Care Taken

• DATE: 1986
• DURATION: 12 mins 53 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: Care Taken (CARE)
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (dialogue, location sound)

This video, presented by The City of Birmingham Environmental Health Department, documents the success of the Area Caretaker scheme, part of the wider Birmingham Urban Renewal programme of the mid-1980s. As part of this scheme, the council employed people to assist residents in caring for their areas with initiatives like free skips, cheap tool hire, and extra help for the elderly and disabled. The video focuses specifically on the Area Caretakers of Selly Oak, Handsworth, Moseley and Balsall Heath.

Production team: Charlie Adams, Nick Wigg, Sylvia Allen, Tony Charman. Filmed and edited by Harry Henderson.

Deposited by Barry Toon.

Care Taken – Camera Tape 1

• DATE: 1986
• DURATION: 12 mins 53 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: Care Taken (CARE)
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (dialogue, location sound)

Unedited tape recorded for the making of “Care Taken” (1986). Deposited by Barry Toon.

This tape features:

• Balsall Heath Birmingham, old terraces, demolition and new build on Edward Road.
• Meeting of area caretakers, Urban Renewal officials and volunteers including: Cindy Harris (Woodstock area caretaker), Ricky Smith (Balsall Heath area caretaker), Sylvia Elias (Birmingham City Council Urban Renewal officer), Roger Clipsham (Handsworth area caretaker) [chairing meeting], Bill James (Selly Oak area caretaker), the Ladypool Road [or Seven Streets] area caretaker, and others.
• Discussion on rubbish removal.

To request access to this video please email us at  bmap@vividprojects.org.uk 

Care Taken – Camera Tape 2

• DATE: 1986
• DURATION: 12 mins 53 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: Care Taken (CARE)
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (dialogue, location sound)

Unedited tape recorded for the making of “Care Taken” (1986). Deposited by Barry Toon.

This tape features:

• Demolition on unknown site, possibly Balsall Heath.
• Continuation of a meeting of area caretakers discussing the effects of cutbacks to council workforce and what jobs caretakers should be taking on.
• Map Of Selly Oak.
• Blossom Avenue (off Dawlish Road) pre Urban Renewal.
• Interview with ex-miner Bill James (area caretaker, Selly Oak) mentioning his apprentice and difficulty in getting skips.

To request access to this video please email us at  bmap@vividprojects.org.uk 

Care Taken – Camera Tape 5

• DATE: 1986
• DURATION: 12 mins 53 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: Care Taken (CARE)
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (dialogue, location sound)

Unedited tape recorded for the making of “Care Taken” (1986). Deposited by Barry Toon.

This tape features:

• Selly Oak residents at Selly Oak community centre talking, playing bingo.
• Terrace housing [possibly Handsworth] with Roger Clipsham’s voice in background.
• Loading a van with furniture.
• Nick Wigg interviews local businessman in Grange Farm Small Heath.
• Terraced housing post urban renewal with new roofs, gates, front garden walls, gutters, drainpipes, tree planting.
• Loading scaffolding onto a contractor’s lorry.
• Café Polonia.
• Terrace pre-urban renewal walls and pavements in poor condition, roof in need of attention, garden full of bricks.
• People playing marbles.
• Little Green Lane area caretaker van.
• Playgrounds.
• Old factory [possibly Lucas].

To request access to this video please email us at  bmap@vividprojects.org.uk 

Care Taken – Camera Tape 8

• DATE: 1986
• DURATION: 12 mins 53 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: Care Taken (CARE)
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (dialogue, location sound)

Unedited tape recorded for the making of “Care Taken” (1986). Deposited by Barry Toon.

This tape features:

• Selly Oak Area Caretaker management meeting in Dawlish Road office. Participants include local resident Barry Toon, area caretaker Bill James, Urban renewal department officer Pat Moxon, and Barbara James caretaker Tiverton Road nursery school. They discuss renting warehouse, skips, problems with fly tipping making the Acorn group feel more a part of the scheme.
• Bill James and his apprentice tinning up empty property on Dawlish Road and Blossom Avenue.
• The site of Coronation Road playground before it was built.
• Dawlish Road looking towards Raddlebarn Road.
• Dumped sofa and derelict housing.
• Local residents at Selly Oak Centre, Dawlish Road singing praises of area caretaker Bill James.

To request access to this video please email us at  bmap@vividprojects.org.uk 

Care Taken – Camera Tape 9

• DATE: 1986
• DURATION: 12 mins 53 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: Care Taken (CARE)
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (dialogue, location sound)

Unedited tape recorded for the making of “Care Taken” (1986). Deposited by Barry Toon.

This tape features:

• Urban Renewal Scheme rebuilding front walls and roofing in Moseley Street (no scaffolding), enveloping scheme in Balsall Heath (with scaffolding) Park Road with balustrades and Mary Street.
• Bricklaying a front garden wall.

