See more, check out polyesterpowdercoated‘s Flickr.

If you have found yourself at a bit of a lose end recently and fancy changing it up a bit, scare yourself into action this weekend by attending the Haunted Happenings ghost hunt at Smethwick Baths.

“A sinister feeling floods over you as you descend into the Subways below”

Taking place in the middle of the night in the hidden depths of the building the Haunted Happenings team will hold vigils and séances and attempt to capture ghosts with gadgets and ghost hunting equipment. If you’re feeling really brave there’s an opportunity to go on an alone vigil through the gloomy subways and cellars, not something for the faint hearted.

The Smethwick Baths are riddled with history which is why they make for such a good ghost hunting location. During the Second World-War its subways were used as air raid shelters for the public as well as a safe area for the treatment of the sick and wounded, and perhaps most hauntingly they were used for the storage of bodies of those died in the bombings. It is even thought that prisoners were interrogated there by the US Air Force who was stationed just around the corner.

It has been said that one of the seats upon the poolside balcony kept in an upright position because of a ghost who likes no one else to sit there. Some say that when the building is empty heavy footsteps can be heard walking through the changing rooms. There have been several reported sightings of a man and a child running to where an escape hatch is thought to have been many years ago.

A little farfetched? Don’t knock it ‘til you try it!

Haunted Happenings:

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There are millions of football fans across the world. Most people know something about tennis. Thousands and thousands of people go to watch rugby games, and almost everyone’s dad is either a fan of a sport like cricket or golf. Even darts and snooker players can rake in millions from admissions, endorsements, sponsorship’s and winnings. So why does no one care about badminton?

Did you know that last week, one of the biggest and most prestigious badminton championships in the whole world was held right here in Birmingham? The Yonex Open Badminton Championships saw fans from all across the world attend the event at the NIA in Birmingham – the competition having been held in England for the last one hundred and three years, and more specifically, in Birmingham since 1994.

If England became the host of the next world cup, everyone would know about it, so surely we should be proud to be home to the oldest and most important badminton tournament to exist? Thousands of people from across the world flew into Birmingham to watch the event, yet many people walk past the arena every single day for the week during the tournament without even knowing that it’s a real thing.

The people of Birmingham should embrace the privilege of holding an annual occasion which is a big deal to so many people, and subsequently aim to be aware of whatever event is going on right under their noses and be proud to live in such a fortunately famous and cosmopolitan city. Who knows, maybe you’ll realize you have a secret talent and end up competing next year!

Birmingham Bears – Australian Rules Football from Un-told: Birmingham on Vimeo.

“You’ve got a lot of aussie’s breathing down your neck whilst you’re trying to pick up a ball that’s bouncing around a muddy English field…”

Earlier this month un-told: Birmingham went down to a Birmingham Bears training session in Selly Oak to see what aussie rules football is all about.

A somewhat unknown sport in this country the club has at times struggled to gain enough members to make up a whole team, however they have not let this dampen their spirits and continue to grow and strive in their Central and Northern league. Despite the low numbers they saw great success last season winning the Leeds Lightening Cup as well as going on to win the Movember Cup.

The size of the club has not stopped its players, past and present, going on to achieve great things such as representing both England and Europe. This just goes to show the quality of players the club produces and their ability to nurture and develop talent to help shape the future of the sport in England.
Always looking for new members the club welcomes anyone whatever level their knowledge and ability of the sport is at. If Aussie Rules looks like the sport for you then go check out their website and get involved!

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Production: Sophie Coulson & Dan Johnson
Photography: Dan Johnson

Birmingham Rockets from Un-told: Birmingham on Vimeo.

In January we caught up with The Birmingham Rockets.

The Birmingham Rockets are an Ice Hockey team based in, you guest it, Birmingham! We spoke to some of the team and found out why they love the sport so much. With Ice hockey being a sport well known for its roots in Canada and America you wouldn’t have thought that a little country like England could be home to a very competitive and thriving league!

