Opened by former Poet Laureate, Jasmine Gardosi and actor Annie Wallace, the new Birmingham LGBT centre represents a huge boost to LGBTQ+ support in the city and includes enough space for services to grow further. Steve Ball was involved in the previous incarnation of Birmingham LGBT which was called Birmingham Pride Community Trust.

Twenty years ago it was the organisation behind Gay Pride and the name suggested it was merely about a weekend of celebration when it was much more than that. Steve says: “Not all LGBTQ+ people go to Pride. It’s a more general organisation with support for all.” And so, Birmingham LGBT was born.

Birmingham LGBT is a registered charity and opened the country’s first LGBTQ+ Health & Wellbeing Centre in 2013. It’s grown from a team of two to 26 and the services delivered are wide ranging including sexual health testing, counselling, domestic abuse support, youth work, outreach and peer groups, as well as Shout, the organisation’s arts and culture programme. In the last 12 months the organisation has delivered more than 3,500 brief interventions, 1,770 specific interventions, roughly 750 HIV point of care tests, 1,100 self sampled STI tests, 380 substance support sessions and supported over 160 domestic abuse survivors.

COMMUNITY HUB

The centre has been delivered through Outpost Management’s joint venture with BlackRock Real Estate, in partnership with the Galliard Apsley Partnership, and forms part of Outpost’s Lower Essex Street development and will enable increased support services and community space for more people. Steve says, “It’s in the heart of the gay village. It’s accessible and provides a great base for services. There’s a large community hub where people can connect.”

The breadth of community groups is incredible including the gay film society and the Golden Babs over 55s among many others. Funding tends to be in the form of project grants. The sexual health element is funded by the NHS while domestic abuse services are funded by Birmingham City Council, and the rest takes on a project-based piecemeal approach.

While the grass roots community is thriving, the venues are being squeezed like the rest of the hospitality sector. Steve says: “Forty per cent of 18 to 25-year-olds don’t drink which has an impact on the night-time economy, so the queer scene in the gay village has its challenges.” Trying to encourage the community to use venues and working with Southside BID to support them is key.

BIG UP BRUM

Steve is also chair of Southside District Board and as such, is a big champion of the city and the wider region. He’s been in Birmingham for 40 years and as an honorary Brummie he’s keen to espouse the positives of the city and dispel some of the negative myths. First up, is that the city is broke. “There’s a massive perception that it’s bankrupt. The city is thriving. Birmingham City Council has a significant deficit – it’s not the same thing as the city being bankrupt.”

Of the magical fortnight of the Commonwealth Games, Steve says: “Council leader Ian Ward said that the Games was the start of a golden decade for Birmingham. We need to start marketing and advocating for ourselves. Get the chip off the shoulder. We’re a young, diverse city and there’s so much positive energy.”

He adds: “Our cultural offer is fantastic. We’ve three large theatres as well as some smaller ones. We’ve got the best concert hall in Europe and the best collection of pre-Raphaelites in the world at BMAG. Digbeth continues to be on the up – Steven Knight studios are a good example – plus our sports offer is also fantastic.” We couldn’t agree more.

Cage fighter, stuntman, actor – and now filmmaker. Phillip Ray Tommy has pretty much been there, done that, and got the tee. The proud Brummie has even appeared in a movie with Tom Cruise, admittedly as an extra, but that was in the very early days of a career that has seen him travel the world since. Big Phill, as he is known in the business, cites the chance of being up close to the Mission Impossible legend as a “moment of inspiration, really triggering my passion for acting”.

We spoke with Phill just a few hours before he was due to jet off to the prestigious Berlin Film Festival to promote his new full-length feature, Lotus, which has Birmingham front and centre of the action. Phill both stars in, directs and co-produces the movie with Alan McQueen, which he says unashamedly has our great city as the backdrop to a story which centres around the lead character of John, an ex-special forces agent, whose attempts to protect an old friend puts him in the crosshairs of a dangerous drug plot in the heart of Birmingham.

CRIME AND CORRUPTION

Pitted against rival gangs and corrupt police, John must use his special set of skills to save those that he loves and dismantle a looming criminal operation. “Tonally its John Wick, Luther The Raid and Mission Impossible mixed with a little Gangs of London but set in Brum,” says Phill.

He adds: “To my knowledge Lotus is the first action feature film set and made in Birmingham. I’ve worked on plenty of films around the world but only ever had one filming job take place in Brum. So, I make films – previously short films – to show how amazing the city and surrounding areas can be, as well as provide opportunities to some of the terrific local talent that may not be able to get to London to work in film.” Sales for the film are being handled by UK-based Screenbound International, and the initial industry launch is at the Berlin Film Festival. “We’re aiming for a cinema run following that, with the premiere in Birmingham, of course!” adds Phill.

Lotus is very much about showcasing Birmingham and some of the surrounding areas as a viable and exciting place to make ambitious genre films. Phill says: “Birmingham has an image of being a grey and grim city, but that’s not the reality at all. There’s so much to admire here, from the beautiful countryside around it to the wonderful cultural centres in town. It’s a city that’s really untapped in term of its resources. I’m aiming to change all that – it’s a great place to film action movies!”

CAGE FIGHTING

Phill started out in martial arts. “I went all around the country doing stunt shows,” he says. “I’ve done cage fighting too.” He got into film work as a stunt performer and has appeared in the likes of The Expend4bles, The King’s Man and in TV productions including Ben Hur and Gangs of London. But he says he always knew that he didn’t just want to do stunt work and acting, but that he “needed to create”. He started making his own, short, films after sustaining an injury. “I began with short films but knew that I would make feature films. When you are on the right path you just know that it is going to work out.”

Getting the finance to make Lotus proved challenging. “I applied everywhere, left, right and centre but in the end, I decided I would self-finance and came together with some really good mates who chipped in. When I do something which I believe in, I am totally committed, so making this film meant everything. In fact, I already have the sequel, Lotus 2, in the pipeline ready to go. I guess I’m a bit of a workaholic, always looking to the next thing to do. I am still acting with bits and pieces, all stunt work. Last year I was working on Spiderman. But as any actor knows, work isn’t a regular planned thing in our business. The good thing is that means that I’m home with my 11-year-old son who I adore. I hated being away from him, so filming Lotus completely in Birmingham meant I was here for him all the time.”

MOVIE MOVEMENT

Lotus 2 will also be totally Birmingham-based. “Our city is so beautiful that I want to continue to showcase it,” said Phill. Filming in Brum also has some lovely spin-offs, as Phill has been able to open up the business of how a movie is made to the huge well of young talent in the area. “We’ve had students come to help and see what we’re doing,” he explains. “And they are buzzing with what they’ve seen. It’s really game-changing for them.”

Phill is optimistic that Lotus will provide the impetus for a movie movement in Brum. He points in particular to the growth of TV and creatives in areas such as Digbeth. “Success for Lotus will hopefully see more film shoots taking place in Birmingham, with more jobs and opportunities available for all of our incredibly talented, creative local people,” he says.

And leaving us with that intriguing thought, Phill prepared for his trip to Berlin, to be followed with more promotional visits to the Hong Kong Film Festival this month and the Cannes Film Festival in May ahead of the release of Lotus in the summer. The action truly never stops for Brum’s very own action man…

Nizlopi’s Luke Concannon and John Parker have been playing together since they were 13, and when JCB Song – a song about five-year-old Luke and his dad – climbed the charts two decades ago, it was a remarkable moment. A completely independent band run from a room in Luke’s parents’ house in the Midlands, the folk band were always about integrity and community-based values rather than chasing the dollar. Luke now lives in the US with his wife Steph and their son, who has focused Luke’s mind in terms of making his music matter.

Twenty years after JCB Song, the world is a different place with much to feel concerned and angry about. Luke strikes us as someone who feels deeply and being a father has changed the way he approaches life and music to an extent. On fatherhood he says: “It’s just really beautiful. I’ve less time do things, so you just have to make these things count. It condenses life into what’s important. It also makes me show up more in music.”

PASSIONATE AND PUNCHY

Luke feels the ‘apocalyptic nature of these times’ and the ‘lunacy in the world’ deeply and finds speaking up through his music, crucial. He says: “There’s so much dark stuff happening in the world, so much injustice, so there’s lots of challenging stuff on Midnight Bloom.”

Midnight Bloom is Luke’s latest solo album and while there are joyful elements, it’s passionate and punchy – a response partly to the dark political times we find ourselves in, but also a prolonged period of illness and a diagnosis of IBS that left him fatigued and burnt out. He says he was at 50 per cent health for some time and lost his creative spark.

Moving to the US and building a life with Steph has been wonderful, but also hard work. The pair have literally built a home on a plot of land in Vermont which at times meant sleeping in a one-man tent while they completed a more permanent and comfortable structure. Luke says he’s become very handy with a chainsaw.

SUPERFAN ED

When we chatted to Luke he was travelling with his brood on the Holyhead ferry to Dublin for the last show of Ed Sheeran’s tour, on which Nizlopi opened for the star. This isn’t as random as it sounds. They go way back to when teenage Ed was front row at every Nizlopi gig and even interned for the band.

After a Shepherd’s Bush gig in 2006, a young Ed Sheeran contacted the band on Myspace to ask if they had any work experience opportunities. Luke asked him to send a video which blew the band away. Ed went on to open for Nizlopi and they’ve kept in touch ever since. Ed has regularly cited Nizlopi as a massive inspiration and chose one of their tracks, Flooded Quarry, as the one he’d save during his Dessert Island Discs interview. Ed said: “Basically everything from my live set – the way I control my voice, the way I control the audience, the way I play the guitar even and use beatbox and stuff – this comes from this band.”

When we talked, Luke was looking forward to getting home to Vermont where life now seems pretty idyllic. He’s thrown himself into the music scene and runs a Second Sunday Session at the Guildford Country Store for local musicians and storytellers. He’ll be booking gigs for next year, getting some music in the diary and ideally enjoying some peace and clarity.

Katie Bishop says growing up she always “loved books and loved writing”. So, it’s not too much of a stretch to say that she was likely always destined to become a top author. But there were times along the way it seemed that might just be out of reach. Even Katie herself admits that while she dreamed of one day publishing a novel, she never really thought it would actually happen.
She says: “I didn’t think it was a real job. I didn’t know anyone who had a career in writing. I didn’t know anyone with a creative career actually. It seemed impossible, unattainable.” Happily for her, and us, that wasn’t the case, thanks to her amazing talent and sheer persistence.

Her debut novel The Girls of Summer, a psychological thriller based on around a woman’s summer romance with a much older man, arrived on the bookshelves in 2023 and won rave reviews – and awards – as a ‘must-read’ from critics as diverse as The Times and Independent, to the Sun, New York Post and Glamour magazine. Her latest novel, a gripping thriller titled High Season, has been equally well-received. All of which delights Katie, who grew up living in Nuneaton with a mum and grandparents from Birmingham, and who now lives with her husband in Kings Heath.

CHECK-OUT

Katie, who studied English Literature at university, worked on the check-out in a supermarket in Nuneaton for a year while she worked out what she wanted to do with her life. She started working at an academic publisher – assistant editor, essentially an admin job peer reviewing. She stayed there for six or seven years but says she felt miserable and unfulfilled.

In her twenties she started to think, ‘what do I actually enjoy?’ She says: “I started writing a novel at that point. I did 12 drafts which took five years!” She approached a lot of agents and while she had a bit of interest she was ultimately unsuccessful in her attempt to get published. “Some agents didn’t respond at all, some came back with a rejection and a couple showed a bit of interest but it didn’t lead anywhere.”

Katie started doing a bit of journalism on the side – for the New York Times, Guardian, Independent and Vogue, among others. As her journalism started to take off, she went part-time at the academic publisher, which proved to be bad timing as it coincided with Covid. “All of a sudden no editors were commissioning. People were terrified about the future. It was scary losing work.” Katie also lost someone close to her during the pandemic.

EARLY STARTS

“I had an extra couple of days a week, so I started writing The Girls of Summer. I wasn’t commuting anymore. I’d get up at 5am and write for a couple of hours even on the days I was working.” Katie wrote The Girls of Summer quickly in just nine months. She pulled out the spreadsheet of agents she’d compiled for the first unsuccessful book and began contacting them starting with her top six dream agents. She expected a long process and a lot of rejection thanks to the experience with the first book, but all but one came back and wanted to read the whole book.

Offers came in quickly after that. Katie got an agent, who she’s still with, sent the book to publishers and ended up with multiple pre-empts (when a publisher wants to skip the offers and auction process and just puts a figure down that hopefully secures a deal without an auction.) Katie says it was the polar opposite to the first book. She went with Penguin here in the UK and has a lovely publisher in the US too.

“It all just happened very quickly, and on a much bigger scale than I ever dreamed it would,” says Katie. “I don’t think I could really believe it – it had been a lifelong dream and I knew how difficult it was, so the whole thing was far beyond my expectations. My first effort not getting picked up was devastating. I’d had no formal training so in a way writing that first book was the equivalent of that.”

She says she learned about pacing and structure. “The topic of The Girls of Summer was unintentionally very ‘zeitgeisty’,” she says. “It’s set on a Jeffrey Epstein-esque island.” While it was written before the high-profile underage sex scandal involving the US financier, it was published at that time.

MORE TO COME

With High Season, Katie says she experienced the ‘second book syndrome’. “I had a huge crisis of confidence. It was a challenging process. You have to have a lot of optimism and possibly slight delusion to write a novel. I was just being a lot more critical. I wrote and scrapped two novels. I was in a spiral of self-doubt and it took me a long time to get to a concept I was happy with.”

Now that High Season is published and earning widespread plaudits, Katie is turning her attention to a third novel, about which she says she can’t say too much. It’s a completely different genre – historical fiction – and she says: “Writing it has been a complete joy. I just felt so strongly about it. I kept it a secret for a while. It’s such a relief.”
In between novels Katie has dozens of ideas and gets inspiration from everywhere – reading lots, of course, and watching a lot of TV, especially reality shows like Real Housewives and Made in Chelsea.

Katie moved to Kings Heath without doing much research but says she “absolutely loves it”. She adds: “There’s great pubs, restaurants, and a brilliant bookshop – the Heath Bookshop which was voted the best in the UK.”

We feel incredibly proud to have reached such a milestone after publishing our first magazine back in June 2012. Over the years, we’ve interviewed some of the city’s biggest names – from the worlds of showbiz, the arts and sport. And we’ve been inspired reporting on the exploits and achievements of thousands of incredible ‘regular’ Brummies, local businesses and some incredible charities & institutions too.

It’s always been such a pleasure to publish the magazine, and we were extremely delighted this month when this passion was recognised when we were once again named Midlands Magazine of the Year at the prestigious Midlands Media Awards hosted by the Birmingham Press Club. A wonderful surprise!

So, as we prepare to crack on with the next 150 issues… thankyou to all who have supported us so far – it’s thoroughly appreciated – and we wish all of you, our brilliant readers, a very happy and peaceful Christmas.

Kit Holder has enjoyed a sparkling career at Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) dancing some of the world’s most iconic roles and now, as part of the company’s artistic team, he’s helping to bring a new generation of dancers through the ranks. But without Sir Peter Wright’s Nutcracker, he may never have found his dancing feet. We caught up with Kit ahead of the 35th year of Sir Peter’s production of The Nutcracker – the ballet that changed his life.

When the company formerly known as Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet moved from London and became BRB the council offered Sir Peter the opportunity of a purpose-built studio in Birmingham. As a thank you, Sir Peter gifted The Nutcracker to the city which remains in Birmingham to this day. Kit, who has danced 12 roles in the production over the years, says: “Everybody loves The Nutcracker. Most great shows don’t necessarily satisfy every dancer, but The Nutcracker does. It’s a production with a lot of opportunity for dancers.” He adds: “If you had a financial head on you’d take it everywhere, but there’s something about it belonging to Birmingham. It’s special.”

ONE IN A MILLION

The production has been performed more than 600 times in the city watched by over one million people. For Kit, Christmas begins when the children from The Nutcracker come into the studio to rehearse. He says: “Some are shy, some are boisterous. I remember that feeling – the excitement, the build-up.”

After moving from London, the company set up junior associate classes which Kit was part of. This led to his first role on stage in The Nutcracker aged just eight-years-old that changed the trajectory of his life. It prompted a love of ballet that took him to the Royal Ballet School with a view to coming back to his home town – it was always Birmingham and always BRB. He says he’s always been happy here and has been thrilled to take on roles he’d watched as a child in productions like the Penguin Café and Swan Lake among many others.

Kit says he had a great relationship with former Director of BRB, Sir David Bintley who taught him so much as a leader and choreographer. When Carlos Acosta was appointed as Sir David’s successor a new chapter began for the company. Kit said: “Carlos is Carlos. I watched him dance a great deal as a dancer. He has different direction, vision and leadership. He makes things happen, makes ideas work.”

CROWD GOES WILD

Black Sabbath: The Ballet is a great example. Kit was at the point of retiring when the idea of Sabbath was mooted. He paused his retirement plans to satisfy his curiosity about the show. He says they didn’t finish the show until the afternoon of opening night, so it was touch and go, but it’s been an absolute phenomenon. “While The Nutcracker is a lot of peoples first ballet, so is Sabbath. Metal fans took a chance on this and the audiences go wild. When you’re on your ninth show of the week, that energy from the audience is welcome.”

Over time Kit became more interested in the process of creating shows and choreography, so after retiring as a dancer, he was thrilled to be part of BRB’s artistic team particularly working with BRB2 which shines a spotlight on some of the best young dancers from around the world aged 18 to 22. He says: “I get to work with young dancers that have graduated from the best schools. As a company we can attract that talent.” The original cohort of BRB2 dancers Maïlène Katoch, Jack Easton Frieda Kaden, Oscar Kempsey-Fagg and Mason King all completed the two-year programme and have now joined the main company as artists.

ALL CONSUMING

Given performing careers are all consuming, Kit was aware of the pitfalls of transitioning out of his. “I studied psychology so I was aware of the challenges of leaving a career like mine. Some people go through an identity crisis, but I’ve been lucky. My role is really fulfilling. Coaching BRB2 and watching them nail the choreography is beautiful. I have no desire to be taking the curtain call, so I know it’s right for me.”

Maintaining the same level of fitness has been a tougher ask. Kit makes use of the gym and physio on site at BRB and tries to cycle to work when he can but says it’s very different. Although the choice is a tough one, Kit’s pick from a packed BRB 2026 programme is the 1932 anti-war ballet by German choreographer Kurt Jooss, The Green Table. Kit describes it as the perfect ballet – devastating, fantastic, with no additional fluff.

Chloe Chan is one of the country’s top riders in her age group winning numerous titles which has placed her firmly on Team GB’s radar and saw her long listed for the European Championships in the summer. She attended one of Team GB’s training camps earlier in the year with pony Ruby, to which a long list of just 20 riders were invited.

That number was whittled down to 10 for a final day of trials which included Chloe. Her speciality is eventing which incorporates three disciplines – dressage, show jumping and cross country. Of the three, Chloe’s favourite (and she says most nerve wracking) is cross country.

PEACEFUL AND CALM

Since the first time Chloe sat on a horse aged just four-years-old, she has loved riding. She says she finds horses ‘quite peaceful and calming’ and adds: “I loved it immediately and was lucky enough to be offered a pony on loan.” Chloe describes the pony, Poppy as cheeky but credits her with teaching her to ride. Eventually Chloe bought Poppy and her entry into the competitive world of horses began.

Chloe began competing aged nine in the Working Hunter class which is jumping. She started working with renowned local trainer Niki Horsley-Gubbins and once she’d outgrown Poppy, moved onto a bigger more appropriate pony for her size and ability. This happens fairly regularly as young riders outgrow their ponies. On choosing a pony, Chloe says you just know when you’ve found the one. She says: “You ride some ponies and you just don’t click.”

SUPPORT NETWORK

Having just navigated her GCSE year, Chloe credits her parents and school with helping her to successfully juggle exams with training and competing. She says: “I get a lot of help from mum and dad.” She adds that her mum is ‘on it’ with all things horse-related organising the logistics of getting Chloe and her pony where they need to be.

Bromsgrove School has a long day that finishes at 5.15pm, but Chloe is able to leave at 4pm to train. She’s thankful the school has offered lots of extra support and she says she managed GCSE revision in part, by working during down time at competitions. Chloe has stayed at Bromsgrove School for her sixth form years which will be more intense than GCSEs, but with her work ethic and support, they’re making it work.

Chloe’s headmaster Michael Punt says of her achievements: “From her very first outings to now competing at international level, Chloe has balanced her training with her GCSE studies, showing impressive determination both in and out of the saddle.” We marvel at how Chloe has time for anything else, but she also plays hockey for the school which gives her the team element that you don’t get with an individual sport like eventing.

LIVING THE DREAM

For the next two years Chloe is focused on going to Junior U18 and Young Riders U21. Beyond that, she would love to ride the top five events including Badminton and Burghley in the UK as well as the international events that make up the top five spots.

Ultimately, Chloe would like to make it to the Olympics one day and it’s hard to see a world in which she doesn’t achieve that. She says: “It’s a childhood dream really.”

Paul James has had an eclectic career that has seen him opening a jazz club in Doha and foot spa in Venice among many other wonderfully surprising achievements. A hotelier, predominantly working in marketing and brand development, Paul travelled extensively before landing in Brum and spent eight years developing hotel brands in New York.

Now, immersed in the world of dance and at the helm of Birmingham Royal Ballet, he’s driven to make the already amazing company the best it can be. Paul initially joined BRB just as David Bintley was moving on after 25 brilliant years and Carlos Acosta was joining which represented a fresh chapter in the BRB story.

At the time, the company wanted to rebrand and become more efficient. Cue Paul who was appointed as chief commercial officer. He says: “It was just an extraordinary opportunity. It’s an amazing place. All cities have their challenges and Birmingham’s no different but look what we have – BRB, the Hippodrome, the Rep, IKON, Symphony Hall. It’s culturally amazing.”

HELTER SKELTER

When we chatted to Paul, he was just six weeks into his new permanent role as chief executive which he describes as being a bit of a helter skelter period. Paul had been acting chief executive since December after the sad death of former CEO Caroline Miller.

Essentially, Paul runs the business side of the company and Carlos creates the artistic vision. Paul’s ambition for BRB is a bold one – to be seen everywhere as the world’s finest ballet company. Simple. In terms of innovation and quality, he says they’re unmatched. Lunar and Black Sabbath to name just a couple of stunningly unique productions have pushed boundaries and challenged balletic stereotypes.

HIDDEN CHALLENGES

It’s a challenging business mind you. As a punter, you see the shiny finished article, but the business of running the company is complex. Paul explains: “There are 55 full-time dancers as well as a full orchestra and for every person on stage there’s another backstage. Understanding the scale of that is crucial.”

When Swan Lake is touring, there are eight huge trucks on the road and when The Nutcracker is running, there are 400 people in the building working to make it happen. With those hefty challenges as a backdrop, it’s a tough ask to ensure productions are accessible and affordable, but it’s high on Paul’s list of priorities. Family offers and a proportion of tickets under £30 aim to keep theatres full and attract new audiences.

As well as bums on seats, accessibility is important in terms of nurturing young talent through BRB’s outreach programmes across the city. The company’s Dance Track initiative which launched in 1997 offers free training to children who wouldn’t normally have access to dance. Working with 60 schools the programme has given thousands of youngsters the opportunity to dance, and some have gone on to pursue it as a career.

BRB is a touring company – it’s what they do – so each production is designed with that in mind. Virgina, Washington DC and Japan are regulars as well mainland Europe which requires all kinds of logistical wizardry. Paul joins the company on tour sometimes, so he understands each aspect of the business of touring and what that means for everyone on board.

PINCH ME

Paul loves the way ballet tells stories without language. He says: “There’s an understanding of pure human emotion. A new colleague came in to see The Nutcracker and afterwards they said it wasn’t until the end they realised there were no words. That’s amazing.” His highlights so far include Black Sabbath – the Ballet. Paul says: “I’ll never forget opening night. The way it all sat together – the full house, the electric atmosphere, chatting to Robert Plant in the Patrick Studio. It was a real pinch me moment.” Black Sabbath is back at the end of this month which looks set to be another sell-out.

Our chat was peppered with ‘amazings’ ranging from Birmingham’s cultural offering, ballet specifically, life generally and colleagues including Carlos who he thinks has made a huge difference to the company. If we were choosing someone to head up an organisation, it would be someone with Paul’s infectious positivity and energy. He says he’s got the best job in the world, and we believe him.

Dan Mousley picked up a cricket bat aged just three years and has never wanted to do anything else. That rare single-mindedness meant that by the age of eight he knew he wanted the game to be more than a hobby and believed wholeheartedly he would become a professional cricketer.
He’s been at the Bears since he was 10 and at the ripe old age of 23 is an integral part of the team and their success as well as joining England in their recent ODI and T20 campaigns. Next up, Dan will play an important part in a Birmingham Phoenix team whose sights are set on lifting The Hundred trophy which Dan reckons is achievable with the talent they have on the team.

PACKED HOUSE

If you’ve attended one of The Hundred games at Edgbaston, you’ll know the buzz and joy around the ground. Pulling in big crowds, the explosive nature of The Hundred attracts die-hard cricket fans as well as new followers of the game wowed by the excitement and the atmosphere. Dan says: “Every player looks forward to The Hundred. It’s brilliant playing to a packed house and you see so many team shirts and caps in the crowd. It really feels like you’re inspiring the next generation.”
It’s also an opportunity to learn from other players on the team. He says: “It’s a month of learning – youngsters learning from the more experienced players and vice versa and playing at Edgbaston is always brilliant for players.”

FAMILY AFFAIR

Generations of Dan’s family have played cricket. His parents were heavily involved in their local club, Nether Whitacre Cricket Club, while his uncle and dad played the game. Dan loved cricket immediately making some of his best mates through the sport who still play at the club. Like all the sports stars we’ve interviewed, there’s a support network – generally parents – behind the scenes ferrying their kids to away games and providing encouragement and opportunities to excel. Dan says he was spoilt on this front with his parents making sacrifices and taking him everywhere.
When cricket became a job rather than a hobby, it was a bit of a shift in mindset for Dan. He says: “I absolutely love cricket so I know I’m very lucky, but there are different pressures – so much time spent abroad, time away from family, more scrutiny, but I love it.”

CHILDHOOD DREAMS

The highlight of his career so far is playing for England in their ODI and T20 campaigns. He loves the short form game but equally enjoys red ball cricket and feels there’s room for both saying they require different skill sets that ultimately make you a better cricketer. On playing for England, Dan says: “To get the call to play for England is something I dreamed of as a kid and when it happened it was pretty special.”

He adds: “It was about enjoying it as much as I could, the boys are different level, their skills, how cleanly they strike the ball. It was a great opportunity to learn. For me it was a chance to understand what international cricket is all about. How well the team operates as a unit, everyone knows their own and each other’s games, it was really impressive.”

Dan’s ultimate ambition is to play test cricket for England which he says would be ‘awesome’. We reckon is not too far away.

When you’re over 200 years old, the number 25 could be seen as somewhat insignificant. But not for the glorious RBSA Gallery in the Jewellery Quarter. Opened 25 years ago by the-then-Prince Charles, the gallery has developed into a real gem of art and artists in the Birmingham cultural scene.

While the rich legacy of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists goes back two centuries, the Gallery’s much more recent history is both uplifting and inspiring. It is one of only two galleries outside London run by a society of artists, delivered and managed by its own members and trustees, with its own staff.

The Gallery held a celebratory exhibition last month, 25 For 25, which drew distinguished guests, including Birmingham’s Lord Mayor, as well as many members of the public. The exhibition involved two groups of 25 individuals, including the president, vice-presidents, members, associates, graduate artists, gallery staff and volunteers, each selecting an artwork or artefact from the collection.

OLD AND NEW

The brief was to choose something, old or new, with which they felt a personal connection, with explanations of the choices alongside portraits and text introducing the people behind the RBSA and its Gallery to visitors. As well as artworks, a number of documents featured, including letters from, surprisingly, Buffalo Bill and Birmingham-born creator of the city Cathedral’s famed stained-glass windows, Sir Edward Burne Jones.

The RBSA moved the Gallery to its current location in St Paul’s Square in 2000 from a building in New Street which now houses Medicine Bakery. As an artist-led charity, the Society supports creatives and promotes engagement with the visual arts through a hugely varied programme of exhibitions, events and workshops.

HISTORY-MAKING

Within the Gallery is the Society’s permanent collection – an archive of more than 1,000 artworks, catalogues, letters and records documenting the past 200-plus years. The works of many RBSA members and associates, past and present, are held within the collection, alongside other items important to the history of Birmingham as a city. The Gallery is, as a result of this collection, also an accredited museum and holds exhibitions showing items from the archive twice a year. The Gallery also features a craft shop which stocks jewellery, ceramics, textiles, prints, books, glassware and greetings cards from designers and makers based in the West Midlands and beyond.

A refurbishment project two years ago gave the Gallery a major facelift, and last year visitors numbers rose to 13,000. It’s a number which the RBSA’s recently elected president Ed Isaacs is keen to grow substantially moving forward.

VISITOR BOOST

“I would like to see this increase in the thousands,” he said, “by raising the profile of the Society as people don’t necessarily know who we are.” Ed says that aim is very much linked to getting more people in general into the Jewellery Quarter. “The profile of the JQ is increasing, but I would like to see it grow further, with more restaurants, bars, coffee shops and the like in the area, attracting more visitors who may then also visit the Gallery.”

While the Gallery’s 25th anniversary is a significant milestone, 2007 will see a more important landmark – the bicentenary of the first ever RBSA Annual Exhibition. The event is a tradition that has continued unbroken for 200 years with the exceptions of the war years of 1940 and 1941 and the 2020 Covid lockdown. “This is an occasion which I am very much working towards,” said Ed. “It speaks to the hugely important part the Society has played in the cultural ecology of our city.”

ROYAL GUEST?

Bearing in mind the Society’s royal patronage, could we perhaps expect a certain visitor from Buckingham Palace to make an appearance in Birmingham in two years’ time? “That’s something (how can I say?) that I couldn’t possibly comment on,” said Ed.

OK, but we think might get the bunting ready… just in case!

In a crowded swimwear market, sisters Daisy and Georgia Quirke hatched a plan in 2023 to create 100 per cent sustainable pieces with a timeless nostalgic feel. The following summer they launched Lola Baia. Exposure through last season’s Love Island raised the brand’s profile and increased sales, but more importantly, the positive feedback they receive from customers is the biggest boost.

Daisy and Georgia always wanted to run a business together. They’d watched their father and uncle successfully build and run a family firm in Birmingham and liked the idea. The concept of launching sustainable swimwear was born out of the frustration of trying to find the perfect bikini for summer trips abroad. They found themselves having to order swimwear from Australia and the US with high import duties and long shipping times plus they were shocked at the lack of sustainable options.

INSPIRATION

In 2023 Lola Baia started life at the kitchen table in Birmingham with sketches and mood boards taking inspiration from campaigns from the Sixties including swim skirts and boy shorts which Daisy and Georgia felt were missing from the market. They researched sustainable fabric suppliers, manufacturers, how to build a website and all the other aspects of running a business that were new to them. The sisters say: “It was all a bit DIY at first!” The pair found a manufacturer in Portugal that shared their ethics and vision and after numerous sample rounds and fit sessions, the first collection was complete and ready for market.

One of the biggest challenges Daisy and Georgia have faced has been the drive to be 100 per cent sustainable. Everything takes longer and costs are higher. As well as the fabric costing more, they found that working with an ethical, sustainable factory is also more expensive. While it’s more effort and investment, sustainability remains at the core of what Lola Baia is about, so it’s worth it.

They say: “The factory we work with specialises in sustainable production and small-batch manufacturing, which means we’re able to maintain high quality standards while also reducing waste.” The swimwear is crafted from premium Italian recycled fabrics made from regenerated ocean waste – so plastic bottles, ghost fishing nets and other marine debris. It’s made to last for years – this isn’t fast fashion.

TV DEBUT

When a stylist for one of the contestants on Love Island messaged Lola Baia asking for pieces, it was a surreal moment. Daisy and Georgia say: “It was so exciting! We had no idea if they’d actually end up being worn. We sent them off and just crossed our fingers. When we finally saw one of our bikinis on Love Island, it was honestly surreal.” Being on national TV gave them a confidence boost and raised the brand’s profile. Instagram started growing and there was a big spike in website traffic and sales. It brought a new audience to the brand, and it’s opened doors to potentially exciting opportunities.

With a new collection launching this month and plans in the pipeline for a shoot abroad, 2025 is set to be exciting not least because Georgia recently had a baby. Motherhood has inspired some early-stage planning for a cute baby swimwear collection to match the womenswear pieces. Mom and daughter matching Lola Baia could be a thing.

Long term plans for the business are to expand into resortwear opening pop-ups in some of Daisy and Georgia’s top holiday destinations. Eventually they’d like to grow the business into a full lifestyle brand maintaining the Sixties inspired feel and ethical values.

Without sounding glib, Marlo is someone with the world, literally, at his feet. Each year one highly rated student is selected from Elmhurst Ballet School’s graduates to become an apprentice to Birmingham Royal Ballet. This year that honour went to the Birmingham-born dancer who gets to tour and perform with the Company – he was dancing in Cinderella in Sunderland when we interviewed him.

As well as soaking up all the incredible experiences and opportunities along the way, at the end of the year-long ‘apprenticeship’, all things being well, Marlo hopes to be offered a full-time contract by BRB. Truly, the dream come true.

BALLET BROTHERS

He first started dancing through the Company’s Dance Track programme before joining Elmhurst Ballet School, where he won the Elmhurst Dance Award in 2020 and 2022. Dance Track had seen potential in Marlo and his brothers. His older brother Oscar also dances with BRB. Marlo says their parents weren’t into dance, so it was all a bit of a surprise for them how it panned out with their boys!

He admits he didn’t love it immediately – it was more of a slow burn. He says the experience of being a day pupil at Elmhurst was intense but brilliant and that the teachers were incredible. “We were taught about mental strength as well as physical strength, technique, and skills,” he explained.

“We were taught to keep going. It’s more of a case of doing things for yourself when you get into a company. The corrections I was taught at Elmhurst, I will carry on forever and will continue to work on, but the mindset that Elmhurst instils in you gets you through it.”

