Birchfield, Birmingham

Two teenage girls, Charlene Ellis, 18, and Letisha Shakespeare, 17, were shot with a MAC-10 machine pistol, outside a hair salon in Birchfield Road, Aston, Birmingham, England, as they were leaving a party in the early hours of 2 January 2003, in a gang-related drive-by shooting. Shakespeare and Ellis were described as "best friends" and "innocent victims".Charlene's twin sister Sophie, cousin Cheryl Shaw and a friend, Leon Harris, were also injured. Shaw was shot in the hand.The shooting, investigated by the West Midlands Police under its new Chief Constable, Paul Scott-Lee, was part of a feud between two Birmingham gangs, the "Johnson Crew" and the "Burger Bar Boys", and was in response to the murder of Yohanne Martin, a Burger Bar Boys associate.Four men were each convicted of murder and attempted murder at Leicester Crown Court in March 2005. Marcus Ellis, 24 (Charlene's half-brother), Michael Gregory, 22, and Nathan Martin, 26 (brother of Yohanne), were jailed for a minimum of 35 years. Rodrigo Simms, 20, was sentenced to 27 years – the lesser figure being due to his age at the time of the shooting. The trial was the first in England at which secret witnesses were allowed to be used. In 2005, the convicted men appealed at Woolwich Crown Court but the appeal was turned down. They were also refused leave to appeal to the House of Lords. In 2012, Ellis, Martin and Simms appealed to the European Court of Human Rights that they had not received a fair trial. This appeal was also dismissed.The mothers of the two dead women, Marcia Shakespeare and Beverley Thomas, have since actively campaigned against gun crime and gangs. They set up the 'Letisha and Charlene Education Awards', administered by the Birmingham & Black Country Community Foundation, a registered charity, in 2006. In December 2016 it was announced that Marcia Shakespeare had been appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours.In 2018, Libera, an Italian association that promotes outreach activities and various types of protest action against organised crime, remembered Letisha and Charlene among other nearly 900 names of innocent victims of organised crime during the 23rd Day of Remembrance and Commitment.

Holy Trinity Church is a Grade II* listed parish church in the Church of England in Birchfield, Birmingham. The church building was placed on a Heritage at Risk Register due to its poor condition in 2018, but repairs led to its removal from this register.

St Paul's Church, Lozells is a Grade II listed redundant parish church in the Church of England in Birmingham now used by the Assemblies of the First Born Church of God.

Holte School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in the Lozells area of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England.It is a non-selective community school administered by Birmingham City Council. Holte School offers GCSEs and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils, while students in the sixth form have the option to study from a range of A-levels and further BTECs.The latest Ofsted review rated the school as 'requires improvement'

The Shree Geeta Bhawan Mandir (grid reference SP061897) is the first Hindu temple in the Midlands of England, opened in a former church in 1969. It is situated at 107-117 Heathfield Road, on the corner of Brecon Road, on the border of the Handsworth and Lozells districts of Birmingham. Originally, services were held at 32 Hall Road, Birmingham B20 2BQ. The Mandir has a daily Aarti at 11 am and 7 pm and has weekly Poojas for Balaji on Sunday mornings, and Durga Maa on Tuesday evenings.

Lozells is a loosely defined inner-city area in West Birmingham, England. It is centred on Lozells Road, and is known for its multi-racial population. It is part of the ward of Lozells and East Handsworth and lies between the districts of Handsworth and Aston. Lozells has a high population density compared to East Handsworth. It is a very ethnically diverse area with a high population of people of Afro-Caribbean, Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin. Housing in Lozells consists mainly of terraced houses, which were constructed during the Industrial Revolution when the area became industrialised and the workers required housing. The housing is a mix of private and council housing, with some newer post-war tower-blocks and estates. Lozells Road was the scene of rioting from 9–11 September 1985, with shops, houses and vehicles being burnt, and looting also taking place. Racial tension, high unemployment and hostility towards the police were seen as major factors of the rioting. Further riots on the night of the 22 October 2005 left two men dead and a police officer shot and wounded. These riots were started by an unsubstantiated rumour, broadcast on a pirate radio station, of a girl being raped. Four men were later jailed for their part in the riots.The former Royal Oak pub on Lozells Road, now a shop, has a doorway with a carving of a 'royal oak' by the sculptor William Bloye.

Aston Library is a public library in Aston, West Midlands, England, built in 1881. It is a Grade II listed building.

Wellington Road was a football ground in the Perry Barr area of Birmingham, England. It was the home ground of Aston Villa from 1876 until 1897.

St Matthias’ Church, Farm Street, Birmingham is a former Church of England parish church in Birmingham.

St Silas' Church, Lozells is a Grade II listed redundant parish church in the Church of England in Birmingham now used by the Triumphant Church of God.

Perry Barr Railway Station is a railway station in Perry Barr, Birmingham, England, and is one of the oldest continuously operated railway station sites in the world, having first opened in 1837. The station has been rebuilt several times, including electrification of the line in the 1960s, and most recently in 2021-2022.

The Bartons Arms (grid reference SP072890) is a public house in the High Street (part of the A34) in the Newtown area of Aston, Birmingham, England.Built in 1900-1901 by noted pub architects partnership James and Lister Lea for Mitchells & Butlers, it is a grade II* listed building, and is on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors.