"Our history is still a present day mystery..."
You're invited on a walk around Ladywood...
…along the way, the My Voice, My Path, Our History audio tour will share a selection of our local area’s black histories, heritage, and spaces. Some from nearly 200 years ago, and some from today. You’ll loop out from the Roundhouse and into Ladywood, visiting 10 more places before heading back.
The audio tour was co-written and researched with five project activators: Tia Hortin, Rayhanah Rowe, Amirah Harvey-Head, Nina Ma and Ilhan Adam through our partnership with We Don’t Settle. It also features range of local contributors and clips from an interview with Birmingham poet, activist, actor, and all-round legend Benjamin Zephaniah which took place in May 2022.
The Route
The Locations
1 – Introductions at the Roundhouse (featuring poetry and interview with Benjamin Zephaniah)
2 – The 6888
3 – Mellow’s
4 – Lenny Henry at the Walk of Stars
5 – Joseph Sturge: Hidden at Five Ways
6 – Birmingham Children’s Hospital
7 – A poem for the Middleway Walk
8 – YARD Arthouse
9 – Andy Hamilton and Ladywood
10 – Granny’s OG
11 – Ladywood Hair Salon
12 – Thank you, shout outs, credits, and where to find out more…
How do I listen to the full tour?
The full audio tour is available on the free Geotourist app for you to enjoy whenever, or wherever, you are. Here’s how to find it.
Step 1: Find and download the free Geotourist app (available for Apple or Android)
Step 2: Search ‘Roundhouse Birmingham’ to find our six audio tours. Select My Voice, My Path, Our History.
Step 3: Time to listen: remotely, or on location!
Clicking the buttons above on your phone will take you to download the GeoTourist app.
FAQs
It’s available at any time, just visit the Geotourist app to access the tour.
We’ve measured it at around 2 miles.
There are 12 places visited on the tour, but you can always pick and choose which stops you visit if you have a specific amount of time. You’re in control!
Anyone. The tour has no steps along the route, and can be experienced all in one day, over a number of days, or in sections. You could even listen to it at home.
At the Roundhouse. Scroll to the bottom of this page for the location, or download the Geotourist app and it will way-find you to the starting point.
The full route heads back to St Vincent Street, outside the Roundhouse, taking in a looping route. However, you can pause the tour at any point to pick it up later.
Starting point
Credits
My Voice, My Path, Our History was co-written and researched by our project activators Rayhanah Rowe, Nina Ma, Tia Hortin, Ilhan Adam and Amirah Harvey-Head, who worked with producers at We Don’t Settle and Roundhouse Birmingham, with mentorship from Dawn Carr and Marcia Dunkley at Black Heritage Walks Network.
The tour is narrated by Tia Hortin, Shakquille Millington, Suzie Moffatt, featuring spoken word from Rayhanah Rowe.
A huge thank you to all of the individuals, creatives and local businesses that met with us during the creation and research of this audio tour.
The Notebenders Big Band
Mellow’s
YARD Arthouse
Leanne Alie
Dawn Carr and Marcia Dunkley
And of course, a huge thank you to Benjamin Zephaniah for a fantastic interview with our activators.
This audio tour was co-written and researched by our Project Activators Rayhanah Rowe, Nina Ma, Tia Hortin, Ilhan Adam and Amirah Harvey-Head.
It was produced by Sipho Ndlovu and Nompumelelo Ncube at We Don’t Settle, Suzie Moffatt and Chris Maher at Roundhouse Birmingham and was recorded and mixed by Marley Starskey-Butler.
#SeeTheCityDifferently
#WeDontSettle
#MyVoiceMyPath
#OurHistory
Banner image: Clockwise from top left: Photograph of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion in England – National Archives Catalogue, YARD Arthouse (Credit: Tia Hortin / Nompumelelo Ncube), Andy Hamilton, Saxophonist, Ralf DeCambre, Guitarist – Pogus Caesar – Birmingham images – Library of Birmingham, The statue of Joseph Sturge at Five Ways (Credit: Tia Hortin / Nompumelelo Ncube)
Presented in partnership with