THE PLACE TO BE

Of the process of being chosen to join BRB for the year he said: “It’s very competitive as there’s only one spot – but as we’re all striving for the same goal actually everyone’s really supportive of one another at the same.” And settling into life with BRB hasn’t been that difficult.

“I’m lucky that I’ve got my brother in the Company. Because of him, I already knew and had a social circle with some of the Company members, so I was already aware of people, and they were aware of me, so it was a smooth transition into the Company.

“I started dancing because of BRB and their Dance Track programme. Everything I knew about ballet was down to BRB, so it’s always been a place that I aspired to be. And now I’m here.” Marlo says he is already enjoying touring with the Company. “It’s been nice to dance on different stages, get to see more of the country and perform to different audiences,” he said.

DREAM ROLES

Looking forward, Marlo is part of BRB2, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s second company who will be performing for the very first time at Birmingham Hippodrome on 6 May with Carlos Acosta’s Ballet celebration. And once his year is complete, Marlo says he has only one goal – to be offered a full contract at the end of the season. As for dream roles, he says he’s always wanted to do Trepak and also play the Prince in The Nutcracker as well as be Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake. But he admits that his ambitions “change all the time.”

Anyone of a certain age might remember the randomness of Channel 4 televising kabaddi in the Nineties. I had no idea of the rules of the sport, but it was captivating, nonetheless. A sort of wrestling with rhythmic chanting. The president of World Kabaddi, Brum’s own Ashok Das has worked tirelessly – a phrase wildly overused but in this case totally accurate – to make kabaddi accessible in this country and beyond, culminating in this year’s Kabaddi World Cup coming to the region. It’s the first time the tournament has been held outside Asia and with support from the region’s mayor, Richard Parker and the West Midlands Growth Company, it’s happening.

To understand how this has come about, you have to understand Ashok’s drive and passion. Ashok grew up playing kabaddi in India before moving to Birmingham where he’s lived since 1986. Keen to give back to his community, Ashok wanted to boost kabaddi and give the community their own sport – something to be proud of. His wife, a black belt in karate, has supported Ashok in his decades long quest emotionally and ultimately, financially allowing her husband to focus on his dream. Ashok applied for Sport England funding for 15 years on the bounce but was unsuccessful. A sports charity called Sport Equal came on board three years ago which has helped.

Before his retirement from Birmingham City Council, Ashok spent years juggling the day job in pest control with kabaddi. Among many other things, Ashok made a documentary to boost engagement with a £5,000 loan from Barclays. He then launched an England team and took them to Mumbai to compete in 2004. He approached the British army about starting kabaddi training for soldiers. He showed a colonel the film he’d made, and the colonel agreed the sport would be good for soldiers.

They couldn’t pay Ashok, but he agreed to train them. For two evenings a week he travelled to train the soldiers after work and eventually launched a British army team that also competed in Mumbai. He launched the first women’s team in the UK and started approaching universities and colleges about running kabaddi clubs, again with zero funding.

BIG DREAMS

It wasn’t enough to grow the sport in the UK – Ashok was keen to boost kabaddi further. Every Friday Ashok would drive from Birmingham to Luton, jump on a flight to Italy, run training sessions and fly back late on Sunday ready for work the next day. Holidays were spent in countries where Ashok was trying to grow the sport such as Poland and Holland among others.

Ashok says kabaddi is an affordable sport – parents can send their children without worrying about money, they don’t need any kit, it’s inclusive and he was determined to get a league up and running. True to form, one team grew to over 10 clubs and now 100 players compete in the sport. Two years ago, just before his sixtieth birthday, Ashok sat down with his wife and sons and explained that the best present would be to retire. He says everyday was stressful and he was never appreciated at work. Ashok’s wife told him to leave his job and fulfil his dream and he’s been focused on kabaddi since.

When Joel Lavery, strategic lead of major sporting events at the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC), approached him to meet up and discuss the sport’s future, it was a watershed moment that made Ashok’s dreams closer. Thanks to the Commonwealth Legacy fund, WMGC has been able to invest £500,000 in the Kabaddi World Cup coming to the region.

Joel says: “It is a massive honour and very exciting to welcome the first Kabaddi World Cup to ever be held outside Asia. This tournament promises to have a tremendous impact on the growth of kabaddi, bringing the West Midlands’ diverse communities centre stage.”

I feel like we can learn a lot from Ashok. We asked him how he kept going when no one other than his family believed in him. He says: “You have to make people believe in you. Never give up.” Ashok wakes up thankful everyday and credits meditation and faith with keeping him calm and positive. He says: “When I’m sleeping, I don’t know if I’ll wake, so every morning I thank my guru for another day.” There’s a lesson for us all in there somewhere. Be more Ashok.

Jacob Bethell is England’s exciting new young cricket star who exploded on the world scene in the past 12 months after coming to Warwickshire as a junior – and realising his dream. After admitting that he felt “far away” from the England set-up at the start of last season, the talented all-rounder’s remarkable rise culminated with a surprise call-up to the Test party that toured New Zealand in November. His red ball debut saw him score 50 not out off 37 balls – the joint second fastest debut half-century by an English batter.

That followed his first appearance two months earlier for the senior England side in the white ball series against Australia, where he smashed 44 off 24 balls in the second T20 match, going on to play in all five one-day internationals.

BEARS FIRST

Of his rapid rise, Jacob said: “My first goal last season was to be fit and cement my place in the Warwickshire team. That was point one. But doing things consistently and carrying on the performances for the Bears led to where I am now. It definitely has happened quickly. I knew there had been eyes on me from chats I’d had, so it was just a matter of putting in performances to show people I could do it.”

Barbados-born Jacob moved to Warwickshire to pursue his cricket dream when he was only 12. He joined Warwickshire’s Youth Pathway at Under-14s and quickly progressed into the Emerging Player Programme and Academy before signing as a 17-year-old in 2021.

Last November’s tour to the Windies saw Jacob, now 21, head back to familiar haunts and reunions with childhood friends. He said: “Having a couple of games where I grew up in Barbados was pretty special. I was able to relax and catch up with people. My mates came to the matches wearing England Bethell shirts but combined with West Indies hats!”

WINDIES RETURN

England’s 2025 summer of home internationals starts on 22 May with a Test against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge, followed by a first white ball game against the Windies on 29 May at Jacob’s home ground, Edgbaston.

He says he expects to be ready to play for Warwickshire in April at the start of the County Championship season. “I want to play a full part next year for Warwickshire. At the moment that’s what I’m looking at. If anything else does come up it means that things have gone well and I’ll have other opportunities, which is also great. But Warwickshire is the foundation of where my cricket game developed so I want to play for the Bears as much as possible.”

Jacob’s Test appearances against New Zealand in the winter came while first-choice wicketkeeper Jamie Smith was on paternity leave. Jacob made three half-centuries, including top-scoring for England with 76 on the fourth and final day of the last Test in Hamilton. What’s more, he became only the second England batter – after Sir Alastair Cook, no less – to reach 50 three times in the same series before the age of 22.

HAPPY HEADACHE

Unsurprisingly, Jacob’s exciting record so far with England has given head coach Brendon McCullum a selection decision to make moving forward – with the Warwickshire lad competing for a place against other more experienced Test and one-day players. “It’s a good headache to have,” McCullum said. “That’s what you want. You want that conversation, you don’t want to be scrambling around looking for talent.”

For our part, we can’t wait to see Edgbaston’s young big-hitter in action both for club and, hopefully, country in the coming season!

It’s an interesting and completely appropriate analogy. Birmingham Botanical Gardens and a pair of old, comfy slippers! You know the ones we mean… well-worn, a little threadbare maybe, but still very much loved.

In case you’re wondering, the description is not ours, but that of Sara Blair-Manning, the Gardens’ chief executive. And it wasn’t said to be derogatory in any way – far from it! Rather, Sara was summing up the Gardens place in Birmingham’s collective history. And the fact that a real jewel has become rather tired over time and definitely in need of some serious TLC.

MASTERPLAN

Sara and her amazing team are in the early stages of doing just that – of bringing the Gardens back to their former glory with a massive restoration masterplan over the coming five years. The £25million cost is targeted to come from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF), charitable foundations and corporate and individual donations. It will see the centrepiece of the 15-acre site, the four magnificent Victorian glasshouses – the Lily House, Palm House, Mediterranean House and Arid House – restored as part of a wider rejuvenation which will be the biggest overhaul in the Gardens’ 200-year history.

The NLHF awarded an initial development grant of £590,000 in 2022 and this will be followed up when the Gardens submit an application for the first phase of the project totalling £19million. “We should hear whether we have been successful from NLHF in June. If we are successful with the application then we will have fund-raised a total of £15.5million from charitable trusts and foundations,” Sara explained.

START DATE

“We will then have an additional £3.5million left to raise. Some of this will be from additional trusts, foundations and landfill grants. The remainder will be from individual and corporate giving. If successful with the NLHF and the fund-raising, the works are expected to start in mid-2026 and end in late 2029.”

As well as restoring the glasshouses – which in itself will require the relocation of more than 10,000 plants – the project led by Glen Howells Architects, supported by conservation architects Donald Insalls, will see a new visitors centre to include a cafe and shop, a new central courtyard and a building for events, as well as improvements to car parking.

The Gardens, which operates as a charity, already attracts 19,000 school visits a year, a total of 225,000 day visitors and 35,000 conference visitors, bringing an economic benefit to the city of £6million a year – which is expected to double to £12million as a result of the restoration project. In readiness for what will be an amazing new future for the Gardens, Sara has set her immediate goal on getting Brummies excited and talking about what is to come.

SUPPORT

“Our focus is on really raising awareness right now,” she said. “Getting people’s support for the Gardens in whatever form that may take – from more people visiting, or by becoming members, or writing to their MPs to get their support, or just by everyone speaking warmly of the Gardens in general.”

The importance of the project cannot be overstated as Sara stressed that it really is “the last chance to save Birmingham Botanical Gardens”. She added: “The Gardens offer a rich, uniquely biodiverse natural environment just one mile from Birmingham city centre, and we know, through consultation, that they are hugely treasured by the people of Birmingham and the West Midlands. This project will ensure the preservation of Birmingham’s priceless heritage and save these beautiful Gardens for future generations.

“It is a transformational project that will restore the glasshouse estate to its former magnificence, improve key spaces and facilities, including education spaces and the plant nursery, provide a suitable environment to care for the living collections, strengthen financial resilience and increase public understanding of plants, sustainability, and environmental issues.”

When Shonagh Murray was approached by Fashion Crossover London – an organisation that champions emerging designers – about putting a concept collection together for London Fashion Week, she was thrilled and surprised. Shonagh doesn’t have formal fashion training so didn’t have any expectations and thought the lack of training left her on the back foot – actually, the opposite was true. Shone was selected from the shortlist and the designer says it was a real confidence boost. Industry professionals felt that her lack of training was a benefit rather than a curse allowing Shonagh to be free, unconstraint by rules. She makes mistakes and learns from them and says: “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Shone’s concept collection was playful and nostalgic drawing on nineties references raising a smile.

FIT FOR A QUEEN

In another pinch me moment Shonagh’s unique designs also caught the eye of The Vivienne of Ru Paul’s Drag Race fame. The queen approached Shonagh about creating a gown for runway knitwear week on the All Stars version of the hit show. Shonagh says: “I’m a big fan of Drag Race and I was watching the show when I received the message from The Vivienne. It was my first experience doing editorial work. It was high fashion, and I loved it. It was a privilege.” To have The Vivienne in her house for fittings was bit surreal. Although Shonagh didn’t keep track of the number of hours she spent creating the show stopping gown, it took six weeks with multiple hours per day, so it was a significant commitment. The Vivienne went on to win the episode so it was all worth it.

PLANT BASED

Shonagh’s route into fashion has been unconventional. She began knitting in 2017 when she was hospitalised for a period of time. She says: “I needed something creative to keep me going. I began knitting. It was therapeutic and calming.” The yarn kept getting chunkier and Shonagh kept practising until she found her unique crochet lace effect. As a vegan and someone who lives a mindful sustainable lifestyle, using animal wool wouldn’t have made Shonagh happy, so she sourced an alternative that’s kind to the environment. She uses a plant based bio-nylon that biodegrades between five and ten years. It doesn’t cause plastic pollution and is made using a closed loop system reusing water. It’s also incredibly soft and not at all itchy. Shonagh’s well aware of the massive negative impact the fashion industry has on the environment – its footprint is bigger than aviation and shipping combined and she’s keen not to contribute to that. Shone has been awarded The Vegan Society’s Vegan Trademark which is globally recognised across multiple industries, including textiles and fashion, as well as food, drink and cosmetics. The Trademark’s rigorous standards make it easier for consumers to make informed purchasing decisions.

CHUNKY KNIT

Making the leap from hobby to launching Shone began on Instagram with her first chunky knit cardigan. Shonagh says: “I always desired a career making, so my mind was open to that. When I posted some pieces on social media they got a lot of interest.” She adds: “The business has been running for a couple of years but properly from the beginning of this year. I sought help from the Prince’s Trust Birmingham who support me with finances, business plans and general mentorship.” Shonagh says that social media is both a blessing and a curse: “It’s a tricky place. Some of the best opportunities I’ve had have come from social media, but you can put a lot of hard work and effort into what you post then not get the engagement you’d like and that can be disheartening. You just have to work out how to use it effectively.”

BRUMMIE IN BRISTOL

Having grown up in Birmingham, Shonagh now lives in Bristol which suits her lifestyle and ethos. She explains: “There’s a focus on sustainability and veganism and a lot of opportunity to meet other creative people – artists, photographers, musicians, models. Creativity breeds creativity.” She says Birmingham will always have a special place in her heart. “Growing up in the city was vibrant and multicultural. It’s helped me connect with lots of different people. A big part of my childhood was going to the rag market which probably got me excited about textiles.”
Next year looks as exciting as this one for Shonagh. She would like to do a few more shows, spend more time on her ready to wear collection as well as couture pieces and employ someone.

It’s going to be one of those unforgettable moments in the lives of a group of young Birmingham musicians. The Royal Albert Hall, a packed audience and a buzz of excitement like no other. Taking the stage at the Music for Youth Proms will be the Raga and Tala Group from Birmingham Services for Education’s World Music department.
The group has been selected from thousands of applicants across the UK to perform at what is the acknowledged showcase for the country’s best young musicians. They will bring their unique energy, enthusiasm and distinctive performance to the Proms which are being held over two nights on 27 and 28 November, and featuring amazing young musicians playing diverse music from classical to folk and jazz to rock and pop.

PIONEERING

Raga and tala are two fundamental elements of Hindustani and classical Indian music. The group is part of the World Music Department which has pioneered the playing and teaching of music instruments from around the globe in Birmingham schools.

Not so long ago, it was rare for such instruments to feature in Birmingham’s music education but in recent years, participation has soared. Each week, 3,500 Birmingham children attend small group and one-to-one lessons in world music and nearly one-in-five are from non-BAME background. They play the likes of djembe drums from west Africa, samba drums from Africa and south America, sitars, tabla twin-hand drums and dhol double-headed drums from the Indian sub-continent, harmoniums from West Bengal and steel pans from Trinidad and Tobago.

CHARITY

The World Music Department was established in 1997 within Birmingham Music Service, now part of Services for Education (SFE) following the charity’s founding 10 years ago. SFE employs 24 world music tutors working with 132 Birmingham schools teaching groups and classes – using up to 35 world music instruments at a time so every child in a class can participate.

Harjit Singh, SFE’s head of world music and percussion and director of Birmingham Schools’ Azaad Dhol group said: “From the outset, our aim was to deliver world music to all children regardless of their ethnicity or background. We wanted every child to gain a better knowledge of different cultures and the influence of music worldwide.”

He added: “The original focus was on Indian folk music from the Punjab. We first approached schools in areas such as Handsworth where the population’s ethnic mix was more appropriate, but it was not long before we became more universal and mainstream.

CULTURES

“Through music, children in Birmingham have a better understanding of different cultures, traditions and heritages and appreciate how music influences us all, no matter the colour of our skin or where we live.”

The upcoming performance at the Royal Albert Hall is the latest, high-profile appearance by Birmingham schoolchildren who have played at music at festivals with Islamic community groups and in mosques. They have performed Indian and African works the Band of the Royal Marines, as well as with Bollywood Brass Band with whom SFE has established education partnerships.
Harjit: “We will continue to reach as many children as possible in Birmingham and increase our partnerships with local communities. The job is not yet complete. We are still trying to educate that music and drumming are important.”

KNOW YOUR INSTRUMENTS

Dhol – Any one of a number of similar types of double-headed drum widely used, with regional variations, throughout the Indian subcontinent. The Services For Education team has also created a mini Dhol to accommodate large group teaching and for the younger age groups

Djembe – A rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands. Originally from West Africa.

Steel Pan – Originating from Trinidad and Tobago, the modern pan is an instrument made from 200-litre industrial drums.

Sitar – The plucked stringed instrument originated from the Indian subcontinent and is widely used in Hindustani classical music.

Tabla – A pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent and is the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music.

Great Britain and Loughborough Lightning para basketball player, Siobhan Fitzpatrick is keen to ensure that all children are given the opportunity to participate in sport at grass roots level – an opportunity she wasn’t always afforded, but one she’s passionate about. With that in mind Siobhan is supporting the Play Their Way campaign.
The campaign was launched in 2023 with the aim of transforming the way young people are coached by prioritising their rights, needs and enjoyment in a child-first approach. Funded by Sport England and the National Lottery, the campaign is proving a successful, inclusive route into sport for all and is something Siobhan says she would have loved as a child.

CHALLENGING TIMES

Siobhan wasn’t allowed to take part in PE as a youngster as her school told her they weren’t insured to let her participate – a problem that unbelievably still exists in some instances today. Grass roots sport wasn’t set up for people with disabilities either, so Siobhan’s participation was a non-starter until 2010 thanks to a playground to podium event which introduced her to basketball. She’s never looked back. As a junior Siobhan played at Coventry Wheelchair Basketball Academy (CWBA) where she was successful in the Junior Championships and School Games. She also competed in the club’s National and Women’s leagues.

Siobhan went on to co-captain the GB team to back-to-back championship wins at the 2015 U25 Worlds and 2016 U24 European Championships – something not achieved by any other female GB junior team. This was all while studying for A-Levels! In 2018 the squad retained their U24 European title and in 2019 the team won the U25 World Championship bronze medal.

HISTORY MAKER

Siobhan attended her first senior GB camp in 2013 and began training full-time with the national squad for the 2016/17 season. Having narrowly missed out on selection to the GB team for the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Siobhan made her senior debut at the 2017 European Championships. She’s now a regular member of the GB squad and was part of the team that made history at the 2018 Hamburg world championship by being the first female British team to qualify for a final and claim the silver medal. And in 2021, Siobhan was part of the Loughborough Lightning squad that won the first ever BWB Women’s Premier League title.

Last month, Siobhan came back to her former club, Warwickshire Cubs to highlight the importance of positive experiences for all children in sport. During the Wheelchair Basketball for All event at the Nechells Wellbeing Centre, Siobhan helped lead a session in which both disabled and non-disabled children took part in sport together. Whether having fun and staying active or instilling hopes of future Olympian and Paralympian level competition, Siobhan’s involvement at this grass roots is inspiring youngsters to get in to sport and crucially, feel like they belong there.

Moseley’s Mackenzie Griffith has had a lot of barriers to overcome growing up. That elite para-skiing was on at all is testament to Mackenzie’s plucky spirit and obvious talent but also their parents’ determination to give Mackenzie all the opportunities that their older able-bodied daughter enjoyed.

Born at 23 weeks, Mackenzie has cerebral palsy with hemiplegia on their right side which affects muscle tone and strength from head to toe. Mackenzie says they were treated the same as their able-bodied sister who was five years older, so they just got on with it.

Mackenzie describes their parents as ‘absolutely ski mad’. Mum grew up in Switzerland, so skiing was part of life, and dad started skiing in his teens. Mackenzie says: “I started skiing aged three. I learnt to go aged three and to stop age six!” Between the ages of seven and 11 Mackenzie skied on a dry slope and competed in able-bodied competitions.

They became disillusioned and stopped for a while as it was nigh on impossible to be as competitive as they wanted to be as they grew older. Mackenzie skied recreationally with the family, but after the Sochi Games in 2015, Mackenzie’s dad said, “I think Mac could do that.” This set in motion a journey to elite para sport that was both brilliant and frustrating.

MENTAL CHALLENGE

A talent ID day followed where a development coach from the elite para set-up watched Mackenzie ski. He had a chat with Mackenzie afterwards and said that whatever the goal, they could achieve it. Mackenzie’s dream of competing at the Paralympics was on. Training in Manchester on a Tuesday evening became the norm and in November 2015 Mackenzie travelled to the Netherlands to be assessed and was given a classification to compete in.

There were challenges with the GB set-up and the sheer number of hours on the snow teamed with gym work was a lot and Mackenzie fatigued quicker than some of the others. As with all elite sport, the mental challenges were great including sacrificing birthdays, weddings and the like. For eight years Mackenzie’s life was skiing. Mackenzie’s school, Edgbaston High School was very supportive, and the headmistress encouraged their training and competition. In the end Mackenzie was at school 50 per cent of time and ended up achieving 10 GCSEs and one A-Level which is remarkable.

GOLD MEDAL

The first year of para sport in Alberta, Canada was ‘brilliant’. Having been in a minority their whole life up to this point, Mackenzie was in the majority in this environment. There were prosthetic limbs lying around and wheelchairs everywhere. Mackenzie recalls: “I was no longer self-conscious. We’d laugh and tease one another. In one of my first races, I won the youth gold medal. I used the arm of the silver medallist to help get on to the podium and I pulled a bit too hard. She fell off and ended up on the floor!”

When Mackenzie flew back to Canada for another season, it was a non-starter. They lost their passport, sprained their foot and the programme was cancelled for a number of reasons. Within a week Mackenzie had gone from a massive high to a huge low. Getting emergency travel documents so they could fly home was a mission. Mentally, Mackenzie felt they couldn’t go back out to train and compete. They say: “The plan was to stay at home for three weeks then head to Salt Lake City in Utah, but mentally I wasn’t up to it.” While it was a tough decision to take, Mackenzie doesn’t regret a thing and cherishes the lifelong friends they made. It also allowed Mackenzie to pursue a different avenue of work.

Throughout the pandemic Mackenzie started to get more interested in TV and broadcasting. They joined Late Night Lycett for six weeks as a trainee and say Joe was ‘a dream and as down to earth as you’d expect’. Mackenzie has applied to be a level 4 production co-ordinator on Masterchef which is now filmed in Birmingham. At the time of writing, Mackenzie had gone straight through to the second round of which there are five. Psychometric testing is up next. We’ve everything crossed!

From the high seas to high acclaim – Charles Pedone’s career journey has transported him from working on a cruise ship to producing stunning examples of contemporary abstract art gracing leading independent galleries and famous landmarks such as the beautiful Grand hotel in his home city.

Born in Brum to a British mum and Italian dad, Charles remembers how he spent every moment he could ‘getting lost in time’ just sketching. Art was his favourite subject at school, although he says he never much enjoyed the traditional still-life classes – drawing a bowl of fruit framed by a fancy backdrop was not his bag, even at such a young age.

After completing foundations in art and design at college his career path took a bit of a detour when he decided to study for a degree in Graphic Design, believing it would be more employable. Employable maybe, but enjoyable certainly not, as Charles says he found the limits of graphic design too restrictive.

WORLD OF INSPIRATION

“After graduating I knew I wanted to travel, so I made just one application in the cruise ship industry and ended up on world cruise soon after. Sales and management roles onboard took me to over 80 countries, in the process gaining a wealth of inspiration from the architecture, colours and culture of the many locations I visited.” Charles also credits the working environment where no day is the same and is non-stop as helping him understand how much you can actually accomplish in 24 hours. “I think it prepared me with the work ethic I have applied to my creative profile,” he explained.

Charles says his artistic journey really began in 2019 when he was looking for some artwork for his apartment and decided he could create his own pieces – with the dual benefits of minimal cost and maximum satisfaction. Then as the pandemic and lockdown struck, Charles shared his work online and was delighted by the response from friends, encouraging him to do more. That’s when he first realised that maybe this could lead to something bigger!

“I was motivated by the feedback from others on my work and I saw space in the market to introduce my work, that I felt was both unique and could also place within the luxury end of the spectrum,” he said. In November 2021 he took a small stand at Manchester Art Fair and among the 10,000 visitors was London gallery owner and philanthropist Georgina Dhillon, who loved his work and offered him a place in her showcase for emerging artists and then a significant month-long debut show in London’s Fitzrovia.

GRAND DISPLAY

Today, Charles’s commissions include financial investment firm, Heligan Group, with original works displayed in its Birmingham headquarters and new offices in Mayfair, London. Commercial commissions, including the Grand hotel, are a vital part of Charles’s work. He has 15 pieces installed in the hotel, including in the Grand Penthouse, while the most obvious and striking example is mounted proudly above the fireplace in the Madeline bar.

“Balancing creative integrity with private commissions involves maintaining clear communication with the client about their vision while staying true to my artistic style,” said Charles. “I have two distinct styles, and I ensure that each commissioned piece or collection reflects both the client’s desires and my unique touch, creating a blend of both perspectives. Trust is fundamental in the process; it’s essential that they have confidence in my ability to bring their vision to life while maintaining my creative integrity.

Of his creative process, he says: “Inspiration generally strikes in moments of calm, whether during long drives or even after a yoga session for example. I strive to achieve a timeless quality within my work, so in support of this I often abstractly draw inspiration from nature, the cosmos, even heirlooms and antique fine jewels and archival images, for example colour palettes or composition. Motivation also comes from a desire to create pieces that evoke a sense of escapism and wonder.”

Charles is also a big believer in giving back and encouraging local up-and-coming creatives. Earlier this year, pieces of his work were auctioned at the Grand hotel raising more than £10,000 for Birmingham Hippodrome’s youth programme.

DUBAI AMBITION

The creative scene in Birmingham and the wider region is full of potential,” said Charles. “But the real value of the creative economy of Birmingham could be acknowledged even more. Independent galleries strive to afford buyers unique original works, something special that’s not mass-produced and they will only exist with support from the local community.”

What of the future? “Well, I have a variety of projects I’m currently working on. Bespoke commissions include a full installation at the new offices of Heligan Group in Mayfair, a bar and eatery which I can’t say too much about right now, and an incredible new narrow boat. In September/October I have commitments in London, with a second show at Zari Gallery Fitzrovia, a private launch in Mayfair and my debut at the Affordable Arts Fair in Battersea with the Barker Gallery.”

Looking further ahead, Charles aims to expand into the luxury Middle East market. “I am eager to build my audience in Dubai – where my brother lives and where I have a new agent – given the fast pace of development and opportunities.”

In the debate about whether to settle in London or Birmingham, our great city won and it’s all the richer for having Barbara and Marta in it. The creative output from Gibson Kochanek Studio has been extraordinary in terms of both creativity and the volume of work. I met Barbara and Marta a decade ago in their tiny Jewellery Quarter studio when they were introducing themselves to the city and building up contacts.

Originally from Poland, their obvious talent, energy and commitment was refreshing and exciting. Marta says: “We landed in Birmingham to fulfil our dreams blindly believing in our inner strength and determination. It wasn’t an easy start – but all the ups and downs only made us stronger.”

They reckon it took around two years to build trust within the community working hard to put their portfolio in front of potential clients over ‘endless cups of coffee’, events and meetings. They have a charming quality which means you never feel you’re being networked – they’re warm and enthusiastic but never salesy. I’ve ended up championing them at every turn. Whenever anyone mentions Gibson Kochanek my immediate reaction is, ‘oh Barbara and Marta, what lovely talented people.’ That’s what they instil, always raising a smile.

AWARD-WINNING

At the time of launching in Birmingham, photography was their focus and Marta had taken a series of striking atmospheric portraits of some of the dancers at Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) which you may have seen. One of which – a shot of BRB legend Cesar Morales – gained an honourable mention in the International Color Awards portrait category. Out of 7,500 entries just five were given a special mention. Marta has also been recognised in the Portrait of Britain competition named in the top 100 portraits for another of her shots pictured.

Marta was open to sharing her experience and professional expertise which led to a role at Birmingham City University as a visiting lecturer in commercial photography. While photography is still a staple of their work, the pair had to adapt significantly once the pandemic hit. All photography work was cancelled, and the dynamic duo started to develop digital content they could create at home.

Marta says: “While being creatively flexible and open to adapt to changes we started mastering photomontage/collage work, which soon started keeping us busy. We entered a new market providing work for magazines like the New Statement, the Guardian, the Economist, Evening Standard, Forbes and then the Rolling Stone, Billboard, Vanity Fair, Hollywood Reporter, Harvard Business, Politico and many more.” She adds: “Lockdown allowed us to take a step back and dedicate even more time to development, learning new skills and discovering new fields. We learned how to animate the content we produced.”

CAMPAIGN TRAIL

There have been advertising campaigns for HSBC, Mailbox, Birmingham Royal Ballet, National Express, Birmingham LGBT Centre, Black Country Living Museum, B:Music, Birmingham Hippodrome, JQ Bid, Colmore Bid, Chamber of Commerce and many more. Barbara and Marta also designed six posters for the Commonwealth Games in 2022 followed by a series of campaigns for UK Sport and England Rugby.

Marta says: “It’s been wonderful to see our work on billboards and across the city centre including New Street station’s media eye advertising screen.” Designing a cover for an AppleTV+ series and a main title sequence for HULU released last month is a particular highlight.

GLASS HALF FULL

The uncertainty and occasional frustration of a creative life are tempered with much joy and satisfaction. Marta says: “It’s part of the game. It is what all freelancers and small businesses face and must accept. All we can do is never to compromise on the quality of our work. We still learn, we still develop, and we still aim to work better, harder and more effectively.”

Grateful to Birmingham for the opportunities it’s thrown up, Barbara and Marta are looking back over the last decade in a celebratory mood. “It’s been an amazing time, now that we look at it from a perspective of a decade here. Birmingham has provided us with many opportunities to grow, becoming better and more professional, meeting people we are still in touch with today, many of whom have become returning clients, and some have become our long-term friends.”

Barbara and Marta’s glass half full spirit is infectious – they’ve found their groove, created a niche and are running with it producing work they’re proud of, that shines creatively and is commercially successful. Here’s to another 10 years!

The 24-year-old may have been born in South Carolina, but both of his parents are proud Brummies, so when Oliver switched his nationality from American to British earlier in the year, we jumped at the chance to interview him. We caught up with him on the back of his first ever Grand Slam win and looking forward to the grass court season.

Oliver is still in the early stages of his career but has achieved much already. He was a top 10 ranked junior at Wimbledon, Roland Garros and the US Open. He has a career-high ATP ranking of 190 and has reached the final of two ATP Challengers as well as winning eight ITF tournaments. He played the qualifying tournament of the Australian Open this year as well as the US Open in 2021.

He says: “Every step up is a challenge and my next goal is to break into the top 100. That will require some ATP Challenger tournament wins and a consistent performance over the next several months. I am ready for the challenge and excited to get there.” Oliver is beginning to build a team around him – a coach, trainer, physio and an agent as well as sponsors. He says: “Together we create wins and opportunity and deal with setbacks and losses.”

LIFE ON THE TOUR

Oliver has played tournaments in more than 30 countries across six continents. Thankfully he loves travelling and getting to experience new countries and cultures, so for him jetting around the world is not a chore although he accepts it can be arduous and lonely for some. Oliver views it as a privilege but explains that with limited funds and few resources and largely travelling on your own, it can be tough.

In the beginning, with no team around, a player is responsible for every aspect of organising travel, training, finding hitting partners, staying healthy physically and mentally which entails dealing with defeat, overcoming boredom, managing expectations and trying to stay balanced and focused. It’s a big ask for a young person. Oliver says: “It is not a glamorous lifestyle and the majority of professional tennis players do not make it through this stage.” Oliver was always committed to pursuing his dream of being a professional player which helped him in the early days – he also credits his very supportive family.

UNCLE IAIN

Speaking of family, the connection to Birmingham is strong and Oliver has spent many summers and Christmases in the city. Last year his uncle Iain gave him a very personal tour. Oliver recalls: “He took us on a 13-mile walk from Moseley, through Selly Oak, Edgbaston, Five Ways, and into the Jewellery Quarter, stopping off at ‘important’ places along the way like the houses where they grew up, the schools they went to, the pubs they frequented, and notable chip shops and curry houses.”

While in the city Oliver has practised at Edgbaston Priory where several of his family are members. He really rates the facilities saying: “The club is fantastic, the amenities and courts are first class, and the staff very friendly. I have had little experience of grass courts, so I am looking forward to spending some more time on them in Edgbaston. I am hoping that it becomes a bigger part of my summer schedule.”

Pleased with the British set-up, Oliver has found other players, coaches and staff to be ‘incredibly encouraging and welcoming’. He adds: “I am looking forward to getting more involved. Clearly, there are some world-class British players and a strong group of highly talented younger professionals too. I am excited and proud to be representing Britain. If I can get the chance to play on a national team that would be wonderful.”

Oliver loves competing one-to-one, so tennis particularly appeals from that point of view. He says: “Ultimately the performance is down to you. There are few sports which are so individually focused. I also love the physical nature of tennis. It is a gruelling sport, where speed, stamina, skill and power all come into play. Different players have different blends of these attributes and how you combine them determines your style of play, which tournaments offer your ideal conditions, and how to approach a particular opponent.” The variety of surfaces, changeable conditions and even different match format (three or five sets) excites Oliver too.

Oliver says his short-term goal is to break into the top 100 and play in the main draw of all of the Grand Slams. Beyond that, he says: “I am looking to play my best tennis and reach my full potential. Everyone dreams of winning tournaments and being number one, I share the same dreams.”

Paul Hassell is a people person – warm, chatty, friendly, interesting and crucially, interested. While sales and photography aren’t obvious bedfellows, the qualities that made Paul flourish in a sales environment for decades also puts people at ease in the studio making for pleasing final outcomes. He says: “From the outset, I knew that my interest in photography was going to be based around people and therefore my work is story driven. I love to hear the story and journey of that person and I have always seen the image as a gift that reminds me of that time and place.”

