
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
Our visit to Lapworth Museum in University of Birmingham took place on Saturday, 10th August at 2pm. This is a geological museum.
It is regarded as one of the best specialised museums in Great Britain. It is named after Charles Lapworth [1842 -1920].
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 300,00 items. Our visit was fantastic exploration of evolution. At the end of our visit, we showed our appreciations in the
usual manner.

Our visit to Carmelite Monastery in Wolverhampton took place on Saturday 29th June, 2024 at 2pm. 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.
Mohammad Motawalla,


Our visit to Coventry Central Library took place on Saturday 5th August 2023. 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.
Mohammad Motawalla – Executive Representative

Our visit to St Mary’s Convent took place on Saturday 17th June 2023. It was founded in 1840. Nicholas Wiseman invited the Sisters of Mercy to come to Handsworth to assist in setting up this convent. There wre many other parties who helped in establishing this convent. John Hardman of Hardman and Co. who lived nearby to the site of the convent, donated the land on which this convent was built. In 1947, St Mary’s Church was built next to the convent which became the chapel of the convent. Unfortunately, St Mary’s was destroyed during World War II and it was never rebuilt. The Sisters of Mercy took us on a guided tour of the convent. Our event was well supported by AOUG members. It was amazing to observe the brilliant work that the Sisters of Mercy did in this convent.
Mohammad Motawalla – Executive Representative

Our visit to St Mark’s Church took place on Saturday 4th March 2023. It was a Church of England church in the city of Birmingham. It was the original Parish Church which is situated between the markets and the Bull Ring Shopping Centre. This church is Grade II listed. Our members met at the entrance of the church. During the visit we discovered that tyher original church was built in the 13th Century. The church was refurbished several times. However in 1873 it was demolished and rebuilt by the architect J.A. Chatwin. The old tower and spire were preserved. Most of St Martin’s Church is in its original form today but the surroundings have dramatically changed. Our visit created tranquility.
Mohammad Motawalla – Executive Representative

Our New Year of 2023 was celebrated by visit to The Wolverhampton Art Gallery and New Year’s Lunch on Saturday 28th January, 2023. Members met at the main entrance of The Art Gallery. After my Welcome and Introduction, we dispersed to visit the Art Gallery at 1pm. At 2pm we met at the Glaze Cafe which is located inside the Art Gallery. We finished our Lunch by 3pm. After showing our appreciations to the Management of the Art Gallery in the usual manner, we departed home wishing everyone ‘Happy New Year’.
Mohammad Motawalla – Executive Representative

We visited the Library of Birmingham in June 2022. The Library of Birmingham is situated in Birmingham City Centre. It is a public library and replaced the old Birmingham Central Library. This new library cost about £188 million to build with the planning permission being approved by the Birmingham City Council in December 2009. Construction of the library began in January 2010 with the completion in 2013. The official opening of this new library, ‘The Library of Birmingham’ took place in September 2013 which was conducted by the Nobel Prize laureate, Malala Yousafzai.
The Library of Birmingham is regarded as the largest public library in United Kingdom. About 2.4 million visitors visited this new library in 2014 which ranked it as the 10th most popular visitor attraction in United Kingdom.