Congratulations to Stirchley Community Market! Here’s why…
Kerry Leslie, volunteer market committee member writes:
The vibrant community market in the South Birmingham city suburb of Stirchley began with a partnership between arts group Stirchley Happenings, local cookery school and community bakery Loaf, South Birmingham Food Co-op, and Birmingham City Council”™s Town Centre Partnerships. Stirchley Community Market launched on Tuesday 27th July 2010 with its first market in the car park of Stirchley United Working Men’s Club, selling wholefoods, bread, hot curry, pizza, artisan preserves, cupcakes, seasonal fruit and vegetables, and local arts and crafts. Since then, the market has gone from strength to strength, and has doubled the amount of stallholders on offer each month, yet it still remains an inclusive, fun, community and social event, not to be missed by locals and wannabe Stirchley residents.
Stirchley Community Market’s main aim is to give the local community and commuters on their way home from work an opportunity to find out what Stirchley and the surrounding areas have to offer. You can meet some excellent food producers and craft makers from within Birmingham, and pick up some tasty treats and hot food, as well as your groceries shop. Stirchley Market was the first to include Birmingham streetfood stalwarts Meatshack and Pop Up Dosa, as they both made their market debuts here, and there continues to be a wide range of hot food on offer, as well as entertainment and drinks from inside the club. It’s also probably the only market to have it’s own song – written by Stirchley dweller Newton Chambers. spoti.fi/1bBnCmY
Market Manager Chris Swann says; “Stirchley Community Market was born from a desire of residents to promote the best of the local area, in both the produce which it creates and the sense of community that it fosters. The positivity of all those involved from the outset meant that a group of well meaning people could create something that was greater than the sum of its parts, aided by the professional expertise of an excellent Town Centre Manager in Matthew Powell, and the generous spirit of both our volunteers and our hosts, Stirchley United Working Men’s Club, who have provided us with a space to thrive for the past three years.”
The market takes place on the 1st Tuesday of the month, 4–8pm at Stirchley United Working Men”™s Club, B30 2PP. The next one is on Tuesday 6th August 2013, 4pm-8pm.
The market is entirely run by volunteers, with the market committee made up of Chris Swann (Market Manager, also Stirchley Happenings), Tom Cahill-Jones (Stirchley Happenings), Nancy Langfeldt (Birmingham Bike Foundry), Rachel Carter (Cufuffle Chutneys) & Kerry Leslie (Created in Birmingham).