INCREDIBLE PEOPLE

Aged 46, Paul joined a local photographic society in Birmingham because he just wanted to understand how to use a camera but was quickly hooked. He remembers: “From walking through the door on that very first evening I knew this was going to be a place I’d return to.” Thirteen years of dedication later and Paul has been lucky enough to photograph some incredible people and capture some special moments as well as gaining an FRPS distinction which means he’s a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.

He says: “I’ve been rewarded with some amazing moments like seeing Mo Farah break numerous records in Birmingham and at the Olympic Park in 2016. I’ve photographed Commonwealth and World Champion gymnasts and met hundreds of amazing individuals who have sat with me and shared their stories.”

CHARACTER & COMMUNITY

A particular project that Paul’s proud of is his work in Romania. He made two trips in two years to the country, documenting how remote villagers have lived since time began. He says: “In essence time had stood still, but now young people are moving to big cities in search of prosperity and a different way of life. They are leaving behind their elders only to see their heritage slowly disappear.”

Paul’s photographs from these areas depict the survival of the older residents living hand-to-mouth trying to maintain their traditions and beliefs. Paul recalls: “I was fortunate to gain their trust and that engagement allowed a relation of character and community but also circumstance, which is sadly based on their inability to change.” Going forward Paul aims to embark on more projects possibly involving non-government organisations (NGOs) in the hope that his skill set will help people.

STRENGTH AND MOVEMENT

Today, Paul still enjoys engaging with people and their stories and for the last three years he’s dedicated his time to photographing dancers, in particular ballet dancers. He’s collaborated with Birmingham Royal Ballet artists which you can see more of on his Instagram page. He captures strength and movement brilliantly but also a softness somehow.

Paul recalls listening to a talk by a professional photographer who said that one of the hardest things to do as a portrait photographer is to get a person in front of the camera. Paul reflects: “I’ve been very lucky over my short time as a photographer to have some kind of gift, to relate to that person and form a photograph.”

Birmingham youngster Belle Kumble Rose isn’t your average teen. Her new single NV was released last month to much acclaim, not least for its uplifting message of kindness, hope and strength through adversity. Produced by Mike Rose who’s worked with Gary Barlow, and East 17 as well as Belle’s own mum, Lolly, who readers might remember from the Eighties.

Belle says she’s constantly writing and is generally inspired by past experiences as well as more trivial things like TV shows. She already has an impressive body of work despite being just 17-years-old.  Not many teenagers are juggling sixth form studies with a career in music and a ‘bit of modelling’ while touring schools in order to inspire other young people.

In 2022, Belle completed a tour of more than 40 schools in the Midlands and the South West. As well as performing to audiences aged from nine to 13 years, Belle answered questions about mental health, online safety and cyberbullying drawing on her own experiences.

MENTAL HEALTH

Last summer she took to the road again to perform an end-of-school-year tour with an audience of more than 4,000 school children in the Midlands. Of her own struggles, Belle says: “I’ve learnt so much about my mental health. There were times when I didn’t feel heard, so it’s nice to be able to talk to school children about that. Hopefully they don’t feel alone.”

Over the last few years, Belle has made the choice to use her creative skills to express empathy through her music striving to be the new voice of her generation in waiting. Her lyrics reflect the emotional highs and lows of her generation and she wants to represent the kids who have no voice, who can’t or don’t speak out.

Belle has grown up with social media and has a love-hate relationship with it as most teenagers do. She says: “I love it but it’s also hard. I’m still trying to figure it out. I just post what’s authentic to me. There’s lots of negativity on social media. If I get hate comments, I have to think, ‘at least they’re talking about me.”

LIVE GIGS

Having grown up in a musical family, Belle is a confident performer who relishes lives gigs. She has a couple of festivals lined up over the summer including Reading Pride as well as Rainford Festival, plus a spot on CBBC and a few other TV things in the pipeline. While Belle’s always had a passion for singing inspired largely by her musical heroes such as Alanis Morrisette, Paramour and Olivia Rodrigo, the writing bug is more recent.

She says: “Something switched in my brain in lockdown. I started writing poetry and writing about my feelings. I became more active on Instagram and things started to happen.”

FOLLOW ON:

You can catch Belle on social media and download her work on her YouTube channel.

Linktree – https://linktr.ee/bellekumblerose

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/bellekumblerose

TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@bellekumblerose?lang=en

YouTube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/@bellekumblerose

Photography by Angela Grabowska

Imogen Morris’s work is stunning, so it’s no surprise it’s held in numerous private and public collections across the globe. Imogen’s large-scale pieces are ideal for corporate spaces, hotel lobbies and the like, while smaller commissions tend to be portraits of people or increasingly their pets!

Having graduated in 2013 with a first-class degree in Fine Art and Art History, Imogen abandoned art completely for a time. She explains: “I had all the skills and no means of practising.” It’s a common problem that artists know their craft, but can’t see a way to make a living. Imogen did youth work for a while and says she didn’t touch art for years.

In 2018 she began doing embroidered portraits for fun. She says: “I got the bug for selling. I enjoyed exposure at arts markets and attention on social media.” A friend asked Imogen if she’d seen nail and thread art which she hadn’t, so she thought she’d have a stab at it.

For portrait commissions Imogen tends to work from a photo and the piece begins with a drawing. From there she wraps thread around nails creating the contours of the face and building up layers to create detail and depth and ultimately an accurate portrayal. Imogen’s work is two pronged – firstly making work that people buy for their homes which is often 2D and secondly, huge 3D installations. While Imogen’s large-scale pieces have a significant wow factor, she says these can sometimes be simpler to create than smaller work which can be more intricate and complex. A 40cm piece takes roughly 30 to 40 hours to complete.

DOWN TO BUSINESS

Commissions are the main source of Imogen’s income as well as sales through galleries such as Seventh Circle Gallery in Moseley. Imogen also has Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA) graduate membership which includes free membership for three years as well as opportunities to go into exhibitions and free exhibition space on the ground floor. With membership there’s also a welcome professional development angle which looks at the business side of being a successful artist – one of the things Imogen feels was missing from her degree course.

She says: “Things have changed and I think an element of business is a standard part of arts education in a more practical way now.” She would recommend any budding artists start saving and amass an amount to invest to get your business off the ground. Imogen is also part of the Prince’s Trust supported by a business mentor.

If you’re a member at Edgbaston Priory Club, you’ve probably seen Imogen’s recently installed work. Belonging is a large-scale piece recognising the impact of the pandemic on the club and its members. Imogen used 2,325 pins representing the number of members who continued to support the club when it couldn’t open during lockdown. It’s stunning.

FIND YOUR PEOPLE

While art is full time in terms of the hours Imogen puts in, she also has a part time job to ensure a regular income. She feels if the internet didn’t exist, she’d be forced to live in London. Imogen explains: “There’s value in private views and meeting people face-to-face, but I can’t afford to live in London. The internet means I’m able to sell nationally and internationally regardless.”

Not that Imogen would want to move to the capital – she rates the Birmingham art scene and its sense of community. She says: “It’s supportive and nurturing – there are so many people willing to support you here. The art world can be super elitist, but not in Birmingham. It’s reasonable and kind.”

Imogen finds Digbeth particularly inspiring and a creative place to be. Her advice to young artists is to, ‘find your people. People who will uphold you and vice-versa. Help each other and work collectively’.

We’ve interviewed hundreds of Brummies who fiercely champion their home city. Marverine Cole might just be the biggest supporter of them all. “I’m Brummie through and through,” she states, before adding, “It’s a warm, beautiful, supportive city.” We couldn’t agree more.

Marverine’s story is one of ambition, tenacity and obvious talent. Most known for Sky News and GMB, her rise has been lengthy and began in her childhood living room. Marverine grew up in Birmingham with her mom and two brothers in a house where education and news were high on the agenda.

She recalls: “Mom loved keeping up with news. We had the Birmingham Evening Mail every night. She’d then leave it for me and my brothers to read. I read it cover to cover from the age of seven.” In addition to Eighties favourites such as the A-Team, there was always the unmissable evening news both local and national on the TV.

She says: “I definitely got that love of news from my mom,” and adds, “I watched Sir Trevor MacDonald and Moira Stewart explaining big issues. They were black like me. Generally high-profile black people were sports people or entertainers, but not serious. I just thought it looked great.”

JOURNALIST’S NOSE

When Marverine’s brother went to university she was told by her mom, ‘you’ll be going too’. Despite being ‘very bookish’ and researching lots, Marverine couldn’t find any broadcast journalism courses. She began letter writing to the radio and TV stations in Birmingham and worked behind the scenes making tea, photocopying scripts, looking after guests and the like. She recalls: “Those nice letters got me inside studios. I didn’t have a plan – just a journalist’s nose.”

Marverine completed a Business Studies course at De Montfort and didn’t really know what she wanted to do. She started work as a trainee advertising executive but hated it. All through her twenties Marverine worked as a personal assistant to CEOs and MDs. She did temping jobs in financial services and banking and was PA to one of the directors at the university as well as bosses at Cadburys and the BBC. However, she says: “In the background I was always thinking ‘what about media’?”

BREAKING NEWS

Marverine did some small bits of local commercial radio before applying to a Broadcast Journalism Graduate diploma. “It was a small course with 20-odd people and I was lucky enough to get a bursary funded by ITV for a six-month fast track course.” Once Marverine started working in TV in earnest she found her earlier stint temping for MDs and CEOs was invaluable. She explains: “That experience of dealing with powerful people meant that I wasn’t intimidated interviewing politicians and others in power.”

In 2008, Marverine went from Midlands Today to Sky News where she was in the hot seat for hours on end, sometimes breaking news live on air. She says: “You’re looking at the news wires all the time when on air and the producer is in your ear saying, “have you seen this?” You have to go with it on the hoof then update with more information as it comes in.” Reporting on upsetting world events such as terrorist attacks takes a unique skill. “Inside you might be thinking OMG, but you have to lock the emotion in a box, showing no personal opinion. I think it’s an innate ability.”

Marverine says that when she started out in the industry, it wasn’t what is now in terms of diversity. “The catalyst for that change was the murder of George Floyd in 2020. It changed everything. Part of that is that I’ve been accepted to programmes I never thought I’d be able to do. GMB for instance – I would never have thought that would happen.”

Every week for 15 years Marverine has taken a suitcase to London for work and at times, she’s pondered moving to the capital. After conversations with her husband, they always settle on staying in Birmingham. She says: “As well as it being hugely expensive, we just wouldn’t want to leave Brum. We have our lovely house and cat in Kings Heath.”

BEER AFICIONADO

An unlikely string to Marverine’s bow is becoming a beer sommelier. She says: “I discovered beer through journalism. Data suggested more women were getting into cask ale year-on-year. I was more of a red wine and champagne woman, but I thought I’d investigate.” Marverine did a TV feature for Inside Out during which she tried a peach ale that ‘blew her mind’.

She says: “Beer is not all bitter and flat brown ale. I wrote a blog and put on some beer tasting parties for women then found a beer sommelier course which sounded interesting.” Marverine now has a regular beer column in BBC Good Food magazine. She rates the local brewers doing great things in Birmingham, like Attic Brew and GlassHouse, and is a regular at independent bar and bottle shop Hop and Scotch in Kings Heath.

In addition to Birmingham’s talented brewers, Marverine just loves the city unreservedly. She says: “There are cranes and construction everywhere, but it doesn’t put me off. I will always love and support this city. I live in Kings Heath and I adore it  – the shops, independent restaurants and the people.”

We caught up with The Twang’s lead singer Phil Etheridge ahead of the band’s latest run of gigs and found a man who’s more likely to be enjoying a pint of Batham’s and a cheese cob in his local than boozing it up in a dressing room. It might not sound rock ’n’ roll but Phil cherishes his ‘beautiful life’ full of family, friends and music making these days.

Formed in 2004, The Twang fast became one of the Midlands most successful bands of the decade – maybe too fast. Establishing a loyal fanbase in Birmingham, the band mixed dance beats with catchy indie guitar riffs and quickly became favourites of daytime radio DJs and prestigious magazines like the NME who described them as Britain’s hottest new band.

They were also the subject of a BBC documentary and went from day jobs to signing with B-Unique after a record label tussle to woo them. They supported the likes of  and released their highly successful debut album Love It When I Feel Like This. Four more albums followed with the band touring the UK consistently, supporting Doves and Shed Seven as well huge headlining shows of their own.

The band’s original line-up of Phil Etheridge, Martin Saunders, Jon Watkin, Stu Hartland and Matty Clinton has shifted over the years with Ash Sheeran replacing Matty on drums and Martin leaving in 2018, but five albums down and they’re still going strong.

WIDE AWAKE

It was in 2007 that the band was planted firmly into the mainstream music psyche. Debut single Wide Awake was released in March followed by their biggest single to date, Either Way in May which was picked up by radio stations and championed by DJs such as Jo Whiley and Edith Bowman. The first studio album, Love It When I Feel Like This was released in the same year charting at number three and the band made the cover of NME as well as winning the Phillip Hall Radar gong at the NME awards. Major festivals followed such as Wireless, Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds as well as selling out large venues.

The band’s home turf is never far from their minds and second album Jewellery Quarter was named after where they were living at the time. Holed up in a cottage in Anglesey writing the JQ album, the band describe it as a ‘magical time’. Local artist Temper who we’ve interviewed in these pages and who was also living in the Jewellery Quarter, created the artwork for the album cover so it was a real local project.

THE DOWNSIDE

Phil says gracing the cover of NME and being lauded as the country’s hottest new band on the back of just one record wasn’t all good. He remembers: “There was definitely a downside. There was money and free drink everywhere we went. People kept telling us, ‘you’re gonna kill it’ and we probably took our eye off the ball and believed it would never end.” He adds: “It was amazing, but we were fucking up.” It turns out the music press that had fawned over the band initially were just as quick to try to pull them apart. Phil’s philosophical about it and doesn’t like to look back too much, but accepts the band never really fulfilled their potential.

Having said that, if it weren’t for bassist Jon Watkin suggesting going back to college, Phil may never have made it at all. He hated school leaving with no qualifications and started roofing with his uncle so when Jon Watkins suggested going back into education, Phil was a bit dubious. He agreed anyway and says the pair managed to blag their way onto a creative music course at Kidderminster College where in part, thanks to inspirational tutor Gary Edwards, their lives and prospects improved.

Of his tutor, Phil says: “He was a philosopher really. He was meant to talk about music but talked about everything. I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed being in a classroom. Kiddy College was a total game changer for me – one of the best times of my life.” From there, both Phil and Jon went to Leeds University where they wrote songs such as Aimless With An Aim and Push the Ghosts. Neither completed their degree as they felt they’d be better off cracking on with forming a band. Phil says: “We had blind faith that we’d get signed. I don’t know why, but we never really doubted it. That sounds arrogant, but it’s how we felt.”

KNEES-UP

The band never moved away from the Midlands, so it’s always been home and while the crowds are incredible, Phil used to feel more pressure when performing in Birmingham than anywhere else. He says: “I always wanted it to be perfect – my mum or brother might be there, and I just put so much pressure on it.” Now he just enjoys lapping up the energy from the crowd.

The gig this month at the O2 Institute will be typically one big party. The pre-Christmas tour has become a tradition which fans treat like a giant Christmas party and Phil describes as ‘a big old knees up’. They’ve toured pre-Christmas every year since 2007 and Phil says it’s ‘mad and beautiful’. In the past they’ve gone hell for leather on the Christmas vibe even dressing up their manager in a Santa suit and firing T-shirts out of a cannon. They’ve reined in the festive add-ons recently, but you can still expect a top night full of joy, great music and good vibes.

The Nutcracker is back. I took my children to the Hippodrome when they were aged just three and four willing them to enjoy it as much as me and honestly, to sit still. Fast forward 12 years and we’re still gasping when the Christmas tree grows over a decade on. It’s tradition, it’s Christmas and Birmingham Royal Ballet does it best. We caught up with someone who’s on the inside creating the magic that keeps us going back for more.

Principal dancer Céline Gittens joined BRB in 2006 under the directorship of Sir David Bintley who took her under his wing making it clear she would be successful, but success would be gradual. Céline’s glad of that and feels it was important not to peak too soon.
With a teacher of classical ballet as a mother, perhaps it was inevitable that Céline would pick up the dance bug. Her mum, Janet Gittens opened the first ballet school in the south of Trinidad where Céline spent the first nine years of her life. She remembers looking on when she was very small: “I watched my mum teach and saw the older students dance. I enjoyed the movement and the music and loved how it made me feel.” Céline started dancing when she was aged just three and began taking Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) exams aged four.

SPRUNG FLOOR

A bit of a natural break in dance happened when Céline moved to Vancouver in 1997 aged nine where she wasn’t initially part of a ballet school. She remembers doing the grade 5 RAD syllabus in the living room of her home and practising the jumps on a sprung running track in the community park as her mum thought it was gentler on her legs than the hard floor. She found a ballet school in which to take the exam and was awarded the highest grade of distinction.
Céline has won many accolades and awards over the years including being awarded the prestigious Solo Seal and was the first Canadian to win a Genre Competition gold medal in 2005. Serendipitously when we caught up Céline, she was sitting in the very dressing room at Sadler’s Wells she had used in 2005 for the competition. This time she was touring BRB’s Black Sabbath which received standing ovations every night for two weeks in Birmingham as well as in Plymouth and the company was hoping for more of the same at Sadler’s Wells.

CAREER GOALS

It wasn’t an easy leap from success in exams and competitions to building a stable career and being accepted by a company. Céline spent 15 years fighting for it. BRB came about almost by accident. She was only visiting the city as she had family friends here and thought why not try. She says making it into a successful company is one of her biggest successes.
“A lot of very talented dancers don’t make it. BRB is very stable – even during Covid dancers were paid 100 per cent and that wasn’t the case for everyone.” Céline is now an international ambassador for RAD as well as principal dancer at BRB. As part of her ambassadorial role, she has created an introduction to dance scholarship. The idea is to reach out to communities and award one new introduction scholarship to dance per year supporting a talented youngster through the first year.

GIVING BACK

Having watched the difference her mother has made to hundreds of young lives, Céline is inspired to give back and would love to teach at some point. “I’m inspired by my mum and I’ve seen what a difference she’s made to her students’ lives. Not just exams, but the difference to their self-confidence and life skills. I’d like to make that positive change.”
Céline has embraced Birmingham as home. She says: “I’ve lived in three different countries, so I excel at adapting to and understanding different cultures. Birmingham lived up to my expectations in terms of what I thought a European city would be with big, stone buildings with an obvious story behind them.” Having completed a Master of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham she feels it’s wonderful to have such an institution in the city, but more than that, she adds: “It’s the diversity that makes the city so great. It’s really wonderful, inclusive and accepting.”
Céline urges people to come to BRB and see what they’re doing – she says it’s one of the city’s gems and people should have a look at the website and take the plunge. If you’ve never experienced The Nutcracker, it’s a good place to start. At the time of writing there are still tickets available. If you’re reading this and it’s sold out, we’re sorry. It’s a classic and you need to get in quick, but take Céline’s advice and check out what else is going on – you might just be surprised. It’s not all ballerinas in tutus…

Next time you’re passing the Bull in the Bullring, give him a pat on the head and wish him Happy Birthday. It’s 20 years since he took up residence in the then newly-opened Bullring, and what started out as very much a destination for shoppers has become a centre not only for retail but for leisure, the arts, food, celebration… and much more. So, we decided it was only right to mark this important anniversary ourselves this month!

When the Bullring opened in 2003 it was one of Europe’s largest city centre retail regeneration projects, helping revitalise Birmingham city centre, connecting important streets while spearheading the regeneration of both New Street and Moor Street stations and the surrounding areas. It created a new meeting point and civic heart for the city.
The dramatic bonze Bull, weighing 6 tonnes and standing 2.2 metres high, created by sculptor Laurence Broderick, became not only the symbol of the new Bullring locally, but also of the city itself nationally and globally. On opening day, the Bullring welcomed 276,000 customers – today more than 30 million visitors come to the centre every year. Famous faces have included Victoria and David Beckham, Peter Andre, Girls Aloud, JLS and McFly to name but a few. The Bullring has played a significant role in Birmingham’s economic growth in both supporting employment and attracting visitors from near and far.

CULTURAL AMBITIONS

Toby Tait, director of asset management of Bullring owners Hammerson, said: “We’ve evolved considerably during our 20 years. We sit at the heart of the city’s social, cultural and arts programme and today you’re just as likely to visit us to shop in Zara and Selfridges as you are to participate in Birmingham Weekender or B Side Hip Hop Festival.”
A partnership with Birmingham Hippodrome six years ago has been instrumental in realising ambitions and changing the perception of the Bullring and Grand Central from a place where customers come only to shop. “Over the years we have delivered some fantastic events, including Birmingham Weekender, B-Side Hip Hop Festival and It’s Carnival which have all created new reasons for people to visit,” said Toby.
“A personal highlight was our sponsorship of the Commonwealth Games last year. This was a proud moment for Birmingham and showed the world how fantastic this city is. Through our partnership, we provided a suite of charging points within Bullring’s car park for the Games’ official fleet of electric vehicles – supporting the ambition to be the most sustainable Commonwealth Games yet.”

BIG YEAR

The 20-year landmark comes amid a big year for the Bullring and Grand Central with exciting new concepts and leading brands in the offing. New entertainment and leisure brands include Sandbox VR, Lane7 and TOCA Social, alongside high-profile retailers including M&S, Bershka, Pull&Bear and Watches of Switzerland.
Toby added: “There are plans to re-imagine a former 200,000 sq ft of retail space to create Drum, a new wellbeing designed office space complementing the existing food and social hub in Grand Central and the retail and entertainment brands Bullring has to offer. With an exciting selection of upcoming occupiers, brand partners and the repurposing and introduction of Drum, along with our continued efforts to innovate, we are poised to shape the next chapter of Birmingham’s retail legacy. I can’t say for certain what Bullring will look like in 20 years’ time but we don’t plan to stand still and are already looking ahead to seeing Bullring at 40.”
One thing is for sure – the Bullring Bull will continue to guard the centre and remain the undisputed emblem of Birmingham. And don’t just take out word for it – a prestigious World Top 10 of pieces of public art featured Brum’s Bull in its listing, along with the likes of New York’s Empire State Building, Florence’s sculpture of David by Michelangelo and Landseer’s lions in London’s Trafalgar Square. Now, that’s what we call making a mark…

The inception of Brummie institution Miss Moneypenny’s goes back to the late eighties with humble beginnings in a clothing store. Founder Jim Ryan says it was a case of ‘right time, right place’, but he deserves more credit than that. Along with his brother Michael, Jim created a space that became the epicentre of the rave scene in the form of their clothing shop, Depot which is where the kernel of an idea started to grow into something that would touch the lives of an unimaginable amount of people.
Jim says: “Kids would buy their tickets for raves, purchase DJ tapes, videos of the rave and collect flyers of up and coming raves. So, we were in the middle of that cultural phenomena.” The brothers, realising they had an audience, started organising small events on the River Severn inviting the shop’s customers, friends and family which evolved into what became known as Chuff Chuff parties.

BAND OF BROTHERS

The events gained legendary status where hedonism reigned and people could just completely let go. Clocking the popularity of the parties, they moved from small boats to stately homes and hotels to accommodate larger crowds. In 1993, the Chuff Chuff parties morphed into a weekly club in Birmingham and Miss Moneypenny’s was born initially attracting 800 people rising to 1,500 in its heyday.
Moneypenny’s success was in part due to Jim’s right place, right time philosophy but also the brothers were active members of the club scene not just in Birmingham but also in Nottingham and London building a network of people. Location had something to do with the appeal of Moneypenny’s too. Ideally placed in the middle of the country, it was easy for people across the UK to travel to. “It pulled a diverse and very glamorous crowd. We had a large gay following. It was a place where people could express themselves. A sense of freedom if you like.”

HOCKLEY MASSIVE

The club would be packed by 9.30pm with coachloads of clubbers bused in from as far afield as Scotland. Jim remembers the celebrity following, too: “It soon attracted pop stars such as Robbie Williams, Boy George, The Pet Shop Boys, Mick Hucknall, Heather Small. TV celebs such as Zoe Ball, Melinda Messenger. Sports stars such as Lennox Lewis, Martin Offiah, Shaun Edwards to name but a few. It made a huge national impact, capturing the imagination of the national celebrity columns, all from a club on the outskirts of the city in Hockley.”
The concept toured the UK and then went global. In Ibiza, Miss Moneypenny’s residencies were legendary running for 15 seasons, first at Pacha then El Divino which led to the launch of record label Miss Moneypenny’s Music. A top 10 hit with Tom Novy’s Your Body followed as well as other releases including 21 compilations.
Jim says: “As a club brand, the amount of people we touched is just phenomenal. And that doesn’t take into account the tours, the international gigs, the magazine articles and the column inches and TV appearances. For a while Miss Moneypenny’s was everywhere.”

FREEDOM FIGHTERS

A big part of the pride Jim has in Moneypenny’s stems from the diversity, acceptance and freedom it fostered. He says: “I am proud that a concept such as Miss Moneypenny’s came from my home city of Birmingham. It incorporated what is the best of our city, a diverse audience, before the notion of diversity was even conceived. We put Birmingham on the map in terms of clubbing because of our values.”
Today Jim is busy penning Ibiza The Musical and is in talks with a number of Birmingham theatres about production partnerships as well as being a published poet. He’s also working on a project creating a platform to publish photographs and videos from gigs, albums and artwork which Jim’s hoping will be completed in 2024 – plus there’s a documentary in the pipeline focusing on DJ life on the road in the 90s and early 2000s. Despite having travelled the world DJing, Jim’s never played Brazil or Argentina so that’s on the bucket list along with a Glastonbury set – we’d love to see that.
The 30th anniversary celebrations kicked off with a gig at Crooked House last month, but in relation to the actual big bash Jim’s staying tight-lipped – but you can bet your bottom dollar it’ll be one heck of a party!

The Hundred is back this summer and Warwickshire’s finest, Chris Woakes is ready for his first experience of the tournament – playing in it at least. The all-rounder has been in the Birmingham Phoenix squad for two years since The Hundred’s inception, but injury has stopped him competing. This year he says he’s fighting fit, although he does quickly and hopefully jokingly adds: “Fit so far!” We’re crossing fingers and touching wood as it would be incredible to see him firing on all cylinders over the summer.
Aside from The Hundred’s obvious ‘glitz and glamour’, there’s a lot to be grateful to the tournament for. It’s attracted record crowds and boosted cricket’s profile generally. The women’s game has benefitted immeasurably, giving the ladies equal billing with the men, and girls’ cricket is thriving. I speak from experience with two daughters who dipped their toe in the water after watching an electric women’s game at Edgbaston who are now playing their third season. We interviewed Izzy Wong during The Hundred’s first year and she was cock-a-hoop the tournament was more equal. Things as simple as using the same gym as the men were novel then.

DIFFERENT DIMENSION

Chris has always been a champion of the women’s game. He says: “There have been people banging the drum for a while then along came The Hundred and the opportunity for the women’s game to be equal and professional. The women’s game has gone from strength to strength.”
Chris has played at Warwickshire since he was ten years old having picked cricket over football which he was also decent at and feels utterly privileged to have had a career here. He reflects: “I still feel very lucky. If you’d told me about my career before I started playing, I’d have bitten your hand off. Obviously, with this career comes added pressure, but I take the rough with the smooth.” Chris played his first professional game in 2006 and he says Edgbaston has changed ‘a hell of a lot’. He adds: “What hasn’t changed though is the brilliant people and the atmosphere. The backing and the home support at Edgbaston adds a different dimension.”

ROCK STARS

When Chris was growing up test cricket was the primary format. Now the cricketing schedule looks very different peppered with white ball tournaments and he thinks there’s room for both. “It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s got people watching and it’s enjoyable.” The IPL in India has been a particular highlight and something Chris says nothing prepares you for. “It is crazy. You’re treated like a rock star in India. I’m pleased to have experienced it – as well as the passion it’s a really high standard.” Chris says it’d be good to try to replicate the passion here – I suggest The Hollies stand toward the end of a day at The Hundred is not far off, not to mention the double decker back to New St Station from Edgbaston. Rocking!
Chris is only 34 years old but is asked about retirement a fair bit lately – for the record, he brought it up not me. He says although he’s obviously aware that a sporting career is a short one, he hasn’t set out his stall yet. “I’m living in the now which I think is important otherwise I might take my eye off the ball so to speak.”

Aside from its great history, one of the triumphs of BMOS is its talented people and the company’s ability to adapt. Once known as the Birmingham and Midland Operatic Society, hence BMOS, the company changed its name to reflect its more contemporary leanings.

Where previously there were Gilbert and Sullivan operettas performed at the Birmingham Institute, there are now dynamic, modern productions of hit musicals, such as 9 to 5 and Guys and Dolls, all performed to a professional standard at the Alexandra.

The history of the company is extraordinary. For instance, through the war years they provided entertainment in barracks and hospitals across the region before getting back to the stage at the city’s Theatre Royal in 1955, followed by a move to the Hippodrome in 1957. The current relationship with the Alexandra began in 2013 and is a happy collaboration. For the cast it’s a thrill to perform in such a wonderful venue and for audiences they get to see a fantastic production at a reasonable rate.

UNIQUELY INTENSE

What’s equally remarkable is the fact that this is a hobby for company members, although admittedly not your average hobby. It’s a uniquely intense past time particularly in the run-up to show time. Ordinarily, rehearsals happen one or two evenings per week but this cranks up to two evenings plus a Sunday rehearsal in the few weeks leading up to the performance.

Since the company is largely made up of people with day jobs, it’s quite the commitment. Rehearsals are accompanied by a piano, in fact, the company only rehearses with the orchestra two days before the first performance – gulp! They use the Midland Concert Orchestra run by Phil Johnson for each show though, so they know the drill.

JUST THE TICKET

Seven committee members work tirelessly. The company is a voluntary organisation so people give their time freely. Costs associated with putting on a production such as sound, lighting and the orchestra need to be covered by ticket sales, so a well-supported show is crucial.

They’ve had one production that was touch and go just after the pandemic, but generally ticket sales are healthy. As an extra revenue stream the company also performs at corporate functions and, in addition, the treasurer applies to relevant arts organisations to secure funding. There are also sporadic donations from past members which is fantastic when it happens but it’s not a regular income, so more support is always welcome.

The company likes to give back to the city and supports Free At Last in Nechells – a charity that is committed to helping local young people find opportunities that will improve their lives. BMOS worked with them on their Big Balloon Project initially, but they’ve kept the relationship going and now offer places for talented teens to get involved in the company which is working well.

STAR MAKER

The company has also produced some stars such as Jon Boyden who played the lead in Jersey Boys in the West End and Margaret Preece who appeared in and was the voice of Carlotta (Minnie Driver’s character) in the film version of the Phantom of the Opera.

This year, there are two BMOS shows to get your teeth into. First up is 9 to 5 which opens later this month – expect funny, fast-paced and quirky with some incredible performances, particularly the solos we’re told. Then there’s classic Peter Pan in November.

And if you’re interested in treading the boards, BMOS are always on the lookout for more talent. They seem like a friendly bunch, so get in touch.

Birmingham-based Propel Dance is the UK’s first all-wheelchair professional dance company. And the dramatic images you see here feature Brum’s very own Rebecca Fowler in the company’s first-ever live performance of the Snow Queen.

The Snow Queen brought together professional wheelchair dancers from across the country, including Rebecca, in a reimagined version of the classic fairytale after Propel Dance secured financial backing from Arts Council England. Led by an all-female leadership team, the company was founded by Helen Mason, a Birmingham-based dance artist with a track record of making dance for and with disabled people for more than 20 years.

CHAMPIONS

Helen has worked with many charities and organisations such as Midland Mencap, Cerebral Palsy Midlands, Spectrum Day Centre, Para Dance UK, and Whizz Kidz UK, and in 2017 she set up Freewheelin, Birmingham’s first wheelchair and inclusive dance group. Freewheelin are two-time National Para Dance Champions and have performed at the Birmingham International Dance Festival and the European Basketball Finals.

Helen said: “Freewheelin has gone from strength to strength but I was keen to see if any of our wheelchair dancers could go further and become professionals. I discovered that the opportunities were very limited, so I thought I could put together a scheme and training. But then a friend who is a disabled dancer said ‘yes’ but what would they then go on to do. There is nowhere for them to perform professionally. So, that’s why I set up the Propel Dance company exclusively for wheelchair users with an internship scheme.”

RESPONSE

Propel Dance is in its early days, with dancer Rebecca as the first intern placement. Last month’s short tour of the company’s premiere production of the Snow Queen was performed at Midlands Arts Centre and Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton with Helen encouraged by the response of the audiences. The plan now is for Propel Dance to go back to the Arts Council for funding to expand the company and its productions.

Helen who was Dance Captain for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, working with more than 1,500 volunteers, said: “We care deeply about equity and equality of opportunity. It’s why we exist. There are few professional opportunities for wheelchair dancers, and we want to see that change; to create something that enables progression and inspiration to the future generations.

INSPIRING

“We stand for compassion, inclusion, and representation throughout our dance projects and opportunities. Guided by our shared values, Propel Dance hopes to inspire, lead and propel change in professional wheelchair dance.”

Dancer Rebecca, who had a lead role in the Opening Ceremony of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games added: “I’m very excited to work with Propel Dance and be part of this ground-breaking project. Wheelchair dancers have been part of inclusive dance companies before, but I am eager to work in an all-wheelchair-user dance company and learn together. I hope this will create many more opportunities for wheelchair dancers and be the first of many shows for the company.”

Kate De Right founded Spectra 10 years ago inspired by the type of theatre she liked to see and with a particular focus on achieving a strong connection with audiences by including them, so they never feel on the ‘other side of the wall’. While it’s more collaborative than traditional theatre it’s not a scary forced audience participation scenario which, frankly, brings us out in a cold sweat. Kate reassures us there are ‘broad ways to get involved’ and it’s more about being welcoming and inclusive.

At the time of Spectra’s inception, Kate was working with some people with autism who often felt like they were on the other side of the wall, so she listened and took on board their issues and views creating something she’s proud of using the insight from their first-hand expert knowledge. The first show explored inviting the audience in rather than merely come in and sit down which resulted in inclusivity and relevance.

