Armed Forces Day

Deputy Lord Mayor’s Blog 6

Saturday June 26th was Armed Forces Day 2010, a day when the nation salutes our Armed Forces, past, present and future. In Birmingham's Victoria Square in the afternoon we had the pleasure of meeting active service personnel, cadets and once again the many veterans associations, standard bearers as well as senior representatives of the Services and service related organisations.
The day went off splendidly and there was an excellent march past at the end. There was a great deal of public enthusiasm and support - as always in Birmingham.
I spent some time with many groups including the National Service Veterans,(first picture) , the Korean Veterans, the War Widows Association and the Royal British Legion.
I was very surprised to learn that the bikers section is now one of the largest and most successful branches of the RBL. They very kindly let me have a sit on one of their machines - very trusting as I hung up my own lid over twenty years ago! Still it felt good to be in the saddle again if only briefly and statically!

Birmingham City University

Deputy Lord Mayor’s Blog 5

Today I am about to complete my term of office as Chancellor of Birmingham City University. This has been a most interesting and rewarding experience. BCU is a fine University of which the city can be truly proud with some outstanding courses and doing excellent scholarly work in key areas.
As Chancellor I presided at nine degree congregations at each of which as well as the graduating students, honorary graduands were awarded higher degrees. The photo shows myself and the Vice Chancellor with The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and previously Archbishop of Birmingham. The citation by the orator, Professor of English David Roberts and the response by Archbishop Nichols on the theme of The Common Good were amongst the best that I have heard.
As part of my more routine duties at the congregations, in receiving the graduating students I shook no fewer than 4,823 hands! A bucket of ice came in handy at the conclusion of the last congregation!
Altogether a very good year both for me and for the University and I hope that current issues notably with the suggested location of a High Speed rail terminal slap bang where a BCU campus expansion was to be will be resolved in a fair and equitable fashion. Birmingham needs its thriving Universities every bit as much as a quick trip to London!

Great Charity Walk

Deputy Lord Mayor’s Blog 4

We recently had the great pleasure of attending the ceremonies concluding a charity walk in Birmingham organised by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association involving over two thousand people.
This was a tremendous turnout and no less than fourteen good causes were supported by the sponsored walkers with a six figure total being raised overall. Our photo shows a busy scene at the end of the walk.
A total of £10,000 was raised for the Birmingham Fund for Pancreatic Cancer Research alone. This is something I’ve been raising money for over the past year and I’m delighted with this major contribution.
The walk was extremely well organised and walkers came from as far afield as Glasgow, Cardiff and London. The Ahmadiyya Muslims are fully involved with society as a whole, engage with all communities and have the message of ‘love for all and hatred for none’, for which they are persecuted in some other lands.
I thank the Association for their public-spirited example and generosity.

Local History Event

Deputy Lord Mayor's Blog 3
We recently looked in at a thoroughly excellent event displaying the work of local history societies throughout Birmingham held at the Radisson Hotel.

Entirely run by volunteers, it is important to recognise the cultural value of all that they do in helping to ensure that the life of the city, particularly the lives of ordinary people, is not lost to memory.
It is so very important to have these records and recollections. History is identity and shared recollections are part of the soul of any community.
And we need the community spirit more than ever in today’s changing - not to say feckless - world. We need co-operative endeavours too (there was an excellent exhibit on co-operative societies in Birmingham) and we need continuity and memory as well as change. And this is just what is provided by wonderful people such as Katherine Kelly who has been selling flowers at the historic Bull Ring markets for 47 years. (Both photos in this item are from ‘Birmingham Up Town’ by Mac Joseph, Ted Rudge and John Houghton available from Amberley Publishing).
The displays were wonderful and were presented with taste and enthusiasm. We could have spent far more time there than we had available - as well as a good few more quid! Thank you local historians all and please do carry on all of the good work that you do for the common good.

Aston Hall Book Bash

Deputy Lord Mayor’s Blog 2

It was a pleasure to visit Birmingham’s Book Bash which was held at the magnificently restored Aston Hall earlier this month.
The emphasis of the event is on families and children and all aspects of reading, recitals, displays and stimulating engagement so that youngsters develop a life-long love of books, literature and knowledge.
If you didn’t get a chance to visit the Book Bash this year, do look out for it in May next year. Meanwhile a visit to Aston Hall will be a great experience.

