Are you an outgoing person? Do you like having fun,

meeting new friends and trying new things?

Well if ‘’YES” you are just about to find your perfect place for doing all of these.

MEDLEY is a new student magazine which presents different kinds of celebrations. Made by

people who love having a good time and go to all sorts of events suited for all types of people. For the next 22 pages this will be your guide to an exciting life in Birmingham. The magazine shares our own personal experiences by showing you places in Birmingham which you can visit and hopefully have just as much as we had.

Each of us has contributed our skills for the creation of this magazine. Designers, p h o t o g r a p h e r s , illustrators and movie makers put together their own ideas. By collaborating all our different interests we hope that this magazine will provide a medley of events that you’ll all enjoy.

23rd October 27th

An ancient Hindu festival celebrated in Autumn every year, ‘the festival

of light’ is one internationally recognized across the globe. It is to signify the triumph of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance and good over evil. Celebrations last over many days, entertainment provided, traditional food and mithai (sweets) served, pujas (prayers) and oblations offered to the goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity (both material and spiritual), gifts are exchanged and homes are decorated with the vibrant colours of rangoli and the bright light of diyas (small candles and lamps)

which are lit to help guide the goddess to the peoples homes in order to bless them. These are all followed with an impressive firework display to light up the end of the night and to bring the ceremony to a close with a bang.

Diwali throughout Birmingham was promised to be “one of the best and largest celebrations in the country” as stated by a representative of the Hindu community, and they did not fail to do so. All across the country, music, the delicious aromas of food and bright coloured flashes of light fill the night sky, the sound of laughter and celebration can be heard all around.

The New Bingley Hall (Hockley circus, Birmingham) was transformed into a vibrant and colourful arena with stage area which local artists performed providing entertainment in a variety of forms whether it be traditional dances, Bollywood songs, Bhangra etc. There were plenty of stalls selling all sorts, such as arts and crafts, toys, face painting, cartoon shows, mask making, games, competitions as well as music and dance workshops. to finish it all off there was a firework display for all to enjoy.

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple (Pitmaston Road, Hall Green, Birmingham) went all out with their festivities despite the unpromising signs of rain. Song, dance, food, prayers and fun raised the dull atmosphere and all misery was most definitely forgotten by the end of the night with the display of fireworks.

The festival feeling has definitely bought up the mood of Birmingham perfectly leading into christmas which is to follow and hopefully Diwali will be a huge success to everyone in the communities next year and the years to follow.

“one of the best and largest celebrations in the country”

Oktoberfest kicked off to a bit of a dreary and wet start on

Wednesday the 15th October, however this did not dampen anyone’s mood. As you walk into the elongated white tent situated in Canon Hill Park, you’re greeted by lovely ladies dressed in the traditional German Dirndls. If you have VIP tickets they’ll seat you, otherwise you’re free to pick from any of the blue and white chequered tables which stretch throughout the tent. Or perhaps you want to get straight in there and grab a light refreshment. Choose either a 1/2 pint of cider or a classic Bavarian beer, or up the size to 1.5 pints! Or if you don’t fancy that, help yourself to Schlumberger Sekt (a champagne like drink) or perhaps just a classic glass of red or white wine.

Once seated comfortable and within a good view of the stage, the waiters; dressed in Lederhosens may take your order if you’re feeling a little peckish. Oktoberfest offers a variety of traditional German foods including Bratwurst (spiced beer and pork sausage), Schnitzel (breaded and fried pork tenderloin) and many more.

Music and people fill the tent as the evening goes on and soon enough 2,500 and singing, dancing, drinking, eating, laughing, you name it, all together. With the band “Zack-Zilis” playing live music to add to the German atmosphere, you won’t be able to resist clambering on top of the tables to dance, sing and stamp your feet to the beat. You’ll be surprised at how many songs you can

actually sing along to! As the band takes a break, the music won’t stop as the DJ will play famous Schlager songs.

Wednesday and Thursday entries are free and then Friday – Sunday are £5 entry with an exception on Saturday where the entry fee will be £10. Or book in advance to guarantee a seat along with some special deals.

