Urban Devotion Birmingham youth worker at The Undergroud, St Martain’s Church, Perry Common
Since 2004, The Underground has been a safe, welcoming space for young people in Perry Common to socialise, make friends, and engage with the UDB team.
Located beneath St Martin’s Church on Witton Lodge Road, the space is used by Oscott Academy during school hours, while UDB hosts various youth activities in the evenings. Young people can grab a toastie, play in the sports hall or hang out in our youth space.
We spoke to some regular attendees, asking why they come to The Underground and what they enjoy about it. Their answers varied: “To make new friends,” “It gives me something to do,” and “It makes me feel safe.”
They enjoy the food, toasties, sports, and the chance to “see some friends every week.” One young person shared how the space has “helped with my self-control” and how UDB is always there to support them when they feel sad or angry.
We believe it’s vital to offer young people safe, drop-in activities where they can feel relaxed, heard, and have fun.
We all crave spaces where we feel we can belong, and we feel privileged to be able to provide those spaces to many young people throughout Erdington.
Our sessions at The Underground are open to different age groups:
Mondays from 3:15pm-4:30pm for school years 3-6
Mondays from 5:00pm-6:00pm for school years 7-9
Wednesdays from 6:00pm-7:00pm for school years 9-13
For more details and to see where else we run drop-ins check out our QR code (above).
A recently formed community group is inviting local residents and environmental enthusiasts to a special event celebrating Perry Common Meadows and to help safeguard the future of the urban oasis.
Friends of Perry Common Meadows are organising a Nature Day on Saturday 14 September and are encouraging people to join the conversation about how the green space is managed and developed.
Originally planned and promoted for the Earthwatch Tiny Forest in the middle of the Meadows, the Nature Day will now be held at St Martin’s Church on The Ring – in the centre of Witton Lodge Road, Perry Common.
Organisers have advised for those coming from further afield but looking for a more environmentally friendly way to attend the event, the Number 7 bus will drop passengers directly in front of St Matin’s Church.
Running from 11am to 2pm, the Nature Day will feature family fun activities with an environmental focus – including guided nature walks, a plant swap, and a wildflower seed bomb making workshop.
There will also be storytelling, face painting, subsidised refreshments with food for £1, and a Perry Common Meadows consultation where those attending can ‘have your say’ over the future of the local green space.
Friends of Perry Common founder, Stephanie Boyle, who established the group in 2023, told Erdington Local: “The Friends of Perry Common Meadows is a relatively new group and we’re hoping to develop the Meadows into a people-and-nature-friendly wildish green space, building on what’s already there.”
Stephanie Boyle has been a prominent promoter of environmental issues across Erdington, and organised the Eco Together workshops at the Eco Hub in Witton Lakes last year – a specially designed ten week course about environmental understanding and action, as commissioned by Witton Lodge Community Association.
She added: “To help this along we’re putting on a Nature Day on Saturday 14 September so local people can have their say about how the Meadows develops, while also having fun outdoors and engaging with nature at the same time.”
Also at the Friends of Perry Common Meadows Nature Day will be a programme of live music with a Celtic slant, including a performance from local multi-instrumentalist and hammered dulcimer player Jobe Sullivan, and Bodhran and Ukulele workshops courtesy of the Birmingham Irish Association.
The event will also feature a sneak peak of the upcoming Celtic Journeys, a new concert series soon to be coming to Erdington.
Situated between Perry Common Road and Witton Lodge Road, Perry Common Meadows is home to many local animals, wildlife, and is a hotbed of urban nature.
Friends of Perry Common Meadows are hoping the Nature Day will bring the local community into the conversation about how the area is protected and maintained, helping keep the natural asset safe for generations to come.
For more information please contact Nature Day event organiser Stephanie at [email protected]
Words & pics by Ed King / Video by Paul Withers – Erdington Local Broadcast Unit
There has not been much to celebrate over the past few weeks, as the world has been put on pause to stem the spread of COVID-19.
But the silver lining of the coronavirus crisis can be found in the volunteer groups that have sprung up all across the country – grassroots organisations who have mobilised friends, families, and neighbours to support the most vulnerable in their communities.
And as national campaigns such as Volunteers’ Week have been highlighting across the UK, this community spirit and endeavour is playing an increasingly vital role in our country’s social care network.
The Erdington Community Volunteers began as a Facebook group, an online act of goodwill set up by local resident Jo Bull – launching via social media on the day lockdown began.
Two months later and they now have over 800 online members, with an active team of over 70 local people helping the official Erdington COVID-19 Taskforce deliver important outreach campaigns. What started as a simple gesture has become a fundamental support network for thousands of Erdington residents.
“There was a nationwide group of mutual aid groups at the time,” explains David Owen, who came onboard to help co-ordinate the Erdington Community Volunteers as their membership grew, “and a centralised group were asking for each community to create their own, in essence.
“We had 500 members (online) in our first 24 hours and it’s grown consistently since then, so we’ve got just over 800 members now. We wanted a platform for people who wanted to help, to meet up with those that needed help.”
There has been an immediate and constant programme distributing food and essential household items across the constituency, with around 20 Erdington Community Volunteers delivering daily care packages to those who have needed to self-isolate.
“The coronavirus put people into lockdown who normally live completely independent lives,” explains David, “they weren’t used to dealing with established organisations.
“So, we filled that gap, if you like, between what are the statutory requirements and what are the requirements during COVID-19.
“Some of the national programme were slow to respond, in all fairness, and we able to very very quickly identify people who needed help and get that help to them.”
But whilst playing an important role in the community, especially during the coronavirus crisis, the Erdington Community Volunteers has become a community within itself – as many members discover unexpected positives from the time and effort they have given to the group.
“I found out about the group through my cousin, who started delivering a few weeks before I did,” explains Dillon Linford, a young resident who has been helping the Erdington Community Volunteers distribute food and essential items with The Active Wellbeing Society.
“It’s good. It’s a good way to break up the day and it gives you something to do during lockdown. I’ll have to fit it in between everything I’m doing, that’s restarting after lockdown, but I can definitely see myself doing more of it. It’s good for me; it’s good for other people. It’s good to help.”
“For many of the volunteers it has been an extremely positive experience,” continues David, “it’s given them an opportunity to help when there was a sense of helplessness.
“They wanted to help, they wanted to help the community, but they didn’t know how. They didn’t know the established organisations that existed. This platform, this group, has given them that opportunity.
“You see more affluent areas, such as Sutton Coldfield or Moseley, with a charitable trust – I’m not saying the (Erdington) Community Volunteers will become that, but with the networking that’s happened I’d like to see something like that established within Erdington – and to see that as our legacy.
“If anyone wants to help, and we are still desperately looking for volunteers, please get in touch with us via Facebook or by emailing [email protected]“
Erdington Community Volunteers
To visit the Erdington Community Volunteers Facebook group, where you ask for help and support during the coronavirus crisis – or offer your services as a volunteer, visit www.facebook.com/groups/625073991557017
Alternatively, you can email David Owen at the Erdington Community Volunteers group via [email protected]
A directory of all Erdington COVID-19 Taskforce organisations, offering help from employment advice to mental health support, can be found by visiting: www.erdingtonlocal.com/covid-19-local-support
Volunteers’ Week runs across the UK from 1st to 7th June – for more information, visit www.volunteersweek.org
