Solihull
 | This article is about a city or territory and needs to be expanded. |
Solihull | ||
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| City in the United Kingdom | ||
| Location of Solihull
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| How to contact: | ||
| - | solihullbahais [at] bci.org | |
| Official Website | http://bci.org/solihullbahais/ | |
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Solihull is a Metropolitan Borough in the County of West Midlands. It is based on the town of Solihull itself. This was originally surrounded by the Warwickshire countryside.
Background[edit]
Just before the Second World War, manufacturers were encouraged to set up factories outside the industrial cities, for fear of a possible conflict. The Rover car company, which later produced the Land Rover, set up one such "shadow factory" in Solihull, near enough to attract workers from nearby Birmingham. This greatly encouraged the expansion of building in the area, and a huge factory is still on the site. By 1964 the Solihull area had grown sufficiently to become a County Borough, administratively independent from the Warwickshire County Council.
In 1974, the new county of West Midlands was created, and the County Borough of Solihull had all the countryside up to the border with Coventry added into it, plus what is now known as "North Solihull". This comprises both dormitory villages and large areas of social housing (Kingshurst, Chelmsley Wood) created for families rehoused from Birmingham slum areas which were being demolished. In terms of travel, employment, and natural lines of communication the attachment of these areas to Solihull is somewhat artificial.
The Borough created in 1974 therefore includes: Meriden, the village generally thought to be at the very centre of England; "Birmingham" International Airport; "Birmingham International" railway station; and the National Exhibition Centre, built by and until recently owned by the City of Birmingham, but actually in Solihull. The population is around 200,400.
Bahá'í History[edit]
Probably the first Bahá'í in Solihull was Philip Turton, who unfortunately died in a car accident in 1963, while on a teaching trip in Scotland. Patrick Vickers became a Bahá'í in the town in 1969, followed by several others. However, the needs of the Plan required that a Local Spiritual Assembly be established in central Warwickshire, and several Bahá'ís moved there, away from Solihull. Natural growth in the number of Bahá'ís in the United Kingdom meant that sooner or later Solihull would have its own Local Spiritual Assembly, as individuals moved in and out of the area. Shahriar Razavi, now a member of the Universal House of Justice, at one time pioneered into the Borough to help maintain its Assembly.
By 2014, a number of dedicated Bahá'ís were present in the Borough, including some newly-declared Bahá'ís, and the community looks comparatively strong. However, these are all in "South Solihull", and the Faith has not been effectively planted in the northern end of the Borough. The Bahá’ís seem quite aware of the need to liaise with local schools, in the hope that some of these schools will teach their pupils something of the Faith.
In October, 2017, the Bahá'ís of Solihull hosted one of the biggest meetings to celebrate the Bicentenary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh in the whole of the United Kingdom. The concert pianist Julian Hellaby, himself a Bahá'í, played for those present.
It is of great interest to Bahá'ís that this mixed urban and rural area is twinned with a similar area in Germany, that of Main Taunus Kreis. This is the administrative unit of Germany which includes the Bahá'í House of Worship. It is therefore conceivable that as the Bahá'í community in Solihull becomes stronger, this twinning will be used to more proclamation advantage.
Boundary Revision[edit]
In 2018, the National Spiritual Assembly announced that certain provisions for the definition of Local Spiritual Assembly boundaries, given by the Universal House of Justice, were to be applied within the metropolitan boroughs. Within the areas added into Solihull when it became a metropolitan borough in 1974, some local parish councils still exist, and these areas will qualify for their own Local Spiritual Assembly, when numbers allow. At present, however, the changes principally mean that for Bahá'í purposes, Solihull halves in size, and there will be less Bahá'ís within the area governed by the Local Spiritual Assembly of Solihull.
At Ridván, 2019, these changes came into effect. There were no longer enough Bahá'ís within the original Solihull area to form a Local Spiritual Assembly, and so the Assembly lapsed. This reduces the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies within the West Midlands Metropolitan County from three to two.
Contact Info[edit]
Email: solihullbahais [at] bci.org