Oktoberfest is a real party scene and a great way to enjoy German culture. So if you can handle your beer then it’s the place to be!

"Oktoberfest is a real party scene and a great way to enjoy German culture"

"Oktoberfest is a real party scene and a great way to enjoy German culture"

Broad Street offers a medley of experiences to anyone and everyone.

Broad Street is known for its strip of clubs, bars, comedy clubs, pubs and casinos. With a lot to offer it’s not surprising that Gatecrasher is internationally renowned for attracting some of the world’s biggest live acts and performances. This remarkable club consists of four levels with large dance floors and a variety of music genres including techno, house, R&B, hip-hop and indie. No matter where you go within the club you won’t be able to resist moving your feet and singing along.

Monday’s theme is “Ultra!” Monday nights don’t have to be boring when at Gatecrasher, with 3 rooms of music and some crazy performers, you can also expect to taste sugary candy floss and popping popcorn.Take home an inflatable

giveaway and take part in bathtub karaoke. It’s a cheap night out for all the poor students out there with J-bombs only 99p and £4 advance tickets.Super Fresh Tuesdays are dedicated to R&B with one room filled with R&B, hip-hop, house and dancehall hosted by DJ AMS and other guests. While the second room is Bhangra hosted by KUDOS MUSIC. People describe it as “an absolutely mental night”.

Get On It Every Thursday has officially become Birmingham’s place to be on a Thursday night, with 4 rooms crammed with music and drinks starting at 99p you’ll be exposed to all types of music that will keep you dancing for the whole night.

Friday offers an Indie alternative, Dubstep and Electro Soundclash everyFriday called Supersonic Vague. All 4 rooms will be open and in the main room you’ll

experience special DJ guests every week mixing up all the classic clubbing tunes.Superstar Boudoir Saturday opens all 4 floors and 9 bars for you to explore throughout your night. The perfect place to get dancing, singing and a great way to meet new people and just have a great night.

Holding host to DJ’s such as Judge Jules and Mark Ronson, Gatecrashers also hosts many after parties for some recognisable American musicians such as Drake, Bruno Mars, Sean Paul, Snoop Dogg, and Wiz Khalifa and most recently Kid Inkperformed in October just in time to end the freshers event for some lively students. Electro blue laser lights filled the room as the crowds cheers became louder and louder while Kid Ink performed and entertained his crowd. People have described his recent performance a “very impressive” and rated it 5 stars.

At the end of Corporation Street in Birmingham, you’ll notice a grade II red brick terracotta church looking building, with a tall tower saying “CENTRAL HALL” or as it says now “CENTRAL HAL”. This building used to be one of Europe’s largest Methodist Churches.

However, in 1991 it was converted into a nightclub. You never would have guessed that this church looking building is one of the most lively and popular clubbing scenes in Birmingham. However, shortly after it reincarnated, it was closed down in 2002 . The building was left for 5 years to just blend into the background. Many tried to convert it into apartments but Birmingham City Council rejected this. But then in September 2007 the hall reincarnated into what it is now known as the “Q Club”.

As music, culture and club atmosphere transformed since 2002, that meant Q Club had to do the same. Since its reopening it has really taken advantage of the space by now having 4 venues within its halls, including The Rooftop, The Mezzanine Lounge, The Central Hall and of course The Q Club. Each one of these venues is different and has something else to offer. Not only are they a fantastic nightclub scene with frequent, live music performances and DJs, but they also host sporting events, art exhibitions and cooperate conferences.

The club has been rated 5 stars and been reviewed as “Easily one of Birmingham’s best clubs”.

"Q Club is easily one of Birminghams best clubs" bringing big names to the city and attracting good crowds. Set inside an old church building, it certainly sets a very different scene to most modern clubs. Atomic Jam parties there are one of my personal favourites!”

