fizzPOP’s New Home

Posted on 29/07/2013 by hellocatfood

Those of you who have been following my blog since around 2009 will remember that myself and Nikki Pugh once ran a hackerspace in Birmingham called fizzPOP. Actually, calling it a hackerspace was a bit of a stretch as we never had our own permanent, access-any-hour space and always relied on organisations such as VIVID, Birmingham Friends of the Earth and Friction Arts for space to hold our fortnightly meetings (thanks!).

Fast-forward to 2012/2013 and a new group of brave people have taken over the running of fizzPOP and, in July 2013, acquired an actual space!

Photo by Tom Hodson

The new residence is located at 28 Floodgate Street in Digbeth. As you can see from the photos they’re still busy cleaning up and moving everything in, which they always need help with. If you can help with anything just contact them on the mailing list to arrange everything.

Membership looks set to be £25 a month, which seems more than reasonable for access to a massive toolshed and great company. I’ll be signing up for sure!

Congratulations to all involved for making this a reality!

The Family lives!

Posted on 10/11/2009 by hellocatfood

On Thursday 5th November I was once again part of The Family for The Event. There’s something I really like about dressing in dungarees – which I haven’t done since I was about 10 – and marching around Digbeth! Other highlights include dropping in on an event about saftey in the community where we rescued some puppets and eating blue food, which tastes loads better than its plain counterpart

You can read more about my day with The Family on their website

The Family at The Event

Posted on 04/11/2009 by hellocatfood

Tomorrow I’ll be joining The Family at Birmingham Backpackers in Digbeth to take part in the activities as part of The Event. Ana summarises it all rather nicely:

…we’ll be spending the next 5 days changing our name every 6 hours, wearing hand decorated dungarees, playing thought-stopping games, eating brightly coloured food, asking questions, strengthening our Dantien, collective dreaming, strumming red, yellow, green and blue ukuleles, finding portals, calling rainbows, going to the top, chanting punk meditation, making friends, sleeping in pods, giving out flowers, love-bombing, and having all the fun we can cram into the day.