Workshop with Dorcas Group

Wednesday, 18th February - Workshop with Dorcas group.
I arrived at Lozells Methodist Church at around 11am and met a few members of the Dorcas group in the doorway. I said; 'Are you here for the Dorcas Group?' and the lady at the door said 'Yes' so I said 'So am I' and we went in together.
Inside the hall there were quite a few members of the Aspire and Succeed group who were there with Birmingham Council to show the ladies a map of the area, and discuss the plans.
This was a coincidence, as we were both really there for the same thing, but with very different approaches. Some of the points raised about the area while I was with the group are listed here:

• Litter is the biggest problem. (Concerning the Malthouse Gardens area) kids hang around and drop papers, there are always papers flying around.
• Car parking is a problem, people from all over park here, so when family come to visit there is nowhere to park.
• The council should cut the grass and pick up the rubbish (someone else answered - but as soon as they pick it up, them drop some more)
• A massive demolition of the whole area.
• Get to know your neighbours, you get good and bad people in all parts of the world, doesn't matter race, religion or whatever.
• Getting around is easy - there are plenty of buses.
• I worship here - it's a good area.
• All the broken down houses look bad.
• (Do something about) The rubbish in the road.
• More cleaner and peaceful area - it's very filthy. It would feel safer if it was cleaner - there's always rubbish around.
• It's embarrassing to have visitors.
  

Once the council had gone the ladies and I talked about the area, and what it is like to live there, we thought about hopes and dreams for themselves and where they live. They thought it was an odd idea to ask them about their hopes and dreams for the future, saying, we are old! We have had our lives! What hopes or dreams can we have for the future? Esther said 'any hopes and dreams we have are for the younger generation coming along.'
We had cups of tea, and photographed the ladies' hands; we talked about how things have changed in the area. Nessa said when she came here 50 years ago the belongings she brought with her were in a shoebox and 'When I go back, I'm gonna need a ship.'
We looked through the cupboards at all of the craft materials the group have accumulated and discussed what we might do together next time. We will work with some of the images taken this time and make some tote bags, as some of the ladies said they wanted to try transferring photos to fabrics.