Interested in playing for yourself, or just want to know more? Contact the Birmingham Rockets!

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Production: Jessica Goodman
Photography: Dan Johnson, Danielle-Simone Gibbs

This week sees the re-brand of a project designed to archive the lost or forgotten stories of the West Midlands – the website formerly known as Hidden City has now become Un-told: Birmingham.

Hidden City’s mission was to create a database of stories which focused on the personal stories within Birmingham which would have otherwise been neglected by the larger media. What they found were fascinating and heart-warming leads on independent organisations and people who have remarkable stories which they felt needed to be told.

The name change has come as a result of a conflict of interest with another company which have a similar name. Far from being disappointed with the situation, Hidden City have turned it to their advantage and are hoping to become better known in the region, as well as widening the boundaries of their contributors due to the interest surrounding their rebrand as they officially become Un-told: Birmingham.

Throughout the process of the launch, Un-told: Birmingham is considering expanding the product into other cities within Britain. The ultimate aim would be to create a similar record of current stories which would promote the individuals which help to make their city the place that it is. The Un-told team works strictly to celebrate the institutes, places and people which would generally go unrecognised. This was the sole intention of Fourseventy Media, the Birmingham-based company who created the project. “The rebrand allows us to go beyond our old boundaries. We’re constantly developing the project online and off, and in 2013 Un-told will be moving into new communities digging deeper into untold oral histories.” Chris Williams, Director of Fourseventy Media.

The website gratefully accepts stories from the public or freelance journalists looking for a way to share a story which they believe fits in with the scheme. These stories may eventually be added to the interactive map on the Un-told: Birmingham website, along with the other stories that the team have created.

Un-told: Birmingham reveals the Midlands lost, forgotten and hidden stories.

Water Lion Productions go behind the scenes at The Royal Ballet.

Production: Water Lion Productions

Steve Tovey takes Tom Lawes from the Electric Cinema in Birmingham through the traditional art of theatrical organ playing at The Grange Cinema in Cannock.

Via Electric Birmingham YouTube

Revealing the Midlands lost, forgotten and hidden stories.

By: Danielle Kent – Writer & Interviewer

Firstly, Happy New Year!

At the beginning of this week, The Hidden City team got together after a relaxing Christmas break to jump straight back into some hard work.

It may be a new year but we still have the same goal, to bring you as many remarkable untold stories as we can. This meant a lot of research, so Monday and Tuesday meant long hours in the office exploring upcoming events and dates. Of course, Hidden City is all about the untold stories that Birmingham has to offer, making it a lot more challenging to find the stories waiting to be found. It does however make our work a lot more exciting and interesting. We’ve already secured stories about fascinating people who would have otherwise been overlooked – and luckily for us we have been successful in acquiring stories from people who have chosen to remain anonymous yet have some truly amazing stories to tell.

As a team, we have planned a calendar which includes all of the upcoming dates of events not only in Birmingham but internationally. We hope that this will help us create themes for our stories, many of which we have already have responses from (what hidden stories could Birmingham possibly have which relate to the patron saint of Wales?). We were all delegated different months, with Chloe, Sophie, Dan and myself taking on the upcoming four months – maybe you’ll even be able to decide which month brings the best stories! We were all surprised at how many events were taking place nearby but it means that we’re going to be exceptionally busy and the website is going to be jam-packed with brand new stories very soon.

On Wednesday we focused more on the geeky side of things like sorting out a new logo and coming up with some ideas for the website. Everyone has contributed massively and we are all confident that with all of our input and hard-work, our new website is going to be not only more interesting but easier to use to allow better access to all of the stories that we have documented.

As a team we are very excited about what next week holds because of many things but mainly one reason. We have an exiting change coming which we are very eager to tell you about, but for now were keeping it under our hats!

Thank you for your continued  support and thank you Birmingham for bringing us so many amazing people and places to report on.