But some people have a different definition of gardening. I am one of them. I do not wait for permission to become a gardener but dig wherever I see horticultural potential. I do not just tend existing gardens but create them from neglected space. I, and thousands of people like me, step out from home to garden land we do not own. We see opportunities all around us. [...] This is guerilla gardening: the illicit cultivation of someone else's land"

From Richard Reynolds' book "On Guerilla Gardening"

Caldmore Guerilla Gardeners adopted an unused piece of land at the corner of Arundel Street and West Bromwich Street in Caldmore, Walsall. The place was always full of rubbish, with some evidences of fly tipping too. The garden was planted in the first half of May 2012. The plants were partly bought by its creators, but mostly donated by Walsall DIY - a hardware and gardening store on the other side of the road. Its owner saw us working for two days, thought we were absolute (yet positive) nutters but then decided to get involved and reward our hard work. The garden has been since cared for daily both by its creators and local community members. It has been watered by people from Greedy Pig Cafe and Caldmore Timber and there is hardly any rubbish any more. Since then, Caldmore Timber has made a new wooden fence to protect the garden.It’s almost a year now and the garden is coming back to life after the long winter. Stop by, have a look, plant something and SMILE!

Anna Rogozinska

Caldmore Guerilla Gardeners

Become a guerilla gardener and join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CaldmoreGuerillaGardeners.

Jain McKayArtist in ResidenceJain McKay has been involved in working in Caldmore as an artist for many years, On the Dreaming the Green re-vamp project she was the local artist and designed as well as made many of the features as well as working on the consultation process. It was during this process that she got to know many of the key groups that work or live in Caldmore. She went on to work on further projects at Caldmore Primary School and with Caldmore Village Festival.

For her latest project, funded by Caldmore Housing, she has set up Caldmore Artists Collective, an opportunity for local artists to get together, support each other, work on joint projects and apply for group funding. This publication is the product of that group, we hope you enjoy it.

Caldmore HistoryThe White Hart is at the h e a r t o f C a l d m o r e adjacent to The Green. It was once a rural manor house and became an urban public house. It has an intriguing history linked with royalty, tales of ghostly happenings, prosperity, decline and restoration.

The building now known as The White Hart was originally the family home of the prosperous Hawe family and is believed to have been built during the 17th century. The present building is brick with Dutch style gables and may have replaced an earlier building.

In the latter part of the nineteenth century The White Hart was renovated, and, during the work, a child's arm was found hidden in an attic chimney. The arm has become known as the 'Hand of Glory', traditionally a hand cut from a hanged felon and dried in the prescribed manner. Then, either by lighting the fingers themselves or using the hand as a candle holder, the Hand was supposed to stupefy any person seeing it, thus enabling a burglar to ransack a house without being caught. It was generally believed that the flames could not be blown out by any ordinary person and that milk was the only liquid able to extinguish the candle.This grisly object, now on display in Walsall Museum, seems to be a medical specimen, dissected by a surgeon and injected with formalin to preserve it. It certainly does not date from the time when the house was first built. However, popular legend refuses to accept such a dull solution. There are many other tales of haunted happenings, into modern times, and The White Hart has become known as the home of 'The Caldmore Ghost'.

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Your Local Bands ...

The Black RapidsThe Rapids deliver music that has feet in the rockabilly/country camp but is as current as their subject matter.

The Arkhamists“Arkhamists are a three piece alternative rock band from the Midlands that have developed a punk groove style like no other. Check them out on spotify and itunes for their album “Eject the Reject”!

Snooty BobsSnooty Bobs : refreshing like ice tea after yoga, I can dig it (by Gonjasufi)

Exhibitions in and around Caldmore

New Art Gallery Walsall, Gallery Square will be showing a selection of works by Damien Hurst until the 27th October 2013.

Gallerie Du Grotesque, Caldmore Green will be showing works by Jain McKay, David Hilliard, Michelle Harris and Katie Balmforth until the 20th July 2013.

Walsall Arts Festival is to take place on 22 June at The White Lion. The day consists of film, installation and performance art and a free art free raffle.

Gas Hall, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Chamberlain Square, Birmingham B3 3DH is showing Metropolis: Reflections on the Modern City until the 23rd June 2013.

IKON 1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham will be showing Tapa – Barkcloth paintings from the Pacific from the 01 May – 14 July 2013