One Kick for Birmingham

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I recently had a chance to put into practice my skills at football, such as they are, by taking part in ‘One kick for Birmingham’.

This is a campaign to ensure that Birmingham is an attractive part of England’s bid for the World Cup in 2018.
It would be terrific to have the World cup in England again - and we’ve got so much to contribute in this city. Birmingham has great venues, great fans and there’s a great City to enjoy.
The one kick campaign will involve getting people to film themselves kicking a ball and then putting the video up on the internet.
Luckily, my own one kick for Birmingham seemed to be pretty fair - but I don’t think that it would have taken Gil Merrick in his prime to save it!
So have a go yourself and let’s hope that both national and local campaigns get the success that they so rightly deserve.

Combating Pancreatic Cancer

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The Lord Mayor of Birmingham is involved in a good deal of charity work in general and also selects particular charities for the year. There are four parts to the Lord Mayor’s own charities for 2009/10 and in the next couple of weeks I will be featuring all four of them in this blog.
The first is The Birmingham Fund for Pancreatic Cancer Research. The objective here is to establish a new registered charity that will run on beyond my Mayoralty - and indeed continues until the dread affliction of cancer of the pancreas is mastered.
While there has been steady progress with several forms of cancer, for pancreatic cancer the five-year survival rate in the UK following diagnosis forty years ago stood at just 3%. Today that rate is - well, just 3% and for many sufferers the survival time from diagnosis is very short and complete remission is extremely rare.

Pancreatic cancer causes no symptoms early on and the median survival rate from diagnosis is 3 - 6 months. Affecting men more than women, pancreatic cancer has one of the highest fatality rates of all cancers.
Yet the disease can be treatable on those occasions where the cancer is detected early enough, and the primary focus of the fund will be on research, conducted in Birmingham, into improved diagnostic methods.
You can now contribute to the Lord Mayor’s charities on-line through Justgiving.com at:

http://www.justgiving.com/lordmayorbirmingham

Donations of any size, large or small are most welcome and will be put to the best possible use.

The First Quarter

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Vivienne and I are both enjoying our busy year as Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Birmingham. We’ve now completed three months as first citizens of our great city. The ‘Mayor Making’ in May was a great occasion and Birmingham’s Poet Laureate, Chris Morgan, read a poem at the ceremony.
We soon discovered that first citizens have a big job! The city covers over 150 square miles and is home to over a million people so there’s a lot to be involved with. The city has grown over the centuries from being the ‘home of the people of Beorma’, which is what ‘Birmingham’ means, and is much changed since the Industrial Revolution when Birmingham became the ‘Workshop of the World’. We’ve seen major regeneration including the National Exhibition Centre, the International Convention Centre and the new Bull Ring - complementing the markets that have been there for over 800 years.
Birmingham is the largest unitary authority in Europe (London is divided into Boroughs) moving forward with all our industry, commerce and creative talents. We’re proud of Birmingham’s role in the Arts including the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and in education through our Schools, Colleges and Universities delivering world class courses and advanced research. And as Lord Mayor I have the privilege of being Chancellor of Birmingham City University.
So far we’ve undertaken over 200 engagements! These have ranged from major events such as Freedom of the City Parades and Rotary’s International Convention to community events with schools and voluntary organisations. And we’re introducing new ones such as a medieval style Michaelmas Fayre to celebrate our historic Markets and in February a charity fundraising ‘Gilbert and Sullithon’ at the Town Hall where all of Gilbert and Sullivan’s complete works will be performed end to end in a 22 hour marathon!
Birmingham people are great volunteers and we’ve been inspired by the commitment of those we’ve met - including many youngsters. If you go by the newspapers you’d think there wasn’t much other than bad behaviour, but there are far more good people generously giving their time, but this does not make the headlines.
The Lord Mayor is involved in a lot of charity work and there are four parts to the Lord Mayor’s charities this year – The Birmingham Fund for Pancreatic Cancer Research, The Lord Mayor’s Engineering Scholarships, St. Basil’s and WAITS (Women Acting in Today’s Society). Incidentally you can now contribute to the Lord Mayor’s Charities on-line through justgiving.com at:
http://www.justgiving.com/lordmayorbirmingham
as well as through the Lord Mayor’s Parlour at the Council House.
Whenever we can, we sing the praises of Birmingham and its narratives. This city has many big stories, but the biggest story of all is the total of a million smaller stories - the stories of individual people. Our city is much more than the sum of its parts. We are like a broad oak, whose roots reach deep into our history and the branches of which spread widely across cultures. Birmingham is forward looking and dynamic, and I firmly believe that there’s no finer place in which to live - or of which to be first citizen!

Charity MegaQuiz

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The Lord Mayor's MegaQuiz on October 7th promises to be a mind-expanding fun occasion and I look forward to welcoming Quizzers to Birmingham University's Great Hall - one of the city’s premier venues. All proceeds from the evening go to The Lord Mayor’s charities.
The Mega Quiz has become a cult event in the city - and at just £25 for a team of four, it's a bargain to boot!

As befits this status, there’s a tradition of having distinguished question masters, and I’m pleased to announce that for 2009 Nick Owen has agreed to act as our Mega Quizmaster - for the third time!
My thanks to the MegaQuiz organising committee, the Radisson Hotel for their hospitality in hosting the recent launch and for joining our sponsors including Heathcote & Coleman, Birmingham Rotary, The University of Birmingham and the organisations who have donated the glittering raffle prizes that will help make the event an even more splendid and memorable evening.

This is all a remarkable tribute to the philanthropic spirit in Birmingham. See you in October!

Hockey Internationals

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I had the pleasure of meeting the teams for the recent India versus England Hockey internationals in Birmingham and attended the first game that was played in pouring rain throughout!

Both teams played very well and in a great sporting spirit which was a tribute to the sport and the players.

The organisation at The University of Birmingham was excellent too, and I understand that the teams would like to return there in the future.

By the way, England won the first game 3-1 and the closely contested three game series 2-1.