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WELL-A, WELL-A, WELL-A, HUH
POUR ONE MORE, POUR ONE MORE...
The Wine Events Company's summer slam of flicks meets drinks continues with four fantastic movies and associated slurps for your imbibition.
First up, on July 1, is Mamma Mia with Prosecco at Millennium Point: join Tony and team at a jumbo screen showing of Ol Parker’s most Rom of Coms, including five different glasses of bubbles for £35.95 per person.
A fortnight later (July 15) they swap the pool party for the varsity cardi as Grease shows at the Electric, alongside four fantastic themed cocktails. I've been bound by lengthy Non-Disclosure Agreements on three of them but lawyers have allowed me to reveal one: a Frenchie 78, a twist on the French 75 will be served. This one is £32 per person, all-in.
Into August and focussing on wine for a brace of screenings, the team will show La La Land at The Crescent Theatre (Aug 12) then Elvis, back at The Electric, August 26, both costing just £27 and coming with five glasses of vin all tied to the mise-en-scène in some way. Book
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INSIDE MAN
Whatever your political persuasion this will be a seriously fascinating evening. Telegraph columnist, Brummie, and former No.10 Joint Chief of Staff, Nick Timothy, joins ex FT Whitehall editor, Seb Payne, for a live (and lively) discussion at 1000 Trades in the JQ — part of the venue's ongoing series to unstuffify political talks.
"We all need some political therapy at the moment," said venue co-owner John Stapleton. "So that's why we're inviting some of the most illuminating figures around to reflect on the idea that there is often too much heat and not enough light these days. Hyper partisanship is banned and open-mindedness encouraged. Our speakers have been selected because they have something more than a soundbite to say."
That's definitely true of the, at times, controversial Timothy who Joint Chief-ed for Theresa May's premiership, finding himself at the centre of a storm that lead to his resignation in 2017.
"Seb Payne and I will discuss, with our audience, the future of politics and in particular the future of Conservative thinking," he told us. "We are not only going through a difficult time, with inflation still high and interest rates rising fast, we face huge geopolitical upheaval, economic challenge, social division, and the unknown consequences of the AI revolution. Britain has amazing strengths, and some deep-rooted challenges – the political decisions we take in the next decade or so will determine whether we emerge stronger from this time of radical change."
Tickets are priced at £15 and, I'll bet a pound to a penny, Boris will come up on questions. The series of talks continues in October with Jess Phillips.
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COUNCIL POP: THE EXHIBITION
Say what you will about Brum's city planners of yesteryear and their Miley Cyrus approach to construction, but some smart cookie hooked us up to Welsh water and we shall forever be in their debt. Ambrosia spills from our taps and anyone who's made the mistake of putting their lips to a faucet south of the M42 will have been met with true poison.
Turns out, though, that even that major feat of engineering (plugging us into the waterways of the Elan Valley) is not without its unpleasantness. Why can't we just have nice things??
Midlands Art Centre with the help of artists Zillah Bowes, Daniel Crawshaw, Kate Green, Rowena Harris, Antony Lyons, Isa Suarez, and Eustace Tickell present Watershed, an exhibition exploring the relationship between Birmingham and Elan Valley; two communities linked by council pop.
The group show includes work by all six who have reflected upon an area in mid-Wales on the edge of the Cambrian mountains, which has been the middleman for our sky-juice for nearly 120 years. In the late 19th century, unsafe water led to widespread disease until an Act of Parliament was passed, enabling the compulsory purchase of the Elan Valley by the Birmingham Corporation Water Department.
A series of man-made lakes were created on the land by damming the Elan and Claerwen rivers, the resultant reservoirs have supplied Birmingham with heaven-like water since 1904 but — and here's the rub — 100 occupants of the Elan Valley were forced to move. Watershed presents artistic responses to this controversial change to Welsh land, the connections between these two distinctive landscapes, and the part that people play in nature’s balance.
The exhibition spans across photography (like Zillah Bowes' Pont ar Elan — landscape in moonlight — above), sound, film and painting. It gathers material from the Elan Links archive, including a book of etchings from the lead engineer of the dam construction Eustace Tickell, who was moved to capture the valley before it was flooded.
The exhibition is presented in both English and Welsh, and runs from today (June 29) to November 5.
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TAP BACK IN
Cotteridge Wines' awesome but underused taproom is getting a rare three weekends on the bounce run out, starting tomorrow (June 30) with a two-day tap takeover.
The craft beer specialists — who, despite their name, barely feature any wine whatsoever — found their hidden taproom and beer garden became too popular when pub crawl stag dos appeared on the regular, running counter to what they had intended for the quiet areas. Thanks to a bookings only system though (book via Twitter direct message) they will be able to to monitor numbers so things don't get too chaotic for the arrival of Cheltenham's brilliant DEYA Brewery, June 30 and July 1.
Then, on July 7, 8, 14 and 15 the owners will celebrate their 28 years at the helm by welcoming 28 beers from 28 breweries (14 each weekend). Again, book via Twitter direct message. There will be two daily sessions: 12pm to 4pm and 5pm to 9pm on the respective Fridays, then 11am to 3pm and 5pm to 9pm on the Saturdays.
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I SHOULD COCO
One of the finest kid-friendly dates in the city's calendar lands this Saturday (July 1) as Cocomad rolls into Cotteridge Park once more.
Free, and run by a great team of volunteers who will dance in any weather (last year the heaven's opened, as you can see), the 27th celebration of music, art, dance, science and circus starts at midday. And the forecast is good.
Once again you can expect an array of champions from Birmingham’s independent scene with market stalls featuring everything from clothing and jewellery to homewares and handmade foods. Street food will fill tums and two stars of the local brewery scene will be on drinks duties.
Entertainment and activities run through to 7pm, with all ages catered for. The main stage kicks off at 12pm and over the day, seven local bands and artists will perform, alongside DJ Gez and compere Barbara Nice. The festival costs £25k to stage with £20k contributed by local businesses and organisations, and the rest raised on the day. More
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