Redditch

Redditch is a town and local government district in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately 15 mi south of Birmingham. The district had a population of 79,216 in 2005. In the 19th century it became the international centre for the needle and fishing tackle industry. At one point 90% of the world's needles were manufactured in the town and its neighbourhoods. In the 1960s it became a model for modern new-town planning.

Geography
Redditch lies just south of the West Midlands urban area but is not part of it (being in Worcestershire), northwest of Studley on the A435, which skirts it to the East. The main route of access is the A441, a trunk road from Birmingham to Cookhill, via junction 2 of the M42 Motorway. The Roman Road known as Icknield Street is prominent, running North to South through the eastern side of the town.

Climate
Redditch experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb) similar to almost all of the United Kingdom.

History
The first recorded mention of Redditch ("Red-Dych", thought to be a reference to the red clay of the nearby River Arrow) is in 1348, the year of the outbreak of the Black Death. During the Middle Ages it became a centre of needle-making and later prominent industries were fish-hooks, fishing tackle, motorcycles and springs, the latter notably by Herbert Terry and Sons. It was designated a new town in 1964 and the population increased dramatically from 32,000 to around 77,000. Housing developments such as Church Hill, Matchborough, Winyates, Lodge Park and Woodrow were created to accommodate the large overspill from an industrially expanding Birmingham. Redditch was built as a 'flagship' town using new methods and new town planning; all the main roads in Redditch were banked to reduce noise to the new housing estates and the whole of Redditch was landscaped.

By the 21st century needle-making and other traditional industries had been replaced by modern light industry and services, with Redditch also functioning as a dormitory town for Birmingham. The automotive retailer Halfords and engineering giant GKN both have their headquarters in Redditch. Manufacturer of precious metal contacts Samuel Taylor Ltd has manufacturing plants within the town. Following the redevelopment of the flagship Kingfisher Shopping Centre in 2002 Redditch is undergoing an economic and cultural renaissance.

The town is home to several historical sites. The National Needle Museum and the ruins of Bordesley Abbey are located in the Abbey Ward district of Redditch), and the remains of a medieval moated settlement called Moons Moat is situated within the Church Hill estate.

Redditch is featured in a section heading in An Utterly Impartial History of Britain by John O'Farrell.

Politics
The constituency of Redditch is represented by Karen Lumley of the Conservatives. The borough council became Conservative controlled in the 2008 local elections after being under either Labour control or no overall control for 26 years. From 2008-2009 Cllr Jack Field(C) was the mayor of the town and now Cllr Malcolm Hall(LD) is the newly chosen mayor for 2009-2010.

Redditch Borough Council
A by-election occurred in 2009, giving the Conservatives 15 seats, Labour 10 seats, Liberal Democrat 3 and the BNP 1 seat; and hence the Conservatives gained overall control.

Wards
Abbey - Diane Thomas (Liberal Democrat), Colin MacMillan (Conservative)

Astwood Bank & Feckenham - Michael Chalk (Conservative), Brandon Clayton Conservative)

Batchley & Brockhill - Jack Cookson (Labour), Jinny Pearce (Conservative), Brenda Quinney (Conservative)

Central - Greg Chance (Labour), Debbie Taylor (Labour)

Church Hill - Bill Harnett (Labour), David Hunt (Labour), Robin King (Labour)

Crabbs Cross - David Smith (Conservative), Jack Field (Conservative)

Greenlands - Wanda King (Labour), Phil Mould (Labour), William Norton (Conservative)

Headless Cross & Oakenshaw - Peter Anderson (Conservative), Carole Gandy (Leader of the Council) (Conservative, Gay Hopkins (Conservative)

Lodge Park - Andrew Fry (Labour), Mark Shurmer (Labour)

Matchborough - Juliet Brunner (Conservative), Anita Clayton (Conservative)

West - Kath Banks (Conservaive), Michael Braley (Conservative)

Winyates - David Enderby (British National Party), Malcolm Hall (Mayor 2009-2010) (Liberal Democrat), Nigel Hicks (Liberal Democrat)

Redditch Student Council
Redditch has its own Student Council, set up by the Borough Council in 1993 to help the Council to get in touch with young adults. The Student Council is made up by representatives from the four main High Schools. They are democratically elected every year.