These days we’re all familiar with relaxed performances, however Spectra is much more than a few relaxed dates within a standard show’s run – inclusion is embedded in everything they create, it’s central to the company’s ethos. It helps perhaps that Spectra’s performances aren’t always in traditional theatre settings – for instance, sometimes outdoor, sometimes large installations – it varies but the constant is a wide appeal. Kate says: “It has broad appeal to different ages. Someone compared our productions to the Simpsons in that young people laugh at it while older people do to, but at something different – political maybe.”

ROOM TO GROW

The first eight years of Spectra were essentially about Kate ‘squirrelling away’, then the theatre received a funding grant that meant she was able to bring between 20 and 30 people on board for a specific project. The theatre is about to join the Arts Council’s National Portfolio which means Spectra will be able to employ a core team of salaried people, five of those full-time with more brought in when needed. Kate explains: “It ebbs and flows depending on the project. We also often involve different community groups.”

Covid lockdowns clearly presented challenges, but thanks to an emergency grant from the Arts Council and Kate’s inventive leadership the company took to Zoom. In true Spectra style it wasn’t a sit down and watch vibe. Everyone who signed up to watch a performance received a sensory box full of goodies to enhance the experience and squeeze every bit of enjoyment from the show.

It worked tremendously and Kate received emotional feedback from people who weren’t able to get out to the theatre – one example she recalls was from the daughter of a man who was bedbound and hadn’t been to the theatre for a long time. He absolutely felt he’d been there in the flesh thanks to the inclusive nature and heightened sensory experience. The theatre has continued with Zoom as it really works for some people and rather than dimming Spectra’s light, it’s enhanced it. For instance, a film made at Moseley Bog earlier this year that was streamed came complete with a sensory parcel that included a wood smoked smelling candle.

Although Kate is the director, she’s keen to point out it’s a team effort. “We create together. It’s very egalitarian and we hold space for everyone. It’s risky – it means you don’t necessarily know where it’s going but it’s rewarding. I don’t think we could really claim to be inclusive otherwise.”

ARTS SCENE

Regarding Birmingham’s arts scene generally, Kate thinks it’s in pretty good shape. “While there’s a general disinterest in tooting its own horn, the city is cracking on with some pretty ground-breaking work,” she says. “Sector colleagues like MAIA, Friction, The Gap are pushing boundaries and making change in radical ways through socially engaged practice.” She adds: “We’ve got diverse leadership in big organisations that is helping to bring new perspectives that reflect our brilliantly diverse city.” On the not so positive side she says: “With Ort Gallery closing its space and Centrala losing its ACE NPO funding, it’s not all roses and there is a definite need for greater investment.”

Spectra was about to tour in 2019 when Covid hit, so they’re looking forward to developing some touring productions this year as well as continuing to work with local NHS Trusts. Partnered with NHS Sandwell, the theatre built a garden at the hospital and hopes to build a second this year as well as starting to work with the new Midland Met Hospital. Kate’s passionate that the arts are crucial to fulfilment and connectedness impacting overall well-being, so working with the NHS seems a natural step. The Zoom shows will continue as they represent the ultimate in accessible theatre in many ways which is a huge and unexpected plus to come out of the pandemic.

As a youngster, Christine Edwards was scared of swimming in the sea. She wouldn’t even venture to paddle. That fear grew into terror after she watched the legendary film Jaws about a Great White Shark that brought death to holiday beaches.

“The thought of what might be lurking under the surface of the water was too much for me,” she said. “The thought that sharks might be waiting to pounce. I was petrified, and as time went by my terror grew worse.”

Everything changed for Christine after she was dared by friends in to trying a scuba dive in 2006. More than 1,200 dives around the globe later, she now adores sharks. So much so, that she has written a new book, her first, about sharks. The book, titled Sharks Are Scary Aren’t They? is aimed primarily at teenagers as Christine looks to change the perception with a young audience of the sea creatures as marauding killers.

HUMAN IMPACT

Also a good read for adults, the book tackles themes such as the human impact on the environment and the protection of sharks and their habitats, as well as some of the ‘bad press’ that sharks have suffered over the years as a result of the original Jaws movie and follow-up sequels.

Christine said: “Conquering a deep-rooted fear of the sea and terrified of the sharks that roamed there, the decision to try a scuba dive changed my life. The moment I sank beneath the waves and glimpsed at the world below the surface, I was well and truly hooked. Whenever I would describe my shark encounters to friends or family they invariably expressed concern and questioned why anyone would dive with such a dangerous species. My book came out of the need to redress the balance for this wonderful fish.

“Sharks have existed for 450 million years, well before the dinosaurs, and still exist today. They are being hunted and cruelly killed for their fins and are probably one of the most misunderstood creatures on our planet. The knock-on effect of their demise will be catastrophic. Oceans without sharks will cause negative changes to other species – without this predator keeping other fish in check, our coastlines and reefs will ultimately suffer. The oceans need sharks!”

CAREER CHANGE

Born in Chester, Christine, who lives in Wythall, Worcestershire, read psychology at Warwick University before working as a teacher for 20 years. In 2004, she made the decision to change careers and trained at Birmingham Theatre School to become an actor. When we spoke she had just played Mrs Claus at Warwick Castle’s Christmas celebrations.

Her book follows the emotional journey of Charlie Parker, a fearful 12-year-old boy, and Jane Jones, a retired dentist and scuba diver, who meet by chance on a beach. Despite the years that separate them, they discover they have much in common.

Hearing about the struggles and dangers sharks face and how they are on the brink of extinction, brings the two friends closer together. There are stories of shark encounters, the majesty of the underwater world and how the impact of human activity and plastic pollution is affecting their habitat. Most of all, the two characters learn about the power of the human spirit to change in the face of adversity.

GREAT WHITE

“I started writing the book on a boat in 2017,” said Christine. “I’d been on a dive in Indonesia and as I wrote the first chapter, I could see the book and what I wanted to say in my mind. I eventually finished it in 2021.” Christine can dive to around 30 metres (120 feet) and has seen a huge variety of sharks. “They don’t want to attack at all,” she said. “If you think of sharks like dogs – most aren’t happy to bite at all.”

Christine hopes her book will go into schools as she would love to make that connection as an ex-head teacher herself. She’s also promoting the book on radio. Even for someone who adores sharks, Christine admits she stops short of wanting to meet a Great White.

“I’ve not encountered a Great White and frankly I don’t want to. They are just too unpredictable,” she admits.

They say we’re a nation of dog-lovers, and in many ways that’s true. Figures show that a third of UK households own at least one of man’s best friend – that’s around 10 million homes in total. And as most doting dog owners will tell you, when we love our dogs… we really love our dogs!

Sadly, the reverse is also true, with growing numbers of pets being abandoned and neglected post-pandemic and in the face of the cost of living crisis. “The numbers of unwanted dogs coming to us is rising and we expect the trend to continue to increase as people decide they can’t afford to feed their dogs and look after them anymore,” said Fi Harrison head of fund-raising and communication at Birmingham Dogs Home.

TO THE RESCUE

The charity, which has kennels on 12 acres just outside Solihull as well as in Wolverhampton, accepts all dogs and works with nine local authorities taking in lost, unwanted and abused animals. Fi said: “In October, which was a typical month, we rescued 121 dogs, reunited 32 with their worried owners, rehomed 97 and have a further 73 who have been reserved by potential adopters.”

Quick maths makes that around 1,500 pets rescued each year, with half in need of medical care as a result of neglect or abuse. Working that figure up even further, the numbers become simply mind-blowing when you consider that Birmingham Dogs Home has been celebrating its 130th anniversary!

It all sounds like a military-scale operation – with 120 heated kennels, an on-site veterinary surgery and an army of volunteers and staff on the Solihull site, plus the Wolverhampton base which houses a further 90 dogs.

What’s even more amazing is that the charity is totally self-funding, with no government backing to help towards the £2.5million-a-year it costs to run the home. Instead, the money comes from a mix of donations from individuals and businesses and grants from trusts. “Also hugely important are people who leave us gifts in their wills,” said Fi. “There is constant pressure to raise this money and it can be a worry, especially at times like this when the economic situation isn’t the best.”

BEST-LOVED

One of the region’s oldest and best-loved animal welfare charities, Birmingham Dogs Home was founded in 1892 on land in New Canal Street, where it remained until moving to its current, bigger location. In 2021, the charity launched a fund-raising appeal to provide an on-site veterinary clinic. “We were spending £250,000-a-year on outside vet fees which was just not sustainable,” explained Fi. “So, we needed to fund-raise to repurpose an existing space into the inhouse clinic which we successfully opened in 2022.”

The clinic was particularly busy after the Covid lockdown. “Initially when lockdown happened and people were at home, everyone wanted a dog,” said Fi. “Once the lockdowns were over, we had a real influx of dogs and many were very poorly due to being badly bred by unscrupulous breeders who had seen an opportunity to cash in. Now, with the economic worries we are experiencing there’s a real spike again in abandoned dogs coming to us via local authorities.”

Unsurprisingly, working at the home can often be an emotional job as dogs who have been discarded and neglected are looked after, brought back to health and taught to trust humans again. Fi describes the staff as ‘canine carers at the coalface’. We couldn’t agree more!

It’s Christmas and while we’re not trying to burst your festive bubble, it’s not Hallmark schmaltz for everyone. While numbers of homeless people on the streets of Brum have fallen since Covid, there’s work to do. Achieving a positive outcome involves pulling together homeless charities, enforcement and council services ensuring they work efficiently in synch. One charity in the city, Let’s Feed Brum recognises this need for collaboration as well as the power of befriending homeless people and building trust.

Let’s Feed Brum co-founder Tara Attfield-Tomes says the charity was born out of a desire to genuinely help – and not about being ‘do-gooders’. The volunteer-led charity works to befriend the homeless community as well as providing nourishment while working with other organisations in the city to find a solution and get a roof over the heads of rough sleepers.

Initially, there was a team of 10 to 12 volunteers. Tara used to bundle foldable tables in the back of her car, while Itihaas whose owner Raj Rana is one of LFB’s founders, provided the food. Now there are more than 100 volunteers and increasing support from the city’s restaurants – Dishoom, Yorks, Franco Manca and Syriana for example.

DEDICATED TEAM

There are dedicated, trained team leaders and volunteers out every night as well as twice weekly breakfasts at the Cathedral. There are also significant walkabout teams in rough sleeping hot spots, regular events at refuges and an LFB Friendship helpline. The breakfast events are often sponsored by local businesses who provide funds enabling the charity to buy food and drink while clothing and key supplies are handed out through partnerships with businesses such as Re:Sole and Socks & Crocs as well as public donations.

Tara explains that the misconception that the system is broken is not strictly true. When LFB began, there were a lot of organisations working to tackle rough sleeping but they weren’t necessarily joined up, so one organisation would do their bit then pass it on to the next. This has changed over time through increased collaboration and communication. LFB’s approach was to say to other services and authorities: ‘Use us. How can we help?’

Volunteers are trained not to promise to fix things but to reassure people they’ll look into it. It’s crucial not to let people down at this point – it’s likely they’ve been let down badly before. The mistrust of authority sometimes goes right back to school, so building trust is the number one priority. Tara says: “It’s a complex situation and can take a year to get the real story sometimes. We aim to build up trust – the biggest barrier to progress. Once we’re on the street we can engage with people, start a conversation and provide genuine support.”

MIX OF PEOPLE

She adds: “Homeless people are just people – some are horrible, some are amazing and some are completely ‘normal’. If you lose your job and you don’t have a support network around you, it would be easy to slip into homelessness. If you’ve been through the care system, if your parents are both dead and you’re an only child, if you’ve mental health issues and don’t have a network of friends, if you’re living on the edge of poverty with no support network and something goes wrong, what do you do?”

Covid changed the situation and the operation stopped temporarily due to lockdown. The Government’s Everyone In scheme meant that those on the city’s streets was offered a place in a hotel. Some of those people are now in accommodation and have jobs and but some chose not to go into the hotel.

While homeless figures are still lower than pre-Covid, they are set to rise. Tara says: “We’re starting to see people ending up on the streets because they can’t pay their bills. Foodbank access is on the up and let’s not forget that Covid was a wild time and mental health is on the decline.” There’s a misconception that LFB and charities like them are enabling homelessness, but that’s not so. Working with other services and charities is powerful and effective. For instance, if there’s someone new to the streets, there’s a 48-hour window to try and get them back home. Beyond then it’s unlikely you’ll get people to reverse. Engaging early and alerting and working with other services is crucial which is only possible through strong networks and understanding.

ROYAL AWARD

The charity which received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service last year – the highest award given to local voluntary groups – is funded through donations and grants and Brum’s business community has been a generous contributor, but it wasn’t always the case. During the first three years there were many doors slammed in faces, but Tara, along with her co-founders weren’t deterred.

They used their networks and personal contacts to drum up support in the city. As well as the business community, Tara is amazed by the kindness and generosity of people, particularly people who don’t have much themselves. LFB is just one of a handful of charities doing wonderful things to tackle homelessness across the city and while we know times are hard, if you’re able to help by donating to or volunteering with any of the homeless charities in the city, it would be hugely appreciated and make a difference.

Bittersweet is how Georgie Moseley describes the 10th anniversary of Help Harry Help Others. The charity was launched by Georgie as a legacy to her son Harry who captured the hearts of the nation when he raised more than £750,000 for cancer research in the last two years of his life, before passing away on 8 October 2011, aged only 11-years-old.

In the 10 years since it became an official charity, Help Harry Help Others (HHHO) has lived up to Georgie’s promise to celebrate the life of her remarkable son by helping more than 1,000 families and giving over £2.6million in his name.

The charity runs Respite Renovations, its own ‘DIY SOS’ style makeover scheme, which to date has renovated four houses as well as the day-to-day running of its Drop In Cancer Support Centre opened in Birmingham in 2015. The centre which bridges the gap between hospital and hospice sees more than 150 people walk through the door every week to get emotional and practical support from a range of 20 services to support families in every aspect outside of treatment – from mental wellbeing to finances and housing.

LIGHT IN THE DARK

The charity marked its anniversary with a special ‘light in the dark’ campaign, producing limited edition glow-in-the-dark bracelets with 10 gold beads representing each year and asking famous faces and members of the public to wear and share the bracelets. Some of the city’s landmarks were also lit up to raise awareness, including the Bullring Bull, which was illuminated with specially made light up HHHO bracelets. The Library of Birmingham, Aston Villa Football Club, New Street’s line of trees and other businesses and organisations in the city, also shone their lights to support the charity.

George said: “The anniversary is really a bittersweet moment. It’s hard because we see Harry in everything we do, but it’s also wonderful to know all the people we have helped. It’s not very often you get the chance to look back and reflect.

“During our own journey with Harry we saw the lack of support there was when we needed advice and support. Your life literally changes completely. Apart from all the stress of the hospital appointments and treatments and juggling those with your emotions, there’s the realisation that you need to become a full-time carer and what about your job and how do you pay for your home? When we lost Harry, we lost everything.”

Georgie added:” Today there are three million people in the UK living with cancer and this is only predicted to rise substantially in the coming years. Research is important, but what are we doing as a community to help? The NHS is there but it is a health specialist and doesn’t offer the vital support beyond treatment that is needed.”

SUPER-LEAN TEAM

Since Georgie launched Help Harry Help Others her whole focus has been structured around where she knew more support was needed for families. The charity has access to experts offering advice and skills from mental and emotional support to financial, debt and benefit advice and even practical help such as bra fitting for those dealing with breast cancer.

Remarkably, the charity operates on a staff of just four employees. It’s a super-lean team with no room for the likes of an events or marketing team. “That’d be me!” says Georgie. “But of course we have access to lots of service providers who come in and charge us for the day and then will give us another day for free.”

More than £200,000 needs to be raised annually to keep HHHO going and unsurprisingly with the pandemic lockdowns and economic crisis that’s proving tougher than ever. “It’s very challenging,” said Georgie, “and that’s why it is so important to do all we can to keep awareness of what we do. We need to work harder, cleverer and continue to be innovative.”

The charity has a number of high-profile supporters, including TV presenter Ben Shepherd, who named Harry as one of his heroes in his Humble Heroes book which was published in September.

“There was no one quite like Harry and even now I feel so lucky to have spent even a short amount of time with such a unique and wonderfully inspiring young boy,” said Ben. “I’m so proud to be flying the HHHO flag in his name, knowing the difference this is making to people’s lives, and keeping his legacy alive is as important now as it ever was.” Oliver and James Phelps, best known as the Weasley twins in Harry Potter, are also ambassadors for HHHO, and said: “The level of support and services such a small team produces is incredible.”
Georgie, who had the honour of being one of the baton bearers for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, added: “Reaching our 10th anniversary, I am so very proud of Harry’s charity and everything his legacy has achieved. It has been an unbelievable journey so far. We’ve created a wonderful community and while we have faced some very challenging times, there’s never a dull moment at HHHO – which is exactly how Harry would have wanted it.”

10 ANNIVERSARY FACTS 

Georgie and the team at Help Harry Help Others have achieved the following in the past 10 years:

1. Launched Birmingham’s first Drop In Cancer Support Centre in 2015.
2. Provided £240,000 to fund vital research via the charity’s HelpCURE fund.
3. Donated £400,000 to families suffering financial hardship via the HHHO HelpCOPE fund.
4. Given nearly £740,000 via the HelpCARE fund, including donations to other charities.
5. Helped more than 1,000 families via the Drop In Cancer centre.
6. Reached its £1million of giving in 2019, meaning over £2.6million has been given to date in Harry’s name.
7. Completed a 22-hour roller skating challenge to mark Harry’s 22nd birthday.
8. Completed the Three Peaks Challenge, twice in 10 days, and kayaked from London to Birmingham.
9. Received a Harry Honoured Star on Broad Street.
10. Broke the world record for world’s longest chain of beads (31,234,48 ft).

October is an important month for Birmingham Rockets. The city’s basketball club is getting set for the start of a new season, filled with excitement, competition and ambition. The Rockets have been part of the city’s sporting fabric since 2003 and in that time the club has impacted the lives of thousands of Birmingham youngsters – from those who have trialled and played on court and many more who have taken part in a huge range of outreach programmes in schools, youth clubs and organisations.

Guiding the Rockets in all this time is Rob Palmer, the founder and managing director. And what started very much as a small club after the demise of the previous Birmingham basketball club, the Bullets, has now grown into an organisation with 13 junior teams, a men’s team competing in the National Basketball League and a women’s team. While the Rockets play in the non-professional league, the ambition is to graduate in time to the professional, high-profile British Basketball League.

“That’s very much the aspiration,” said Rob. “We also aim for our juniors programme to become one of the best in the country, and to have even more involvement with the schools and see more kids coming in. We feel we are on a good path after success of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.”

GOLD MEDAL ACE

The link between the club and the Games is perfectly highlighted by Myles Hesson who scored the winner for England in overtime in the thrilling gold medal match. Myles started out on his basketball journey as a youngsters with the Rockets. The club’s ethos is getting deeply involved in the community and bringing fun and enjoyment to as many kids as possible, while also spotting local basketball talent and developing and bringing it through.

The Rockets home court is at Nechells Wellbeing Centre where the sports hall was not so long ago refurbished with the support of the 2K Foundations and Birmingham City Council, creating a show court with seating for 350 spectators with plans to eventually double that number. “We are building a club that Birmingham can be proud of,” said Rob, who at one time was a coach for the old Bullets basketball club before moving into a basketball development role with the council. Nechells became the home of what started out as City of Birmingham Active Sports, and then City of Birmingham Rockets with the support of the council and a 50 per cent grant from Sport England.

Among Rob’s fellow directors is club ambassador and US basketball legend Hakeem Olajuwon who won back-to-back NBA championships in the US with the Houston Rockets and who was the number one pick in the 1984 NBA draft of college players – the same draft which saw the great Michael Jordan selected at number three. Hakeem has been closely associated with the Rockets since he first came to Birmingham with his family, met up with Rob and saw some basketball sessions. His five sons all been through the club while his daughter studied at the University of Birmingham.

MOVING ON UP

While the men’s team currently competes in the second division of the National League, there are hopes that over the coming season, the Rockets will gain promotion to the first division – thanks to the recruitment of some exciting new players and the arrival of a new coach, Nuno Rodrigues, who has moved to Birmingham because of the Rockets’ potential having worked at a high level  of basketball in his native Portugal.

However the new season unfolds, with the inevitable ups and downs of sport, the club’s many community programmes will continue to play an important part driving interest in basketball across the city. These include a project which focuses on improving basketball experiences for disabled participants, particularly in schools with international exchanges, camps and tournaments.

The Rockets Foundation Programme meanwhile provides thousands of primary children with an introduction to basketball from the age of five through until 11, while the Game Programme allows hundreds of new basketball players to join Rockets sessions in their own locality. The Rockets Schools Programme allows Primary and Secondary schools across the region to experience a club coach delivering sessions during curriculum time and after school. The Rockets also work with a range of partners in outreach programmes across Birmingham which has seen thousands of young people involved in basketball sessions, many in the most deprived areas of the city.

The trajectory for the Rockets certainly looks to be on the up. “We’re thrilled by the prospect of the new season as we look to get promotion into National League Division 1,” said Rob. Achieve that, and the sky is limit for a club that really is one of Birmingham sports ‘hidden gems’.

Back in August 2017, we interviewed the Vamps lead singer Bradley Simpson for Birmingham Living’s front cover and were taken by how original and authentic he, and the other members of the boyband, were. Then aged 21, Bradley was five years into the making of the band which unlike many others had formed naturally as a bunch of mates just getting together and making music they liked.

A further five years down the line, the Vamps are about to celebrate a hugely successful decade together with a 10-year greatest hits anniversary tour, the centrepiece being a date in Brad’s home city, Brum. Brad is now 26 but still looks about 16 – no bad thing for a ‘boy’ band!

Reflecting on the Vamps’ story, he said: “It’s crazy to think what started in our bedrooms and Tristan’s parent’s garage led to us headlining arenas all around the world. The past 10 years have been an incredible journey but what makes it even more special is that it has felt like a shared one between us and our fans.

BEST FRIENDS

“The Vamps have taken us across all five continents and given us the privilege of playing in front of millions of people. Our five albums are chapters in our lives and moments we are hugely proud of. This last year has been one of reflection for us and as four best friends who’ve had the chance to live out our dreams and we now can’t wait to celebrate these memories with our fans on this tour.”

The facts and figures behind The Vamps are impressive:

They have generated more than six billion streams and over two billion views on YouTube alone. Their five albums include two No 1’s – 2017’s Night & Day (Night Edition) and their latest album Cherry Blossom ­– and two No 2’s.

The guys have played global tours and festivals which has seen them perform to more than 2 million people and they became the first band to headline The O2 five years in a row. In the US, they’ve played on the biggest US chat shows, like Ellen and Seth Myers.

Musical collaborations include Shawn Mendes, Demi Lovato, Sigala, Krept & Konan, Matoma and Bruno Mars, while they have shared stages with Coldplay, Jay Z, Taylor Swift, Kings of Leon, Weezer, Ed Sheeran, Pharrell Williams and Sam Smith. And if that’s not enough, they’ve even created their own festival – The Vamps Weekender in Barcelona.

FANS FIRST

The band’s new tour kicks off in Manchester on 23 November before culminating at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena on 11 December. Ahead of the dates, the band is excited about a special fanzine, Ten Years of The Vamps produced as a collaboration with their fans which will be released on 14 October and includes limited edition merchandise and previously unreleased recordings that documents the band’s journey over the last decade.

Brad, who grew up skate-boarding around Eastside from the age of 11 to 18 before band life took over, says he can’t wait to play in Brum again in front of the Vamps adoring fans. “Our fans have always meant everything to us,” he said.

Ruth Millington was advised by everyone except her art teacher not to study art as it wasn’t a ‘proper subject’, that she was a bright girl and if she wanted to go to a decent university and have good career prospects she should shun art as an A-Level.

Ruth did take art A-Level in her own time alongside her other subjects which must have been a tremendous feat and she then went on to study art history at Oxford. She says: “There was so much negativity and even later when I was working in a gallery, my dad told me it wasn’t a proper career.”

Now a published author, working at Sotheby’s Institute of Art with TV and radio appearances under her belt, Ruth is happy with what is most definitely her proper career. The publishing world is still fairly new – Muse launched in May. Since then, TIME magazine has featured excerpts, Ruth has instructed an agent, she’s been on primetime TV and radio multiple times, is writing a proposal for a new book and has a children’s book in the pipeline.

ART LEGENDS

Ruth initially wanted to write a book about Birmingham’s art story through the ages from Pre-Raphaelite to today. She explains: “In 2019, I pitched the idea to 40 agents and 50 publishers. A small local history publisher said yes, but when Covid hit, they put all their staff on furlough and announced they wouldn’t be publishing it. It was really disappointing, but I’m glad of it now.” The disappointment sent Ruth in a different direction.

A friend suggested thinking of an idea for a broader audience and the concept of a book focusing on muses as real people rather than passive beings began to take shape. Ruth says: “Muses have been written about lots before but not in a celebratory way. I wrote a proposal which took nine months and signed a deal with Penguin Randomhouse. They asked me to write the book in six months! That wasn’t possible as I had a job, but I managed it in a year.” Ruth explains that she tends not to use the term muse because of its passivity preferring art legend.

ANXIETY-INDUCING

Ruth says the last two months of writing were hard, particularly the Frida Kahlo section which was the last one she finished. “I think it was because there was so much written about her. I had to find a new angle.” Ruth examined Frida’s diaries and paintings and the way the artist constructed herself. “She was almost managing her image. The diary was like an outpouring of emotion while her paintings were very controlled.” As the launch of Muse got closer Ruth found it stressful. “It was anxiety-inducing. I’d spend a long time researching their worlds and just worried about what people would make of it.” Thankfully the reception has been positive and Muse is selling well.

When local artist and friend Danny Howes approached Ruth to be his muse, she jumped at the chance and is absolutely thrilled with the result (pictured). “He came to my flat and took a bunch of photos. It tells my writing journey really. I believed in him and he believed in me. He asked me which books I wanted in the background and Danny added Muse of his own accord. I’m an introvert and I think he captured that. He knows me well.”

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

TV work wasn’t a natural leap for Ruth the introvert and at the first time of asking, she immediately turned down BBC Breakfast. Ruth had written a small book on artist Eric Tucker dubbed Warrington’s Lowry and they wanted to chat to her about him. “I said ‘no way’. I didn’t want to go on TV but I spoke to the artist’s nephew about it. He said he’d do it and encouraged me. I called the BBC back and did the interview.” She says it was terrifying but Naga and Charlie were brilliant and it opened so many doors. ITV got in touch on the back of it and Ruth did a piece on Cold War Steve plus she’s now listed as an official BBC contributor, has been on Radio 4, Woman’s Hour and many more.

One of Ruth’s big irritations is the lack of funding for arts. “Arts are just not rated at all. The Government has cut funding for art education at university. With the progress of AI a lot of jobs will be automated but not creative industries, so surely we need more creativity not less.” She adds: “It’s so obvious that the arts are good for people that the NHS is prescribing arts for people with anxiety.” Part of Ruth’s role at Sotheby’s and previously at the University of Birmingham is to organise paid internships for art students. “Unpaid internships are only possible for the privileged and that’s not right. That’s so obvious to me.” The situation is changing only thanks to people like Ruth striving for change.

FULL OF PRIDE

Brum is thriving culturally in Ruth’s opinion. “When I moved to Birmingham from London people asked me ‘why are you moving to Birmingham?’ They are always amazed when they come here which I like.” Ruth’s arts highlights in the city include BMAG’s redesigned realms room, Ironhouse gallery and events space, Digbeth’s artist spaces, excellent programming at IKON including more local artists and the most impactful arts event recently, the launch of the Commonwealth Games Festival, Wondrous Stories.

She says: “The atmosphere was electric. It was so heart-warming. The Commonwealth Games and the Festival might look great outwardly, but I felt that on a local level that event brought people together and filled them with pride. That’s what I saw.”

Protest. You can never have too much of it says Horace Panter, bass player with The Specials. “Protest is central to the whole ethos of The Specials,” he says. “As I’ve gotten older, I would have thought that I would have mellowed, but that’s not what’s happened at all!”

The Specials have been raising their voice against injustice for decades through a distinctive mix of ska, reggae and punk rock known as Two-Tone that has elevated the band to legend status. Formed in Coventry in 1977, the line-up has chopped and changed over the years but currently comprises Horace, guitarist Lynval Golding and vocalist Terry Hall. Long-time fans will be joined by those discovering The Specials music for the first time when the guys headline the main stage at Birmingham’s three-day Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival on Friday 8 July.

We caught up with Horace at his home just outside Warwick as the band prepared for the gig at Moseley Park as part of a 12-date series of summer shows. “While we’ve obviously played Birmingham before, we’ve never played Moseley Park and it’s something we’re really looking forward to,” he said. “After all the years, we still get a huge buzz out of performing live. There’s nothing like it.”

RACISM, WAR & DECAY

In the early days, The Specials multicultural make-up challenged far right prejudice and injustice. Critics described their 1979 debut album at the time as ‘tackling racism, war, unemployment and national decay, making them one of the most socially progressive bands of their age’. A succession of top 10 hits followed.

Their 2019 reunion album Encore was just as challenging, focusing on Black Lives Matter, Windrush, racial integration and gang violence. Encore went to number one in the UK Album Chart – the band’s first chart-topping album since 1980.

In September 2021, the band released an album of cover songs from the likes of Bob Marley and Talking Heads titled Protest Songs 1924-2012 to rave reviews. “It was a big risk doing Protests,” said Horace. “It was not what our hard-core fans would expect, but we were really pleased with it.” Horace calls the album an ‘interim product’. The band had been forced to axe a planned tour due to Covid lockdown, so made the album instead. “Because of Covid, the last few years seem to have just disappeared,” said Horace. “Now life is getting back to being a bit more normal, but there are still sections of concert-goers who don’t feel that comfortable with going out and being in a crowd listening to music. Hopefully that’ll change in time.”

WARHOL ON THE WALL

During lockdown the guys had an opportunity to do a bit more of their ‘own thing’. Horace said: “I know that Terry was writing a lot of music, though he’s always loath to admit to it! For me, it’s my art.” Painting is a serious passion for Horace, who graduated from Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University) with a BA in Fine Art in the 70s and has his own website where his pictures can be bought. His work has been exhibited throughout the UK and in New York, Los Angeles and Singapore.

He says he is influenced by the artists he first encountered as a child of the 60s – Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg, Hopper, Blake, Rousseau. With Warhol’s famous picture of Marilyn Monroe selling recently for a record $195million recently, Horace said: “I’ve got a Warhol – an ‘official’ fake which I bought for £250 in New York!”

Horace and Terry were in the US as recently as February doing a charity event and visiting friends in Austin, Texas. The subject of protest was never far away. “It was clear talking to various people just how divided America is,” he said. “US politics is fascinating, especially all that second amendment stuff about the right to bear arms.”

PEAKY DRAMA

Back home, the Two Tone genre led by The Specials, is the subject of a new BBC drama by Peaky Blinders creator, Birmingham’s own Steven Knight. Filming is underway on the six-part series set in the West Midlands at a time of “real cultural and historical progression” which tells the story of an extended family and four young people drawn into the music scene which grew out of Coventry and Birmingham in the late 70s and early 80s.

If you want to see the real thing though, there’s no better way than dropping by on the legends themselves as The Specials let it rip at Moseley Park next month!

You might not think you know Motionhouse but if you witnessed Wondrous Stories in Centenary Square you’ve got Midlands-based Motionhouse to thank for the goosebump-inducing spectacle that kicked off the Birmingham 2022 cultural festival.

We put it to founder Kevin Finnan that on paper or spoken out loud, some of the show’s inventive concepts would have sounded bonkers. He agrees with a chuckle. Such is Motionhouse’s reputation and experience, a pitch situation never arose and they were approached to do the job – that’s not to say a proposal wasn’t required and budgets grappled with.

Founded in 1988, Motionhouse’s past events include the Olympics among other high profile shows across the globe, so I imagine they felt like a safe pair of hands at a time of uncertainty. Kevin says: “Very few people just give you a large amount of money whoever you are, however, what experience does is get you into the room more often.”

Motionhouse tour all over Europe which, with increased barriers has become more problematic. Kevin explains: “Brexit has made things unbelievably difficult. We’ve had to increase costs, so we’re more expensive for people. Because we are known, our work is still there as people are prepared to pay. For smaller companies starting out it’s impossible.”

EVERYTHING TO EVERYBODY

With Wondrous Stories, the process started a year-and-a-half ago with the organisers making one big stipulation that the event would take place in Centenary Square. Kevin spent hours sitting in the square with a notebook looking at the space, watching how people use it and contemplating how to make the most of it.

He says: “On the content side of things I wanted an everything to everybody ethos. Everybody should have access to culture and the arts. Fundamentally Centenary Square is a square of stories – the Library, REP, Symphony Hall. The Shakespeare collection is owned by the people of Birmingham. So, I had a basic idea, but had to make it appeal to everyone.” Kevin adds: “I wanted to bring in threads from great stories written in this region. A mixture of personal stories plus a bit of Shakespeare as well as fresh young poets. At that point I thought ‘I know how to deliver this show’.”

LIVE CAMERA

With a mass cast made up of groups, volunteers, dancers and performers, the quandary was how to show them at their best. Most mass castings are in stadia – the audience high up looking down, but not so in Centenary Square. It was important to build high and bring the whole square to life which brought its own challenges. Kevin says: “Originally, we wanted mass dancers in the fountain, but realised we had people in electric wheelchairs so that wasn’t an option.

“We created aerial stuff, fly-ins, zip lines, innovative lighting. We commissioned a globe structure to come up out of the library well and used the whole square including the library balcony.” Kevin also used live camera which he’d used successfully before. “With the Olympics for example you’re making two shows in one – one for the live audience and one for TV. We did that with Wondrous Stories and I’m very pleased with the result.” Through the artistic process as the show was evolving, like all shows, Kevin says cracks began to appear and that’s when you work at turning problems into opportunities. An established team including producers, OPUS helps.

While the event was outdoors, rehearsal were indoors, so Covid restrictions provided an extra challenge. There were lots of health concerns to consider with some vulnerable cast members. Kevin says: “The country was isolating and we were trying to bring hundreds of people together to rehearse. Once allowed we brought smaller groups together in large studios with the doors open and closer to the time used a vast hall at the NEC to mark out the entire space and bring everyone together.”

