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Something Worth SharingOn Your Doorstep A little while ago I started to hand draw some of the local architecture. I particularly love the history of the local buildings and their ties to the industrial revolution. By the 18th century, Birmingham - my home city - was known to be the greatest industrial city in the world, and even today it still reaps the benefits from a long history as the leading centre of trade and market innovation. Birmingham was home to the great scientists and inventors Matthew Boulton, James Watt and William Murdoch, leading Birmingham to be the first ‘manufacturing town’ in the world. What is more, the leading industrialists and innovators of the time were part of the Lunar Society - whose common goal was the collaborative application of science to help people and make the world a better place. When you drive (or even better, walk) through the centre of Birmingham, you can still see the impact of industrial development and manufacturing - from the Jewellery Quarter to the Gun Quarter and proof house, and the canal network to the Grazebrook Engine - an 1817 beam engine designed by Watt and sited on Dartmouth Circus roundabout. My point is that we all have access to historical areas - and therefore, those that passed through, lived, worked and developed the very places we can too often take for granted. Sometimes we have to stop and just look at what’s on our very own doorstep - and consider what went before us. I’m not just talking about in previous centuries, but even when we think back to a few decades ago and can learn about what - and why - things have changed. My learning about my local area this week has helped me to feel better connected, be appreciative, understand more, feel extremely proud and be inspired. What’s on your doorstep?
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