50s. Our Pallet to Planter project started in late February. We reclaimed wood and repurposed it to build 44 planters which we then gave away!
We then delivered planters all over the area for residents to adopt and grow small wildflower meadows in their front gardens and driveways (‘pit stops’ for pollinators) – so everyone gets to enjoy the blooms – especially the bees.
What makes you
smile? What makes you feel happy?
This is the
question we asked our Good Yarners group and here is what they crafted for a
trail launched on International Day of Happiness in March 2023. Each topper
also has a sound track and a few words… find out more!
This project was part of our Smiles in Brandwood project funded by Selly Oak Neighbourhood Network Scheme.
We wanted to do something practical to help people during the energy crisis and also reuse the wonderful crochet and knitted flowers made by the lovely crafters for the Brighten Up Brandwood yarn bomb.
We made and gave away ‘door huggers!’ AKA draft excluders. A really effective way of blocking off drafts under doors and keeping the heat in your room. Practical acts of kindness self-funded by Our Scene CIC.
At the beginning of 2022 we teamed up with the local Neighbourhood Network Scheme to do some community engagement and activity planning work which included a resident survey, face to face meetings and some focus group discussions. We wanted to understand what matters to people living in Brandwood’s neighbourhoods, what social connections people enjoy and need, and how many people identified as experiencing loneliness. Most importantly we tried to understand what projects and activities residents were interested in and how we could help reduce social isolation. This work is helping to shape our plans moving forward.
Between May and August 2022 we are ran a project to shine a spotlight on all the brilliant places and people who live in the Brandwood area, brighten up our streets with creativity and wildflower meadows and bring people
together at events, workshops and community litter picks.
Together we wanted to put our little corner of South Birmingham on the map, encourage people to get talking and give the rest of the city something to talk about!
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