FEEL GOOD

Kevin says the cast was amazing and just so thrilled to be taking part. “For two years it’s been a dark time in everybody’s life. Bring people together was amazing. The choir for example were nervous and worked so hard and at the end of the last show they just wanted to stay for a while.”

Reflecting on the pandemic Kevin says: “I think the pandemic has forced us to think about priorities. The first thing anybody wanted to do when restrictions were lifted was to hug friends and family. You can aspire to more – like a nice house, etc. but it’s how you live your life – your relationships that’s the point. You could die leaving a gigantic mansion but nobody cares.”

It’s a bit of an understatement to say that Jess Monthe has a lot going on. England U17, Loughborough Lightning Academy, Stratford Thunderbirds, Bromsgrove School team as well as the usual Year 10 GCSE commitment all feature in Jess’s heady schedule.

Training is intense and matches frequent, but Jess is determined and supported by both school staff as well as her England, Loughborough and Thunderbirds coaches, so she’s able to thrive in the classroom as well as on the netball court.

Jess quotes Muhammed Ali, ‘If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough’ and says that ‘failure is part of the path to success’ allowing a person to become ‘resilient and persevere when things get tough’. She lives by this. For instance, when Jess was unsuccessful in her first attempt to make the England squad she took it in her stride and carried on training hard. She was then invited back after being spotted in a School Games match with Loughborough and this time she was successful.

WORK ETHIC

Selected initially in the goal-keeper spot, Jess has moved to goal defence which requires different skills such as increased speed, but she’s up for the challenge. Chatting to her, it’s hard to believe she’s still a schoolgirl as she’s so driven and yet mature enough to understand the need for balance too. Goals like making it to the England Roses squad sound completely realistic because she’s so measured. By all accounts, Jess’s work ethic is phenomenal believing ‘things are earned not given’ – she also just loves the game which helps. She says: “I love the bond between athletes and playing as a team.”

Remarkably, Jess thought she was awful at netball in primary school. It was only when she was scouted by Stratford Thunderbirds head coach Kelly McCormack and attended a summer camp that she began to see she might have potential. Jess credits playing with older more experienced girls for her rapid improvement.

Jess has been on a high-level netball pathway since she was a 12-year-old when she was first selected for the U15 Loughborough Lightning Academy. She’s now with the U17 Academy and cites head coach, Molly Salmons along with Thunderbirds head performance coach as playing a huge part in developing her ability and nurturing her talent. Covid restrictions meant no face-to-face training or matches in favour of online sessions during lockdown. Happily competing and training is back to normal and Jess has a packed regime again.

MAKING THE GRADES

A combination of regular strength and conditioning taking advantage of the facilities at Bromsgrove as well as multiple club and school sessions and matches generally on a Saturday with Loughborough, mean the week is netball heavy with a rest day on a Monday. While Jess is focused on the sport, she says: “My education and getting good grades for university are also important. You cannot control the future, so it is essential to get a good education, alongside taking part in what you love.”

Jess’s advice to budding netballers is simple: “Love what you are doing. If you don’t enjoy the game, you cannot play your best, and if you cannot play your best, you can’t be there for your team. At the end of the day, netball is a team sport and everything combined is left on the court. You play your best not just for yourself but for the team because the team always comes first, on and off the court.”

With five brothers and two sisters, Haseebah was used to a bit of rough and tumble at home. And having watched her brothers train at Windmill Gym for years, stepping into the ring aged 11 seemed natural. At that time, she was the only girl in the gym which didn’t matter as she felt at home. But for lots of girls, particularly those wearing a headscarf, a boxing gym wasn’t – and still isn’t – an option.

Haseebah who is now a coach – the first hijab-wearing coach in England – is on a mission to affect change and she doesn’t just talk the talk. Civil servant by day, boxing coach by night, Haseebah has been coaching since she was 23-years-old and is a tour de force, taking the fight for inclusivity to the boxing authorities. She has forced rule changes that allow girls to wear head scarves, leggings and sleeves which makes a huge difference to the opportunities for ethnic minorities.

CHANGING THE RULES

Her own boxing career was stunted because of the head scarf rule, so having changed that for girls coming through the system is massive. She says: “No one was representing us and there was such a lack of knowledge. I put forward a study to the head of England Boxing linking dress code to participation levels and highlighting the fact that covering up doesn’t affect athletic performance.”

She was successful and the rules were changed. Haseebah recalls: “The nicest thing recently was seeing girls competing in full leggings and sleeves. It’s amazing.” Female coaching numbers and diversity at the gym have grown thanks to Haseebah. There are now four classes with 32 girls. “It’s a really nice mix,” says Haseebah. “I was the only Asian girl in the gym initially but now there are Polish, Pakistani and Albanian. It’s a real celebration of cultures.”

Haseebah has five carded fighters which means they have a licence to box competitively which is a big deal. Her contribution and commitment is seriously inspiring and one of the reasons she’s been named one of Birmingham 2022’s Hometown Heroes.

SURREAL SURPRISE

“I had no idea I’d been nominated. It was a huge surprise to me,” she says. “I didn’t tell my friends and family I’d been nominated until I got the nod I’d been chosen.” You may have seen her face on a mural by Brum’s own Gent48 on Navigation Street which is quite surreal for Haseebah. “I keep doing a double take!” she adds.

Of the Commonwealth Games, Haseebah thinks they are a huge opportunity for the people of the city to come together. “It’s such a diverse city with so much talent and so much to celebrate. The opportunities aren’t just sporting, but it’s about job creation too in areas in the arts and creative industry too. It’ll be truly inclusive.”

The latest production from Midlands-based masked theatre Vamos is called Dead Good, the theme of which is end of life. ‘Chirpy’ you might think, but actually after much research – literally years – the result is a wonderfully empathetic celebration of life and choice. The theatre’s founder, Rachael Savage has never shied away from tough topics previously tackling subjects such as PTSD and forced adoption along with many others.

During the pandemic a show titled Love Through Double Glazing was performed through 3mm of glass to ‘the most cruelly treated humans in our society’ by which Rachael means staff and residents in care homes. The work was full of engagement, love, tears and laughter and Rachael describes it as one of the most important shows she’s made in her decades-long career.

CULTURE IN QUARANTINE

Full mask theatre isn’t a new idea – in fact Rachael took her first steps into the genre 33 years ago at Trestle Theatre. Sixteen years ago, she launched her own company and Vamos was born. The shows are entirely wordless and highly visual, making them accessible to the deaf community as well as being truly global – there are no language barriers to consider, so Vamos performs all over the world.

Covid restrictions sent some productions online, performing to audiences in China via Zoom for example, but generally as a company Vamos has been lucky during the pandemic says Rachael. As well as being able to perform online, Rachael applied for a BBC Culture in Quarantine commission in 2020 which was successful.

Twenty-five projects in total were selected in the BBC’s mission to bring the arts to UK homes despite venue closures and strict lockdowns. Beating off 1,600 applicants, the Vamos project was based on a collection of shorts posted on social media at the beginning of lockdown titled Ryan In Isolation which were expanded to create a 21-part series.

TOP TALENT

I wrongly thought you wouldn’t necessary need top actors to perform fully masked. Rachael says quite the opposite is true: “If you’re a poor actor, the mask magnifies it. You need particularly strong naturalistic actors to get the message across. Mask technique such as economy, clarity of thought and sharing of thought are essential.” Despite being wordless there is a script, but the actors are running through it in their head. Rachael adds: “The audience works hard to interpret and meets the actors halfway. It’s intellectual and engaging.”

When Dr Maggie Keeble suggested end of life as a theme for a show which ultimately became Dead Good, Rachael’s initial reaction was ‘no way’. Having lost a friend aged 27, Rachael felt she didn’t want to go there and certainly didn’t need to research grief. But the more she explored the idea with Maggie the more she felt it was a story that needed to be told. Rather than a depressing tale of death and grief, Dead Good is about choice and love and relationships.

Rachael spent time in two local hospices – Mary Stevens and St Richard’s which were ‘hand on heart surprising and life changing’. Rachael recalls: “I walked in and it was noisy, there was laughter and a drinks cabinet with every kind of gin.” The nurses and doctors Rachael met were generous and genuine and there was a feeling of anything’s possible. For instance, one patient loved horses, so in his final days, horses were brought to his window. Another patient wanted to get married on Valentine’s Day and the staff made it happen.

ON A MISSION

At St Richard’s there was a group called Men’s Space – a bit like ante-natal classes where female friendship based on a shared situation blossom. Rachael met Nick and Pete who had bonded at the hospice and who became involved with the show. Nick helped with the script and they both came to rehearsals. “Nick and Pete had an outrageous sense of humour and wanted to be involved. They added warmth. It’s positive, funny and poignant.” Sadly, Nick and Pete died before seeing the final show, but they always asked if that happened could they have two empty chairs at a performance.

Vamos’s mission states ‘we aim to transform lives through the empathy and connection of full mask theatre’ and ‘mask theatre taps directly into the power of empathy and encourages awareness of our shared human experiences in an increasingly isolating world.’ It feels so relevant. In times of hardship the arts come into their own – we’ve seen that throughout the pandemic, and we need the escape and entertainment more than ever. If you get an opportunity to see Dead Good, well happy days.

The oldest building-based theatre company in the country and the only one in the region producing new work, the Rep is pioneering and remarkable. Genuinely a forerunner of the RSC and the National, the Rep has led the way since its inception in 1913, producing and attracting the very best talent. Olivier made his debut on the Rep stage and the pull for emerging and established talent just gets stronger. Anyone catch Tom Hiddleston in The Play What I Wrote?

Moving to Centenary Square from Station Street in 1971, the Rep has produced more than 130 new plays, presented over 60 productions on its three stages each year and has built up an admirable outreach programme – one of the largest and most diverse of any arts organisation in the country with 70,000-plus contacts with young people and adults in the community on projects ranging from writing workshops to large scale productions. The theatre is also hot on nurturing new talent through youth theatre groups and training for writers, directors and artists starting out in their careers through the Rep Foundry theatre-makers programme.

SERIOUS TROUBLE

Sean Foley, pictured, joined the Rep as artistic director three weeks before the pandemic changed everything and says he’s spent much of that time fire-fighting: “Covid has been terrible for the theatre. Everything has its context, but it was genuinely close to bankruptcy. Were it not for the Government’s Cultural Recovery Fund we’d have been in serious trouble. Even with that support there had to be redundancies.” The theatre reopened in September with East is East which was well received by audiences and critics, followed by new production What’s New Pussycat? and The Play What I Wrote directed by Sean.

Too many Rep productions to name here have gone on to tour nationally and internationally including festive favourite, The Snowman which is celebrating its 25th anniversary as well as Anita and Me, Lovely Bones, Nativity! The Musical, Of Mice and Men, The King’s Speech to name just a snapshot. The 2022 season features six world premieres as part of Sean’s aim to bring ambitious popular theatre to the city.

NEW MUSICALS

The programme includes brand new musicals and writing exploring issues of class and race, reinventions of classics, and combines work from both established and new talent. On being back in front of live audiences, Sean says: “Re-opening after such a long close-down has been an exhilarating, somewhat hair-raising, and occasionally genuinely electrifying experience. Now we toast the Rep’s 50th anniversary in its Centenary Square home with new shows that innovate, investigate and celebrate.”

There’s a lot of original work to get your teeth into in the extensive celebratory programme, including Birmingham’s Poet Laureate, Casey Bailey’s first play, Grimeboy plus Sky Comedy Rep – a series of inaugural short plays from the writers on the Rep and Sky Studios new comedy writer development scheme premiered in a short festival in March featuring Brum’s own Ryan Walker-Edwards. (Check out page 52 to find out more about Ryan’s involvement.) Also, Sean’s brainchild, Park Bench Plays which brought together the work of some of the country’s brightest writing talents to create a collection of 10-minute plays originally performed as pop-ups across public spaces in Brum which have now been filmed and are available on Sky Arts. Next month, The Covid-19 Variations – a world premiere one-off film and concert – features a collaboration between artist Alison Jackson and Rep artistic associate, composer Richard Thomas directed by Sean is a must-see. There’s so much more and in truth, the whole year looks brilliant.

GRAND ENTRANCE

Work to transform the foyer of the theatre’s iconic curved structure was due to finish at the end of 2021. Slightly delayed, the hoardings should be down by the time you read this. Sean says the biggest change will be having a front door! Referring to the subtle side entrance, Sean adds: “When I arrived at The Rep I thought, ‘well, how do I get in?’ The changes will be incredible.”

At the time of writing, there’s talk of mask wearing in theatres again and we’ll take that if it means the arts staying open. Bearing in mind the hardship of the last couple of years, we urge you to support the Rep and Brum’s other arts venues when you can. As well as experiencing some stunning work, you’ll be helping preserve the city’s rich and varied arts scene.

Amy Booth-Steel is thrilled to be back in the Midlands close to family and friends who are planning a trip en masse – all 18 of them – to see the Magician’s Elephant. After the last couple of years of uncertainty and closures, theatre is thriving and Amy is relishing returning to the stage. “It’s sort of like the old days – so nice to see people’s faces,” she says.

The Magician’s Elephant was set to open last year but due to restrictions was postponed. Now in full swing at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, it’s packed with welcome escapism and wonderment and at its heart, stunning music by Marc Teitler and Nancy Harris. On our first trip back to the theatre after lockdown, it had us in tears and giggles in equal measure. It’s moving, funny and inventively staged and while the whole cast shone, it was Amy playing a role of narrator that brought the show together – a constant gently leading the audience through the production like an old friend.

IN THE KNOW

Having originally workshopped the show a couple of years ago, Amy felt she really wanted to be involved. She recalls: “It’s so beautiful and magical and I knew I wanted to be part of it. The show feels even more relevant now – ultimately it’s about a town (Baltese) suffering and being there for one another as a community.”

Amy’s character wasn’t in the 2009 book by Kate DiCamillo, but the show’s creators felt a narrator role that could build a relationship with the audience would be a good idea. It really works. As an audience member Amy makes you feel part of a secret, in the know.

SAFETY FIRST

Obviously putting on a show like this was never straight forward, but with today’s Covid guidance, it’s a lot. Socially distanced masked rehearsals, hand sanitiser, daily lateral flow tests, twice weekly PCRs and a Covid monitor at every session to ensure everything’s tip-top. Thankfully it’s worked so far with no Covid dramas.

There are understudies and understudies of understudies, but that’s not unusual, just sensible with a winter production running through flu season. Amy’s not fazed by the extra precautions. She says: “I’m just very grateful to be back. The industry has suffered so much during the pandemic.”

Like most actors, lockdown was tough for Amy as theatres were shut and projects ended abruptly. She remembers: “I was working on the National Theatre pantomime. It closed after just three shows. Lots of people said it was a perfect opportunity to write, but I couldn’t. The panic and worry was too much.” Living in a ‘teeny’ flat, Amy and her flatmates watched a lot of Netflix, walked and took up gardening. Didn’t we all?

ABSOLUTELY NUTS

Amy’s writing again now (we could tell you but we’d have to kill you.) If you were lucky enough to see one woman show Honest Amy, you’ll know she’s pretty talented on that front. Honest Amy was spawned in 2019 when some of Amy’s online videos went viral catching the eye of Kathy Burke, (yes Kathy Burke!), who, in a nutshell, got involved and directed the show taking it to Edinburgh Festival and beyond.

Amy says: “It was absolutely nuts. It happened organically. I just put a few videos online and people liked them. I didn’t know what to expect from Edinburgh, but it was wonderful.” We’re keen to see what happens next.

Is there a greater performance venue in the UK, the world even, than Symphony Hall? We don’t think so. And what’s more neither do the stars who love coming to Birmingham and sampling the incredible atmosphere, acoustics and audiences. It’s big news then that during the pandemic lockdown that has crippled so much of the entertainment and hospitality industry, Symphony Hall was actually working at getting even better.

The last 18 months has seen more than £13million – money raised before Covid struck – spent on transforming Symphony Hall’s entrance and public spaces to make them exciting performance areas in their own right. The previous, rather soulless areas outside the main hall have given way to a sparkling new look with brighter, more welcoming bars and cafes, new seating and with entrances sited at each corner of the venue in addition to the access via the International Conference Centre.

ROYAL OPENING

The new Jennifer Blackwell performance space – named after one of Symphony Hall’s greatest patrons and supporters and officially opened by Prince Edward last month – gives local artists the chance to perform as part of daily programmes of free and affordable events and activities. To complete the revamp, Performance Birmingham, the charity that manages Symphony Hall and Town Hall, has been rebranded with a new name, B:Music.

Nick Reed, chief executive of B:Music, said: “Symphony Hall is recognised as one of the best concert halls in the world. What we didn’t have previously was the feeling of entering a great cultural building. Now people coming here can enter straight from our wonderful Centenary Square. The feedback to the changes from artists and from everyone has been incredible. We are very proud of what we have achieved.”

COMMUNITY FIRST

The project, titled Making an Entrance, targeted a number of key areas. First and foremost, to make a visit to Symphony Hall more welcoming for audiences, but also to create an environment and spaces for more informal programmes of performance, to encourage even greater development of music and talent, and to foster greater community involvement and participation. “Music will play a powerful role in reuniting communities after the isolation and hardship of the last 18 months,” said Nick. “We want Symphony Hall to be a leading light for that reconnection.”

While Making an Entrance improves the experience and makes Symphony Hall even more attractive to mainstream acts, B:Music hasn’t forgotten its crucial role in supporting the grass roots of the arts world. This includes helping disadvantaged people from the Midlands by offering music lessons and workshops, creating rehearsal spaces in its venues, providing paid opportunities to perform and supporting funding bid applications.

YOUTH APPEAL

Other community initiatives include the likes of Jazzlines, the free summer school course for local young people, and a recently launched collaboration with Neighbourhd to help celebrate up and coming artists from the West Midlands music scene. B:Music knows the importance of appealing to a younger, more diverse audience as there is still a misconception that Symphony Hall is for classical lovers and the privileged few. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth and the Making an Entrance project has reinforced the fact that the exciting Symphony Hall complex is for all the people, no matter what their background.

Have you heard the one about Birmingham Comedy Festival? What started out as one man’s dream to bring together the city’s small grassroots comedy clubs and provide a mega-showcase for the best comics in the country is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month.

Running from Friday 1 to Sunday 10 October this year’s ‘post-pandemic’ festival features more than 40 shows across a number of venues, including Symphony Hall, Town Hall, the Glee Club and the Old Rep, with an awesome mix of big-name acts such as Russel Brand, Chris Ramsey and Jenny Éclair coming to town, along with a host of emerging newcomers. After being forced to an online-only format last year due to the pandemic, the festival’s founder Dave Freak said: “It’s great to be back – you just can’t beat seeing comedy with a roaring audience. The laughter is infectious!”

Two decades ago, Dave couldn’t have imagined that his idea to put Birmingham firmly on the comedy map would result in the second longest running comedy festival in the UK which has seen all the big stars come to the city over the years. The arts consultant and project manager who works across the creative, culture, heritage and media sectors, said: “Back in 2000, I was aware that there were a fair few small, grassroots comedy clubs dotted all around the city, and they regularly booked acts you’d recognise from the TV and Radio 4. But unless you lived in the area, there was a fair chance you wouldn’t know who they had on as they didn’t have big marketing budgets, and the Internet was really only just starting to break into the mainstream.

STAR BILLINGS

“A festival seemed like a good way to highlight what was going on in the city. So, I approached some of the local clubs and they thought it was a no-brainer. Everyone was so enthusiastic and supportive. When we held that first festival the response from audiences and the venues was incredible, so we had to do it again, and again…”

The inaugural star billing featured Peter Kay and Sean Lock. Alongside a vast range of new local acts, the festival has welcomed such A-list heavy-hitters as Lee Evans, Michael McIntyre, the cast of The Fast Show, Ross Noble, John Bishop, Miranda Hart, Jimmy Carr, Alan Carr, Al Murray The Pub Landlord, Sarah Millican, Jack Whitehall, Stephen Merchant, Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe, Harry Hill, Greg Davies – and Brum heroes Joe Lycett, Lenny Henry and Jasper Carrott. Phew!! It has even included performances from legendary Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley and the late Ken Dodd.

“Stand-up comedy wasn’t as popular as it is today, you didn’t see it all over the TV like you do now, and there was no social media,” said Dave. “The festival really succeeded in highlighting the vibrancy of the city’s comedy scene. That first festival was phenomenal. Getting that off the ground, and the enthusiasm of everyone involved, was amazing. Today, there are hundreds of arts festivals in Birmingham, but then there were only a few by comparison – jazz, books, a film festival, ArtsFest … then us.”

VOLUNTEER-LED

While stand-up comedy forms the core of the festival, there’s also a range of other activities, such as theatre, cabaret, burlesque, improv’, sketch comedy, folk, classical music, DJ/ club nights, pub quizzes, puppet shows and film screenings. Right from the outset, the festival has been unfunded and volunteer-led. “It is not run to make money, but to simply celebrate comedy,” said Dave.

“The festival’s a firm and well-established fixture in the region’s events calendar now, but we’re always looking to see how we can improve and tweak it,” he said. “Looking ahead, we were busily working on several projects we had for 2020 and early 2021 which we had to postpone, due to the pandemic. So, once the festival’s done this month, we’re aiming to go back and revisit those and see what’s still possible in the current climate. And next year we hope to bring back our Breaking Talent Award for emerging artists from the West Midlands – that’s something we see as central to the festival, as it really sums up our regional ethos.”

Every festival has had its highlights. The largest in terms of audience was 86,000 in 2009, thanks to a run of arena shows by Michael McIntyre. The largest in terms of number of events was 2012, when the festival had well over 100 performances .“The first festival was remarkable and we’re very proud of the Birmingham Comedy Festival Breaking Talent Award and enjoy our Free Half-Dayers, which include back-to-back shows in (nearly) adjacent city centre venues,” said Dave.

SPIKE, THE GOONS & HANCOCK

“Personally, being the first professional company to adapt radio series The Goon Show for the stage was amazing – Spike Milligan’s estate had consistently declined the rights, so to do that not once, but twice was remarkable. Also selling out the British Library with The Lost Hancocks: Vacant Lot – a lost BBC Tony Hancock script – was something special, too.

“The Charlie Chaplin soundtrack last year for our online edition, our first such commission, was also great … as the pandemic hit, we were tempted to take a year off, but were glad we pushed through, and the response from people was really positive and encouraging. Hard work, but glad we marked the occasion, and didn’t let 2020 slip by.”

As for any budding would-be comedians out there, Dave has some tips: “Start small. Do five-minute open spots and build up your confidence and material. Find out what works. Find your voice, who are you, what’s your story? Be prepared to fail. Everyone has died on stage. The secret is learning why and building on that. And listen — to other acts and to the audience.”

Cycling lovers need no introduction to the Tour de France, the most famous bike race in the world. But even the most ardent peloton follower may not know the Tour 21 quite so well. Tour 21 features a team of 18 amateur cyclists, led by local ex-England footballer and blood cancer survivor Geoff Thomas, who completed the full 2021 Tour de France route, one week ahead of the professionals. The cyclists pedaled more than 3,400 kilometres (2,100 miles) and battled extreme heat, battering winds, driving rain, fog, crashes, gruelling climbs, illness and fatigue to raise funds for Birmingham-based national blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia. When they finally rode into Paris, past the Arc de Triomphe and along the Champs Elysee they had raised more than £1million.

Cure Leukaemia, which is the first ever official charity partner of the Tour de France in the UK for the next three years, recorded a £1.7million fund-raising shortfall in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Tour 21 team’s efforts will help the charity make up some of the missing funding.

A delighted, but exhausted, Geoff said: “Six weeks earlier, it didn’t look like this event could take place and yet here we are in Paris having not only completed one of the toughest ever Tour de France routes but, more importantly, we have achieved our goal of raising £1million for the charity that helped save my life 18 years ago.

“I am immensely proud of the whole team. I would also like to thank Farr Vintners and all our sponsors and everyone that has donated to get us to our target. We will enjoy this moment but there is still so much to do to ensure blood cancer is eradicated.”

Among the hundreds of congratulatory messages received by the team was one from four-time Tour de France winner, Britain’s Chris Froome who was part of the Tour de France peloton which raced the route a week later.

They’re the Hometown Heroes – 14 local champions who have been named as inspirational by Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games organisers. The Heroes are part of a campaign to celebrate the diversity of the region by shining a spotlight on those who go above and beyond to develop sport, encourage participation and promote physical and mental wellbeing in their community. They include England’s first hijab-wearing boxing coach, a million-pound fund-raiser and the coach of a football team for children with disabilities. The Heroes were revealed as organisers launched a search for 13,000 volunteers to act as helpers at the Games.

More details at: www.birmingham2022.com/volunteering  

A dream come true is how Amy Jones describes the prospect of competing in her home Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022. The talented cricketer will be a key member of the successful England team which is among the favourites as women’s T20 cricket becomes part of the Games for the first time.

“With how things have been in the pandemic, I think the Games are a real light at the end of the tunnel and something for everyone to look forward to,” said Amy. “It’s a brilliant opportunity for the city – all eyes will be on Birmingham and I’m proud to be from Birmingham and having such a global event coming home.”

Amy grew up in Sutton Coldfield and has more than 90 international caps for England as well as playing county cricket for Warwickshire. She is one of the stars of the Birmingham 2022 promotional campaign – celebrating elite athletes with a link to the West Midlands – and is appearing on billboards across the region as the build-up to Games continues to ratchet up.

FACE OF 2022

Amy says it is an honour to be one of the faces of 2022. “It’s incredible, seeing myself on the billboards and with my family walking past and seeing it too. It’s definitely a bit crazy to be honest but it’s something I’m hugely proud of and I feel very lucky to be one of the athletes that’s up there. It’s definitely something that I’ll not forget.”

The Birmingham 2022 cricket competition will be held at Warwickshire’s Edgbaston home and wicketkeeper batter Amy says that will make the competition even more special. “I first started playing for Warwickshire at under 13 level, so it was really where I learned how to play cricket. It’s definitely a special place for me personally. I’ve only been able to play out on the main pitch a handful of times, so just to be able to play out there is one thing, but to represent England out there will be unbelievable, and I’m sure the support we’ll get there will be great as well.

“Every athlete wants to inspire and the more people that can see us and see what we do and see how much fun we have when we’re out there, if that comes across to young girls maybe watching cricket for the first time, I think that is hugely important.”

LUCKY BREAK

Amy’s path to becoming a professional cricketer began as a youngster playing football. “I played on a boys’ football team,” she explains. “Some of my mates played cricket at the local club and I went down there. They had a girls’ team and a successful ladies’ team which wasn’t common at the time. So, I was lucky and it was quite straightforward. They had good links with Warwickshire and I had a trial at Edgbaston at 13 and I went on from there.

“I was part of the first batch of professional England contracts when I was 19 and the growth of competition and raised profile in the women’s game has meant the standard of play has improved all the time. The growth in TV coverage has also been huge for the women’s game. Loads of people will enjoy women’s sport but if they don’t get to see it, then they don’t know how good it is.”

Amy is a member of an England team that is among the world’s top cricket nations. When we spoke she had just returned from a winning tour to New Zealand and was preparing for the new domestic cricket season before visits by India and a return series with the Kiwis. She said: “Being away on tour during the pandemic was a bit scary at times – knowing that my mum and dad are getting older and having to stay indoors and me being away from them. It’s hard as an athlete or anyone when you are working away. You have the benefit of visiting some amazing countries but especially at this time, the other side of it is knowing your family are still staying safe at home.”

GREATEST RIVALS

The current world’s top eight women’s T20 cricket nation, which include hosts England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Pakistan, are eligible to compete at the 2022 Games. There’s no doubt in Amy’s mind who the greatest rivals for the gold medals are. “Australia are always our biggest competition and have a very successful team,” she said. “Much like the men’s teams, there is great rivalry. Maybe not as fierce as the men and not with the same level of sledging, but it’s still ultra-competitive. It’s not my style to sledge people, I just want to do everything I can to make sure we win matches.”

Over the coming months, Amy says the most important thing is to maintain her form and avoid injuries. “Within the squad I see myself now as a senior player with more responsibility than in the past. I want to contribute to our wins and put in match-winning performances. There will hopefully be lots of opportunities to do that on big stages over the coming months and years in front of lots of people.”

If you’re on Instagram and you love Brum, you’ll no doubt be familiar with the modernist cityscapes of Alex Edwards at Brumhaus. What began with a sketch of the brutalist Old Central Library on a post-it note, has morphed into a successful career and a style that’s instantly recognisable.

With a degree in Visual Communications and a career in graphic design pre-Brumhaus, Alex describes his geometric depictions of Birmingham’s built-up skyline as ‘pictures that are patterns, but are also recognisable’.

When the company Alex worked for relocated, his commute became an opportunity to take in the built-up city centre and he started drawing. He says: “It was a labour of love initially.” The Old Library sketch which was picked up online and given some love on social media, was a catalyst to go it alone. Leaving a stable job as a graphic designer was a bit daunting.

Alex gradually went from full to part time and then finally took the plunge in 2017. He says: “There was no masterplan. It was a bit of a leap of faith.” Inspired by Picasso – his Bull picture is an homage to the artist – and Paul Klee of Bauhaus hence the name, as well as sculptor William Mitchell who specialised in concrete relief, Alex’s work reflects his love of a built-up skyline.

CHANGING SKYLINE

He’s given many of Birmingham’s best views the modernist treatment such as Old Joe, Digbeth, Gas Street Basin and many more. Alex says: “I choose to draw things that people identify with. For example, Digbeth High Street. A lot of people love that place.”

The process Alex uses is satisfyingly ordered. At a time when we’re in control of very little, it appeals hugely. An initial pencil sketch on a grid which helps create the composition is then redrawn a few times before being put through graphics software and printed on top quality paper. Alex explains: “I’ve used the software for 20 years. It allows me to make changes toward the end of the process like adjusting colours or adding definition. You know what you’re going to get and I think as an artist it’s important to have a process. It’s part of my success.”

With Birmingham’s skyline changing significantly, there’s much to do. “I’ll have to update Colmore Row when 103 Colmore Row is finished and St Paul’s needs updating too. I’ve been planning to draw the Floozie for a while, but there’s talk of reinstating the water, so I’ll wait a while.” He adds: “There are big changes in Eastside obviously and I’ve a pencil sketch of Grand Central that I keep coming back to. I’ve also done Sutton Park which was a bit different as it’s all organic shapes. Generally, I prefer drawing buildings.”

FROM RUSSIA VIA BRUM

There’s a limited edition print on sale now that emerged from a project designing merchandise for Russian band Blues Bastards for their single, Lights Out . The Russian connection seems quite random, but apparently not. EKBrum Music Session 2020 was an online event that took place last year bringing together musicians from Birmingham with those of similarly industrialised and populated Russian city, Ekaterinburg – a sort of modern day town twinning through music. Alex got involved creating graphics to promote the event fusing the skylines of both cities. The Blues Bastards work came on the back of it.

Alex has worked from his home studio since Brumhaus began, it’s just now he’s doing it with more people around and more frequent requests for snacks! Aside from one local gallery in Sutton, Brumhaus sales are predominantly online, so Covid restrictions haven’t affected the business as much as some. Alex largely credits that with having a sizeable and engaged social media following as well as the trend for home improvements during lockdown.

One thing that has changed is that Alex isn’t taking commissions and working to other people’s briefs anymore which means output has increased. Local arts markets have been missing from the Brumhaus schedule, but as we write, there’s hope of restrictions lifting, so Birmingham’s creative community can get back to meeting customers and one another again. Alex says: “2020 was strange and I think we’re just all working out what 2021 will mean. It’ll be great to see actual people.” Amen.

For any enterprise to be named Business of the Year in this year of all years has to be special. A recognition of success in the toughest of times in living memory, a testament to the ability to innovate in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. For that winner to be a charity is unprecedented.

Midlands Air Ambulance Charity has earned a reputation for being entrepreneurial. It has to be to raise the thousands of pounds needed each and every day to pay for its life-saving missions, either by helicopter or critical response car. While private supporters and donations are hugely important in helping fund the operation, business support is crucial – and we all know the devastating impact Covid has had on the Midlands commercial scene and, a result, its ability to help good causes.

But clever ideas, thinking outside the box and total commitment and hard work has helped MAAC weather the Covid storm in good shape and able to continue providing its vital, life-saving service. That achievement was honoured not once, but twice over when the charity was named Charity of the Year and then overall Business of the Year at the recent Asian Business Chamber of Commerce awards.

NEW DEMANDS

A delighted Hanna Sebright, the charity’s chief executive, said: “This would not have been possible without the ongoing resilience, hard work and dedication shown by all of the team. I would like to thank each and every one of the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity family for making this award win possible. I would also like to say thank you to the public for their support throughout both lockdown periods and their kind donations which continue to make our daily missions possible.”

You might be forgiven for thinking that demand for the air ambulance service would have dropped substantially during the various restrictions and lockdowns – less people commuting, more working from home, fewer opportunities to get out and about and in harm’s way.

Not the case, said the charity’s head of communications and marketing, Helen Stevens, who added people working from home faced heightened risk from accidents in other ways. For a start, figures show that the number of cyclists on Midlands’ roads has gone up by more than 400 per cent. “We’ve experienced more cardiac arrests, more cases of self-harming, more accidents from DIY – so the demand for Midlands Air Ambulance has stayed at near the same level,” she said. In ‘normal’ times, MAA attends an average 13 calls a day – six for the air ambulance helicopters, costing £2,500 a flight, and seven critical cars, at £224 a time. During the pandemic the average number of calls has been 10 a day.

COVER STORY

The charity funds and operates three air ambulance helicopters and two critical care cars serving six Midlands counties, including the West Midlands, Staffordshire and Worcestershire, making up the largest air ambulance operating region in the UK. The charity also provides secondary cover to surrounding areas, such as Warwickshire and Mid Wales. Since 1991, MAA has responded to more than 60,000 missions, and each year it costs more than £10million to maintain the aircraft and the provision of the life-saving service. The charity doesn’t receive funding from the Government for its daily missions, relying entirely on the support and generosity of local people and businesses.

“The great thing about the award, other the excitement at winning, is that it helps to promote even further what we do to the business community,” said Helen. “We knew when the pandemic struck that we had to work on ways to remain in the hearts and minds of businesses and individuals. To that end, we’ve been doing a lot of media profiling with Sky and ITV.”