House of mask is back for another free party in Birmingham, as before

the location is kept secret until 24hours before the event. As if this isn’t mysterious enough your ticket does not guarantee entry. Upon arrival you must confess to enter, spilling one of you dark and juicy secrets. After being given your mask you are free to enter the warehouse converted to a unique and creative party venue, to do the honors of taking your mask to the clinic, whether it be sharpie scribbles to love heart stickers, anything looks good when a very tasty beer is in hand. As this is not visually appealing enough there is street food also available and plenty pieces of neon murals to get a shameless selfie with, along with the pop up photo booth.

"really exciting night with so much to offer"

So the party starts flowing along with the beer to be greeted by an outstanding beat boxer that preformed for 10 minutes straight, covering the old and the new. If you enjoy not guzzling your drinks and taking in the unique and thrilling atmosphere these free pop up parties are for you.

Cubanisto was the face of this event, with sugar skulls branding the way to the warehouse and the place itself. This up and coming rum beer brand is fast creating a new trend of free parties this October in different venues, including Glasgow and London for a secret Halloween party.

9.30pm – 1.30pm @boxed Digbeth 17th of October

THE LOCATION: Boxxed Digbeth

The 10,000 sq. ft. converted warehouse located in the center of Digbeth is just a 10 minute walk from Birmingham city center. A fully licensed Venue that can be used in any way, holding from a mere 50 people up to 1200. Boxxed has hosted a number of events including training days, gallery events, night life, product launches, film production parties and anything else. The interior is kept very much bare, leaving brick walls exposed to give a cool and undone effect, leading to break out areas, meeting rooms and even a BBQ area. Working or partying in a venue like this brings a unique and inspiring atmosphere. Some of the events coming soon this month include the Eye Candy Festival, Trancecoda Birthday, One-man Party and the The house party submerged.

OneMan Troupe Warehouse Party Thursday 13th

Troupe, the UK’s favourite touring party collective joins you for the wildlife one man party, tickets range from £6-£10.

"We're delighted to be presenting a large-scale mural designed by Muxxi which will be available for the nibble-fingered to help paint from the 14-15th November at Eye Candy”

Eye Candy Festival 13th – 15th November

An art festival collecting a range of exhibitors, speakers, designers and illustrators from around the world to showcase, speak and give master classes on their work. This year sees Fafi, Miss Led, Sam Pierpoint, Daisy De Vilenevue, Girls Who Draw, Muxxi and many more. Miss Led will be holding master classes for free on her techniques and ways of working, as well as painting a large wall mural on a car park wall.

Patterned snake skinned top £3.00 Green and yellow face paint £5.00 Snake necklace and earring £3.00 White out contact lenses £5.99 Total: £16.99 Event: House of horrors at Alfie birds Ticket: £5.00 Rated: *****

I attended the House of Horrors event at Alfie Birds in Digbeth’s custard factory. As it was hosted by Birmingham City University’s Student Union it proved to be a cheap night out. The event had 4 rooms to offer, the haunted house, the freak show, the laboratory and the day of the dead. It was a great event and each room had something different to offer music wise. Drinks were cheap, £1 for shots and £2 for spirits and mixers. It was such a great atmosphere and everyone there made an effort to dress up which made it even better. A photographer went through the crowds taking pictures of everyone to capture the evening and later posted them on Facebook for all the attenders to view. If it’s anything like that again I will definitely go next year.

Black Plain vest top - £6 Fake Blood - £1 Red contact lenses -£6 White face paint - £4 Vampire teeth £4 Total: £21.00 Event: Propaganda @ 02 Academy Ticket: £5.00 Rated: ****

As a lot of Halloween events had sold out there was only a handful that hadn’t, so my friends and I decided to go to Propaganda, which is an ongoing event at the 02 Academy. Unfortunately the venue wasn’t decorated with Halloween décor the music added the right atmosphere. Along with this there wasn’t any Halloween cocktails or offers, however they had their usual Double V Bull for only £2.75 each section of the club had different genres of music ranging from house to indie. Overall the night was great due to the amount of people in the club and the music that they played, if only they had some spooky décor they would have gained an extra star.

