Lord Mayor’s Blog 14
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!
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!
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