WINNING NUMBER

She added: “Then it was about adapting our fund-raising abilities to the new situation. Along with everyone else, we had to shut our charity shops and stop planned fund-raising events due to the pandemic restrictions, which meant a 50 per cent drop in fund-raising from our local communities.” To help make up some of the shortfall, the charity has been pushing even harder its successful online Lifesaving Lottery, which raises more than £3million a year. Helen said: “The fact is that we are always looking at developing and creating ideas to fund the service. While we are a charity, we take pride in the fact that we are run like a business.”

This business acumen was not lost on the Asian Business Chamber of Commerce awards judges. Mandy Canny, of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce and head of the judging panel, said: “Midlands Air Ambulance Charity has shown exceptional work during the pandemic, continuing to deliver advanced pre-hospital patient care, while maintaining awareness of and support for the organisation.”

With 2020 being the year from hell you’d be forgiven for thinking the festive season is destined to be all bah-humbug too! But before we rush to accept the Scrooge scenario there is, we are delighted to report, a beacon of light and inspiration shining in Birmingham. And it involves brilliant young musicians from the city – and the Grenadier Guards!

During the pandemic and lockdowns, the amazing team at Birmingham Music Service has been working behind the scenes to continue making music with thousands of schoolchildren. Earlier in the year, the service – one of the largest in the country, working across 384 of the city’s schools, teaching music to approximately 38,000 children and providing 28,000 musical instruments free-of-charge – staged its successful Virtual Youth Proms Festival.

The festival featured 500 young musicians taking part in 30 bespoke pre-recorded free performances over four evenings, streamed to an audience of 4,000 and watched by many more since. The proms also included six performances by the Band of the Royal Marines and raised more than £6,000 through voluntary donations for the Music Service charity.

CONCERT LINE-UPS

“The Virtual Proms were so successful, we’ve decided to do even bigger concerts for Christmas,” said the head of the Music Service, Stuart Birnie. “Nearly 800 children will take part with 22 ensembles and choirs providing pre-recorded pieces. Our contacts with the military mean that this time we have the Band of the Grenadier Guards also performing. Additionally, we are hoping to get official approval from the city council for a relay of traditional festive carols performed live by our brass band and chamber choir from Centenary Square.”

The two Virtual Christmas Festive Concerts will be held on Saturday and Sunday, 12 and 13 December and include Birmingham Schools’ jazz, percussion and guitar ensembles, brass and concert bands, string sinfonia and wind and concert orchestras, plus Guardsmen.

The concerts are the culmination of an incredible amount of creative thinking, organisation and sheer hard work by Birmingham Music Service which has had to adapt to find new ways of working during the pandemic to continue to bring music education to the city’s schoolchildren. The team is part of the Services For Education charity which was formed in the city in 2012 and now employs 240 staff and is part-funded by the Arts Council.

ONLINE FESTIVAL

Stuart said: “In a normal year, our summer youth proms held in July would enable 3,500 young musicians and singers, aged from eight to 18, to perform to live audiences at Symphony Hall. This year, with so many restrictions in place and rehearsals an impossibility, the option was either to cancel everything or transform it to an on-line festival. So, the Virtual Youth Proms Festival was born – four nights of concerts weaving together individual performances from ensemble members in their own homes presented live on consecutive evenings via the web.”

The evening performances ran alongside four daytime programmes celebrating the work of the Music Service past and present, masterclasses in woodwind, brass and percussion led by the Royal Marines Band Service and messages of support from friends, including world-renowned violinist Nicola Benedetti, saxophonist Jess Gillam and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire principal Julian Lloyd-Webber. The Christmas concerts will follow the Proms template but Stuart is promising they will be even more ambitious.

BOLLYWOOD BRASS

He said: “Moving forward, once the pandemic is in the past, we will of course be returning to live performing, but the online opportunities will continue to be developed. Streaming our concerts and festivals mean that friends and relations who live far away can see their children taking part regardless of the distance between them.”

Next year, Stuart aims to widen schoolchildren’s music experiences still further with plans to start working toward summer concerts with the Bollywood Brass Band. He is also leading efforts to make contact with leading artists and musicians to become Music Service ambassadors who would hold masterclasses with children. “We want to show all our children that all options are possible in taking part in and enjoying music.”

Forget the tweeness of GBBO, the Bakeking’s creations are edgy and graphic – much like him – think Mary Berry meets Banksy via Yardley. The tattooed baker/artist makes hyper-realistic pieces that mess with your mind like raw chicken breasts, a lifelike forearm or tasty looking Sunday roast. Thanks to Channel 4’s Extreme Cake Makers, he’s becoming more recognisable although he says that’s mostly confined to the baking section of the supermarket. He says: “If I need to feed the ego, I lurk in the baking aisle! People are so supportive and positive.” Ben has won a gold award at Cake International every year since 2015 and was named one of the UK’s top 10 cake artists at Cakemasters in 2019 as well as being nominated for the Rising Star award at the Cake Masters Magazine awards.

GAP IN THE MARKET

More into drawing than baking, Ben left Brum to study fine art and graphic design at the University of Chester. He says: “Tattooing was what I was really into. I had no idea cake making was an art form. Initially it was just a joke. I thought it would be fun. It was just a hobby that got out of control.” Ben started visiting the big international cake shows and saw a gap in the market. “There were no young lads from my background. There was a gap in the market for something a bit more edgy. I tried to do a few things that broke the mould.”

When he had a go at sculpting with fondant icing Ben realised it was the medium for him. Initially, he started making cakes for family and friends while working as a graphic designer, but eventually, the cake making took over and the hobby became a business in 2016 which was ‘scary’. Having had zero interest in baking a few years before and keen to make the cakes taste as good as they looked, Ben learnt quickly.

He started to create exhibition pieces to hone his craft and get to grips with the baking as well as the finish. He explains: “Sometimes there’s an acceptance in the industry that you sacrifice taste for art, but I didn’t want that. I wanted to make great tasting cakes too.” Ben’s a grafter and while building the brand has been hard, he works tirelessly to be the best he can be and ‘hasn’t looked back’.

Each cake can take anything from three days to a week. Ben says: “Time is limited in order to keep the cake fresh. It’s the delivery that’s the hairy bit!” Ben ducked out of weddings early on saying it just wasn’t for him and the vibe of his cakes doesn’t scream bridal. Making cakes for some high-profile names such as Rita Ora is fun, but Ben’s dream customer would be Sylvester Stallone. “As a massive Rocky fan that would be great. Any excuse to meet him!”

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

Extreme Cake Makers came about because someone saw Ben at Cake International and thought he’d fit the bill. The producers didn’t have anyone like him. “I love the video side of my cake sculpting, so the programme is a great fit for me although I do sometimes wonder what I’ve said and done when I sit down to watch it back!” Ben’s You Tube following has grown to 30,000 subscribers and he prioritises his videos. Most of the cakes that make it to You Tube are actual bakes for real clients, but even if he doesn’t have a paying client, he sets a day aside each week to create something and video it. Eventually Ben would like his own TV show which seems a natural next step.

We’ll forgive Ben for leaving Brum as he’s back in the city regularly to see parents and friends. He particularly loves a grubby old man’s pub and the edgy vibe of Digbeth. He says: “Birmingham’s home, i.e. I would never spend Christmas anywhere ese. I’m always back home with my family in Brum.”

It’s hard to believe, says UB40’s Robin Campbell with an audible sharp intake of breath. “Forty years… gone just like that, in a flash!” The founder-singer-guitarist with one of the UK’s most famous bands paused for a moment and added: “But we’ve never experienced a year quite like this one…”

The Birmingham boys had everything lined up for an amazing, show-stopping celebration of their milestone anniversary since releasing their iconic first album, Signing Off, back in 1980. A huge worldwide tour, spanning the UK, Europe, the US, Africa and more. New music on the way too to add to the occasion for their millions of fans. Then came Covid-19, and like everything else around the globe, time stopped still and lockdown arrived.

“We had so much booked up to do,” said Robin, “and then it was all cancelled. Luckily for us, we have managed to push it all into 2021 – assuming the dreaded virus doesn’t mess that up too.” Robin revealed that he had actually been tested for Covid. “I was feeling really rough for days and I didn’t know what it was, so I thought I’d better get it checked out. I’m glad to say I was given the all-clear!”

LIVE ZOOM SESSIONS

While the anniversary schedule may have been put back, the band has tried to keep busy, especially in regards to their huge fanbase. “We’ve finished off another album which we’ve done as a collaboration with reggae artists from around the world, which should be out at the end of the year,” explained Robin. And then there’s the new UB40 app, launched to give fans unrivalled, up-close personal contact with the boys.

“We needed a way to keep in touch with the fans during these times,” said Robin. “The app gives them direct access to us. We do live Zoom sessions with the fans, interaction sessions, all our back catalogue is available and there’s loads of other content. I even do wine reviews and Jimmy our drummer reviews movies. Our new album is yet to be released but we have played most of the tracks individually on the app. I think more bands will follow what we are doing, it’s the way to go to have control of your interaction with your fans.”

If you look at the pantheon of legendary bands, UB40 are right up there with the likes of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Who, U2, etc. Their fusion of reggae beats with lyrical presentation has seen them have more than 50 UK hit singles and equally huge international success with the likes of Red Red Wine and (I Can’t Help) Falling in Love With You to name but two. There have been four Best Album Grammy nominations along the way and two Billboard number ones.

SPLITS AND RIFTS

There have also been some much-publicised splits and rifts – in keeping with what you’d expect from a closely-knit group of family and friends who have known each other since their school days. “Most of the band went to school with my kid brothers, I was the older kid,” said Robin. “We hung out together as we grew up and went to the same pubs, clubs, youth clubs. When we formed the band it felt more like a social circle than a group if you know what I mean.”

Robin acknowledges that the band have had some good breaks along the way, the biggest being when they were playing a gig in London in the early days and Chrissie Hynde was in the audience. “She came to us afterwards and said: I love you guys! Would you come and support me?”

Robin puts down the band’s longevity down to having a unique sound and luck! “If you have an instantly recognisable sound, you have a career,” he said. “You can hear other reggae bands in the UK and you know immediately that they aren’t us. I go to clubs and bars which I have been going to for years and see some bands that have been playing there for 20 or 30 years and they just didn’t get the right break.”

BLACK LIVES MATTER

Forty years on from its release, Signing Off remains a pivotal album by a British band, tackling issues such as racial tensions, social inequality and politics head-on – subjects which, sadly, are as relevant today as they were in 1980. Considered to be the greatest reggae album ever released by a British band, those early themes are mirrored in UB40’s latest album, For the Many.

With all the racial tensions and political unrest still prevalent in 2020, Robin declares he is “disappointed” that so many issues addressed in that first album remain and, indeed, have actually worsened, as can be seen from the Black Lives Matter movement. “Twenty-seven albums and 40 years later and we are still going on about the same things,” he adds.

With 1.3million followers on Facebook as well as their new app, the band has a great profile for not just entertaining their fans but for getting their messages across more directly than ever before. Already thrilling fans with their Sunday Evening Sessions, the band continues to share exclusive, never-heard tracks, rare pictures and exclusive merchandise, stream live shows and, as Robin alluded to earlier in this interview, give a guided tour of their cellar filled with Red, Red Wine!

 Images by Paul Ward

A holiday back in 2006 triggered Ed King’s love affair with India. “That first taxi ride from the airport,” says the Moseley-born writer. “I remember being hit by the vast similarities and yet the differences from where I grew up. I felt at home, yet alien at the same time. I was immediately fascinated and captivated.”

Perfectly summing up the strange mix was the plethora of British-inspired architecture all around – yet with dozens of monkeys hanging from the masonry. Ed also recalls: “We passed a funeral procession that was familiar in so many ways, except that the body was being carried high above people’s heads.”

In the intervening years, India has become an intricate part of Ed’s life – he has his own house in south Goa. Now he has put his experiences and interactions with the Indian people down in writing in the first of a series of five books. Snapshots of Mumbai was published last month, 73 years on to the day from India’s independence from British colonial rule. The book proves even more timely with the current moral and political focus on India’s torrid history under the British Empire.

MIGHT AND MAJESTY

Ed describes the 204-page coffee table book as “a love letter to the modern-day megacity which encapsulates the might and majesty of India while following the roots of British imperialism”. The anthology of essays and interviews from Mumbai starts with South City, a walking tour through the historical blueprint behind the sprawling metropolis.

Places Behind goes deeper under the surface of prominent areas in Mumbai, such as Dhobi Ghats – the world’s largest outdoor laundromat – and Dharavi, Asia’s biggest slum where the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire was set. Modern Gods, meanwhile, explores three major driving forces behind Mumbai – religion, entertainment and trade.

Interviews sees Ed talk to people about their first-hand experiences of living and working in Mumbai. Interviewees include Saami, a street hawker in Colaba; Ashwin Merchant, deputy director of the Swiss Business Hub, and Naresh Fernandes, a prominent Mumbai-based journalist and writer, who edited Time Out Mumbai when interviewed.

PICTURE SHOWCASE

Supporting the text are a series of original images from Birmingham-based photographer Paul Ward, who won the Fashion Photographer category at the 2020 British Photography Awards. The final chapter in Snapshots of Mumbai, titled The Gallery, showcases a series of 12 photographs by Paul which have been on display as stand-alone exhibitions at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Bilston Art Gallery.

Ed, who initially worked in arts and entertainment before going into journalism and copywriting, said: “Since 2006, I have been back to India virtually every year. I am 42 years old and the Empire and India was never taught in history lessons when I was at school. It has been left to fade away as part of our forgotten history. I wrote Snapshots of Mumbai because I wanted to learn myself about the relationship between Britain and India. Something I hope to pass on in an engaging narrative surrounded by Paul’s beautiful pictures.”

The remaining books in the series will follow Britain’s involvement with India from the trade of the East India Company to the military occupation enforced by the British Crown and cover Kochi, Chennai, Kolkata and Kashmir.

If, like us, you know Mohammed Ali as @AliAerosol on Twitter and have followed the shambles of Birmingham City Council removing the artwork he created in response to George Floyd’s murder, you might be surprised to learn he’s also engaged in a number of strategic roles in shaping the city’s cultural offering.

“It’s complicated,” he says, “I wear many different hats.” A trustee of BMAG, associate artist at the REP, curator of festivals, global multimedia artist and champion of engaging, enriching art, he’s a creative force to be reckoned with.

Mohammed is focused on making Birmingham world class and is excited about where the city could be heading, but accepts there are many challenges. He’s convinced that the way to boost engagement with the arts is to get out into communities and bring quality arts and culture into people’s lives. The belittling of community art and the negative connotations of ‘it’s more face painting than meaningful art’ is a stumbling block. His dilemma is how to change that perception and big-up the value of art.

NOT ROCKET SCIENCE

He explains: “I’m continuously pushing the social benefit of art. All of society does not value it. We don’t see art in a tangible form that people can engage with. It’s squeezed into the curriculum in schools and certainly when I was at school, art was seen as a subject on the fringes. We need to get out and reach people. It’s not rocket science.”

Mohammed has lived in King’s Heath for more than 30 years and uses the High Street as an example. He says: “There is nothing on the High Street that isn’t a commercial offer. If I want to stay local, what can I do? Where’s the art? Where’s the culture?”

As we come out of lockdown, which, as we know has been catastrophic certainly for theatres, we need the arts like never before. Mohammed says: “People have been through a trauma – there’s less space for congregation, no space to just come and sit together. We need to see art as fundamental. We need to re-engage, be vocal. The world has exploded and museums and theatres are breaking. This should wake us up.”

A CITY DIVIDED

Mohammed used to run an arts centre above a charity shop in Spark Brook before the council took the building away and what was remarkable was that people travelled out of their area to get there. People would thank him for giving them a reason to come to Spark Brook. He explains: “Black Lives Matter has us questioning ourselves and realising that a city like Birmingham that celebrates diversity is actually a city divided. We tend to stick to our own pockets of the city and it’s only when you go to somewhere like the Bullring you see the huge diversity of people rubbing shoulders.”

Mohammed’s I Can’t Breathe artwork was painted over by Birmingham City Council within 24 hours of it being completed despite the rest of King’s Heath’s street art remaining. The council did one of those corporate-style apologies on Twitter along the lines of, it was an honest mistake by an operative. Mohammed says: “The stink that was caused! It’s easy to say sorry when everyone’s looking. I accept the apology, but I don’t accept it was an honest mistake.

“Either someone didn’t like the sentiment and ordered it to be taken down or it was someone ignorant who doesn’t understand the situation. The council said they would investigate, but I’ve heard nothing. They are taking me for a mug that listens to corporate nonsense.” As well as repainting the artwork, Mohammed had it projected onto a building around 20 times its original size and a meeting with the council is on the cards.

Having travelled extensively working all over the world, people say to Mohammed, ‘why the hell are you still in Birmingham?’ He says: “I could be in Chicago, Melbourne, Malaysia, but I was born here, my late father is buried here and I’m really excited for my children. The city has changed in the last 10 to 15 years more than ever and I’m committed to making sure it becomes world class.”

Very un-rock and roll. That’s how Jonn Penney describes his life in lockdown. The frontman of Nineties’ alternative rock band, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, is known for his all-action stage performances. And – pandemic willing – he’ll be strutting his stuff again with the rest of the guys before their adoring fans in four very special anniversary live gigs later this year in November and December.

Right now, though, Jonn is doing what thousands of other parents are doing – lots of home schooling in Stourbridge with his eight and 12-year-olds, as well as carrying on with songwriting lecturing duties (online, of course) at Kidderminster College.

“Fingers crossed for our dates later in the year,” he says. “We ummed and ahhed about whether we should announce the gigs in the current climate, but then we thought, yeah let’s do it because people want something to look forward in the current climate.” And look forward to it the fans certainly are, with tickets ‘flying out’, says Jonn.

THE INGREDIENTS

The December dates, on the 4th and 5th, are at Stourbridge Town Hall, a week after the first two gigs at Dingwalls in London. The performances mark the thirtieth anniversary of The Ingredients EP, featuring the tracks Aim, Plug Me In, Grey Cell Green and Terminally Groovie.

“We’ve been trying to come back to Stourbridge since 1988,” Jonn explains. “The last time we played in Stourbridge it was very early days and at the time we still had a female backing vocalist in the band – that’s a line-up that most people never would have seen and wouldn’t even know about. The five original members haven’t been able to get back and play since then, so this is the first time the five of us are going to get back on a stage in Stourbridge since 1988, which is just amazing really.”

The Ingredients EP was released in April 1990, and Jonn describes it being “a turning point in our career. It was the point we realised we were going to have a career because up until that point, until that record was released, we had no idea really what the future might be. There could not have been much of a future, things could have ground to a halt after that.

SUCCESS

“So I suppose what sort of happened with Ingredients is that we put it out there, it did way better than we ever imagined it was going to do, and because of that success we were just out and about everywhere else, everywhere but Stourbridge. So we didn’t get the opportunity, I guess, to play the songs from that EP to a Stourbridge audience, and we never have had that opportunity, so that’ll be quite special to come back. We recorded it only a few hundred yards away from the venue. So it’s a celebration of coming full circle.”

The EP was recorded in Enville Street, down the road from Stourbridge Town Hall, in a studio called Wrekless. Jonn explains: “We’d done a previous demo there, but we were so skint when we did that that we had to paint the studios to pay for it, because we didn’t have any money to pay them!

Once recorded, the band ended up taking it to London to remix. “So, it’s kind of funny that it was sort of representative of the fact that we’ve got our roots in Stourbridge, that we’d written these songs around here, but the next step was always going to be moving away from here. We ended up going to the Greenhouse studio in London and getting it remixed.”

THE SMOKE

The two shows at Dingwalls revisit where the band played around the release of the EP. “That moment represented that point in our lives where everything took off and we went from being Stourbridge lads to taking that leap into the big bad world and the smoke,” says Jonn. But it’s the return to their roots in Stourbridge which the band is especially looking forward to.

Ticket sales reveal that the audiences will be a mix of people from across the Midands, the UK and from around the world. “There are going to be people who have been with us from the very start, so that will make it a massive nostalgia trip,” said John. “People who he saw the band performing in the local pub when we were snotty nobodies!”

The band has been touring together for the past couple of years and pride themselves on their live performances. Jonn says they’ll need only five or six rehearsals just to fine tune everything, plus he’s running and work out lots because of his high-energy stage presence. “I’m nearly 52 years of age and you have to accept that things do slow down, but I can’t stand or sit still when I perform. So I need to make sure I am fit enough to have all the stamina I need.”

POT BOILER

Jonn and the guys say they are looking forward to getting the feeling of coming home which they’ve never really had. He says: “Our adopted hometown became Wolverhampton, I guess, and the shows we used to do at the end of each touring year, at the Civil Hall at Christmas, they would represent our homecoming show. Those gigs turned into a bit of a pilgrimage for people from all over the world that we’d been to see that year flying into this country to see us on home turf.

“I want to give a little bit back to Stourbridge now as it’s my hometown, it’s the place I’ve lived for 28 years. It’s a place that has done a lot for the culture of the Black Country, it was a real proper pot boiler of artistic creation in the Nineties, and a lot of that has disappeared over time – there isn’t even an art college anymore. I want people to celebrate Stourbridge a bit.”

There’s some incredible fundraising going on in the region as well as people and organisations stepping up to the mark donating food for frontline workers and making crucial PPE. Bravo Brum!

This series of images of essential workers taken by Birmingham photographer, Kris Askey before lockdown feels very relevant. The series incorporates the breadth of NHS workers including hospital porters and volunteers as well as doctors, nurses and ambulance crew and captures the warmth.

You’re all proper heroes in our book.

Thank you so much.

You are appreciated.

Gary Lindsay-Moore has been going about his craft for 35 years starting long before the rise of Photoshop or the smart phone and still maintains traditional methods are best. Although Gary has photographed Birmingham over the years publishing six books featuring the city’s urban landscape, portraiture is what gets him going.

We don’t mean white background in a soulless studio sort of portraiture, but proper creative shots that reflect the subject’s personality and vibe. Gary spends time getting to know clients and goes the extra mile literally in some cases. Take the merman image (see page XX). This entailed hand making the tail that incorporated a fin piece that lit up and a six-hour round trip to a beach in Somerset to get the perfect shot.

PRESSURE

Of the pressure men are currently under thanks to the chiselled jaws and wash board stomachs in the media, Gary says: “There’s so much studio photography of men that’s hard, black and white, muscular. Not every guy is an Insta muscle toned man.” He adds: “I’m 60 this year. I’ve a dad bod, a belly, wrinkles, scars. I want my photographs to reflect real beauty.”

Inspired by the cheeky sexiness of the 1920s trend for the female ‘boudoir’ where women would pose for photographs to be sent to their other halves, Gary has launched a service called the Dudeoir Experience – do you see what he did there? Dudeoir feels like the antidote to the pressures of social media. It’s inclusive, creative, fun – a place where anything goes. Gary says: “I know from first-hand experience what it is like to be trolled on social media and called ‘fat and ugly’ by a total stranger, it can really erode your confidence.” He adds: “As an actor and mature model I have experienced what it is like on both sides of the camera. I want to break down barriers and give something that is completely individual to the client.”

TYPECAST

Gary has worked with terminally ill clients and their families capturing treasured shots. He has also donated his services free of charge to a local hospice. Gary also loves event photography, but you can bet your bottom dollar it’s not your average set of shots. He somehow discreetly gets right in the thick of it capturing the moments that matter. “You need to have your antenna out at events ready to spot people reacting.”

Film stills photography is something he loves too, but it’s particularly tricky. Gary explains: “You need to know what’s going on all the time. You have to stay out of the way, but be ready to jump in when appropriate. I love the process of watching a film being made. The amount of people involved in 30 seconds of filming is incredible.” Gary is also an extra currently playing a prisoner in BBC drama Doctors. “I’m a bit typecast and generally either play a convict or a security guard!” Keep your eyes peeled.

Gary’s motivation is to be ‘creatively satisfied’ rather to make a wad of cash, so the results are infinitely more atmospheric and pleasing than pursuing the big bucks. He sums up his approach when he says: “To not be thrilled would feel like something was missing.”

Fate. It plays a part in all our lives, but none more so than that of West Midlands mayor Andy Street. For more than 20 years from his school days, Andy was involved in voluntary work running adventure camps to Wales for underprivileged Birmingham kids. After graduating from university at Oxford, a career in social work in his home city appeared a shoe-in. Only it was that simple.

He was interviewed and then offered a job as a social worker in Brum, but Andy was informed at the eleventh hour that the authority had run out of money – they didn’t have any budget left to hire him! Frustrated, he decided to direct his talents in the commercial sector instead – he studied economics and politics at uni.

He applied for a position at the biggest name in the high street, Marks and Spencer, but they turned him down. An interview with another retail biggie, John Lewis, proved more successful and he was hired. The rest is history!

GAMBLE

Working his way up through department stores and head office, Andy became John Lewis’s managing director in 2007 and during his tenure oversaw a 50 per cent increase in sales to more than £4.4billion, a doubling in the number of stores and the growth of the company’s online sales presence. He became one of the highest profile retailers in the UK.

Then after 10 years at the company, he opted to change direction completely, quitting the business for what he readily admits was a “huge gamble” running as a candidate to become the region’s first-ever mayor. The risk paid off when he was elected by voters to lead Birmingham and the West Midlands in what is one of the most important periods of change in our modern history.

Born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, Andy was just 10 months old when his parents decided to move back to Birmingham after the briefest of times away. Andy grew up in the family homes in Northfield and then Solihull and went to Green Meadow Infants School, Langley Junior School and King Edward’s School, Edgbaston.

“My great grandparents and grandparents came from Castle Bromwich and Northfield and were traders in the city, so I have generations of Brummie blood running through me,” said Andy. “And now I live in the Cube, so I am well and truly right in the heart of the city, seeing and feeling everything that goes on.”

ALL-ACTION

Being in the thick of the action is important to Andy not just because this is a particularly exciting time in the development of Birmingham and the wider West Midlands as a centre of world-class excellence in business, education, technology, the arts and more. Regardless of your personal political persuasion, it’s hard not to be won over by the man’s sheer enthusiasm and ‘can do’ attitude.

“This is such an exciting and vibrant time for the city and region,” he said, citing the ever-growing numbers of young people choosing to move from London to work here. “When I was 18 in the early eighties, I remember clearly how people wanted to leave Birmingham,” he explained. “Now we have completely turned that around, statistically with more young achievers moving from the capital to Brum than going the other way.” The same figures show that 16,000 more young Londoners choose to come to Birmingham than opt to go and work in Manchester.

Andy says this picture promises to get even better with major infrastructure projects such as HS2 which already directly employs more than 6,000 people. In his true ‘Mr Motivator’ style, he also argues that the West Midlands could get a boost from Brexit – even though he campaigned as a Remainer during the referendum campaign. “Remainers have to accept we lost the argument and now we move on and it’s all about securing the all-important trade deals,” he says.

CHALLENGES

Andy says the biggest challenges facing decision-makers will come as a result of the region’s success. A growing population will require more and better housing and transport. “One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in life is to be brave and bet big. There’s no doubt in my mind that Birmingham has got its mojo back and we have to set our horizons really high.

“For 40 years we went backwards and that has been reversed. I want to see Birmingham in the list of the top international cities and I am very optimistic we can achieve this. The feedback about the city, particularly in the US but around the world too, is very positive.”

When he’s not championing all-things Birmingham, Andy likes to get up early, relax and recharge with a run along the city’s canals. “It’s my favourite part of the city, not just the bits that we all get to see and are familiar with, but also the quiet, unloved parts of the canals. They are a part of the uniqueness of the place.”

You probably recognise Mitch Miller from his successful stint on The Voice in 2015 on team Rita Ora where he impressed audiences with his swing-inspired performances which led to West End shows and some very swanky corporate gigs. Now back in his home-town passing on his performing wisdom to youngsters at Cadbury Sixth Form College, we caught up with Mitch.

With a song-writing father and music a constant at home, Mitch was immersed from birth and says: “Sadly I was one of those kids always performing! I vaguely remember a Grease number at primary school.” King’s Norton Primary School was the one, but it was at secondary school where he really found his groove although it wasn’t always appreciated by his peers.

Mitch recalls: “I got picked on a lot. Singing wasn’t cool. There was a ‘God, how embarrassing’ sort of attitude, but I did it anyway.” At the same time Mitch was performing with a City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra choir and sang at the Commonwealth Games and for the Queen at Symphony Hall among other high-profile events. Further down the line at drama school tutors would say they could tell Mitch had a classical training. “The funny thing is I hadn’t had any classical training other than the sessions with the choir at the CBSO.”

THE REAL VOICE

Sixth form with a particularly inspiring drama teacher cemented Mitch’s love of performing and led him to the well-regarded Mountview Academy Drama school in London where he specialised in musical theatre. This grounding made Mitch think the audition for The Voice would be fine, but actually it was ‘petrifying’.

The thing the viewer doesn’t know about The Voice is that the auditionees go through months of vocal coaching before the first televised audition, so the programme makers have already invested a lot in each of the hopefuls. Mitch’s vocal coach was Mark De-Lisser who was director of the Royal Wedding Choir and pretty high profile.

Mitch says: “Even if you don’t get very far you’ve already had access to amazing training and learned quite a lot.” The preparation didn’t squash the nerves of the chair-turning audition though. “The fear is that no one turns around. I arrived up with my family at 6am and my audition was at 11.30pm which built the anxiety.” He needn’t have worried. Mitch joined Rita Ora’s team and had a ‘fabulous’ experience that definitely opened doors.

SURREAL MOMENTS

A role in Godspell on the West End has been one of the highlights as well as Westside Story and Rent and his fee has certainly benefited. There’ve been some high-profile events that have been slightly bizarre. At a ‘posh cricket match’ where Mitch was performing he was sat between Nigel Farage and one of Princess Diana’s cousins, which he says was surreal.

There’ve been other surreal moments along the way like performing at Party in the Park and supporting the likes of Blue and Liberty X before the TV stuff happened. Mitch says: “I don’t really know how that came about. I used to record the demos of dad’s songs with a friend and it just snowballed from there. Party in the Park was the first time I’d really sung on my own and it was in front of 30,000 people. I might as well have been sponsored by Reebok. It was Nineties and I was head to toe!”

TALENT SEEKING

After a spell in London Mitch moved back to Birmingham with his husband largely to start a family and he’s loving being back. Now with twins, Mitch’s role as a tutor in performing arts means he has a solid base for the children while inspiring young people and still performing outside college hours. “I’ve always taught between jobs as lots of performers do, but this is different. Generally, I’ve taught in drama schools where the students know exactly what they want to do and believe they will get there. Here, every kid is so different. There’s a lot of raw talent and they really don’t know how good they are. This is my passion and seeing the next generation of performers cut their teeth means the world. It doesn’t seem too long ago since I was doing the same.”

Adam Stokes’ dream as a young lad was to have a 20-seater restaurant by the sea but as he grew older he realised that, wonderful as that idea might be, it would never pay the mortgage and the bills.

Growing up in a family that enjoyed their food and with a father that produced all the veg they could eat and more from his allotment – none of that pre-packaged supermarket nonsense – it’s not surprising that Adam wanted to make a career in the kitchen.

“Actually, the family kitchen was out of bounds to me as my dad produced good quality food while enjoying a beer and listening to music,” says Adam. Despite the lack of ‘hands-on’ action in the kitchen, his love of food took him to college for a couple of years before spending seven years learning all he could at Hambleton Hall in Leicestershire before taking a head chef role at Glenapp Castle in the Scottish lowlands.

AWARD-WINNING

Fast forward to 2020, and Adam is – with his wife Natasha – the owner of two of the Midlands finest restaurants – Adam’s and the Oyster Club in Birmingham. And not just the Midlands either! Adam’s has been named the tenth best restaurant in the world and the number one in the UK in the prestigious TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Restaurants Awards. The awards are a big thing in the restaurant world because they are decided by analysis of millions of reviews and opinions collected over a single year from travellers around the globe. Adam’s ranks in the world top 10 with premier eateries in Beijing, Paris, Thailand, Buenos Aires and Girona in Spain. Impressive. And a nice addition to the restaurant’s Michelin star which it retained in the new 2020 guide.

Adam and Natasha’s success feels like a bit of whirlwind. They launched Adam’s as a pop-up in sandwich shop in Bennetts Hill in 2013 and earned a Michelin star within six months before moving to Waterloo Street in 2016, where they have held the star ever since. The couple opened the Oyster Club earlier this year on 1 April. “We’re not superstitious types,” Adam confirmed.

FISH CHOICE

“I’ve always thought to myself that’s I love to have a fish and chip shop – nine times out of 10 when I go out to eat I will order fish,” said Adam. “With the Oyster Club we identified a gap in the market in Birmingham that no one had focussed on. Oysters are actually a small part of the offering – there’s plenty else to eat.”

With the Midlands now holding six Michelin stars – the most in the UK outside of London – and with the likes of the Ivy and the new Gino’s opening up close by, Adam says there has never been a more exciting time to be a foodie in Brum. “The food scene here is incredible,” he said. “It has changed massively just in the short time we have been here. Birmingham is such a vibrant and interesting city. We could see the potential which is why we chose to come here.”

WINE IDEA

With Adam looking after the food and Natasha concentrating on the management side, the couple have plenty of ideas to expand over the coming years. “We will continue to push and strive for more,” said Adam. “We are currently investing in wine at Adam’s. People get awkward about the cost of wine in a restaurant. They don’t understand the ins and outs of buying the wine, the tax you pay and the storage and so on.”

To give the customer long-term better value, Adam is stocking up with good quality wine now with the help of a wine advisor. “The aim is to buy the wine at today’s prices, store it and then later we can serve it to the customer at the original cost and that way pass on the saving,” he said.

Making people laugh for 25 years sounds like a business we’d all love to be in. And for sure, running the Glee Club has had plenty of highs for founder and CEO, Mark Tughan. But it’s also had some tough times. Pardon the pun, but comedy can be a funny business.

Mark set up Glee Club in Birmingham after taking “the massive gamble” to quit his city of London investment banking job to strike out as an entrepreneur with a mission to deliver stand-up comedy to ‘the regions’. As a ‘massive fan’ of the Comedy Store, he believed there was a gap in the market for transferring the blueprint outside the capital.

