BBC How We Are Building Birmingham

Yes, this is the first of six programmes, in a new series, 'Building Britain'.

FWIW, the Birmingham episode appears to have a somewhat religious flavour, focussing on (apparently) 'Europe's largest Hindu temple', and 'Europe's largest Burmese Buddhist Peace Pagoda.' Juxtaposing this with St. Martin's-in-the BullRing, and the inevitable glimpses of our very own Digbeth Dalek!

Forward said:

Yes, this is the first of six programmes, in a new series, 'Building Britain'.

FWIW, the Birmingham episode appears to have a somewhat religious flavour, focussing on (apparently) 'Europe's largest Hindu temple', and 'Europe's largest Burmese Buddhist Peace Pagoda.' Juxtaposing this with St. Martin's-in-the BullRing, and the inevitable glimpses of our very own Digbeth Dalek!

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All 6 programs are local. So we should see another 5 on the region. Martin, I haven't watched today's but I think it was on religious buildings.

I thought programme was nicely done and the stop-time (not quite sure how you say) video of bullring's development was awesome.

Its a shame that they didn't have chance to look at Methodist central Hall, St Chads or St Philips or any Jewish Synagogues or Sikh temples but at least they showed fleeting glimpses of them in a montage of video shots of religious buildings.

Really does highlight the amazing diversity in Birmingham that we take for granted.

I feel I must visit more of the places of worship as I have been past so many but never dipped my toe into other cultures more than an academic investigation.

Do we know what the next programme might cover, it didn't say 'next week...'
Its also a shame that only midlanders got to see it. Perhaps each city or region's set of programmes could have a summary programme shown over another set of weeks. There really are some fascinating buildings and stories to these buildings in all of our great cities.

Um, the programme was about building Birmingham, so why did they go to Tividale!?

Despite that, I found the temple there quite nice. But I found it a real let down. Did we have to hear Saira's "thoughts and views" and "what she'll take away from the experience?" I frankly couldn't give a f*ck about St Martins as I see it ever so often. The pagoda was interesting though.

I don't like the way they kept trying to portray Birmingham as having a multi-cultural society. Yes, we have one but they are totally over doing it. I would be more interested in seeing the changes of the Bull Ring over the last 100 years, or the canals. I might write to the BBC about it.

Butterfield said:

Well... well, I enjoyed it. :shifty:

How often do we get to see inside these religious buildings? Even if some of us "couldn't care less" about other religions it's always interesting having a look round their buildings.

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You can walk into them at any time. They are very welcoming. :yes:

The only play where I was met with some hostility was Ghamkol Sharif Mosque in Small Heath. They had about 5 guys follow me around the mosque whilst I was just looking around. It is a massive building though. The main prayer hall enormous and so lavish. Shame the outside looks so cheap and tacky...hno:

We see the history of the Bullring all the time anyway. :sleepy:

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We do? I haven't. :dunno:

Erebus555 said:

You can walk into them at any time. They are very welcoming. :yes:

The only play where I was met with some hostility was Ghamkol Sharif Mosque in Small Heath. They had about 5 guys follow me around the mosque whilst I was just looking around. It is a massive building though. The main prayer hall enormous and so lavish. Shame the outside looks so cheap and tacky...hno:

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They say we are welcome to visit but how many of us will? As you found with your experience of the mosque, I can't imagine these buildings are quite as open as the likes of Lichfield or Worcester cathedrals where you simply walk in off the street. That's cos they're tourist destinations in their own right as well as places of worship.

However, I'd probably go if there was a group of us cos I don't like people following me round as it is!

Erebus555 said:

We do? I haven't. :dunno:

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The Bullring is one of the places you do see all the time as it was such a big project. There's old footage-galore of it and although I never saw it before the new construction I certainly know how it looked!

Butterfield said:

They say we are welcome to visit but how many of us will? As you found with your experience of the mosque, I can't imagine these buildings are quite as open as the likes of Lichfield or Worcester cathedrals where you simply walk in off the street. That's cos they're tourist destinations in their own right as well as places of worship.

However, I'd probably go if there was a group of us cos I don't like people following me round as it is!

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I know the feeling. I avoided all dark areas of the mosque just in case, but I know that was stupid of me as I doubt they'd lay a finger on me - it's totally against their religion for one.

My best experiences are really with Buddhist temples and churches. There is a temple in a house somewhere just south of the city centre which is incredibly well hidden. We were allowed in and they gave us a small tour of the place - they were so friendly. They had a huge gold Buddha too :happy:.

I also find it is smaller churches that are more welcoming. I recommend St Edburgas Church in Yardley. It is a gorgeous conservation area and is an ancient church (about the same age as St Martin).

The Bullring is one of the places you do see all the time as it was such a big project. There's old footage-galore of it and although I never saw it before the new construction I certainly know how it looked!

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The footage of the old Bull Ring was some of the first I had seen for a long time. I have only ever learned about the Bull Ring through books and loads of drawings. It continues to fascinate me.

I briefly thought that church was the one here in Sedgley - even the lightning conductor running down the side is similar.

Who was St. Edburga(s)?? He obviously didn't have such an impact on the world as St. Paul. :lol:

Do you just turn up at temples and just walk in? How did you find out about the temple in the house? Did you go with school/college? Sorry so many questions, it's just been something I've wanted to do for years to visit other religious buildings. :yes:

Butterfield said:

I briefly thought that church was the one here in Sedgley - even the lightning conductor running down the side is similar.

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I hadn't noticed the lightning conductor before! All of a sudden the church looks ugly! hno:

Who was St. Edburga(s)?? He obviously didn't have such an impact on the world as St. Paul. :lol:

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St Edburgha wasn't even a saint. Edburgha is actually Alfred the Great's grand daughter! It was built by Aston Church, which is odd considering Yardley was a possession of Pershore Abbey at the time.

Do you just turn up at temples and just walk in? How did you find out about the temple in the house? Did you go with school/college? Sorry so many questions, it's just been something I've wanted to do for years to visit other religious buildings. :yes:

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Well I actually had a Buddhist friend who knew of the temple and he said 50% of the time they will let you in to the temple. Sometimes they are suspicious or busy so are unable to. So I may have just been lucky at that time.

I don't go to that many religious buildings. Sometimes you should phone up beforehand just to see if they would let you in and show you around. I remember going on a school trip to a gurdwara somewhere in Birmingham and we all pulled up in huge coaches on the car park. We gathered outside the entrance. We were all registered and the teachers made sure we looked smart and presentable. Then when they asked if we could come in, we were turned away! I think they were quite offended by the huge coaches making an unwelcome entrance to the place. :lol:

We did end up going to a mandir (hindu temple) though which was nice. They even let us see a prayer thing which is usually strictly witnessed by Hindus. That was quite nice :yes:.