Warehouse 21

"My involvement with the Warehouse began around 1980, when I was secretary of Selly Oak C.N.D. and I needed somewhere to print our regular newsletter." Remembers Sue Steadman.

"The print room was a small, windowless space between the back stair case and the "end bay". It was cold and dark and contained the Gestetner machine and the walls were hung with used, inky stencils. When I needed to reproduce publicity material, I used to combine a visit to do my printing, with shopping to buy one or two things from "Bag End" (and later from Amazon wholefoods) or some stationery from the Recycled Paper business.

"I began to spend more time as a volunteer in the C.N.D. office, which was then in Molly's current office. Regular Warehouse users took it in turns to staff Reception, and one of the first duties of the day was to cut wood in the yard (which was in the open space between the Reception room and what is now the meeting room). The black, solid fuel stove in the fireplace had to be lit and fed, and by about mid-day the Reception area was beginning to warm up. Fingerless gloves were a common sight in all areas of the Warehouse.

"One aspect of Warehouse life which I particularly valued was the daily shared lunch, eaten in the meeting room (then where the cafe is now), with its uneven carpet, assortment of armchairs, low wooden tables, and flimsy partition. It was the one time of day when we all came together to socialise, including Moseley the cat. Anyone who ate lunch regularly took a turn on the cooking rota. On your cooking day you collected money from the "kitty" kept by Roger McFadden. The nearby Bull Ring market and, later, the One Earth Shop made shopping easy. Then, to the kitchen to produce lunch, some days turning out better than others, but the occasion was an important part of coming together as a community. Then, washing up and clearing away and back to work for the afternoon.

"I believe a community is healthy when it continues to change and grow, in strength and personality if not in size, and I remember back over a flow of people coming and going, each offering something, most very talented and skilled, occasionally someone needy who could find shelter for a while. Meetings were held regularly and during my years of involvement were evolved into "Warehouse" meetings to discuss domestic arrangements, and business meetings, helping us to focus better.

"Sometimes individuals brought painful issues for us to respond to as a group, and the process of being responsible for our own affairs was not always easy, but I have not since been able to regain that feeling of shared responsibility of belonging to a community.

"There was also much fun and laughter. We shared so much, including physical work. Deliveries of stationery or the loading of newspaper from the bay onto a lorry for recycling were made easier and more sociable by people forming a chain to move the load. That was often a time for telling stories or jokes or generally enjoying each other's company (as well as getting dirty hands).

"We even had our own 'in house' hairdresser for a time, when Richard Moulson regularly set aside part of a day to give us haircuts, the money going into FoE funds. I can remember perching on a high stool, towel wrapped around me, when my turn came. Richard must have done much to forge our corporate image in those days!

"We had to have a discussion (I think it's called democracy!) before deciding to replace the solid fuel stove with a gas fire bought from Tattwa Gyani (then Sarah Dent -Ed), and the decision was not unanimous, but most of us were glad to be able to have heat so easily provided.

"Christine Davies fulfilled her personal dream of starting a cafe - even her choice of its name being a characteristically brave move following the radical surgery which she had undergone. So things changed again. Amazon moved into the ex-C.N.D. office and quickly became popular, but we had to give up our communal lunch in the meeting room. The cafe was successful, and after Christine's death was kept going until it too changed and grew into the Warehouse Cafe, showing how changes take place but contain within them the seeds of the original vision and effort.

"The old Muesli Base area on the first floor was converted into offices for tenants, and businesses came and went on the ground floor, too: Steve Edwards' parrots, Nick the Potter and bicycle maintenance. An office was built into one of the loading bays to provide a centre for the insulation projects.

"In 1984 Ian Bailey started the One Earth Shop continuing in different form his previous involvement with Muesli Base. The first One Earth Shop moved into Roger McFadden's stationery shop (now the resource room) and Roger moved his office upstairs. Building work carried on, with the new meeting room being added on at the back.

"I started helping in the One Earth Shop, overlapping that with my C.N.D. work, and by September 1984 was a regular volunteer in the shop. In 1988 the wholefood business moved into the energy shop and filled more space. We had lots of help from other people and the years I spent in the Warehouse were some of the most satisfying I have experienced. I met a constant stream of people -volunteers, campaigners, other tenants and customers, all of whom enriched and influenced my life greatly and whom I still miss. In 1990 Ian decided to move on from the shop, and Tina and John have kept it alive since then, and so it continues to play its part in the overall life of the Warehouse.

"As paid employees who organised their own payroll we were able to participate in the Peace Tax Campaign, withholding a percentage of our tax during the year and then making a demonstration through the city centre to pay the cheque in to the Tax Office at the last possible date, handing over (with a different theme each year) a sack of grain ("Bread not Bombs"), a giant globe (difficult to handle through the crowds and making a good piece of street theatre!) and a giant missile. These actions usually attracted publicity, both in newspapers and on local radio and were fun to take part in.

"This is only a brief personal memoir, and I have not tried to name individuals because while I remember a richness of comrades and colleagues I do not want to cause hurt by missing people out. Other people will contribute different memories of these and other times and will provide a history of impressions.

"I look forward to reading other memoirs and to hearing from people who have since moved on. I hope to meet many old friends in August at the street party and am grateful to all the people currently working at FoE for giving us this opportunity.

In friendship and with much love, Susan Steadman

"It must have been soon after The Warehouse opened that I used to call in to buy paper for the community centre where I was working. Recalls Jenny Maxwell.

"I remember a certain amount of confusion in collecting the order, two dark rooms and the stove in what is now Reception. I think the present (downstairs) kitchen was an open yard, which you had to cross to get to the lavatory.

"After a gap of a few years, in 1984 I returned to The Warehouse as a CND volunteer. By then it was much busier. The CND office was right at the top of the front stairs, very cramped and freezing cold in Winter but a friendly place to work. What is now The Cafe was part corridor, where the photocopier lived, and part Meeting Room. This housed the CND duplicator and electrostencil cutter, a constant source of trouble with its fumes. There was a cooking rota and we ate communally in the Meeting Room, something of an ordeal for the uninitiated as the entire meal would often pass in an uneasy silence, punctuated by vain attempts to make conversation.

"When CND received a large donation and was able to move into its present room, Richard Moulson, who had been a barber before coming to FOE, used CND's old room to cut hair; his fees were donated to FOE. We missed him when he left, but the installation of central heating and Molly's coming were improvements in the quality of Warehouse life. More recently, though I hardly dare say it, the era of a constantly broken photocopier seems to have come to an end.

There have been enormous changes in the first 21 years; what will the next 21 bring?

Jenny Maxwell