Created in Birmingham

The National Trust recently made the details of over 700,000 of the objects in their care available online for the first time.

I quick search for objects around Birmingham reveals 1,350 items, a fair few of them with accompanying pictures.

You can check out the online collection at nationaltrustcollections.org.uk. If anyone spots anything particularly good in there, please let me know.

With thanks to Museum Network Warwickshire for pointing this one out.

Celebrate African beauty and fashion as a part of Black History Month at Dress to Impress on 21 October at 6 – 8pm.

Hosted at National Trust’s Back to Backs, Nkem Nwachukwu will present a unique workshop, looking at different cultural ideas of beauty and explore the Back to Backs very own 1970′s Tailors Shop.

There are limited spaces, so call 0121 622 2442 to book your tickets, priced at £4.50 / £2 concessions.

Halloween might not be my bag but at least it’s an excuse to put some interesting events on.

Aside from the Ikon Eastside closing party there are a fair number of Halloween-themed things going on.  These are they (all happening on Friday 31 October, except the last two):

• The National Trust are putting on events in the back to back buildings (50-54 Inge Street/55–63 Hurst Street, Birmingham).  From 11.30am – 4pm they’ve got some nice events for the kiddies, then from 7pm to 9.30pm they’re “offering visitors a unique opportunity to linger for a while in our shadow-laden rooms, and silently reflect on the atmosphere of the back houses lit by candles, fires and oil lamps”
• The Town Hall are showing Nosferatu with an organ accompaniment by Nigel Ogden
• The Light House are showing Dracula, the Hammer version with Christopher Lee
• The Local Shorts Film Club are running a Halloween special at the Library Theatre
• Vivid are showing a slowed-down version of Psycho that will last a full 24 hours.  It starts at 9pm on Friday 31st and ends at 9pm the next day.  Entry is free
• At the Old Joint Stock Theatre, “Gemini present an evening of ghostly tales around the history of the Old Joint Stock followed by readings from a Medium”.  The night’s called Ghostly Histories and perhaps the scariest part is that the blurb mentions “clairvoyants with solid reputations”
• And on 1 November the Outer Edge’s next event at The Edge features “some obscure 3D horror and live horror sound effects from DJ FreakBeat”. Email outersight@live.com or text 07887 956297 for info.
• Also on 1 November, Capsule/ATP are putting on a Halloween show.

Thanks to the West Mids Life blog for a leg up compiling this.  Is there anything good I’ve missed?