He says he was warned by plenty of people that the comedy club format just wouldn’t work in places like Birmingham. “I thought that thinking was a myth,” he recalls. And as Glee celebrates its 25th birthday, Mark was proved right.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

Birmingham Glee opened in 1994, with Cardiff following in 2001, Oxford and Nottingham in 2010 and Glasgow in February this year. (A sixth Glee Club is on the cards before too long in an as-yet undefined location.) The dates prove the progression in the business has been steady and carefully planned. As Mark says there are no prizes for going at it with all guns blazing, only to be firing a load of blanks.

“There is no doubt about it, there was a bit of luck involved in the Glee’s success along the way,” he adds. “We were definitely in the right place at the right time – in the late 90s the comedy circuit had really come about and developed, and today there now seems to be an incredible appetite to see comics live.”

FAMOUS NAMES

Since becoming the UK’s first dedicated comedy club outside of London, Glee has hosted acts including Jack Whitehall, Jack Dee, Jimmy Carr, Katherine Ryan and Sarah Millican. Comedians who cut their teeth at Glee include Peter Kay and Lee Mack. The Birmingham venue has also played an invaluable role in supporting Midlands comics such as Joe Lycett, and Guz Khan.

Over the years, Glee has widened its brief to be as inclusive as possible of all genres of comedy and added live music to the mix. It has also played a growing role in comedy and music festivals in Birmingham and at its other venues.

Mark likes to describe the history of the business as ‘The Four Epochs of the Glee’. “The first was the pioneer years and learning on the job,” he explains. “The business was far from an instant success. It took years for Birmingham to get going.” The second epoch Mark labels ‘The Jongleurs Years’ when fierce competition from the rival chain drove him to “sit round for 10 years and think ‘that’s it!’” When Jongleurs collapsed in 2009, Mark picked up their clubs in Nottingham and Oxford.

SKY BATTLE

Epoch three involved six years of litigation with Rupert Murdoch over Sky’s hugely successful Glee TV show. “The final fourth epoch was when we won the litigation and we opened the Glee Club in Glasgow this year,” said Mark. “It all feels a bit like the tortoise and the hare – it has ‘only’ taken 25 years to become the leading brand in the medium-size comedy market!” Mark is always on the look-out to keep Glee fresh, which is why he is involved with Birmingham Comedy Festival and its Breaking Talent Award and why he travels around the country and buys a ticket to see ‘some hot comedian I’ve been tipped off about’. And if there’s any rough, undiscovered comedian out there in the general public, Glee also gives them a shot at its Friday night ‘open mic’ slot. “We have a six-month waiting list,” said Mark.

GLEE FOR LIFE, MATE

He added: “I don’t know where the 25 years have gone. I’m just delighted I have made so many people laugh over the years, and hopefully, in my small way, made a contribution to both the local entertainment scene as well as the live comedy and music businesses”.

We’ll leave the last word on Glee to Guz Khan who said: “Just two years ago, Joe Lycett and the gang at the Glee Club in Birmingham invited me in to perform at a comedy club for the first time. I have now learned that I was lucky enough to start at the very best comedy club in the land. All other comedy clubs can suck their mums as far as I’m concerned. Glee Club Brum Town for life mate!”

The intensity of two shows a day at Edinburgh Festival may have been taking its toll when we chatted to Rob Kemp, but despite a cold (absolutely not man flu because it’s 2019 and we’re not going there) he was as chipper as ever.

Edinburgh 2017 is the place Rob credits with his ‘big hurricane’ where comedy horror musical, the Elvis Dead – a retelling of cult horror movie Evil Dead II in the style of Elvis Presley – was one of the hits of the festival. Rave reviews, a best newcomer nomination and a bucket load of opportunities followed.

MOONRAKER 2

The following year, not so great. Wheel of Shows in 2018 didn’t connect with audiences in the same way and Rob says he felt ‘the pressure and fear of failure’. He explains: “I didn’t know what people expected. I wasn’t happy writing it or doing it.” This year, he wilfully wrote a show that was ‘silly and just had a lot of fun’.

Cue Moonraker 2 which focuses on that ‘thin veil between sleep and awake, where your mind wanders unimpeded’. It’s a collection of those thoughts including some stuff on Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte and a song full of penis synonyms about the Icelandic Phallological Society. Standard.

At the time of writing, we’re not sure if we’ll see this or an entirely different show at Birmingham Comedy Festival, but there’ll be belly laughs for sure. Rob tries to avoid reviews. He says: “You get good reviews and then just one off-colour one can throw your whole day out. Then there’s a temptation to change the show. No, I don’t bother.”

NOODLING AWAY

Rob’s route into comedy came via Birmingham’s electro rock scene and exam invigilation quite randomly. The camaraderie of being in a band ‘jumping the van’ was enjoyable. Rob recalls: “Everyone’s noodling away in a practice room. It was a lot of fun, but they weren’t my gang. It wasn’t my home.”

When the drummer took time out for ‘nefarious reasons’ and Rob started to struggle financially he began invigilating exams. “It’s an important job, but it’s not thrilling. While I was there, the exam officer suffered a mental breakdown which was lucky for me. I stepped into the role. She’s alright now.”

Despite always being a fan of jokes, Rob says he really wasn’t the funny kid at school. “I had a severe side parting, thick glasses and looked like a bank manager, yet friends say now, ‘I always knew you were funny’ and aren’t surprised by my career choice.” The decision to go into stand-up came when Rob thought up a joke he’d never heard before and turned it into an eight-page Word document.

He recalls: “I thought ‘why am I doing this?’ so I went along to an open mic night. I just didn’t want to be an old man with regrets.” Rob says there’s an element of ego and kudos associated with the stand-up scene and that it’s easy to forget it’s all just silliness really.

“When you die on your arse it doesn’t feel like that, but really the worse thing that can happen is they might forget who you are or never come again. I obviously want approval. Hug your kids or they’ll end up like me!” He adds: “Mum, don’t worry, you hugged me enough.”

Speaking of family, the performing gene perhaps came from Rob’s dad who was into amateur dramatics. “He’s a grand presence at 6ft 3in with a deep booming voice and always smiling, so there was no surprise I ended up performing. My mum’s a bit quieter, more contemplative.”

GUESSING GAME

Rob’s fond of Birmingham and recalls many a night at Foundry and Excel. “I’m proud of it and I love how it’s changed. The comedy scene’s not as big as in other cities, but it’s a really nice place to be.” He’s excited to be heading back for Birmingham Comedy Festival this month even if he’s keeping us guessing with the content. “The blurb I’ve written is vague. Am I going to be doing Moonraker or have I got time to do something else? I’ll do my best.”

The multi-award-winning Ballet Black, launched in 2001 by Ballet Now Consortium member Casso Pancho, aims to provide role models for young black and Asian dancers naturally bringing a more culturally diverse audience to ballet. Fresh from Birmingham’s world class Elmhurst Ballet School, Ebony Thomas is one of the company’s shining lights and is coming back to the city to perform in a collaboration with Birmingham Royal Ballet at the Hippodrome this month. As a boy, and a black boy at that, ballet wasn’t Ebony’s first choice of extra-curricular activity.

Always sporty and into football, cricket and rugby, Ebony hadn’t considered dancing as a hobby. His mum had a bit of a ‘ballet is for girls’ attitude too, so it really wasn’t on the radar. By chance, Ebony was at a friend’s house on the day he had a ballet lesson and was roped in. He explains: “I didn’t even know my friend did ballet! He took me to one of his classes and it was okay.”

THANKS TEACHER!

Not immediately in love with it, Ebony stuck with ballet largely thanks to his teacher at Kingston Ballet School who was ‘encouraging without being pushy’ and he slowly got more into it. Six years later, Ebony was chosen to play one of the page boys in Sleeping Beauty at Covent Garden which was a bit of a turning point. He took classes with the Royal Ballet Junior Associates for three years and performed several times with the Royal Ballet Company. “Up until this point I was still playing football and rugby, but I had to make a decision.”

Aged just 11, Ebony was offered a place boarding at Elmhurst Ballet School in Edgbaston which was a bit of a dream. He says: “As an only child it was great suddenly being around so many people. When you’re growing up aged 14, 15, 16 it’s good to be surrounded by friends. It was probably nice for parents too!”

THE NUTCRACKER

Ebony benefitted from the school’s strong links with Birmingham Royal Ballet, dancing in The Nutcracker as well collaborations with the Rep and performing at Symphony Hall which was a highlight. He’s danced overseas at the Virginia Arts Festival in the US as well as David Bintley’s Argonauts, Sir Peter Wright’s Coppélia and the Don Quixote pas de deux choreographed by Marius Petipa. Of Brum, Ebony says: “It’s world class. I spent nine years in Birmingham. It’s my second home and it’s so nice to be back with Ballet Black.”

Since joining the company in 2017, Ebony has danced in ballets by Martin Lawrance, Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa and Arthur Pita, and created roles in The Suit by Cathy Marston. He says he’s just trying to learn as much as possible and perform lots. Ultimately, Ebony wants to work hard and save to be able to afford a property in London. We say, forget that and move to Brum. It’s way cooler. Just saying…

One hundred years ago this October, a Bach enthusiast and musicologist gave a lecture on the German composer at the original Midland Institute building next to Birmingham Town Hall. It’s unlikely that Dr Bernard Jackson could have imagined in his wildest dreams that from such humble beginnings would spring one of the UK’s most respected choirs, now celebrating its centenary.

In the intervening years, Birmingham Bach Society, as it was then known, grew from small ensembles of 12 singers to the magnificent 80-strong Birmingham Bach Choir of 2019. Here at Birmingham Living we love covering and promoting the rich and diverse musical heritage of this great city of ours. The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Conservatoire Folk Ensemble and the People’s Orchestra are just six of the inspiring institutions that have featured in our pages. This month we’re proud to add Birmingham Bach Choir, led by its inspiring conductor and music director Paul Spicer, to the list.

STAR PATRON

The choir’s centenary year has already proved notable with famed opera star and baritone Roderick Williams OBE becoming its patron. Roderick said: “I’m delighted to be associated with the choir. Living as I do in the Midlands makes this pretty much my local choir. My association with Paul Spicer goes back more than 30 years, so I am especially pleased to support the work he has done, and continues to do, with this proud and magnificent choir.”

The choir’s centenary celebrations feature a number of special concerts, including a recital by Roderick, a moving evening of Afro-American spirituals and a 100 Gala Concert in Lichfield Cathedral in November. The choir has already sung before Prince Harry as well as successfully toured France.

Paul, who is marking his 27th year as conductor, took charge of the choir in 1992 from Richard Butt who developed it through what was acknowledged as a ‘golden era’ which saw debts paid off, major financial support offered by the Arts Council and recitals by music legends such as violinist Yehudi Menuhin.

GROWING REPERTOIRE

Under Paul’s leadership the choir’s outstanding Bach and Baroque traditions have continued but the repertoire has been extended into 20th century and contemporary English and European music, particularly works by the likes of Edward Elgar and Benjamin Britten among others. In its home city, the choir gives concerts in Birmingham Cathedral, the CBSO Centre and Adrian Boult Hall as well as at other Midlands venues including Lichfield Cathedral, the Arts House, Stratford-upon-Avon, Evesham and Pershore Abbeys, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre and Malvern Priory. Recent foreign tours also include Italy and Germany.

The singers come from all walks of life and are of all ages, ranging from 20 to 70 years. Auditions for the choir are exacting and every three years every singer is re-auditioned. “I guess you would call it a stocktaking exercise,” says Paul. “We aim to keep standards as high as possible. In general people who come to us have had a lot of previous experience. For example, they can leave other choirs for a variety of reasons – the CBSO Chorus for instance has a strict age policy as part of its remit, so we might get singers coming from there who unfortunately suddenly find themselves to old but still have excellent voices.”

GREATEST CHALLENGE

The selection process is also extremely targeted. “We can have someone come to us with a perfectly good voice but they will be rejected because we already have similar voices,” said Paul. “It is very important that we have the right balance of voices.” Getting the balance of the choir right is relatively simple compared to the choir’s greatest challenge – funding.

The days of generous grants from the likes of the Arts Council are long gone thanks to Government cutbacks over the years.

“Yes, finances are a huge challenge,” Paul confirms. “When I first came here we got some grants, but all that has disappeared. We are fortunate that we have fantastic people in the choir who are good at various things like fund-raising and marketing. We have a good team and people are very generous. There are also firms out there who like to have their name associated with specific performances. Our approach has to be forward-thinking and modern. Obviously the greatest thing would be if a major business or institution came forward and sponsored the choir. That’s the dream!”

Paul adds: “Birmingham Bach Choir stands comparison with any of the choirs or choral groups in Birmingham, the wider region and the UK as a whole. The standard of our singing is fantastic and I am always immensely very proud of the choir.”

Here’s to another even more successful 100 years!

Lovely Brummie Sarah Manners of The Bill, Casualty and Doctors fame as well as Circles by Rachel De La Hay, now lives in London with her other half and their daughter. While she is relishing spending time with her little girl ‘just being a mum’ and doesn’t want to miss a thing, there are certain jobs she finds hard to turn down.

A remarkable short film documenting Birmingham legend ‘Blind Dave’ Heeley’s mammoth effort to run seven marathons across seven continents in seven days to raise funds for charity was one of those. Called 7 Days: The Story of ‘Blind Dave’ Heeley produced by another Brummie, Nigel Martin Davey at Pixel Revolution Films and directed by Ian and Dominic Higgins, the film has been gaining a lot of love from the industry picking up numerous awards at festivals in Europe and the US.

INSPIRATIONAL

Sarah plays Dave’s wife Debbie Heeley and says taking on the role was a no-brainer. She says: “I was so happy to do this. What an amazing man. He does things that most able-bodied people can’t.” Sarah got to know Dave’s family including his ‘lovely’ daughters and was staggered by his story. “Not many people know that as well as raising a huge amount of money for charity, Dave’s a genius at woodwork. He actually uses a circular saw and builds things, blind! It’s astonishing.”

The 45-minute film is a true story of grit and determination starring Jack Lane and Robert Harrison alongside Sarah and premiered in April. A screening at Dave’s beloved West Bromwich Albion – his marathon effort raised funds for the club’s Albion Foundation – was a success.

Dave says: “This doesn’t happen to people like me, I still can’t get my head around it. I feel very privileged that Nige and the team thought about covering my story. It’s still a dream, a lovely dream at that.” Sarah never expected the film to win awards, so that’s a very nice bonus.

NANNY NO-NO

While Sarah’s picky with projects and says she never wants a nanny, she would interrupt her mothering duties for another job should it be offered. Her dream gig The Archers. “It’s such an institution and would allow me to pop home and see the folks regularly!” When Sarah’s in the Midlands there’s plenty of family to catch up with. “I’m one of four children and all the rest of the family still live in the area. There’s nothing we like better than going for a lovely walk on Lickey Hills or for a meal in the local villages.”

A former Blue Coat and King Edward’s Grammar School for Girls pupil, Birmingham still has a certain pull for Sarah and she says it’s the people she loves the most about the place. “I come away thinking how nice everyone is.” In contrast she feels people get the wrong idea about London where she’s lived since 1993.

“Yes, the Tube is cramped and horrible and everyone is squeezed in, but there are pockets of London that are great and Central London is walkable which gives a different perspective.” She adds: “I’ve just done a photo-shoot in Bermondsey which was very un-London-like. Warm and friendly with everyone chatting.”

REALITY OF TV

The reality of a regular acting job, let’s say on The Bill would mean a one-and-a-half-hour trip from one end of the Tube to the other and getting home at around 7.30pm. Sarah explains: “I want my daughter to have a normal upbringing. I’m very happy to dip in and out of acting, but she’s my priority.”

Sarah puts her grounded attitude down to being a Brummie. She’s retrained as a pilates teacher which gives her flexibility to work around motherhood and which she credits with her positive outlook.

“I think being fit and taking an interest in fitness makes you a more positive and rounded person,” she explained. “That’s where the pilates comes in. Looking back, I think I would love to have been a physiotherapist actually…”

Folk music and Birmingham aren’t words you’d necessarily put together in the same sentence. We all know our city has produced some of the greatest names in classical, rock, pop and jazz music, as well as more recently hip-hop and rap. But folk?

The time to reassess Brum’s importance in producing and performing great folk music is long overdue. For starters, we boast the UK’s biggest folk band – the 80-strong Conservatoire Folk Ensemble which plays live sets that are a sight to behold, featuring an 18-piece horn section, five cellists, seven percussionists and five electric guitarists, plus fiddles, flutes, clarinets, euphonium, and accordions! They also all sing, too.

FESTIVALS

Formed in 1997 at Birmingham’s prestigious Conservatoire (now Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) by fiddle player, arranger and tutor Joe Broughton, the Ensemble has established a reputation for creating energetic and powerful shows. Their increasingly popular live appearances include several dates at the Royal Albert Hall as well as at a host of leading folk festivals such as Shambala, Cropredy and Kendal Calling.

This summer’s schedule featured the Ensemble staging a special two-set show at their Conservatoire HQ. Due to the logistical challenges of performing with such a large company, this was the first time the entire ensemble has played a complete live set on home turf in several years. Other highlights include a debut appearance in a cathedral at Lichfield and the prestigious Festival Finale spot at Towersey Festival, one of the UK’s oldest music festivals.

Though rooted in traditional folk tunes, the personal influences of each individual member of the Ensemble steers the set, pulling in everything from full-on rock grooves, to funk, jazz, hip-hop and reggae, to sounds from Eastern Europe and Asia. It’s a sound that’s been dubbed ‘Power Folk’. The group has also released a number of albums.

GROWING

Joe recalls the early days of the Ensemble when he says the number of members rose rapidly from just seven, to 15, then 35, then in no time at all to 90. “It all got out of hand and we decided to start doing some gigs so we could develop as well as grow.” Normally, the Ensemble is capped at 50 at any one performance, though the personnel is constantly switching around.

Everyone in the group is studying at the Conservatoire – but not necessarily folk music! “We have everything from technology students to opera singers, composers and harpists, some on classical courses, or the jazz degree – they come from everywhere,” said Joe, who directs the whole thing. “It’s one of the reasons it works so well. Birmingham Conservatoire attracts an inventive and original type of musician who often has an interest in all kinds of music making.

“Without that bedrock of talent, keeping such a large line-up together for so many years just wouldn’t be possible. And the music has really developed as we’ve gone along – we’re folk music people based in Birmingham and we feed off the influences of the city. Folk, rock, funk… it’s all in there somewhere and when it comes together it produces a colossal amount of energy.”

IMPACT

The personal influences of each member shape the set-list, as traditional English and Celtic reels slide into full-on rock grooves, funk, jazz, hip-hop, ska and reggae. Members come together for two hours a week, on a Tuesday. “I normally bring in a melody and a riff and teach it to everyone by ear then ask for suggestions on the arrangement where everyone gets involved in developing, evolving and rehearsing the piece, “ said Joe. “Our music is entirely unique, you won’t see or hear anything like it anywhere in the world. We know from the feedback we get that our music has real impact on people.”

The group stages up to 20 performances a year, but Rob is keen to expand further if possible. “Looking further ahead we have plans for another full album – but I really want to do a live album, because I love live albums. There’s also a rumour that we’ll be making our first trip abroad…”

Sarah-Jane Perry is ranked number six in the world. She’s won numerous Tour titles – too many to mention here – is a former British national champion, rocked the triumphant England team that won the European Team Championships in 2017, took a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games and is on the charge for more wins this month at the ETCs held on home turf at Edgbaston Priory Club.

Throwing down between 10 and 13 training sessions per week, Sarah-Jane’s daily schedule sounds gruelling, incorporating morning sessions on court with her coach or a training group followed by a bike session, circuits or weights plus a match, followed by pilates or yoga in the evening. Meticulous about taking good care of her body, Sarah-Jane packs in plenty of physio, too.

BIG CHALLENGE

She explains: “It’s vital for me to fit in recovery work such as massage, physio and chiropractic treatment as well. I use the English Institute of Sport hub at Alexander Stadium in Perry Bar for physio at least once a week.” Surgery on a serious elbow injury in December has been one of Sarah-Jane’s biggest career challenges to date and not one she’d like to repeat.

Sarah-Jane started playing the game at the tender age of five at Four Oaks Squash Club and began competing in local tournaments aged 11, turning professional in her third year at university in 2011 beating Tania Bailey in the final of the Manor Open to take her first Tour title. A further three titles in the following 12 months took her into the world’s top 30 where she’s performed at the highest level consistently making quarter finals, semis and ultimately winning titles.

SQUASH BUG

The sport bug took hold pretty early on in life and as a child, Sarah-Jane would take part in any activity, but it was squash that really got her going. She says: “I love the diversity of squash. Every player has their own strengths and style which makes for some titanic battles both physically and tactically.”

Sarah’s had to deal with the mindset – other people’s not her own – that she didn’t fit the typical squash mould at a statuesque six foot. “When I was younger my main challenge was overcoming other people’s prejudices of what a player should be and look like, which was almost the opposite of who I am,” she said. Sarah-Jane’s performances have done the talking, not least beating one of her heroes Nicol David in the final of the Oracle NetSuite Open in San Francisco.

TRUE HERO

Of her fellow competitor, Sarah-Jane is full of praise: “Nicol David is a true hero. Not only has she won eight world titles but has been an inspirational role model throughout her career. Like me, she’s passionate about empowering women through sport and is using her platform to continue this past her retirement.” Nicol David is due to retire this month.

Sarah-Jane’s goals are single-minded: “Short term it’s to move up the rankings but ultimately I dream of becoming number one and winning the world championships. Winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 is also a huge aspiration of mine.” The prospect of competing at home in Birmingham is very exciting.

Sarah-Jane says: “We don’t have many major events in the UK so we really look forward to them when they do happen. It will be amazing to have so many familiar faces in the crowd and some noisy home supporters! Birmingham has so much to offer visitors and is also the hub of squash in the UK.”

Fourteen-year-old Lewis Bailey who performs as Athena Heart could never have dreamed that something so crushing could have turned out to be such a positive. Being banned from his school talent show at the last minute after working on his act for weeks in the lead up has actually given him a voice.

The support he’s experienced, not just from friends at school – eight people dropped out of the talent show in protest at Lewis’s ban – but from the biggest names in the drag world and some of his heroes has been life affirming.

It’s not clear why the school banned Lewis other than they felt it was ‘inappropriate for the intended audience’ although Lewis is quick to point out that it wasn’t a raunchy act, there was no bad language or sexual innuendo, just him, dressed as a woman dancing to tracks by Ariana Grande among others. Dance is Lewis’s passion which he’s been doing since he was three years old.

THIS MORNING

Since the story broke, Lewis has performed at various gay pride events as well as at venues across the country. He met the cast of Kinky Boots at the Hippodrome last month who showered him with love and support as well as the cast of Everyone’s Talking About Jamie, a tale that strikes a chord. He’s appeared on This Morning telling his story to Ruth Langsford and an emotional Rylan Clark, not for fame and fortune but because he wants other people to see that it’s okay not to conform.

Lewis remembers first encountering drag while watching Ru Paul’s Drag Race with his sister. He loved it and wanted to create the same art. His supportive mum suggested he could probably do it better. Lewis began experimenting with make-up although it took a while to perfect. He recalls: “I just had these massive black eyebrows at first!” He began posting pictures online every day of different looks.

HARD YARDS

The talent show was a chance to showcase his act and he spent weeks perfecting his performance to be told just the day before he couldn’t be part of it. As it was a non-uniform day, Lewis turned up in drag instead. The name Athena Heart came from a combination of Lewis’s love of Greek Mythology (Greek goddess Athena) and Chicago (murderous siren Roxie Hart). Juggling performing with school work is about to get harder as Lewis is in Year 10 studying for his GCSEs which will intensify from September. He’s prepared to put in the hard yards though. He explains: “I’m focused on school and if I’m tired from performing on a school night, I don’t show it.”

Opening Brighton’s Gay Pride with one of Lewis’s faves, Martha D’Arthur has been a highlight so far. He says: “It’s just a spectacular art form. I want to show kids that it’s okay to be who you are.”

LAGGING BEHIND

Although Lewis’s immediate family are hugely supportive, he’s experienced negativity from some members of his extended family as well as random people in the street. Lewis occasionally goes to the local shop as Athena just to see what the reaction is and while most people are nice, the odd one will shout insults like, ‘look at the faggot’. Lewis ignores it.

The Midlands drag scene seems to be lagging behind other regions. Lewis says: “There’s Sequin Show Stoppers, but drag is not that big in Birmingham. Hopefully that will change.” Lewis is focused on a career in drag and wants to travel the world performing. Having made a sizeable impression already and with more events lined up for the summer, we’ll be seeing much more of Athena Heart.

After competing at the Commonwealth Games last year on Australia’s Gold Coast, Mimi thought it might be time to hang up her ribbons aged just 24 which is ‘old’ in gymnastics terms. However, getting involved in the successful Birmingham 2022 bid has whet her appetite for making the team and competing on home turf.

Despite training in Brum at GMAC alongside fellow Young, Gifted and Brummie subjects, Dom Cunningham and Joe Fraser, Mimi has never competed in Birmingham. Mimi explains: “Rhythmic gymnastics is always held at the Echo Arena in Liverpool for some reason, so it would be amazing to make it to Birmingham 2022.”

Despite success in multiple disciplines beginning with gold in the Junior British Championships in 2010, it wasn’t obvious when Mimi was small that she would be shining on the rhythmic gymnastics stage – even her parents were surprised. She says she was so uncoordinated as an infant that she only crawled backwards, never forwards!

Having started going to Tumble Tots classes aged two years and loving it, Mimi began recreational gymnastics. When Beth Tweddle’s breakthrough onto the world stage began in earnest, Mimi dreamed of being like her. She recalls: “I said to my coach, ‘I want to be an Olympic gymnast,’ and she told me I’d never be good enough!” Charming.

BLOWN AWAY

Then when Mimi saw a girl performing rhythmic gymnastics at a competition she was absolutely blown away. She says: “I just thought ‘wow’ and I switched to rhythmic gymnastics straight away. I was terrible at first and my co-ordination was awful, but I worked really hard.”

Rhythmic gymnastics combines the sport element requiring incredible strength and flexibility with artistic flair. Competitors perform on the floor to music with skilful use of equipment such as ribbons, a ball, hoop or club. Mimi says her strength has always been her expression and she was talent-spotted aged just 13 and took part in a successful squad trial. She has been competing at a high level ever since.

I wonder what is it about the sport that she loves so much? Mimi explains: “I just find it mesmerising. It’s so visual and every routine is different and I love performing. I always listen to the audience in the few seconds between finishing a routine and the applause starting. If there’s absolute silence I know it went well and it’s the best feeling in the world.”

WORK ETHIC

Rhythmic gymnastics is self-funded, so before the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Mimi was training 35 hours a week while working part time as a PE teacher. But she says: “It was completely worth it.” Even at school Mimi had a strong work ethic. When teachers offered her homework extensions because they knew she was training intensively, she refused, choosing to stay up late and get the work in on time.

Now at the ripe old age of 24 faced with potential retirement from the sport after 2022, Mimi’s pleased to have had to work. She explains: “Gymnastics is a young person’s sport, so it’s good to get some work behind me.” Mimi’s also planning to launch her own business – sport related naturally – so watch this space.

There are youngsters who have moved up from the junior squad to seniors and Mimi feels like the mummy of the group. She says: “It’s nice to be able to share my experience and guide them through.” Mimi’s doing everything she can on the health and well-being front in order to be in tip-top shape for selection for Birmingham 2022. That’s the aim. “Provided I get there, the home games in 2022 will be my last competition. I always go into a competition to make the podium, so that would be my aim.” Good luck Mimi!

When Xhosa Cole picked up a saxophone aged 12 he had no idea where it would lead. In November last year, a 16-minute set and four other talented musicians stood between Xhosa and one of the music industry’s most prestigious prizes for young people in the country.

During the final of the BBC Young Jazz Musician, Xhosa performed his own composition titled Moving Ladywood – a nod to his home town – as well as pieces by Johnny Green and John Coltrane. Backed by a jazz trio led by Gwilym Simcock, Xhosa was up against fellow finalists Reuben Goldmark (piano), Fergus McCreadie (piano), Seth Tackaberry (bass) and James Owston (bass).

CELEBRATION OF JAZZ

Keeping the nerves in check, Xhosa delivered an outstanding performance that wowed the judges at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. Of his win, Xhosa said: “It’s been amazing to represent and have been represented at this prestigious celebration of jazz music. The calibre of musicianship and passion for jazz music has been incredibly inspiring to be a part of.”

The 22-year-old who grew up in Handsworth and now lives in Ladywood is a flautist and composer as well as saxophonist. He’s written works for the Ideas of Noise Festival and worked on Birmingham’s for-Wards project as well as releasing an improvised single with electronic duo EIF called Autumn Conversations. Having first played the tenor at Ladywood Community School of Music, founded by legendary saxophonist and flautist Andy Hamilton, Xhosa also joined a weekly jazz band and was supported by Birmingham’s Music Services which meant he could own his own saxophone. Joining as many classes and workshops he could squeeze in, Xhosa was hooked.

EMERGING TALENT

THSH’s Jazzlines summer schools provided increased opportunities for Xhosa to play. Jazzlines aims to nurture emerging talent and offer performance opportunities across the city. Xhosa explains: “It was a new thing to get students from the inner city creating jazz and playing jazz. It was in partnership with Birmingham Conservatoire and we had some amazing tutors and guests.”

He adds: “For the first three years I did the summer schools and workshops and met so many amazing and inspiring people. They were fortunate to get some more funding which meant we didn’t just have an annual get-together over the summer, but we now had a regular monthly group where we could develop our skills, work on collaborating with other young creatives and absorb as much as we could from the brilliant tutors we had.”

During the Jazzlines summer school of 2015 Xhosa was undecided between classical and jazz saxophone, but a conversation with Percy Pursglove (musician, composer, major force in the jazz world) made up his mind. He remembers: “When Percy tells you to do the jazz course, you do the jazz course – and my music and my life would probably be totally different if I’d chosen classical.”

PLAYING WITH GREATS

Thanks to the contacts at THSH the youngsters on the workshops were able to meet and play with some prestigious musicians such as the Jeff Williams Quartet and John O’Gallagher among many other greats. Xhosa explains: “When they came and did their performance we were able to have a workshop with them and we were invited to their rehearsal. Also, we had the opportunity to use the Patrick Studio at Symphony Hall and go to the Conservatoire and take part in their seminars and workshops. All of this gave us the chance to get some world class advice on ways in which we could push our music forward.”

Having benefited from the city’s Music Service and youth engagement, Xhosa is keen to encourage other young musicians. He says: “I chaperoned a summer school and that was amazing to see all the young musicians completely giving it their all – it was really inspiring. I know a lot of the parents and I see their children now are where I was, going to gigs in their school uniform. Some of those children are inspired by me, but I’m also inspired by them!”

Photographer and film-maker Richard Billingham grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in Cradley Heath in a chaotic family set-up which he has documented over the years through gritty photography that’s both moving and unsettling. He’s now immortalised his late parents Ray and Liz in a film of the same name.

The film about Richard’s childhood focuses on his parent’s relationship and their effects on him and his brother. The work won the annual £50,000 bursary as part of the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker award in association with the British Film Institute. The most significant bursary of its kind in the UK film industry, it’s designed to support the future careers of exceptional homegrown talent affording them financial stability and a chance to develop creatively.

More accolades followed at the British Independent Film Awards last month where Ray and Liz scooped two gongs with Richard taking the Douglas Hickox Award for best debut director with the film’s producer, Jacqui Davies, winning an award for Breakthrough Producer.

SOCIAL MOBILITY

No stranger to recognition, Richard was the first recipient of the Deutsche Borse photography prize in 1997 and was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2001. He was part of Charles Saatchi’s YBA exhibition in the Nineties alongside Damien Hirst and his contemporaries and Richard’s work is held in collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, New York’s Metropolitan Museum, the V&A and Tate Galleries.

Given his tough start in life, Richard’s success is extraordinary. Recently, social mobility feels like a buzz term that politicians bang on about in Parliament that means little. However, Richard’s stable adult life would have been thoroughly alien to his parents. He says: “I spent six years stacking shelves in Kwik Save. I fit into this world much more than that one. I have three children and I’m middle-aged. I look at my children. They have a nice life, clean pyjamas, go to good state schools and it makes me realise how different it is to my childhood.”

STRAIGHT AND NARROW

Richard’s route out of his troubled upbringing was art and nature. He explains: “I was always the best drawer at school. I’d look outside the school gate and remember the cars and houses and recreate them. I always wanted to be an artist.”

Aged 10, Richard got interested in nature but he didn’t have any money to catch the bus to go the countryside, so he’d walk. He remembers: “Art and an affinity with nature kept me on the straight and narrow. I liked school. I wanted to learn and I was fairly popular largely thanks to my mysterious drawing ability.” And were his parents supportive? “They were totally indifferent.”

Richard went on to study science A-Levels followed by a degree in painting, but quickly changed tack. “While studying, I took photos of my close family so I could paint them but I realised the photos were better than the paintings, so I switched courses.” Initially, Richard wanted to create a gallery installation about his father’s lifestyle. He explains: “It was about the tragedy of the situation. My father would lock himself away in the marital bedroom drinking strong home brew. He’d drink, sleep, drink some more. I wrote it and got funding.” Richard then wrote another piece centred on his uncle and planned a third about his mother. “I thought if I wrote another, I’d have a film in three loose parts.” Cue Ray and Liz.

HOME SWEET HOME

Produced by Jacqui Davies at Primitive and shot on location in the Midlands with funding from Arts Council Wales among other organisations, Ray and Liz has been well received by audiences. Unfolding in three parts, the film is uncomfortable and shocking, absorbing and moving in equal measure and as a first feature film a cracking introduction. We caught up with Richard on his return from the New York Film Festival where it was hailed a triumph. He modestly says: “People really liked it which was emotional.”

The British Film Institute bursary, which was presented by leading director Edgar Wright at a swanky award ceremony in London, will make a big difference to Richard’s life allowing him to focus on film and potentially give up the day job – he currently teaches fine art at the University of Gloucester. He says: “I’ve lots of ideas. Funding gets easier once you have a short gallery. No one’s going to give you £100k without seeing work. Perhaps that’s why most film-makers create short films first.”

