Festival Fever! A Birmingham Irish Welcome to you!
St Patricks Festival Parade 2012 is taking place on Sunday 11th March, starting at Camp Hill at 12 noon. Come along and join in with our traditional Birmingham Irish Welcome and become part of something special!
Stay and have something to eat in the many venues offering excellent home cooked food – or have a warm cup of tea – or maybe something a little colder……………
cead mile failte
Here at Irish in Birmingham we are involved in all manner of cultural events and practices from projects involving schools, a Heritage Lottery Oral History project or activities that encourage interest in our rich Irish culture from both within and the wider Birmingham community – we’re proud of our heritage and things are even better when they are shared.
Our Cultural Development coordinator has been working with the Birmingham Schools Catholic Partnership since September 2011 to stage an art exhibition which launches on the 9th March by our own Birmingham Lord Mayor at the newly opened South Birmingham College Fusion Centre in Digbeth. Its great that students family and friends get to see this unbelievably talented work – but this exhibition will ensure we all get the opportunity to appreciate the talent in our schools.
The exhibition will be open on 9th, 10th,12th & 13th March. for further details contact Pat Wright 0121 604 6111 or email pat@irishinbirmingham.com
Who knows just what work is undertaken in our schools? Reading some of our newspapers you do wonder! Well let me tell you there are a lot of very talented and dedicated teachers plus loads of enthusiastic students doing all sorts of interesting work - which i have encountered in my Cultural Development work – (hereonin referred to as CDW to save my fingers) within schools in the Birmingham area. I will be posting regularly to keep you informed.
“An Immigrants Experience” project, where children will interview their family and friends about their experiences will be showcased in a Drama/Music/Dance performance on Tuesday 13th March in the Custard Factory auditorium – with interviews being played out and also playing on screens around the stage – should make for an interesting evening.
Did you know that Irish in Birmingham have an Internet cafe in the gateway information hub in Digbeth? Sponsored by the Irish Post the cafe is a convenient way as the holiday season approaches to come in and book your flight, check in online or print off your boarding pass while saving you money in the process.
Relatives abroad? its lovely to hear their voices on the phone isn’t it? how much more exciting would it be if you could see them at the same time? visit our internet cafe and we will help you to do just that via the Skype system – its free and easily accessable to anywhere in the world.
contact us for further information.
We are seeking to recruit a number of volunteers to help us to support people experiencing loss by bereavement. The volunteers and also a number of staff will deliver individual support to clients. We have been in conversation with Cruse Bereavement Care and we are purchasing from them a comprehensive training package to support this development. Volunteers will be offered this training free of charge and will also receive regular supervision.
A volunteer who offers help and support to people at a deeply vulnerable time in their lives requires commitment and resilience. Although we are not offering counselling to clients, it will be very useful if you have previously supported people and possess counselling skills or have undertaken other relevant and related training. You would need to be able to offer at least 3 hours per week and be available for supervision on a regular basis.
If you are interested in this opportunity please contact Paula on 0121 604 6111 to discuss your interest further. The training will commence on the 7th March and our hope is to launch the new service during April 2012.
Here at Irish in Birmingham we have recently been awarded the level 2 PQASSO kite mark by the Charity Evaluation Service.
PQASSOis the most widely used quality assurance system within the voluntary and community sector and many thousands of charities have undertaken the level 1 assessment. However the level 2 kite mark has only been awarded to just over 100 charities nationally. The award also carries the endorsement of the Charity Commission’s Charity Quality Standards stamp confirming that the organisation is accredited by standards that meet the Hallmarks of an Effective Charity.
Hugh Tibbits, CEO, said: This is a wonderful achievement and is a testament to the hard work and commitment of the board, staff and volunteers of the charity. Everyone has worked incredibly hard over the past year and the PQASSO award has been a hard won achievement.
It is with deep sadness that we heard of the recent death of Mike Walsh. Mike was founder and Chair of the Birmingham Irish Heritage Group.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this difficult time.
