16 July 2016 - Chapel Lane Caravan Club site, Wythall near Birmingham

Saturday threw up a few barriers to choices for the day; the rail is less frequent than the weekdays, but fares cheaper, families with children frequent the same space tourists enjoy and some parts of the commercial world dare to have the day off. Considering all those factors, we decided to head into the city on the train to tick off the attractions on the original list of Birmingham to-dos. 

Our timing was perfect all round, we found our return fare today was only £4.20 each, but unlike our journey a few days ago, the exits and trains were well guarded against fraud. There was a man on the gate as we exited from the Moore Street Station, one on re-entry later in the afternoon and on the train on the homeward journey, a friendly but determined guard came through to inspect our tickets, so if in reading my earlier posting, you thought it would be a cunning plan to travel gratis, think again; the penalties are severe.

Today on arrival in the city we made our way directly through to Victoria Square, and so to the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. This wonderful institution is spread over one long floor in two buildings, adjoined by a “bridge”. The curator certainly has his or her own agenda, which is different to anything we had seen before, but before you think this is one of those woolly woofter situations which is at odds with mature normal every day folk’s take on museum and art galleries, this is not so. Chris was most appreciative of the style, I a little less so but still delighted to have made the effort to visit.

The museum was first opened in 1885, built from the profits of local industry, and always a great source of local pride. It has always offered free access to all, and has by all accounts, offered a place of escape from the daily grind of factory life. 

We spent some time in the Industrial Section which is full of ceramics, wrought iron, glass and other manufactured items of the last few centuries, most of which I tend to skip when I explore a museum. But today I could not fail to be impressed by the wonderful collection of stained glass windows either rescued from since demolished buildings or from commissions never honoured. There is work by Burne-Jones as you would expect, with him being one of Birmingham’s honoured sons, and of other’s whose names were new to me. All of the work was so much easier to examine, being nearer floor level than normal, thus offering opportunity for closer scrutiny. I also appreciated the great variety of tiles displayed around the wall on the mezzanine floor. Chris was particularly taken with the ceramics, specifically the bone china, yet he normally is like me, seeking other exhibitions in a museum rather than lingering over this kind of work.

Action in Birmingham's Victoria Square

For me the draw card had been the Pre-Raphaelite Art the Gallery boasts, and I was not disappointed.  Founded in 1848, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood consisted of seven young artists of whom Rossetti, Holman Hunt, Rossetti, Millais and Madox Brown are the best known. While I was delighted to see so much of their work housed in this one institution, I was further delighted to find other artists of the same ilk with whom I had not previously been familiar. These were later members of the group; Arthur Hughes and Frederic Sandys. I do so love this work and my progress through the many galleries of the work was slow.  

We did tear ourselves away soon after midday and find a spot out in Victoria Square on a concrete wall, under skies yet to weep their forecasted showers. Whilst there, we found ourselves on the edge of a protest group, welcomed by a young woman with a megaphone and a collection of shrill whistles. She thanked us all for coming to join the march, as if there were hundreds of us, although all but perhaps fifteen were fellow tourists eating their takeaway lunches as we were. Their message was to encourage tolerance of our fellow city dwellers whatever their colour, creed or culture. It seems that since the EU referendum, there has been bullying at best and assaults at worst. Non-GB born EU citizens have been living under a cloud since the result, and it was a valid call by this small clutch of public spirited young people. After a little while they descended the steps and headed down New Street to encourage a greater following, and we headed back into the gallery after a short detour, distracted by a couple of camouflaged young men jamming at the edge of the square, the guitarist wearing a cardboard box head and the drummer, a blue gorilla mask. 

We returned to where we had left off, in front of a watercolour by Sir Edward Burne-Jones titled “The Star of Bethlehem”, commissioned by the Corporation of the City of Birmingham for its new Museum and Art Gallery in 1887.  At 2.56m x 3.68m, it was the largest watercolour of the 19^th century, completed in 1890 and first exhibited a year later. There are in fact over 1,200 works by Burne-Jones held in the gallery.

There is much more to the art gallery than this school of artists, and much of it impressive. We explored the very modern exhibition of the Staffordshire Hoard, the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver ever discovered, offering a window into life of England in the 7^th century and the world of its warrior elite. While the 4,000 objects and broken fragments, including over five kilograms of gold and almost 1.5 kilograms of silver, have all been meticulously cleaned and catalogued, there are still an awful lot of questions left unanswered.

By the time we made it around to the section titled “Birmingham: its people, its history”, the afternoon was well on.  Here can be found the history of the city right back to its medieval beginnings. The gallery is divided into sections of time and is brilliantly curated, working through the Victorian years, the city’s expansion and both the world wars.

Chris’s phone rang; it was Margie calling to update us on the health and happiness state of the family back in East Anglia. After that, we decided it was time to head home, dropping into the Tesco Express to buy provisions and then making our way through the now very substantial crowds of New Street despite the hour, before catching the train back to Whitlocks End.