Archive for the ‘Birmingham’ Category
Birmingham Leonardo da Vinci
Birmingham’s exhibition of Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci has been a huge success according to official figures from Birmingham City Council. Over 30,000 people have visited the exhibition held at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery since it opened on January 13th. 
They are the highest attendance figures since the Staffordshire hoard.
The exhibition features ten drawings that have been selected to show the extraordinary scope of Leonardo’s interests: painting, engineering, botany, mapmaking, hydraulics, anatomy and sculpture.
Amongst the works included in the exhibition is The head of Leda (c.1505-6). The work, which is based on Greek mythology, is a preparatory drawing for the painting Leda and the Swan which was destroyed around 1700.
The drawing, which was acquired for the Royal Collection by Charles II shows Leda with a modest downward glance which characterises most of the women in Leonardo’s paintings. The artist has devoted minute attention to her complicated hairstyle of braided and interwoven plaits.
Cllr Martin Mullaney, said of the exhibition “I am delighted by the huge public response to this magnificent show at Birmingham’s world class Museum and Art Gallery.
“This exhibition, which marks the start of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, is further evidence of the city’s reputation for attracting high profile exhibitions that will bring both local people and visitors to the city.”
The exhibition at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery runs until March 25th with free admission for all.
Fireworks Bonfire Night,Pype Hayes Park
The skies will light up with a spectacular display of fireworks on Saturday 5 November 2011 at Pype Hayes Park, Erdington, organised by Birmingham City Council. 
The council is urging people to attend safe, organised displays, such as this Pype Hayes event.
When the gates open at 4pm, visitors will be able to experience the thrills and spills of the funfair, and warm up with some snacks. The fireworks will start at 7.30pm.
As always, safety is highest on the agenda and visitors are asked to leave their pets and fireworks at home. Any alcohol or fireworks (including sparklers) brought on site by visitors will be confiscated and destroyed. No dogs, except guide dogs, are permitted.
Councillor Martin Mullaney, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Sport and Culture, said, “We all know the safest way to enjoy fireworks is at a professionally organised event and this fantastic free evening will once again be the most spectacular firework display in Birmingham. The fireworks draw huge crowds every year and I’m sure this family event will be as popular as ever this year.”
Steve Vincent, Head of Community Safety for West Midlands Fire Service, added: “West Midlands Fire Service always recommends, where possible, that people visit organised firework displays as this reduces any potential risk of harm.”
Event sponsored by Bob Wilson Funfairs. For further information, call 0121 303 3008 or visit www.birmingham.gov.uk/fireworks.
GCSE Success for Birmingham
The proportion of pupils gaining five or more good GCSEs in Birmingham has more than doubled since the millennium, provisional figures show.
Early indications show that 84 per cent of pupils gained five or more A*-C grades, compared to 81.9 last year. In 2000 the figure was 41 per cent. Last year’s England average was 75.6 per cent.
Including English and maths, early figures show that 58 per cent of pupils achieved five or more A*-C grades, compared to 54.9 per cent last year.
Last year Birmingham had six schools below the expected level of performance of 35 per cent achieving five or more A*-C including English and maths. In 2011 provisional results are showing only three schools remain below this threshold. In 2009 there were nine schools below the 30 per cent floor target.
Councillor Les Lawrence, cabinet member for children, young people and families, said: “It is great news that once again we appear to be on course for another record set of results. We have built a reputation for educational attainment in Birmingham and have consistently been the best performing large urban authority in the country.
“I would like to congratulate all the children, parents, teachers and other school staff who have worked so hard to make this happen.”
Notable achievements:
• Holy Trinity – one student with 15 A*-A grade GCSE and A* in media at A-level, plus 16 students passed A-level in media with grades A*-C
• Park View – one student with 17 A*-C grades of which 11 were A*-A
• Golden Hillock – two pupils achieved 7 A* and 1 other achieved 10 A*-A
• John Wilmott – one pupil with 9 A* and 1 A
• Cockshut Hill – five pupils with 10 or more A*-C
• Cardinal Wiseman – over a third of their pupils achieved 10+ A*-C
• KE Camp Hill Girls – one pupil taking GCSEs a year early achieved 12 A* and 2 A, plus 18 pupils achieved 11 or more A*-A
• Hodge Hill – 19 pupils with 14 or more A*-C, 111 with 10 or more A*-C
Great Birmingham Run
Today was launch day for the new Bupa Great Birmingham run. Organ
isers are hoping that the run can become one of the countries great running events to rival the “Great North Run” and the London Marathon.
Organised by nova and sponsored by Bupa the event replaces the Birmingham Half marathon and takes place on October 23rd 2011. The race will have 15,000 competitors and will be the first half marathon in Birmingham to be televised.
Cllr Martin Mullaney, Birmingham City Council Member for Leisure said, “We are delighted that Nova are looking to take the event to the next level and we know that it will be become an event that the people of Birmingham will be very proud of. It provides a marvelous opportunity to celebrate all that is good about Britain’s second city”
Helen Clitheroe, European indoor 3000 meter champion and also the winner of the Great Manchester Run last month said, “It’s too early for me to be certain about my autumn race schedule, but this event is certainly on my radar. The atmosphere at the Bupa Great Runs is phenomenal and I am still buzzing from winning in Manchester a few weeks ago.”
The course will be similar to previous years however the start and finish areas are being modified to improve the runner experience and extra on-course entertainment is also being provided around the 13 mile route.
Entries are open now at the following web site www.greatrun.org on a first come, first served basis.
Birmingham New Street Station
Dramatic drawings of the how Birmingham’s New Street station will look after redevelopment has been revealed by the developers. 
The image shows the view of the amazing transformation of the redesigned “New St Street Station”
The artists impression shows how the modern sweeping glass structure transforms the currently dowdy lower temple street area into a high tech futuristic scene. The transformation is very impressive and helps cement Birmingham’s place as the UK’s second city.
Birmingham – Second City ?
Brummies are in danger of losing their second city status according to comments made by ex trade minister Lord Jones. Lord Jones claims that there is a “buzz” about Manchester that would give it the edge when people thought of the second city. 
Birmingham’s John Lamb from the Chamber of Commerce hit back and said that Birmingham still has the economic advantage over Manchester.
He cited infrastructure projects such as the New Street Station upgrade, HS2 High Speed rail line and the the Centenery Square library as examples of how Birmingham is still the second city.
The former director of the Birmingham Business School, Professor David Bailey weighed into the debate in defence of Birmingham and said “We’ve got a lot to be proud of in the improvement in education performance, the diversification of the economy, the mix of skills in high value manufacturing right through to the digital economy.”
Birmingham Da Vinci Scoop
Ten drawings by Leonardo da Vinci will been going on show in Birmingham. 
The queen is set to release ten drawings from the Royal Collection to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
Birmingham got the scoop to exhibit the drawings ahead of four other cities and the drawings will be shown at Birmingham’s Museum and Art Gallery.
The Royal Collection houses over 600 priceless drawings and paintings by the artist. Da vinci was one of the worlds most influential figures in many fields such as design architecture and engineering.
The exhibition is a major event for Birmingham and interest is expected to be very high. The exhibition will take place between the 13th of January and the 25th of March 2012.
Rita McLean, from the Birmingham Museum said ‘We are delighted that the Royal Collection has chosen Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery to be the first UK venue to show this outstanding exhibition of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci.
“This will be a rare and extraordinary opportunity for local people to see works by one of the world’s greatest artists, as part of the city’s celebrations of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.”