Michael Smith looks for the positive in what some consider Europe’s most boring city – Birmingham

Putting the ‘n’ into ‘BBC cuts’.

UPDATE

You can see this episode on iPlayer until 7pm on 4 November. It featured The Event (in particular, Creative Machines, Minimalist Sculpture at Curzon Street Station), Eastside Projects and Project Pigeon and was actually quite complimentary about the fringes of the city (although not the centre, which is probably fair enough).

The venue – which hosted the shoot for Juice Aleem’s Rock My Hologram music video and more – made this announcement on their Facebook page:

It’s with a great deal of sadness that we have to announce BOXXED ceased trading on Monday the 19th Sept 2011. We’ve had fun and we hope everyone that experienced our unique space did too, but it’s time for us to bow out.

Massive thanks go to everyone that was part of our project, particularly Dave Checkley, Ksmk Neil, all the graff guys that painted our walls just for the love of it (especially Hoaks & Fluid), The Project Pigeon Crew and everyone that volunteered their time to help us out. You know who you are.

According to Digbeth is Good (hat-tip for posting about this originally), Project Pigeon, which is based on Boxxed’s Custard Factory grounds, will be unaffected for now and there will be a couple of closing parties at the venue to see it off in style. Inquiries should be directed to the Boxxed team on 07826 523 650.

Since we first introduced Project Pigeon, they’ve been busy working on their community pigeon loft, which looks to have had some interesting design suggestions. Tomorrow marks the first of their workshops providing a step by step guide to keeping pigeons.

The workshops will take place from 2-4pm on the dates below, at Project Pigeon’s Loft, Milk Street, Digbeth, Birmingham (in Boxxed’s backyard opposite Birmingham Backpackers under a viaduct). It’s free to go along, but places should be booked in advance via email at: projectpigeondigbeth@gmail.com

Here’s what they’ve got lined up through until April;

Saturday 19th February:  Introduction to pigeon fancying

Find out about the history of pigeon fancying, meet some pigeon fanciers and find out about why they keep pigeons, meet Project Pigeon’s birds and watch some pigeons fly.

Friday 25th February:  A pigeon’s home and life

This workshop will be focused on the different seasons in a pigeons life, from racing season to breeding season.  We will also look at the different kinds of pigeon lofts there are.

Saturday 26th February:  Day to day pigeon loft management

How to keep your pigeons clean and happy – from cleaning the loft to giving the pigeons a bath.

Friday 4th March:  Making nest boxes and perches

A woodwork session where we will design and make essential items for the inside of pigeon lofts and make any loft repairs

Saturday 5th March:  Racing pigeons, Birmingham rollers and tipplers

There are many kinds of pigeons, racing pigeons are used in racing, Birmingham rollers in sequence flying and tipplers in endurance flying.

Friday 11th March:  A pigeon’s diet

Like any athlete a pigeons diet is very important.  In this session you will find out about all the vital vitamins, minerals and foods needed to keep pigeons on top form.

Saturday 12th March:  Veterinary skills

Vets in the UK know little about racing pigeons, and if you took your pigeon to the vet every time there was something wrong it would cost a lot and wouldn’t be practical.  Learn about what kinds of injuries pigeon get and how you can help your pigeon.

Friday 18th March:  Breeding

Come and see and learn about squeekers (baby pigeons)!

Saturday 19th March:  Training and racing

How do pigeons find their way home?  How do you train a racing pigeon?  How do you win a race?!

Saturday 2nd April:  Making a magazine about pigeons

Help Project Pigeon design a magazine based on what we have learnt during the workshops.

Saturday 16th April:  Come and watch a live pigeon race!

You might have been to the horses or to the dogs but have you ever seen a pigeon race?  Now is your chance!  Please email if you intend to come to this because the time of the race will only be known on Saturday morning – the morning of the race.

Project Pigeon currently reside in Boxxed‘s backyard in Digbeth. Working with pigeons and people, they aim to bring about social change, and so are currently working on a community pigeon loft.

Traditionally, pigeon lofts are designed to reflect the culture in which they’re located, and so in keeping with this they’re after the designs and ideas of local residents in order to build a loft that reflects all the different cultures in Digbeth and Highgate.

They’ll be holding Community Consultation Days throughout February on the following dates for people wanting to get involved;

• Thursday 3 February:  7.30am-2.30pm Eastside Cafe, 99 Coventry Street, Digbeth
• Sunday 6 February: 10am-4pm Project Pigeon’s Loft, Milk Street, Digbeth (in Boxxed’s backyard, opposite Birmingham Backpackers)
• Wednesday 9 February: 2pm-6pm Project Pigeon’s Loft
• Tuesday 15 February: 7pm-11pm The Spotted Dog pub, 104 Warwick Street, Digbeth

Designs can also be submitted to projectpigeondigbeth@gmail.com

Eastside Café will be exhibiting designs between 9 -12 March, plus keep an eye on their Flickr photostream where they’ll be uploading entries.

The pigeon loft will then be built between mid March and May 2011 so look out for further information.