In the last year (November 2006 - February 2008) the Student Council won funding to deliver a series of multi-cultural events: two in Redditch and a further five across the County of Worcestershire.

HMP Hewell
Redditch was to be the new designation of reorganised prison HMP Hewell, due to be created from the merger of three prisons at Hewell Grange in nearby Tardebigge: Hewell Grange, Brockhill and Blakenhurst prisons. This is one of the first mergers along the Titan Prison concept. It was originally to be called 'HMP Redditch' but the name was changed due to a public outcry, especially as the prison was not to be located in the town. The prison will lie in the neighbouring town of Bromsgrove. The new name was announced in March 2008.

Transport
Located in the heart of England, Redditch is an ideal point of departure for destinations in the surrounding region. The M42 motorway is a short drive away and it is linked by dual carriageways and A-class roads to surrounding towns such as Bromsgrove and Evesham. There are regular bus services to Studley, Bromsgrove, Catshill and Birmingham.

Railway
The Cross-City Line provides a regular train service via Birmingham New Street to Lichfield. Redditch railway station, the southern terminus of the line, was first opened as the terminus of the Redditch Railway on 19 September 1859, alongside what is now Clive Road. This first station stayed until 4 May 1868 when the last section from Alcester to Redditch of the Redditch and Evesham Railway was opened, at which point a second station was built alongside the junction of Bromsgrove Road and Plymouth Road. This station was provided with a standard Midland Railway design and two platforms. The current station, built in 1993, offers little more than a ticket office and a store.

Buses
There is an extensive network of local bus services run by Red Diamond, First and other operators (including Hardings Coaches, Johnsons Excel Bus). Many services run from the bus station in the town centre, a postcard of which was voted Britain's most boring postcard in a competition run by the photographer Martin Parr. The bus station was rebuilt as part of the 2002 shopping centre expansion.

Some areas of Redditch have dedicated bus routes; however, there have been issues with safety on these routes and 3 children have died over the past 15 years. A campaign group called The Redditch Foundation is being set up to campaign for better safety on the bus routes.

Road system
Redditch is occasionally noted for its confusing road system dominated by a system of dual carriageways built when it became a New Town, including one of only two cloverleaf interchange in the UK (the other being in Livingston, Scotland) at the junction of the A441 and the Bromsgrove-bound A448. The system is designed to allow rapid flow of large volumes of traffic around the various districts and into the town centre, whilst keeping fast moving vehicles separated from residential streets. Due to the self-similar appearance of the road layout, some drivers find it disorientating, although the story of an elderly couple admitted to hospital with severe dehydration after spending more than sixty hours trying to navigate the highway system is an urban legend. Redditch was briefly famous for a tongue-in-cheek calendar featuring its "picturesque" roundabouts created by a local printing company. The calendar was called, unsurprisingly, 'Redditch Roundabouts,' and it proved so successful that it sparked a national series.

Education
Redditch schools operate a three-tier system, where students attend first school from the age of five, middle school from the age of nine, and secondary school at the age of 13. Other areas of Worcestershire adopted this system at the same time as Redditch (in the 1970s), but many have reverted back to the traditional 5-7 infant, 7-11 junior and 11-16/18 secondary schools.

Redditch currently has four secondary schools, Saint Augustine's High School, Kingsley College, Trinity High School and Arrow Vale High School.

North East Worcestershire College (often referred to locally as "NEW College") is a large general further education college: one of its two campuses is in central Redditch; the other is in Bromsgrove.

In popular culture
Malcolm Bradbury's novel The History Man, which was dramatised by the BBC in 1981, contained a reference to Redditch when Flora Beniform, a sociologist, mentioned to the hero Howard Kirk that she was studying an outbreak of troilism in Redditch.

Places of interest

 * Bordesley Abbey: remains of a former Cistercian abbey, later used as a Royal Swannery.
 * Forge Mill Needle Museum: exhibition of traditional needle making.
 * Morton Stanley Park: A public park in the village of Callow Hill with views of the Malvern Hills and wider Worcestershire.

Kingfisher Shopping Centre


Kingfisher Shopping Centre was opened in 1976 by the then Prime Minister James Callaghan and now forms the town's primary retail centre. It is well known for its palm trees in the centre's Worcester Square.

The centre has over 1100000 sqft of retail space, with anchor stores Debenhams & Primark making it one of the largest covered shopping centres in the United Kingdom. In 2007, a cinema opened on the new upper floor.