Retiring Speech

Deputy Lord Mayor’s Blog 1

My first function as Deputy Lord Mayor was to deliver my retiring speech to the City Council AGM. Here is what I said.
“High Sheriff, My Lord Bishop, Members of Parliament, Honorary Freemen, Former Civic Heads, Council Members, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I’ll begin with thanks, most of all to Vivienne, for the year, for the 39 years before and for the work we’ve done together. To family and friends for their support and forbearance; to the City Council for electing me and for your patience; to those who nominated me (may your regrets be short!); to the Parlour staff without whom the job is impossible; to the Charity Committee; to the stalwart ‘support group’ for their unstinting commitment, unbidden, unpaid and, so often at their request, unsung; to all the Council House and Catering staff and to everyone in Birmingham who support our civic life and work for the common good.
It is hard to think that a year has passed since being made Lord Mayor and the old adage ‘time flies’ has never seemed so true. Still, true to tradition in other time-limited contexts, I began the day with a hearty breakfast!
Being the first citizen of Birmingham has been the greatest of honours. Though it may be risky for an (erstwhile for the year) politician to use these words, it has been an enriching and rewarding experience in the truest senses of these words.
I won’t pick out a single highlight of the year because there is such a great variety of occasions, large and small, momentous and moving, that cannot really be compared.
Rather I will point to something that has run right throughout the year - meeting so many good people and organisations - the charities, the voluntary organisations, the services, the Veterans, the Faith leaders, the community groups and most of all the volunteers themselves - so strong of heart, though many now grey of head.
Vivienne and I have done all in our power to support the civic function, working for and promoting Birmingham, its industry, its good causes, its heritage and its culture. The name ‘Birmingham’ means ‘Home of the people of Beorma’ and ever since those earliest days we’ve made people welcome and have always been very proud of our open and democratic traditions.
Of course we are much changed as a city since the time of the Industrial Revolution when we were part of the Workshop of the World to the international city that we are today - proud of our Industry, proud of our Science, proud of our Arts and above all, proud of our people. We have the friendliest, most helpful and most welcoming citizens in the country - thousands of visitors tell us so every year.
We are a city that is proud of its past, which lives in the present and which looks forward to the future. We are a city at ease with itself, a city which need know no bounds, a city of industry, a city of heritage and, I am quite certain, a city of culture.
Being Lord Mayor is an odd sort of job, by the time you’ve really come to understand its immense significance you can see the door coming up! There have been harbingers of this - the picture of myself and the lady Mayoress in the ‘Rogues Gallery’ by the Parlour has been on the slide for a few weeks now!
But of course while one closes, so many doors also open giving, in a well used but important phrase, a chance to make a difference through support, influence, presence and unmatched connections to communities, to charities and to individuals, bringing back a little of ‘what was lost’ such as traditional festivals and promoting ‘made in Birmingham’.
We have brought in the policy that all new civic gifts must be made in Birmingham (not sourced from suppliers here or bought from catalogues but obtained direct from our factories).
But there’s also chances to be blown off course - as Macmillan said ‘Events dear boy, events’ - and so many of them, over a thousand in the year. Two or three occasions spring to mind.
I was invited to give a talk to officers from Democratic Services from across the country on the subject of Democracy and, under the stated presumption of Chatham House Rules, I would be unusually forthright. But shortly after delivering my address, the chairman - rightly proud of his up-to-date organisation - announced that the whole meeting was being Podcast!
Then there was my attempted teasing of visitors from Sweden about the rules of cricket only to have it whispered in my ear half way through that these were our own visitors about to go to Sweden!
Then there was a charity run around Edgbaston Reservoir with a curious handicapping system termed a ‘yacht race’. Word of the event had reached the commodore of the yacht club who assumed that there was to be a sailing event on his patch so he scrambled to be present! Still, the Lady Mayoress was subsequently offered a swallows and Amazons basic sailing lesson that she had always wanted!
And I really enjoyed the chance to conduct the City of Birmingham Brass Band at the May Day Fayre in a performance of the Floral Dance. I can guarantee that I was never more than half a beat behind the musicians!
A chance also to have enjoyable, funny events such as the charity Pantomime Horse Grand National, after which I was truly delighted to make an award to the competitor who finished a distant last. Few things have given me more pleasure than handing over that Jeremy Clarkson trophy!
And a chance to experience some silly frustrations. You may have noticed that the Lord Mayor’s car, LOM 1, no longer flies the Birmingham, or any other flag. This is courtesy of our friends the insurance companies. Apparently someone might hurl themselves at the front of the car and impale themselves on the flag. And we wonder at the state we’re in!
And a chance to have some unusual challenges. The Lord Mayor is Chancellor of Birmingham City University and in this office I presided at all nine degree congregations held in January at the ICC, shaking precisely 4,823 hands and needing to put my own in an ice bucket after the final congregation!
And a chance to have your identity questioned. The Lady Mayoress was mistaken for Her Majesty the Queen more than once while I, increasingly worried by the constitutional knowledge of some of our youths, was also greeted more than once when beshod in full robes by the question: ‘Are you the King?’. It was a lot nearer the mark to be asked ‘Are you a Pirate?’ (not really - at least a parrot short!).
It has been a most memorable year and a transforming one - particularly for me a heretofore fairly reserved person (spot the difference you may say!) - with a chance to play a role for our great city of Birmingham.
And a chance to play a part in sustaining the historic office of Lord Mayor, giving reassuring continuity in a world of too much change. It is an office immensely valued by our citizens. And it is an office that, in accordance with tradition, is handed on today and which is secure in most capable hands. I wish you every success Lord Mayor and assure you of my complete support.
So there we are, nearly all said and done and with nary a mention of J.R.R. Tolkien! I thank you all once again, colleagues and friends. Thank you.”