Pride organisers delighted at event success

ORGANISERS of this year’s Birmingham Pride festival have branded the event a major success after it attracted more than 50,000 visitors to the city.

With the flow of locals into the Southside area of the city during the Bank Holiday weekend then an estimated 100,000 people are thought to have watched the Pride Parade.

Southside Business Improvement District said the event had been hailed as the best Pride ever by festival goers and businesses in the district were delighted with the boost provided by the thousands of extra visitors.

“Many businesses exceeded targets set by previous year’s celebrations and issues with crime and anti-social behaviour which have blighted earlier festivals were not present due to a wristband entry system, which left the criminals on the outside, allowing genuine partygoers to have fun on the inside,” it said.

Moseley Arts Market returns to city centre

FOLLOWING on from last year’s successful programme of events, Colmore Business Improvement District is once again hosting the popular Moseley Arts Market.

The market, which showcases talented local designers as well as visiting artists, will return to the grounds of Birmingham Cathedral for three dates this year. Handmade products including photography, illustration and textiles will all be on offer.

Usually held in Moseley on the fourth Saturday of every month between March and December, the Moseley Arts Market ventured outside its traditional area for the first time last year as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

It will return again on Friday between 9am and 5:30pm. Further dates in the BID calendar include September 26 and December 13.
 
Diane Benussi, CBD board director, said: “We were delighted to help Moseley Arts Market appeal to a wider audience last year and were keen to bring back the market for this year.
 
“CBD aims to bring creative and engaging activity to the District and so the chance to celebrate the creative talents of Moseley and welcome them to the city centre is very exciting for us.”

Film fans urged to vote for favourite flick

MOVIE fans in Birmingham are being asked to vote for their favourite films to be shown during the second annual Brindleyplace Outdoor Film Festival.

Boasting the theme of Momentous Movies, the free film festival takes place between July 8 and 14 in Central Square and Brindleyplace.

Kate Fittall, destination marketing manager at Brindleyplace said: “We want to make sure that our Outdoor Film Festival is a real ‘must-visit’ event for the summer, so we’ve decided to put the power in your hands and give the general public the choice of what films we should show.

“To help people make their decisions we’ve drawn up a shortlist of films, including Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Lion King, Wizard of Oz, Muppets, Mamma Mia, ET and many more, but if there’s a film that you want us to add into the mix then just let us know! Those films that receive the most votes will be the ones that make it onto the timetable so, if you want to be able to watch your favourite film in the open air, now is the chance to have your say.”

Open to everyone, the free event will showcase a total of nine films, all with a certificate rating of PG or below, with the evening films screened at 6pm and two films shown on both Saturday and Sunday, the first at 11am and the second at 2pm.

People can vote for their favourite film at www.brindleyplace.com

Once the shortlist has been finalised, Brindleyplace will display the timetable both on the website and around the estate.