I don’t get excited very often ;-). Today I am.
Last night we flicked a switch. You might think it was a simple switch. On the face of it all we did was turn https://beta.socialmediasurgery.com/ over to www.socialmediasurgery.com.
For me though that is one helluva switch. It means that today you lot can start making the most of Social Media Surgery Plus – a site created to make it easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy to find, organise and report on social media surgeries. Read more
We’ve been holding some social media surgeries in Balsall Heath. So far they’ve been supported by the Birmingham Social Investment Trust and our hope is that, after our third event on July 7, we’ll be able to carry them on as completely voluntary events. If you’re interested you can sign up here.
One of the projects that has benefited from our this is the Balsall Heath Forum, Read more
A decade ago I made a half hour documentary about allotments, called Losing the Plot. The programme reflected what was then a confused attitude to urban land and how we value greenspace.
It featured academic and activist Simon Baddeley talking about his campaign to prevent homes being built on the Victoria Jubilee allotments, which border Handsworth Park.
This video by Demos tells the story of how my neighbourhood and the people in it are doing work which fits with the governments Big Society idea. David Cameron has visited Balsall Heath a number of times and Dick Atkinson who’s in the video, was at the Downing Street launch of the Big Society. Nowrah the main woman in the film is one of the people helping us run the Balsall Heath Social Media Surgery.
That’s all I want to say at the moment – lots of thoughts bubbling at the moment on the Big Society – but enjoy the video.