This fascinating collection of photographs and paintings of Moseley was open to the public at the weekend and due, as they say, to popular demand, is open again on Saturday and Sunday to coincide with the first weekend of the Moseley Festival - 'Mozfest'.
With contributions from Moseley Local History Society, family collections, the Moseley Society and lots of individuals, the exhibition presents not only an engrossing architectural history of the 'village' but also a sense of Moseley as a colony of artists, both from the past and of today.
Charming 19th century water colours of Moseley pre-1880 are a delight in their own right. Photographs, mainly from enlarged postcards, document the building development of the late nineteenth century. Today's artists pick out the beauty and eccentricities of 21st century Moseley.
There is a wonderful series of Moseley architectural details by Roger Casstles that has everyone gasping "Yes I've seen that turret, but which street?"
Aerial photographs and maps allow you to see the developments, and place the individual paintings and photographs. Many of the present streets are recorded, as well as Moseley churches, schools, the railway station, Moseley parks and Bog, and Moseley Hall in all its classical magnificence.
It is far more than an exhibition of buildings. It is a piece of social history. Some of the postcard messages have been enlarged. We are reminded that there were around six daily postal deliveries and the writers of the cards clearly used them as their texting, relying on the rapid delivery to communicate minor practical matters.
There are photos of the Sandhurst Road Box factory and a wedding in the family who owned it at St Mary's in 1929 with the whole of the village green and beyond full of on-lookers.
The exhibition is a must for any one who knows Moseley but it has a far wider appeal. It reminds everyone of our responsibility to both preserve and enhance our heritage and to do it for the real people who live and work there today.
It is a delightful example of a local gallery creating a seriously absorbing exhibition for all.
Sarah Evans
