Welcome to Region 04 – West Midlands
Welcome to West Midlands Region. Members will find exciting events and interesting activities in West Midlands with fascinating local history.
There are five ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’. There are many Art Galleries and Museums which depict past and present histories. There are many libraries. The birth place of the ‘Industrial Revolution’ was in the West Midlands. This ‘Industrial Revolution’ brought advances in sciences, technology and economic development.
Biggest city in West Midlands is Birmingham. It has got the Birmingham Symphony Hall where The Open University hold their Degree Ceremonies every year. It was opened in 1991 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Many of our events and activities will bring back memories of studies engaged in at The Open University. For example, the Nobel Prize Laureate Francis Aston developed mass spectrometry which helped him to identity isotopes. Another Nobel Prize Laureate Dennis Gabor invented holography. William Shakespeare was born in the West Midlands.
Our events give an opportunity to members to meet and greet each other as well as making new friends.
Mohammad Motawalla – Executive Representative mamotawalla@yahoo.co.uk
Previous Events
The first event of the new year in 2025 was a visit to Wolverhampton Art Gallery and our New Year Lunch at the Gaze Cafe. These are two events combined into one event. Our members met at the main entrance of the Wolverhampton Art Gallery at 2pm. We commenced our events after a welcome and introduction to members. The visit to Art Gallery started after 2pm and lunch at the Glaze Cafe commenced at 3pm. The Art Gallery has permanent exhibitions and temporary exhibitions. The permanent exhibitions were in both the Georgian and Victorian Rooms. The temporary exhibition was based on a subject called ‘A Perfect Sentence’ by Oliver Frank Chanarin.
After our events, we showed our appreciation to the management of the Wolverhampton Art Gallery in the usual way and wishing everyone Happy New Year.
Visit to Lapworth Museum in University of Birmingham. This is a geological museum.
It is regarded as one of the best specialised museums in Great Britain. It is named after Charles Lapworth. He was born in Faringdon, Oxfordshire.
His career commenced as a school teacher. Later he became a Headmaster. He studied geology and became a professor. He was well known for analysing fauna by index fossil of Silurian beds. This geological museum is named after him. There are over three hundred thousand items. Our visit was fantastic exploration of evolution. At the end of our visit, we showed our appreciations in the usual manner.
Visit to Carmelite Monastery in Wolverhampton. Members met at the main entrance. After welcome and introduction, we settled down with question and answer session with Sisters to learn about Carmelites and their dedicated work. This monastery is classed as cloistered Roman Catholic community of Discalced Carmelite nuns. Originally, Carmelites came from Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. Later, through competition and persecutions, they migrated to rest of the world. This event was educational one. We we learnt a great deal of dedicated work Carmelites do in West Midlands and rest of the world. There is a private Chapel on the ground floor. After our event, we showed our appreciations in the usual manner before departing home.
Visit to Coventry Central Library. Members met at the main entrance of the library which is situated in the city centre not far away from the Cathedral. It is a modern library with computer and printing facilities. There are many schools and colleges as well as universities in Coventry. The demand for libraries are high. Our visit gennerated interest in our members and brought back memories of the local history.