Squats, Street Theatre and Sprints into Staffordshire: A walking tour of Selly Oak's radical history
Viewed while crawling along the Bristol Road from the top deck of the 63 bus, Selly Oak seems like the archetypical Birmingham suburb: ranks of Victorian terraces sloping up hillsides; major roads peppered with cookie-cutter retail parks; endless parades of takeaways. An early 21st Century mise-en-scene given a dash of local flavour by the all-seeing eye of "Old Joe", the imposing clock tower of the University of Birmingham.
On this walk Josh Allen looks to the recent (and less recent) past to reveal a very different side to this South Birmingham suburb. This is a Selly Oak where tenants blockaded roads to get council houses, where libertarian communists squatted derelict buildings to create print workshops, advice clinics, youth clubs and co-ops. A Maoist bookshop stood opposite what's now Aldi and precarious migrant metalworkers launched weeks long strikes.
How might this undercurrent of radicalism have been encouraged by Selly Oak's historic position at the crux between three counties? Join us on June 10th to find out. See below for details.
Tickets
Additional Information
Meet Josh Allen and Andy Howlett in the public square outside Bournbrook Pavilion at 10am on Saturday 10th June. The route is just under 2 miles and finishes outside Big Johns on the Bristol Road. We'll be walking at a gentle pace with regular stops along the way. We aim to be finished by 12pm. For those who wish to hop on the train to visit Artefact for coffee and to see the exhibition after the walk, you're welcome to join us.
Surfaces will all be hard tarmac, bricks or slabs. There are no steps involved, but several inclines, some of which are pretty steep.
This event is organised by Walkspace as part of the Walkspace 23 exhibition at Artefact (June 3 - July 1 2023)
Josh Allen is a writer, contemporary historian, and occasional curator based in Birmingham. His affiliation to the Walkspace collective principally arises from his major ongoing project Walk Midlands, “a guide to day walks in the English Midlands accessible without a car, for walkers interested in all aspects of the region’s people, landscape and history” - in addition to his deep engagement with the region’s people, history and places elsewhere in his creative practice.