Merton House

At this time of the year there must be many elderly people as well as those who are frail or who have a physical disability who long for a break in a comfortable and friendly hotel with understanding staff, pleasantly located and not too far from Birmingham.

A week’s holiday at the beautiful Georgian Merton House located in Ross on Wye could well be the answer. As a result of sponsorship by Rotary, prices for full or half board are extremely reasonable. I have visited Merton House myself and taken tea with those on holiday there - very pleasant indeed. And if transport is needed to get you there, this can be provided for a supplementary charge.

Merton House is a not-for-profit community service project and the helpful and caring staff and the ambience of the house reflect this. If you are interested in a stay, you can contact the hotel direct on: 01989 563252 or if you are on the internet you can go to the Merton House website at:

 http://www.mertonhouse.org/

Middle-earth Weekend 2011

This year as ever I had the pleasure of attending the Middle-earth Weekend at Sarehole Mill. As local residents and Tolkien enthusiasts Vivienne and I are there every year and Vivienne, as the Chair of the organising committee, is the driving force behind the arrangements for this unique event and was there for the whole of the two days - and more.

This year’s weekend was another great success. As you can see, a very large dragon was rushing around! The Middle-earth Weekend is now known throughout the world via Tolkien related sites and was rated one of the country's top ten family events by The Independent newspaper. This is a great tribute to the organisers, to Hall green and to Birmingham. Official attendance figures are not yet available but should once again be well above 10,000.

This traditional family festival, provided free of charge and with old-fashioned entertainments as well of course as the Tolkien dimension takes a great deal of putting on and every year the volunteers work harder and get older and fewer.

Birmingham has a great deal to be proud of with the landscapes of Tolkien's Shire reflecting the Sarehole Area. Birmingham should make much more of this close connection. Perhaps when the next two Tolkien inspired films based on The Hobbit are released in December 2012 and December 2013 The Hobbit there will again be a further surge in public interest.

Transition

As mentioned at the end of the previous posting on this blog, my term of office as the Deputy Lord Mayor of Birmingham has been completed and therefore there will be no further entries under this civic heading. This means however that I will now be at liberty to resume postings on the wider range of topical issues that were featured on this blog until May 2009.
I hope that you have enjoyed the brief glimpses of the mayoral life that have been provided here. For my own part I know that I enjoyed my time in that capacity immensely having met so many really good people and hopefully I managed to do a bit of good here and there as well.

A Flying Visit

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On Monday I accompanied Rotarians from Birmingham on a visit to Dublin to mark the centenary of the Dublin club. The agenda included a reception by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Gerry Breen, at the Mansion House.

I brought civic greetings and the gift of a picture from the City of Birmingham. We were very warmly received indeed and the occasion was full of good humour. Our photograph shows the group on the steps of the Mansion House.
We were given a tour in which we saw the room – the Oak Room – in which Irish statesman Dr Garrett Fitzgerald had lain in state prior to his state funeral on Sunday.
Our visit also coincided with that of US President Obama and as a result we had the opportunity to do a good deal of walking from on venue to another with Dublin Rotarian colleagues and had an exceptional chance to see the architecture of the city at close range due to the street closures and resulting traffic chaos!
It was however very interesting to pick up on the excitement that surrounded the presidential visit. This followed on from the more extensive visit of Her Majesty the Queen that had been such a tremendous success and which done so much good – a view reiterated not only officially but also by dozens of ordinary citizens that we met.
On the way home we had to contend with airport disruption at both ends, high winds and the possible threat from the volcanic ash cloud. All in all a memorable way to conclude my term as Deputy Lord Mayor of Birmingham!

A Good Congregation!

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I recently had the pleasure of offering a Civic welcome to representatives of the Congregational Assembly that took place in Birmingham. This is an extract from my speech:
‘First and foremost I would like to offer a warm welcome to the City of Birmingham and I hope that you have had, or will get a chance to see something of the city and its many cultural attractions either on this occasion or your next visit – which I hope will be soon! These of course include world class Ballet, Music and Theatre, our Cathedrals and Universities and much else including the Midlands Arts Centre.
I am delighted to have the opportunity to join you today for your 40th Annual Assembly with what seems to me to be an impressive level of attendance and a detectable vibrancy.
Birmingham is a city with thriving faith communities and inter-faith relationships are very good. We have worked at these in the light of the many opportunities presented and also the challenges that we face today.
We enter an age of austerity with all the difficulties that brings for individuals, families and organisations. We also live in times of change – too much of it in my view and too much of that ill-wrought. Constancy has great merit, and a better balance is needed. Thank you for all that you do in emphasising timeless values - we need them so much in society today.’
I went on to wish the Congregationalists a most successful Assembly – which indeed it was.

A Fashionable Hotel!

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I recently had the opportunity to open the new Birmingham Central Bull Ring Travel Lodge hotel with over 200 rooms.
This is a welcome addition to Birmingham’s Hotel offer, particularly in the current economic climate, and the investment of almost £10m is both a vote of confidence and an encouraging sign of the City's resilience. It is important both in terms of visitors wishing to stay here and for local employment. The opening of the hotel has created 30 jobs in partnership with the local Job Centre Plus scheme, helping people who are long term unemployed get back into work.
And It was pleasing to see the new hotel setting up in the most historic part of the city. Birmingham has a very nice 'foundation myth' that our population began some 1200 years ago - not very far from the new hotel - when a group of Anglo-Saxons led by a man called Beorma first settled here. Indeed the name Birmingham means ‘Home of the people of Beorma’.
And right through the Industrial Revolution and the explosive commercial and financial development that followed, there has been the accompanying need for places to stay and this continues to the present day.
 

A remarkable feature of the opening was an unusual fashion competition. Students from Birmingham Metropolitan College took up the challenge of making an evening dress from a bed sheet in two hours! The results were stunning and the judges, myself included were hard pressed to pick a winner. In the end I prevailed on Travel lodge to offer a second prize as well. All of the young students can be proud of their work and the contribution they made to an unusually interesting opening.

Middle-earth Weekend 2011

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One of the events that Vivienne and I always enjoy attending either in a civic or private capacity - and take an active part in each year - is Birmingham's unique Middle-earth Weekend.

Indeed Vivienne, the Deputy Lady Mayoress, chairs the 'MEWE' Organising Committee, writes the scripts for the playlets, raises money and is the 'buck stops here' organiser - as you can see!

This year's event, as ever, has a traditional family format and celebrates the work and cultural legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien, his many close connections with Birmingham and how the local landscape influenced his vision of Middle-earth. There has been a big international response to the photography competition and the winning entries will go into a downloadable calendar to be released later in the year.

Once again the organisation of the weekend is volunteer led, but as with many organisations these days we could do with more. If you or a family member or friend have even a couple of hours to spare on either day and would like to help, please email Viv as VWi8327963@aol.com - a task can be found to suit your interests and availability and you'd find it fun! In a rather timely manner given recent controversies, this year there is a theme of trees, woodlands and wild areas - of which Tolkien was particularly fond.

The Middle-earth Weekend 2011 will be a truly family occasion (with no charge for admission) and has an old-fashioned air that many people find refreshing. It is held in and around Sarehole Mill on Saturday the 21st and Sunday the 22nd of May. Further details of this very special event can be found on the Middle-earth Weekend website at: 

 http://www.middleeathweekend.org.uk

We hope to see you there!