Our annual Day School, Victorian and Edwardian Justice, Crime and Punishment in the West Midlands, will take place at The Birmingham & Midland Institute, on Saturday 7 November 2026, from 10.15am to 4.00pm. The day will explore crime, policing, punishment and justice across the region, with talks on Birmingham’s first coroner, rogues and villains including the Peaky Blinders, crime and punishment in the Black Country, Victorian prison labour, and the conservation and modernisation of Birmingham’s magnificent Grade I listed Victoria Law Courts. Speakers include Angela Coulter, Corrine Brazier of Birmingham Police Museum, Tracey Blundell, Dr Kiran Mehta and conservation architect Rob Firman. Tickets are £45 per person, or £30 for full-time students and Young Victorians, including tea and coffee, mid-morning refreshments and a buffet lunch. Registration begins at 9.45am, and a bookstall featuring speakers’ books and related titles will also be available.

FULLY BOOKED. Join us on Sunday 4th October for a guided walking tour of Bournville Village Estate, led by Dr Michael Harrison, exploring the remarkable legacy of the Cadbury brothers and the work of William Alexander Harvey, the estate’s original architect. Beginning at the 1905 Friends Meeting House on Linden Road, with refreshments beforehand, the walk will take in some of Bournville’s distinctive houses, cottages and architectural details, many of which survive thanks to longstanding conservation controls, with a possible visit to St Francis of Assisi Church. The walk runs from 1.00pm to 3.30pm and costs £10 per person.

On Saturday, 1 August 2026, the Birmingham Group will travel by coach to the Gloucester area, stopping at Strensham Services for optional morning refreshments before passing through the former Chartist settlement of Stigs End. In Gloucester, David Low will lead a guided walk around notable Victorian buildings and the historic docks, followed by lunch at the Comfy Pew Café Bistro and a visit to Gloucester Cathedral to see work by Gambier Parry, Henry Wilson and Christopher Whall. The day will conclude at the Grade I-listed Holy Innocents Church, Highnam, designed by Henry Woodyer for Thomas Gambier Parry, with a guided tour and afternoon refreshments.

FULLY BOOKED Perrycroft is a distinctive Arts and Crafts house designed by C.F.A. Voysey in 1895, marking his first major commission and helping establish his signature style. This is a guided tour by the current owners, who have recently restored the house.

Saturday 25 April, 11.00am–4.00pm: Join archivist Jim Ranahan for a walking tour of Victorian and Edwardian Stratford-upon-Avon. Meet outside Stratford railway station. Highlights include the station, almshouses, cottages, hospital clock tower, and waterside expansion. Public transport is strongly advised because Shakespeare birthday celebrations will make Stratford exceptionally busy.

Walking tour of West Bromwich Wednesday 11th March 2026 will take us down West Bromwich High Street, the longest one in the Black Country, and along neighbouring streets. The walk will be led by Andy Foster and starts at 10.45 a.m.

AGM of the Birmingham & West Midlands at The Birmingham & Midland Institute on Saturday 14th February at 10.30 am

Our New Year Lunch will be at Browns in the Bull Ring, in their private dining area, The Mezzanine.

An afternoon tour of Highbury Hall, the former home of Joseph Chamberlain. Built in 1878 in the Venetian Gothic style, to the designs of J. H. Chamberlain, the house was both a private residence and a venue for political and civic gatherings.

A Day School at the Birmingham & Midland Institute looking at the new and rapidly developing transport systems and designs which affected day to day life for everyone in the Victorian and Edwardian West Midlands.

Austin Village Conservation Area Guided Walk Wednesday on 20th August 2025, 10.30am – Noon led by Hazel Griffiths

We will visit 3 churches, have a short town walk in Banbury led by Dr David Low and visit a residential private school designed by G. E. Street. Cost £55

Birmingham city centre has a wealth of Victorian/Edwardian buildings, many of them around the Colmore Row area. This circular walk will allow us to discover and appreciate the architecture and design of some of them. Cost £10.00. Led by Andy Foster

Members and their guests are invited to bring a maximum of 6 images on a memory stick to explain and share.

A visit to Walsall town centre on Friday 7th March 2025 Cost: £23 to include morning refreshments, lunch and donations

How the Victorians improved life for people in the West Midlands

Following the Group’s walking tour in June, we have now arranged access to three significant churches in the town centre: St John the Evangelist, St Thomas & Our Lady & All Saints RC church.

This walking tour of Stourbridge will be led by Andy Foster and David Low and will highlight some of the town’s significant Victorian buildings. 

A coach visit to Shropshire, taking in St Mary's Church, Tenbury Wells; St John the Baptist at Stokesay Castle and Stokesay Court, near Craven Arms, described by Niklaus Pevsner as ‘the most grandiloquent Victorian mansion in the County'.

Members and their guests are invited to bring a maximum of 6 images on a memory stick to explain and share.

A guided tour of Great Malvern Railway Station by Peter Clement from Malvern Civic Society; then a guided walk of Great Malvern by our Chairman, Stephen Hartland; lunch at the Mount Pleasant Hotel; then a tour of Malvern College by our Honorary Treasurer, James Fletcher, who works at the college. Malvern College was founded in 1865 and is regarded as one of England’s premier independent schools. The tour of the campus includes the main College (1865), Chapel (1899), Pavilion (1894), Music School (1862), St Edmund’s Hall (1905) and others. We will finish with refreshments in the Memorial Library (1924).

A celebration of the completion of the Divine Beauty Project, which involved cleaning and renovating the magnificent Edward Burne-Jones windows at Birmingham Cathedral. Speakers include Andy Delmage, Canon Missioner at the Cathedral, Rhian Tritton, Divine Beauty Project Officer, Steve Clare who restored the windows and Peter Cormack, former director of the William Morris Gallery.