To request access to this video please email us at  bmap@vividprojects.org.uk 

Care Taken – Camera Tape 11

• DATE: 1986
• DURATION: 12 mins 53 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: Care Taken (CARE)
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (dialogue, location sound)

Unedited tape recorded for the making of “Care Taken” (1986). Deposited by Barry Toon.

This tape features:

• Cindy Harris and her job share demolish a fence and put up a new one.
• Derelict building, possibly an old school with demolition work and burning of timbers going on in front of old factory.
• Dual carriageway Belgrave Road with front of Central mosque on left, Moseley Road going across at top of hill.
• Cindy loading skip and clearing an entry in the Woodstock area and man with pram and old water tank as at start of camera tape number 6.

To request access to this video please email us at  bmap@vividprojects.org.uk 

Muhammad Idrish Must Stay

• DATE: 1983
• DURATION: 8 mins 46 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: TURC
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (dialogue, location sound)

Video made in support of the NALGO (National Association of Local Government Officers) campaign to stop the deportation of one of their members, Muhammad Idrish. It features a demonstration in Birmingham and interviews with Muhammad Idrish, union official Sid Platt as well as members of the Muhammad Idrish Support Committee.

Produced by Trevor Boden, Harry McNichol, David Pritchard, Dave Rushton, Norman Staples, Ian Waldie and Ann Yap. TURC Video Production with NALGO 1983.

Solidarity in Action

• DATE: c. 1984
• DURATION: 4 mins 26 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: TURC
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (dialogue, location sound)

Sue Cooper and Geraldine Egan explain how the Birmingham Trades Council Women’s Group supported the striking miners and their families through regular food collections, and give advice on how to set up similar groups.

A TURC Video production for Birmingham Trades Council.

Ansells Brewery Demolition

• DATE: 1986
• DURATION: 15 mins 3 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: TURC
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (dialogue, location sound)

This video documents the site of the demolition of the Ansells brewery in Aston, Birmingham which took place in December 1986. It features an interview with former shop steward Barry, led by Roger Kline from the TURC Research Department. Camerawork and editing by Marian Hall.

Bullring Open Market, Birmingham 1988

• DATE: 1988
• DURATION: 1 mins 32 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: TURC
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (location sound)

Video of Birmingham’s Bullring Open Market in 1988. Footage recorded during work experience at TURC. This version was edited by Marian Hall in 2013.

Centenary Square, Birmingham 1988

• DATE: 1988
• DURATION: 5 mins
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: TURC
• COLOUR
• SOUND: silent

Centenary Square and Broad Street Construction of National Indoor Arena and International Convention Centre, Birmingham 1988. Footage recorded by George Makin and Fiona Mackay as part of their training in using video equipment. This version was edited by Marian Hall in 2013.

National Demonstration in defence of the NHS, Birmingham

• DATE: Mar 1988
• DURATION: 6 mins 11 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: TURC
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (location sound)

Footage of a demonstration which took place in Chamberlain Square, Birmingham in March 1988. The demonstrations was in defence of the NHS from Tory party cuts. It includes footage of banners of NUPE, NALGO, COHSE, Labour Party, Trades Councils. Recorded and edited by Marian Hall.

Youth Against Apartheid

• DATE: 1988
• DURATION: 43 mins 55 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: VHS
• COLLECTION: TURC
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (dialogue, location sound, soundtrack)

This video was made in 1988 by Youth Against Apartheid members using the equipment at Birmingham Trade Union Resource Centre with financial assistance from West Midlands Arts. It starts with an introduction to the horrors of apartheid in South Africa and Namibia using material from the IDAF archive (The International Defence and Aid Fund) and Namibia Support Committee. It shows how young people were getting involved in the campaign for sanctions against the apartheid regime, the release of Nelson Mandela and the Sharpeville Six. The video features excerpts from interviews with Andile Maseko of youth ANC, Selma Ashipala survivor of the Cassinga massacre, Petrus Damaseb of SWAPO, and Bongani Mkhungo of NUMSA/COSATU.

Produced and directed by Revo Productions, Caroline Gilligan and Peter Bloomer. Narration by Maggie Owolade and Enos Houghton. Artwork by Michelle Deeley. Copyright Revo Productions, 1988.

To request access to this video please email us at  bmap@vividprojects.org.uk 

Soho Road
Birmingham, 11 November 1989

• DATE: 1989
• DURATION: 11 mins 19 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: TURC
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (location sound), partly silent

Footage of a drive up and down Soho Road, Handsworth, Birmingham on November 11th, 1989. The first part shows the west side of Soho Rd, driving from Hockley Flyover, and the second part the east side driving from the Outer Circle. The footage was captured by Sue Brown and Tina Hamilton of Kamara, mainly from the perspective of inside a car.

