Bearwood Hub Newsletter

Things to look forward to in 2025!

Dec 17, 2024

DROP IN New Year Holiday Play! 3rd Jan 2025 at Bearwood Baptist Church

We’re really excited to be bringing you a New Year Holiday Play session with Powered by CAN on the 3rd Jan! 11am - 4pm for 6 - 12 year olds (or up to 16 for children with SEND).

Join us for Circus Skills with Creative Active Lives, a hot lunch, Steve the juggler and UV play with Powered by CAN!

GO DEEP at Urban Room Smethwick! 24 - 26th Jan

(The first in the country!)

EXPLORE your Smethwick, CONNECT with your community, DO!

Go Deep is a weekend of activities exploring the skills, talents and dreams we have in Smethwick. The base will be Urban Room Smethwick at Smethwick Library, the activities may well take us around our town.

You can drop in to watch or take part, for 10 minutes or 3 days, or anything in-between. Bring friends, children, neighbours, grandparents, or just you. Everyone is welcome.

By the end of Go Deep we'll have learned more about ourselves and each other, our community and the possibilities for change that emerge when we come together. Guided by an award winning game format, people are brought together to create collectively decided, designed and executed projects and possibly solutions to problems. Played in 8 countries so far, Urban Room Smethwick has invited Go Deep facilitators from Scotland to help us develop our game here in Smethwick, for the very first time in England.

If you’d like to be part of a core group starting the game, and can commit to 11am-4pm on Friday 24 January, please email hello@bearwood.cc

OR Join us at Smethwick Library for 10 minutes, two hours, or 3 days. Whatever works for you.

Find out more

Minecrafters aged 7-16 assemble!

MineMania comes to the Urban Room Smethwick - 1-3pm, Saturday 11th Jan

Do you want to build your dream High Street, play areas, parkland, public spaces for the whole community? This is your chance to be the architect of your neighbourhood in your favourite game, Minecraft.

Using a laptop, keyboard and mouse to play in a custom Minecraft world built just for us, use your Minecraft skills, creativity, imagination to create the spaces you want to live in.

You will be in Creative Mode, with access to all the blocks you need to let your imaginations run wild. We will take in-game photos along the way and a video of your creations.

This session is suitable for children who have played Minecraft and are able to use a keyboard aged 7-16.

We will not be enjoying PvP or mini games this is a creative building session only.

Book Now!

Poetry Pitstop with Bohdan Piasecki - Tues 7th Jan 1-5pm

Pop along to the Urban Room on Tuesday 7th Jan between 1 & 5pm for our Poetry Pitstop with Bohdan Piasecki.

Further dates to be confirmed!

1000 Paper Cranes - Craftivism around Bearwood!

“Faced with the overwhelming news cycle every day, it is easy to feel powerless and writing to politicians can often feel futile, however, it’s crucial to let our elected representatives know how we feel and what we want them to advocate for. Yet, often writing and pleading on your own can feel discouraging, posting on social media can feel unproductive and maybe taking part in protests is not an option for you. So, I thought about what I would like to do to start 2025 to start a year of positive activism.” - Melanie Martin

Several events will take place in January where you can fold paper cranes with others. Don’t worry if you have never done origami before and don’t know how to fold paper cranes. We are happy to show you and we will learn from each other as a community.

Dates & venues confirmed so far:

17th & 18th Jan - Bear Bookshop
Urban Room Smethwick - Smethwick Library
14th, 22nd & 30th January - Bearwood CoWork, 28a Abbey Road

More venues and dates to be confirmed!

Bearwood Spotlight

Every Tuesday you’ll be find us and the wonderful Rosie Wells from Bearwood Bites over on Instagram doing a Live spotlight, featuring a local Bearwoodian guest, shouting about all the amazing things local people & businesses are doing.

To nominate someone you think is doing amazing work, email us here: communityhub@bearwood.cc

Get Your Gifts Wrapped Fundraiser at Bear Bookshop

Donations will support Sandwell Borough of Sanctuary

Our lovely co-worker and local resident Minh is putting her passion for gift-wrapping to good use next Monday, and will be offering for folks to get their purchases from Bear Bookshop wrapped, as well as other items for a suggested donation. (All supplies: tape, paper, tags are included).

Weekly Activities

Our usual weekly activities will be back in Jan, here’s what’s on and where you can find us!

Bearwood CoWork - 28a Abbey Road, B67 5RD, Mon - Fri
Grief Kind Space - 10am - 12 noon Mondays, Dorothy Parkes Centre
Stay & Play - 10 - 11:30am Mondays, Bear Bookshop
Community Wellbeing Service - Tues - Fri, by appointment
ESOL - 12-2pm, Tues & Wed, enrolment required
Urban Room Smethwick - Tuesdays 10am - 5pm, Fridays 10am - 3pm at Smethwick Library
Wednesday Warm Welcome - Wed 11:30am - 5pm at Bearwood Baptist Church Hall
Afterschool Play - Wednesdays 3-5pm at Bearwood Baptist Church Hall

February 2025

New Year, New You! - a health & employment project with DORCAS

We are delighted to be working with DORCAS in the new year on a new project which will provide fun exercise classes, health talks and employability workshops. Raising awareness of a number of women’s health issues, like breast cancer, the menopause, FGM and more.

Cookery Courses at Dorothy Parkes Centre with the bakery team!

Feb 25th - 1st April

Our bakery ladies will once again be donning their chef’s hats, but this time over at Dorothy Parkes Centre teaching cookery courses over 6 weeks! You’ll be able to learn, first-hand from our former-bakers, delicious recipes including the well-loved loaves from the community bakery.

Watch these spaces!

In and Around Bearwood

Baby Feeding Journeys Research by Birmingham City Council

Birmingham City Council is looking to understand more about baby feeding journeys across the city. They would like to hear your thoughts and experiences on the topic. From this, they hope to gain valuable insight that can inform their campaign to support breastfeeding across the city.

We would like to hear from:

Parents in Birmingham who have had a baby within the last five years
Grandparents of babies born in the last five years
Parents of children over the age of 5

We are interested in all forms of baby feeding journeys.

The survey will only take 10-15 minutes to complete, and you must be over the age of 16 to take part.

Once you have completed the survey, you may enter a prize draw to be in with a chance of winning a £50 Love to Shop voucher.

Please find the link to the survey here: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/7UPW6I/

Have your say today!

Bearwood Writers’ Group

Back for 2025, Jordan Garvey will be running the monthly writers’ group from Bearwood CoWork! Here are the next dates for your diaries, be sure to keep an eye out on eventbrite to book!