Arrow Valley Country Park
Redditch benefits from 900 acre of public open space in Arrow Valley Country Park. This incorporates the 30 acre Arrow Valley Lake, fed from the River Arrow. The Arrow Valley Countryside centre,opened in 2000, in the Country Park has a lakeside café, gift shop and an interactive exhibition. The lake is also used for water sports. There are 4 beautiful way marked trails used for walking and cycling around the lake and through the Country Park. There is a skate park in the south of the Park with walks the length of the river Arrow through the Country Park to the Forge Mill Museum in the north. There are interactive events and family activities to get involved in at the Countryside Centre and a comprehensive children's play area.

Royal Enfield motorcycles
Redditch was the home of the Royal Enfield motorcycle. This is where the main factory of the original company was located and the business continued manufacturing through the sixties, the last model being the Interceptor. The Redditch factory was closed in 1967 and production was moved to Bradford on Avon factory which also ended in 1970 thereby ending the English manufacturing. In the mid fifties, the Company established a partner, Madras Motors in Madras, India, who manufactured the Bullet 350 model. The Indian factory is still very successful, with new Indian models and has taken Royal Enfield into its third century of manufacturing. Some of the original factory buildings in Redditch still remain, most are in a derelict state and can be seen from Hewell Road. Some buildings have been taken over and now make the old part of Enfield Industrial Estate close to the town centre on Hewell Road.

Notable residents

 * John Bonham (1948–1980) of Led Zeppelin was born in Redditch.
 * Lionel Britton (1887–1971) – Working-class novelist and writer of science fiction plays
 * Russell Brookes (born 1945) – British Rally Champion
 * Stacy Coldicott (born 1974) – Football player for West Bromwich Albion and Grimsby Town
 * Steff Coldicott – Contestant in Big Brother (UK) Series 4 (finished 4th)
 * Charles Dance (born 1946) (actor) was born in Redditch
 * Jimmy Davis (1982–2003) – Footballer who played for Manchester United, Swindon Town and Watford before his death in a car crash at the age of 21
 * Jonathan Dow, actor
 * Ruth England (born 1970) (TV presenter) was educated in Redditch.
 * Luke Johnson (Lostprophets Drummer)March 11, 1981
 * Zoë Lister – Actress Hollyoaks
 * Jamie (James) Mackay – Previous British Masters Record Holder 800m & 1500m Freestyle Swimming in the 2004 British Swimming Masters Championships
 * Tony Martin (born 1957) – Singer for Black Sabbath 1987–1991, 1994–1997
 * Rik Mayall (born 1958) (comedian) spent his early life in Redditch.
 * Jim Moran – winner of a Gold medal in Heavyweight boxing in the 1986 Commonwealth Games
 * Tom Paddock (1822–1863) – also known as the "Redditch Needlepointer" – champion heavyweight bare-knuckle boxer of England in 1856
 * Jacqui Smith – First female Home Secretary for the UK Government.
 * John Taylor (born 1960) – Bassist in the group Duran Duran. He grew up in Hollywood, Birmingham and went to the Abbey High School in Redditch.
 * Raymond Thompson – scriptwriter and TV producer. He was born in Redditch.
 * Karen Lumley - The town's MP.

Town twinning
In 1956 Redditch was twinned with Auxerre in Burgundy, France. This twinning proved sufficiently popular to form an organisation named The Friends of Auxerre (FoA). At the beginning of June each year the coupling of these two towns is officially celebrated.

In 1986 Redditch was twinned with Mtwara in Tanzania. Frequent events are organised with assistance from the community of Tanzanian students at Birmingham University and Selly Oak College.


 * Auxerre, France
 * Mtwara, Tanzania

Friendship Links
Redditch also has formal “Friendship” links with:
 * St.Elizabeth, West Indies
 * Gruchet-Le-Valasse, France
 * Gujar Khan, Pakistan

Sport
Redditch sport teams include:

Redditch RFC Redditch CC
 * Redditch United F.C. playing Football in the Conference North
 * Redditch Ravens RLFC playing Rugby League
 * Bromsgrove and Redditch Athletic Club
 * Redditch Rockets Skater Hockey Club
 * Redditch Swimming Club Swimming
 * The Redditch Road and Path Cycling Club
 * Redditch Arrows American football Team