Primark long sleeve white t-shirt - £3.50Fake blood - £2.00Red contact lenses - £10.00Black eye shadow - £5.00Total: £20.50Event: Halloween @ RisaTicket: £5.00Rated: ***

My friends from back home were up for the night so going somewhere popular for Halloween was key. We researched into possible places to go and we saw that Risa was converted into a haunted house and that drinks would be extremely cheap all night! After finding out that it would be one of the busiest places on the night we each booked our tickets via the Facebook page for just £5 each which was a nice cheap start to the night. On arrival you could see the queues stretching down half of the street! However as we pre-booked our tickets luckily we could just go straight to the V.I.P entrance and enter a lot quicker. The interior and exterior were covered from top to bottom in all sorts of horrible and gruesome Halloween features, the chart and Halloween themed music was stupidly and the dance floors were jam-packed, these both created an awesome atmosphere throughout the whole building. As the night grew on the place got busier and busier until at one point you couldn’t physically move, we all knew the event was going to be popular, but not this popular! This was the one aspect that let the night down and led to the group of us leaving.

Warehouse Café Digbeth

For those of you that need your caffeine fix the morning after the Custard factory in Digbeth this is the place to go and get your coffee for only £1.50 for an Americano. With its indie ethos and vintage interior this place is rocking the barely there look. This is the perfect place to go when hung-over, needing to do work, to just relax and even hold events. It is a well-known Vegetarian and vegan café, using fresh produce daily only organic or fair-trade will do. Also if your feeling hungry there is an extensive list of food to choose from, including their tasty range of Veggie burgers starting at £6 If your planning to go to Digbeth or are in the area, be sure to pop into this cool and understated coffee shop.

“The decor is very stripped down and simple without attempting the ‘minimalist’ vibe that a lot of places seem to be aiming for these days. Its understatement allows the quality of the food to shine through completely.

One of the main factors, aside from the food, that keeps me going back here is that it’s BYOB. They serve a variety of homemade smoothies and juices, as well as tea’s, coffee and soft drinks but the lack of a license for sale of alcohol means the price of everything is driven down and you can have a fantastic meal without breaking the bank if you want to.”

Pizza Italiano

After a heavy night out the last thing you want to do is think about making yourself a meal, or even

getting out of bed. You want something greasy, sloppy, cheap

and delivered. But do you want pizza? Burgers? Kebab? You want

somewhere with a medley of choice, so the answer is Pizza Italiano. A local Pizzeria

close to the centre that offers pizza, garlic bread, burgers, kebabs, chicken, onion rings and more. For

students who live at Curzon Gateway it’s right next door. The cheapest pizza is 8” at £2.99 and most expensive is a 16” £12.99 and 16” is big enough to share, so split

the cost! On average the pizzeria has received 4.4 stars with glowing reviews- “Great stuff. Pizza is banging and

u deffo need to try the spicy grilled donner”. Many people recommend it and are quite happily satisfied. Order online

or call them up, it’s so easy!

CHRISTMAS

Frankfurt Markets13 November - 22 December, Victoria Square, New Street, Centenary Square & Chamberlain Square, 10am -9pm

Every year the German markets return to Birmingham for 5 weeks, providing 180 stalls selling gifts, jewellery, decorations, handmade toys, delicious german fare and the very popular Glühwein!

Ice Rink and Wheel Saturday 15th November onwards The ice rink and big wheel come to centenary fair next to the Frankfurt markets. This is a perfect winter event for friends and family, so bring them along! The big wheel also offers the best views of the city.

NIGHTS OUT

Troupe // oneman // @ Boxxed, Birmingham Thu 13th November 2014 10pm – 4am

This party collective will be hitting Boxxed in Digbeth on the 13th, a wildlife party that you will not forget with the tickets starting at £8.

Hysteria @ The Rainbow Venues, Friday 14th November 10pm – 6am

This event will feature Crissy Criss Im An MC, Evil B, Bassman, Trigga Harry and many more. Tickets start at around £17.50

ART

Eye Candy Festival @ Boxxed Digbeth 13th – 15th November 10.30am – 6.30pm

Returning this November eye candy will be bringing world-class pop and street artists, illustrators, photographers and designers. The event will mainly be situated at Boxxed in Digbeth but will extend into other areas. This is a free event.