Recorded by Sue Brown and Tina Hamilton. This version was edited by Marian Hall in 2014.

Work Experience at TURC

• DATE: June 1990
• DURATION: 3 mins 25 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: TURC
• COLOUR & B&W
• SOUND: Mono (dialogue), Stereo (soundtrack)

Video made by Varsha Mistry during a placement at TURC on 11t-22 June 1990. It features a tour of the TURC departments, including the video edit suites – where many of the TURC productions were made – and scenes of TURC members of staff at work, including Marian Hall.

Soundtrack: “Put People First” by The Apollinaires.

The Unheard of Problem

• DATE: 1991
• DURATION: 13 mins 19 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: TURC
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (dialogue, location sound, soundtrack)

Video by Simon Lett and Sara Roberts, students on placement at TURC from the media course at Birmingham Polytechnic (now Birmingham City University) which raises awareness about the dangers of high levels of environmental noise in the factories. Made in conjunction with the Health & Safety Advice Centre (HASAC) and the National Union of Lock and Metal Workers. The video features an interview with Dot Ansell, who suffered from deafness as a result of working in a lock factory. Mike Bradley, of the Locksmiths’ Union, talks about industrial deafness, hearing tests and the role of the union and HASAC in raising awareness of the problem amongst the workforce and employers. Tommy Harte, of HASAC, speaks about National Hazards Week 1991.

Production by Simon Lett and Sara Roberts.

Lowes, Digbeth

• DATE: 1992
• DURATION: 32 mins 25 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: TURC
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (Ch2 only – location sound)

Unedited tape recorded at Lowes’ factory in Digbeth for the making of “The Unheard of Problem” (1992) by Simon Lett and Sara Roberts. The tape consists of footage of factory workers operating machinery.

Don’t Take It Without a Fight

• DATE: 1993
• DURATION: 23 mins 44 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: TURC
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (Ch1 only – dialogue, location sound)

Campaign video made by Ranbir Bains and TURC Video in 1993 for the West Midlands Anti-Deportation Campaign explaining how to fight for the right to remain in the UK. The presenter is Muhammad Idrish, who was the subject of a successful campaign to get the right to remain in the UK in 1983. This video focuses on how to fight a successful campaign illustrated by the cases the WMADC was fighting at the time, all of which were ultimately successful. The video is divided into chapters: Immigration Act, Overage Children Rule, Primary Purpose Rule, Means Test, Entry Clearance, Arrival at Airport, 12 month Rule, and Campaigning.

Made by Ranbir K. Bains, Joanne Brookman and Marian Hall for WMADC (West Midlands Anti-Deportation Campaign).

4 Views No Comment

• DATE: 1987
• DURATION: 14 mins 50 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: Wide Angle (WIDE)
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Dual Mono (Ch1 – soundtrack, Ch2 – location sound), partly silent

The video depicts four different views of Birmingham City Centre, each one in a different style.

View 1:
Locations shown include: a shot of the city centre from Lee Bank Middleway, the Rotunda, the Bullring Centre, the Bullring Markets, New Street, Great Western Arcade, Lewis’s, the High Street, Colmore Row, Repertory Theatre on Broad Street, The Hippodrome on Hurst Street, Smallbrook Ringway, New Street Station, Broad Street, Alpha Tower, Colmore Row Pigeon Park, St. Philips Cathedral, the Council House, BMAG, Chamberlain Square, Town Hall, The First World War Memorial Colonnade, Hall of Memory, Gino’s Restaurant, Smallbrook Ringway, Bullring Centre, Rotunda, a shot of the city centre from Lee Bank Middleway.

View 2:
Underpassage, newspaper seller, traffic, litter picker, Town Hall, buses going down Colmore Row.

View 3:
Rotunda, office blocks, BT Tower, [the market], Alpha Tower, Council House gargoyles.

View 4:
Shoppers on New Street, Corporation Street, The Pallasades (High Street).

A Wide Angle production made by Tony Roache, John Ashton, and Patrick J. Whearty.

Khaled Hakim performance at the Lamp Tavern

• DATE: 1992
• DURATION: 12 mins 53 secs
• ORIGINAL FORMAT: Lo-band U-matic
• COLLECTION: Wide Angle (WIDE)
• COLOUR
• SOUND: Mono (dialogue, location sound, sound design)

Documentation of a performance by Khaled Hakim at the Lamp Tavern. The middle part of the performance was not captured due to the tape being changed. Contains nudity.

Abridged version, Khaled Hakim 2026.

Original video edited by Jane Alderson. Camerawork: Jane Alderson, Jason Cocking, Jonathon Thompson. Made with financial assistance from Weave. Copyright Khaled Hakim and Jane Alderson, 1992.

To request access to this video please email us at  bmap@vividprojects.org.uk