Now based in Wales, Richard comes back to the Midlands a lot and despite his troubled upbringing, he’s fond of the region and believes where you’re born is important. He says: “It’s special in the way that wherever somebody grew up it’s special.”

People are quick to dismiss graffiti as mindless vandalism, but says David Brown, it’s the complete opposite. Let’s be clear, we’re not talking about the random scrawl of a cock and balls in a piss-stained subway, but carefully put together pieces of work.

Artists spend hours sketching and getting the design just right. They’ll prep and paint the wall before they start creating a piece they’re proud to put their name to. It’s tougher than it looks and pieces need to be original, yet fit into a certain genre of work. David’s carved out a career from his love of the artform and runs a successful business in what’s become Brum’s graffiti and street art (there is a difference) capital, Digbeth.

GROWING UP

David fell into it after finding he was ‘crap at a few things’ growing up. He says: “I tried BMX aged 10, but I was crap at that. I went to senior school and didn’t fit in and I wasn’t at all sporty. When hip hop was just coming in around 1984/85 I had a go at break dancing. I was crap at that. I had no self-confidence, so rapping was out.”

David fell into graffiti, essentially writing his name everywhere although it’s more technical than that as explained above and aged 13/14 started getting better. There are many splinters to graffiti and there’s no doubt you can get in to a lot of trouble if you go down the illegal route. Some people do it for a living, others just for fun and David says the artists can be varied from ‘drug users to project managers in Mayfair.’

David got through school ‘alright’ and although his art teacher let him paint the classroom, the creative art provision wasn’t brilliant. He says: “The options were art or pottery, no graphic design and all I wanted to do was draw letters.” After leaving school, David did some jobs he describes as ‘crappy’ such as peeling hard boiled eggs, selling fireworks and labouring. He recalls: “One day I had to fill out a form and realised I’d forgotten how to draw a number eight. My mate told me I was wasting my talent. I jacked the job in and signed up for a course in graphic design at Solihull Tech which was a springboard to a foundation course.”

PRINCE’S TRUST

David signed on and while in the queue at the dole office one day was approached by someone from Partners for Business which is part of the Prince’s Trust who asked him if he’d thought about doing his own thing. He explains: “I’d been painting shop roller shutters for a mate who’d broken his arm. I got another job on the back of that and my mate said I should go for it.” David started his business Graffitiartist.com 21 years ago aged just 25 and began painting in hospitals and the like.

The shop at the Custard Factory is a bit of a dream. David explains: “The day I came to look at the shop, there were two photo shoots happening and a film being made in the street and I just thought, ‘yeah this is it.’ Digbeth’s so varied and the number of independents is brilliant.”

The business incorporates customised pieces, commercial art, TV and film work, design and consultancy, parties and team building sessions as well as selling supplies. Workshops showing youngsters how to use graffiti for art not crime feature too. The mantra ‘it’s nice to be nice’ is at the heart of what David’s about and he’s built a great team of people on that basis and says they’ve helped him as much as he’s helped them.

DRAGONS DATE

An appearance on TV’s Dragons’ Den in 2014 in which David had the figures written on his hand much to the Dragons amusement was as terrifying as it looked. He remembers: “It’s like a rodeo – you’re in there for as long as you can hang on for. I was in there for 40 minutes and half way through I couldn’t breathe out. No one offered me a seat. I think they wanted me to either piss myself or faint. That would have been good TV.”

Despite that, David says he got some good feedback and definitely got business on the back of it. He now attends a business course at Aston University every couple of weeks plus there are new premises on the horizon still in Digbeth obviously!

David’s toughest gig to date perhaps was convincing a group of near octogenarians at his mum’s University of the Third Age (U3E) group that graffiti’s not vandalism. David says: “It was my mum’s turn to organise a speaker, so I did two sessions talking about why people do graffiti, its roots and how hard people work at it. One woman dismissed it as mere vandalism and couldn’t understand why anyone would do it. She ended up asking me to create a graffiti style alphabet for her grandchild!”

One of the most emotional moments in Britain’s Got Talent history came earlier this year when the D-Day Darlings performed in the final. With not a dry eye in the live audience, or we suspect among the millions watching on TV, the girls – resplendent in WRAF uniforms, 1940’s hairdos and scarlet red lipstick – sang Dame Vera Lynn’s famous war anthem, The White Cliffs of Dover, in an atmosphere of patriotism and flag-waving matched only by the Last Night of the Proms.

As the nine girls completed the last few bars of the song, they were joined onstage to a huge roar from the audience by a line-up of war veterans from all branches of the services. I’ve watched over and over the performance, and each time I have had to reach for the tissues. So, when I spoke with ‘Darling’ Jessica Hudson from Solihull, my first question was if the girls found the occasion equally moving?

MEMORABLE

“Having the veterans there with us was an amazing, memorable moment,” she recalls. “All of us in the group have family going back who served in the wars. My great great grandfather was killed in WW1 in 1916, aged 30, and is buried on the Somme. The veterans asked us if they could come on stage, it wasn’t the other way around. They wanted to be part of it, and we loved having them join us.”

Jessica, 28, is one of four Darlings from the Midlands – Emily Jane Brooks and Kylie Bates are both from Coventry, while Yorkshire-born founder Katie Ashby now lives in Tamworth and has been in the Birmingham area for more than 15 years. Katie formed the group, originally a trio, in 2008 with the intention of invoking and celebrating the true spirit of the wartime era and the beautiful, heartfelt music recorded during the period. Over the years, it has grown to the current nine performers.

RECORD DEAL

After their huge success on BGT, the Darlings signed a recording deal with Sony Music and this month sees the release of their first album, entitled I’ll Remember You. Produced by Tim Woodcock – who worked with huge acts such as Little Mix and The Wanted – it features all the wartime classics, including White Cliffs and We’ll Meet Again as well as two new songs co-written by Katie.

“The album is particularly special as this month marks 100 years since the end of WW1,” said Jessica. “All the classic wartime songs are there but with our own modern interpretation.” At the time of writing, Jessica and the Darlings were waiting to hear if they would be performing again at this year’s Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall – the girls, who are endorsed by Dame Vera, are official fund-raisers for the Legion having raised more than £40,000 so far. Just a few weeks earlier, they were part of a star-studded royal concert marking the centenary of the RAF at London’s Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Also on the bill were the likes of Pixie Lott, Joanna Lumley, the cast of Wicked and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

AMAZING WOMEN

Jessica, who went to Smith’s Wood School before studying musical theatre at Stratford, joined the D-Day Darlings in 2014 after meeting Emily Jane while working as an entertainer/singer/dancer at Coombe Abbey Hotel, Coventry. “Being a D-Day Darling means so much to me,” she said. “I love singing with such amazing women, we are all very close and get to share incredible experiences.

“There have been so many highlights, like celebrating 100th birthdays, singing for our forces at Royal British Legion events, singing for veterans in Normandy, and of course being on Britain’s Got Talent. We have met some of the most incredible men and women who served our country. Seeing the memories that we bring back and the atmosphere that we create is very rewarding. The music is so special for young and old alike and we hope to keep this spirit alive in the new generation.”

D-DAY JUNIORS

As part of the Darlings mission to involve, enthuse and educate new generations in wartime history, Katie is launching two exciting initiatives; D-Day Darlings vocal academy and D-Day Juniors. Based at Riverside Studios, Kingsbury, the academy provides vocal coaching and is open to all ages, while the D-Day Juniors aims to create groups of singing and performing youngsters.

Katie said: “The new album happened really quickly, it took five or six weeks to turn around, and we are all very proud of it. With Sony’s backing we hope to bring out more albums and in the future we hope to add more people to the troupe.

“The possibilities are endless because this music appeals to all ages – older people who look back with nostalgia and young people who are part of the great revival in vintage culture and interest in this time in our history.”

When Lewis Howard went to the theatre to see War Horse as a teenager 10 years ago he says he was “blown away” by the sheer majesty, drama and emotion of it all. Little could he have imagined that one day he would become part of the award-winning story of horses living and dying on the front line with the British cavalry in the First World War.

The former student of the University of Birmingham plays the role of the Heart of Joey, a horse from Devon who was sold to the cavalry and shipped to France. Along with Tom Quinn, originally from Redditch, and a third actor, Lewis brings Joey – one of the awesome ground-breaking puppets that snort, gallop and charge – to life on stage in the National Theatre’s hit production which is touring the UK.

EXCITED AND HUMBLED

Lewis, who graduated from Birmingham’s School of Acting, part of UCB in 2012 with a BA honours degree, said: “It’s my first job for the National Theatre so I am very excited and humbled to be part of this production which coincides with the centenary commemorations of the end of the First World War.”

Since leaving university, Birmingham-born Lewis has performed as Callum in Swivelhead at Pleasance Courtyard during last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe and has featured as Jesse alongside Adeel Akhtar in the 2016 film The Big Return of Ray Lamere, as well as playing roles in various Shakespeare productions.

Anyone who has seen War Horse will know just how amazing the full-size horse puppets look on stage. Their actions are so life-like that it is easy to forget that they aren’t real flesh and blood. The movements which bring so much drama and emotion to audiences are down to the incredible skills of Lewis and his fellow puppeteers. Indeed, describing Lewis as a puppeteer considerably underplays his role because while largely masked by the horse’s frame, he is still acting in the truest sense of the word.

ARDUOUS AUDITIONS

Lewis recalls the arduous audition process which he had to go through to land the part. “My manager put me forward to the National and initially I, along with many other actors, were assessed on our physicality to do the job with a three-hour crash course on puppetry. I then had to go through two more workshop auditions, each last three or four hours. These were to judge our acting ability.”

A final call-back assessed Lewis’s ability to work with and get on with others as part of a team. “It’s vital to be able to work as a unit when there are three of you in the horse,” Lewis explained. “You have to really get along and know each other’s moves and ways because the three of us cannot talk to each other as we are performing. We have to be three actors working as one in complete unison”

For any theatre virgins out there, don’t think for one minute that acting is reduced to a minor role in playing Joey. It is the actors who make Joey live and breathe and feel. “When you first start rehearsing, you have to think about and practice just making the horse walk,” explained Lewis. “It’s 90 per cent trying to make the puppet work and 10 per cent acting. Eventually it becomes the other way round and it is all about the acting and conveying the character and feelings of Joey. The mechanical part of moving the puppet becomes natural, just second nature.”

CREATIVE FAMILY

Lewis comes from a creative family – his father is an artist and printmaker, while his mother works at incorporating art for wellbeing organisations. Speaking of his time at Birmingham University, Lewis said: “I had a brilliant three years at Birmingham School of Acting, honing skills on how to better my performances but also, and more crucially, how to work with many different people and enjoy teamwork – something vital on a show like War Horse.”

And for Lewis there is nothing greater than the feedback he gets as an actor from his audiences. “War Horse is an amazing play and the moment when the last act is over and the curtain goes down and when you hear and feel the adulation of the audience… it’s just so moving and so amazing. There is nothing to compare to it.”

You might have seen two very strong looking men in gymnastics gear throwing a few moves on top of a barge in the city centre last month. No, you weren’t dreaming. They were top British gymnasts, local lads and great pals, Joe Fraser and Dominick Cunningham all fresh from the European Championships with much to celebrate.

Yes, there were medals to be chuffed about – a gold for Dom after a stunning floor routine and silver for both gymnasts in the men’s team event – but when we caught up with Dom he was almost as excited about the World Cup coming back to Brum next year. Well, almost. He loves a home crowd you see.

ROUSE THE CROWD

At the European Champs in Glasgow, Dom roused the crowd at every stage using their energy to feed off. He even jumped into the crowd and did a bit of flossing with the kids. He enthuses: “I love it. I was jumping around, waving up at the fans. They came to support us and that’s all good.” And when Dom had a wobbly high bar routine in the men’s team event – he fell twice – he felt the crowd get right behind him.

He explains: “It’s the hardest sport in the world and when you make a mistake you can’t dwell on it. The crowd were amazing.” As were his supportive team mates. It takes incredible strength – mental as well as physical – to come back the following day and nail a difficult floor routine to win individual gold, but these guys are tough. Gone are the days when people used to tease Dom about doing a ‘girls sport’. These guys are super strong incredible athletes.

TEAM PLAYERS

Joe, who we’re not ignoring by the way – he was the subject of our Young, Gifted & Brummie feature earlier in the year – has become a great friend of Dom. They both train at City of Birmingham and spend a lot of time together outside the gym, too. Dom describes him as ‘family’. The GB men’s team has a fantastic spirit. Dom says: “You need a certain chemistry which we have. You also need respect and to learn to adapt to one another. For instance, some of the team like an early night and a couple of us are up ‘til 1am, so we work it out and share rooms based on our preferred preparation.”

Dom’s mum took him to his first gymnastics session to try to channel his energy aged just five, but he says he wasn’t particularly good. He started competitions aged seven and got a bit better, but it wasn’t until he was 13 or 14 that he really began to see serious progression. Not that it’s all been plain sailing since. “There’ve been ups and downs. I’ve had injuries and given blood, sweat and tears literally to get here.”

FLIPPING AMAZING

Dom loves his home town and gives back to local youngsters regularly which is important to him. He inspires kids by going into schools with his medals and visited Birmingham Children’s Hospital after the Commonwealth Games where he ended up back flipping down the ward!

The fact that the World Cup is being hosted in Birmingham in 2019 after the success of last year’s event in the city is a joy for Dom. He says: “To have the World Cup back in Birmingham, and for people to get the chance to see some of the best gymnasts in the world going head-to-head again, is huge for gymnastics in the city. Taking part in this year’s World Cup in front of my home crowd was something I will never forget and it gave me the confidence to go on and perform at the Commonwealth Games and the European Championships.”

Osman has dressed some of the most famous women on the planet including Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Thandie Newton among others and has just opened his first flagship store in London. Last month he took a leap into the art world taking over the third floor of the IKON Gallery with his multi-disciplinary exhibition, Being Somewhere Else, sponsored by Selfridges. He’s also finding time to write his memoir focusing on growing up in a less than idyllic environment in Brum, which should be a fascinating read.

The son of a dressmaker, it’s perhaps no surprise Osman went down a fashion route and studied, somewhat fleetingly, at Central Saint Martins after graduating in anthropology from Cambridge. Dropping out of the fashion design course, Osman took a job at Joseph and soon after was offered £5,000 to launch his own collection by Tom Singh, founder of New Look who saw his potential.

FASHION BUG

Osman made his debut at London Fashion Week in 2008 and was nominated for the prestigious Designs of the Year award from the Design Museum which recognises the best 100 designs globally. In the same year he was given the British Fashion Council (BFC) Newgen award for three consecutive seasons and was shortlisted for the BFC/Vogue designer fashion fund in 2011, 2013 and 2015.

Osman remembers interesting characters wafting in and out of his family home as a boy and being surrounded by rich fabric and creativity. “There were these amazing Asian women. Colourful, fantastic and fun and that gave me the bug.” Despite these happy memories, Osman didn’t have the best time growing up in Balsall Heath and recalls gangs hanging around. He says: “It wasn’t idyllic. Let’s just say that!” However, it’s a place he calls home and visits frequently to see his ageing parents. Of his success, Osman says his parents don’t really understand what he does. He explains: “My parents are both illiterate and as a result they can’t fathom what it is I actually do.”

FLYING HIGH

While Osman is flying high with his flagship store sprawled over five floors of a Fitzrovia townhouse of which he says was daunting, he’s also acutely aware of the other side of the fashion industry which is not so glitzy, highlighted in Being Somewhere Else. The exhibition explored socio-political tensions in the contemporary fashion world including sustainability and fast fashion, cultural displacement and immigration.

He explains: “It’s the other side of fashion behind the glamour, behind the allure. But it’s still quite real and very relevant.” To coincide with the exhibition Osman curated a four-day event titled the Migrant Festival which he describes as a grass roots celebration of diversity. As the son of migrants, shining a spotlight on migration and the issues that come with that are important to Osman as is celebrating the upsides. The events are an extension of his annual art and culture publication itiled The Collective which explores the intersection of art and fashion in a photographical series with insightful essays. The flagship store reflects Osman’s interest in art too featuring a rotating gallery space with art pieces available to buy.

COLUMN INCHES

Inspiration comes from many places. Osman says: “It’s a little bit Indian fabric shop meets elegant tailoring.” You can see what he means. The structure of his pieces is one of the things that’s so striking and flattering and is why celebs are queuing up to wear the brand. Having dressed so many of the world’s A-listers I wonder if there’s anyone left he’d love to dress? “Cate Blanchett would be lovely.” The craziness of Beyonce wearing Osman to the Grammys was berserk. “The level of column inches was insane! It was a really nice moment and the reaction was quite unexpected.”

HOME TOWN

Of his home town and the changes since he was a boy, Osman has high praise. “Birmingham is amazing. It’s this rich melting pot of multi-culturalism.” Of the fashion scene here, he says: “London is clearly the UK’s fashion hub. Birmingham is too close to the capital to have its own fashion hub, but it’s has other strengths. It’s like the workshop of the world.” The progress the city has made since Osman left for London is remarkable and he’s blown away by some aspects not least the transformation of New Street Station and the first impression visitors to the city are treated too. He says: “Grand Central is incredible. London doesn’t have anything close to that.”

It’s more than 20 years since the release of Ocean Colour Scene’s second album and the one that set the Brummie band up for stardom, Moseley Shoals. The glorious Riverboat Song was snapped up by one of the band’s early champions, Chris Evans, for hit show TFI Friday at a time when it was winning in the ratings stakes. With its unmistakable riff, the track made a massive impact – a perfect storm if you like.

The band went on to produce nine albums – three of which went top five – and had a run of nine successive top 20 hit singles. They supported Oasis at Knebworth, played the Royal Albert Hall and completed the biggest arena tour of any band to date. They’ve enjoyed a phenomenal career, toured the world and are still happiest when playing live.

THREE BLIND MICE

Back in the day, and like millions of kids across the land, Simon started strumming Three Blind Mice aged nine during a childhood in Brum which he describes as ‘extremely happy’. Clearly he progressed from nursery rhymes and some years later was in a band with bass player Damon. Oscar then joined the duo followed by one of his drinking buddies Steve and Ocean Colour Scene was complete.

The band could be found in the Barrel Organ or Northern Sweat at Birmingham Institute. In terms of influences they were an eclectic mix. Simon remembers: “When I was a kid it was all hard rock – Sabbath and the like – which I never got into. Then punk and new romanticism happened and that wasn’t my thing either. I grew up listening to the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, The Kinks, Bob Dylan.” He adds: “That teamed with Steve’s sixties Jam and Weller influences came together in our sound I suppose.”

It wasn’t exactly an overnight success though. The first album flopped spectacularly in 1992 followed by years of hard graft before the triumphant breakthrough in 1996. Simon recalls: “We were holed up in a studio in King’s Heath writing loads of songs. Chris Craddock – Steve’s father – pretty much bankrolled Shoals. We lived off beans on toast.”

WELLER AND OASIS

Simon was a journalist for a spell at the Birmingham Mail and Post among other local titles, however it wasn’t the dream. He says: “I didn’t like being told off by balding middle-aged men who were better at their job than me.” Music was always the goal.

Meeting Paul Weller and supporting him on his 1993 tour boosted the band and gave them the confidence they needed. Then when Noel Gallagher heard a demo tape that was doing the rounds and invited the band to tour with Oasis things really took off and they signed to MCA records. Supporting Oasis at Knebworth still remains a massive highlight as was knocking the Gallagher brothers off the UK album chart number one spot in 1997 with Moseley Shoals’ follow up, Marchin’ Already. Playing the NEC for the first time to a home crowd was special too.

HARD GRAFT

Over two decades is a lifetime in the music industry and I wonder what the secret of the band’s success is? “I think it’s because we grafted and we didn’t have overnight success. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.” Not that he’s knocking programmes such as the X Factor that offer instant success – depending on what your definition of success is. He explains: “I hate knocking other people’s fun. That kind of show is an entertainment programme aimed at children. One of the criticisms they get is that the acts are too groomed. Well what was Motown? They were manufactured, they had stylists and had fantastic songs written for them. It’s not so different.”

Playing live is where the band is happiest and their schedule of gigs is pretty full, however there’s enough downtime for Simon to enjoy the quiet life walking his beloved daschund by the river in Stratford-upon-Avon. He says: “I’m 53! I’m glad we did what we did 30 years ago. I wouldn’t want to be doing it now.” So, what’s next? “There’s more touring on the horizon and we need to start recording and make an album.” He adds: “Mind you I’m such a luddite in the studio! Steve’s great at that stuff and has a studio at his house in Devon.”

DAY AT THE RACES

Next month’s concert at Wolverhampton Racecourse will focus on singles. Simon says: “I’m amazed at how many singles we wrote!” The trend for gigging at racecourses is on the rise and having seen James at Worcester racecourse I can see it makes total sense. From a band’s perspective it’s pretty awesome too. Simon adds: “The facilities are the best! Basically, your dressing room is the hospitality suite, which is nice.”

Young choreographer George Williamson will see his ballet Embrace world premiered in London this month followed by Birmingham on 20 June. Embrace has been created almost entirely in Birmingham with George becoming a regular at the Birmingham Royal Ballet studios working collaboratively with dancers since January, as well as spending time in New York with commissioned composer, Sarah Kirkland-Snider.

A very personal piece, Embrace explores the idea of sexuality and identity and how they can conflict with societal expectations. George explains: “I knew the sort of story I wanted to tell and researched several angles before developing the narrative as it is today, a story arc that I hope makes the movement itself more immediate and impactful. This is a very personal ballet for me, one I feel deeply connected to, and I hope that comes across.”

MAGICAL LANGUAGE

Dance has been part of George’s life for as long as he can remember and having pushed his parents to take him to classes he immediately fell in love with it spending many evenings, weekends and holidays in the studio and at competitions. As a child George was always active and sporty, but it was dance that made him feel most himself. He says: “It let me be creative and impulsive. I love the freedom it can bring, as well as the impact it can have on all sorts of audiences. It’s like a magical language.”

Aged just 13, George applied to ballet school without telling his parents and won a place at Elmhurst Ballet School in Edgbaston. “It was a bit of a shock when I won a place but my parents let me make the move to Birmingham where I began my training, before moving down to London to attend English National Ballet School.” While at ballet school George realised that he didn’t actually want to be a professional ballet dancer and, instead, found his true passion in choreography. He recalls: “I was always keen on creating dances, making things up and trying things out. That said, it wasn’t until English National Ballet School that I had the opportunity to begin choreographing.”

There were several competitions open to students and George jumped at every chance. He won the Choreographic Competition for three consecutive years along with the CTRL-ALT-SHIFT Award. George’s ballets included Round the Corner in 2009 which was presented at the Peacock Theatre and the City of London Festival as well as Ana-Chro-Po for the English National Ballet School’s summer performance.

PIVOTAL MOMENT

After just a year out of school as a professional dancer with the Polish National Ballet and having choreographed Animus for the company, George was given an incredible opportunity by Wayne Ealing, then artistic director at English National Ballet, to create his first professional commission, to rework Firebird at the Colosseum in London which was well received and proved a pivotal moment.

While awards and accolades are not the be all and end all for George, they are encouraging. He says: “It’s always encouraging to have pieces recognised in a positive way. Especially when you are relatively new, it can feel daunting to try and forge a career as a choreographer. The opportunities can be scarce and it can be a bit of a lonely journey in comparison to working as a dancer for a company.”

For now, all the focus is on Embrace, but George is excited and ambitious about the future. “I would love to have a big enough body of work behind me to be able to choose the opportunities I take, and the types of work I can devote myself to developing. I want to work with companies and other artist who are uncompromising in their passion for committing to their own unique style, breaking boundaries and attracting new audiences to their work.”

Winning a WhatsOnStage Award voted for by the public for your West End debut would be dreamy for any young actor or actress, but for the Midlands own Lucie Shorthouse it was just the icing on the cake. Critically acclaimed Everybody’s Talking About Jamie was Lucie’s biggest job to date having most notably filmed a cameo in Clean Break, appeared in Doctors and played a victim in In The Line of Duty as well as featuring in The Sound of Music Live.

She relished her first musical theatre role playing Jamie’s supportive best friend Pritti Pasha and embraced the West End musical with gusto finding the experience ‘everything she imagined it could be’ with a ‘dream cast’ to boot. With five Olivier Award nominations under its belt, there’s now talk of the production going Stateside and if she was asked to cross the pond with it Lucie would jump at it.

DRAG QUEEN AT 16

Directed by Jonathan Butterell, the play was inspired by the 2011 BBC Three documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16 and was written by Tom MacRae with music by Dan Gillespie Sells. It’s inspired by the true story of Jamie Campbell, played by John McCrea, who grew up on a Sheffield council estate struggling to fit in, feel accepted and ultimately be himself. Lucie explains: “It’s just about people celebrating their own truth with all the trials and tribulations that go with that. Diversity, authenticity, sitting in your own truth, that’s liberating and it’s joyful.”

Among the wealth of rave reviews, the Independent describes it as ‘a joyous punch in the air about following your dreams and being yourself’. The workshop for the show was the first professional job Lucie had with no guarantee she’d actually be cast, but she remembers thinking even then it was something special and a story that needed to be told.

With Muslim characters vastly under-represented on stage, Lucie was thrilled to be bucking that trend and felt a responsibility to do it right. She explains: “Pritti is not the token Muslim girl in a hijab. She’s a rich, rounded character that’s integral to the story who is not defined by being a Muslim. And I love how open-minded she is.” She adds: “It’s a responsibility to be playing a character you don’t see that often and I know there’ll be young audience members who are seeing themselves represented on stage for perhaps the first time.”

VICTORY FOR DIVERSITY

When Lucie won the WhatsOnStage Award for best supporting actress she saw it almost as a victory for diversity. “It was a public vote so I didn’t think I had a chance. It suggests the public wants to see more of this sort of character.” Not that Lucie gives much time to dreaming of winning awards. “That’s not why I do it,” she says emphatically.

She’d also rather not be famous although we suspect it might be too late for that such has been the popularity of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Having said that, Lucie says nobody recognises her without her character’s hijab, so she can fly under the radar a bit.

As a shy child who danced a bit, although apparently with ‘bad feet’, Lucie grew up in Tamworth where the ‘only other brown people she saw were her own family’ who moved from Kenya and settled in the Midlands. “I’m really proud to be from the Midlands and I come home as often as I can. There’s so much space and the theatre scene in Birmingham is rich and exciting. I’ve lost my Brummie accent though except when I’m angry or drunk! It comes out then.”

Lucie got into drama at school and then university. She studied English and Drama at Cambridge and says modestly: “I was quite academic.” Having thought university would get the drama bug out of her system, Cambridge Footlights only served to fuel the love and after graduation Lucie enrolled at Italia Conti in London where she studied for two years.

SPICY MARIA VON TRAPP

She trained in drama not musical theatre at Italia Conti and didn’t see her career going down that path particularly, not that she’d turn it down in the future, but Lucie would love to do more TV work too. She says: “TV is so exciting at the moment and the quality is so high. It’s a lot more technical. You don’t necessarily film things in order. I’m still learning to master that.”

Lucie’s focus is making exciting work like playing a ‘spicy brown Maria von Trapp’ – a reference to her role in Sound of Music Live. Top of the wish list for the future would be working with Charlie Brooker. “He’s a genius – Black Mirror is so clever,” she says.

There are ‘down-times’ as an actress and Lucie is philosophical about that. “I got very down about it in the past, but it’s important not to put all your self-worth into your job, there is more than that.”

Lucie’s energy, warmth and obvious talent have got us excited about what’s next. For what it’s worth, we predict more great work followed by the very things she doesn’t desire a great deal – awards and fame – sorry Lucie!

Based in Birmingham’s cultural quarter of Digbeth, the Strings Club was founded in 2012 by professional violinist and teacher Amy Cunningham. The idea came as an extension of the fact that Amy was teaching music to more than 250 children in the classroom each week. A ‘toe in the water’ exercise of setting up a music group outside of lesson time started with a mere six budding string players.

Despite the small number, it was a big success with the kids and a parent at the end of the concert asked: “When is the next one?” The word had started to spread and since then, Amy has been devoted to creating inspiring musical experiences for children. Her award-winning music education company now operates from four centres in London and two in the West Midlands – Harborne and Sutton Coldfield – with further openings planned this year in Solihull followed by Bristol next year.

ENTREPRENURIAL

Currently more than 25,000 children aged from four to 11 belong to Strings, enjoying a range of high-quality musical experiences, specifically centred around string instruments including violin, guitar, ukulele and cello.

Prior to establishing Strings, Amy had trained as a violinist at the University of Birmingham and University of London and had performed with many known ensembles. During her training, she also worked for recognised music services as well as being a teacher. “Even though I was teaching, I’d always had a bit of an entrepreneurial background,” said Amy. “I was always into setting up my own enterprises and projects.”

Since launching, Strings has gained wide recognition for it’s refreshing approach to music education from key figures, such as Richard Hallam, chair of the Music Education Council to business industry experts and The Apprentice star Karren Brady.

Strings Club runs Saturday classes and works in schools and has a very fruitful partnership with the Royal School of Music. The emphasis is on playing, learning, but most all doing so with fun. Lots of fun. The club runs a mix of different opportunities for youngsters to interact with music and stringed instruments.

SYMPHONY HALL

These include Discovery Days where children accompanied by parents get the chance to try out two new instruments of their choice and experience two 20-minute lessons for free! This summer in June, Strings will be launching Discovery Days for the first time at Symphony Hall. They are sure to be very popular!

Strings’ award-winning Ofsted registered Holiday Camps bring together the very best of music education and childcare to engage and inspire during every school holiday. Each day is different, including a range of workshops alongside high quality small group classes.

Or how about having a party! A Ukulele Gurus party is packed with games, activities and music-making. Add to this mix, weekly classes led by leading strings music teachers and school music lessons run by the club in the classroom and its easy to see that Amy has developed a rich seam of business success. And just in case you’re wondering how any parent can afford to invest in a violin or a cello or guitar, Strings supplies the instruments and allows the children to take them home so they can continue having fun and practising!

FRANCHISING

While Amy and her core team are based in Digbeth, the business uses 130 self-employed ‘contractors’ – musicians, many trained music teachers – who are thoroughly screened before being hired. Looking to the future, Amy would love to add franchising opportunities to the business.

And she hopes the recognition and awards will keep coming. Strings was a finalist in this year’s Federation of Small Business awards and is a previous winner of the Nectar Start-Up of the Year. Amy also won the 2017 Great British Entrepreneur award and was a finalist in the Everywoman awards.

She said: “Over the next five to 10 years, I want the Strings Club to be known as a UK national music education company. What Strings offers is high quality, and as a mum myself with a three-year-old daughter, I know the guilt that parents feel of leaving their child at nursery. You need to know that your child is getting the care and enjoyment and is being very well looked after. I set up Strings because I knew there was a real demand for a fun way of learning music which makes children – and their mums and dads – happy.”

The last 12 months have been nothing short of mind-blowing for Birmingham-based family travel business Day Out With The Kids. Following the launch of a new website and rebranding in January 2017, dayoutwiththekids.co.uk has become the biggest website for family days out in the UK, attracting 26 million visitors and helping 17 million families find adventures last year.

Listing more than 6,000 attractions, from farm parks and museums to the UK’s most famous day out destinations, Day Out With The Kids is the home of hidden gems, ideas and inspiration, as well as its own lifestyle blog. It also boasts the most engaged social community in its sector, having grown its social media audience by more than 63 per cent in the last 12 months.

During the same period, the business has also formed partnerships with leading attractions and family brands, including Go Ape, West Midlands Safari Park and Smyths Toy Superstores.

And since the relaunch, the brand has tripled its team of staff, with 13 people now working across its digital marketing, brand, sales and content teams. In the next quarter, the team is expected to grow further with four roles currently being recruited, including developers and a marketing partnerships co-ordinator. An internship programme launched last year is also going from strength to strength.

CREATING SUPER BRAND

It’s all a far cry from how Day Out With The Kids started when it was set up as a listings site by a dad who was frustrated at how difficult and time-consuming it was to find places to take the children. Two years ago, the site was acquired by Kings Norton-based Attraction World Group, one of the world’s leading theme park and attraction ticket specialists which deals with many top travel brands. Attraction World saw the potential to make Day Out With The Kids a ‘super brand’. A year of intensive work followed, hiring a new team and perfecting the website and social media offerings.

While Attraction World and Day Out With The Kids are run as two completely separate businesses, they share the same CEO, Paul Stobbs, and 2018 will also see the company move to new office in Kings Norton alongside its sister company, plus a new product launch designed to give members access to exciting benefits with selected partners.

“The past 12 months have given us a really solid foundation for growth and we’re really excited that over 17 million families have put their trust in us to find great days out this year,” said Paul. “We’re looking forward to building on everything we’ve achieved, and with the ambitious strategy we have in place for the next 12 months, 2018 is set to be another year of growth for Day Out With The Kids.”

PARENTS AND PRESSURE

According to head of brand Catherine Warrilow the key driver behind Day Out With The Kids is growing the business’s social community by highly engaging with its audience. “There’s lots of pressure on parents today,” she said. “Trends change really quickly, so what’s important to mums or dads at the school gates can be very different from month to month. Last year trampolining was all the craze with kids, this year it’s crazy golf.

“We have lots of parents in the business, as well as non-parents, and we are able to pick up really quickly what people are talking about across our social channels. We also attend lots of events which feed information into this too.”

Catherine is adamant that Birmingham is the perfect place to run the business. “We are very fortunate to be based here,” she said. “Birmingham is really up and coming as a technology hub for business. There are lots of good people looking to start their careers and we have built an impressive team here very quickly.”

GOAL TO DIVERSIFY

Moving forward, Day Out With The Kids is looking to continue developing close relationships with attractions and family brands across the UK and eventually aims to expand from a listings site to a wider-ranging platform for parents and brands, diversifying to cover other areas of leisure destinations such as restaurants, cinemas and more.

So, exactly what does a family day out look like in 2018? Day Out With The Kids predicts that multi-use sites, which feature activities like bowling, laser tag and more will rise in popularity this year, alongside inflatable parks and role play centres. Trampoline parks, which sprung up across the country in 2017, will also continue to be popular, as parents seek active days out for the whole family.

Let’s face it, the daily commute is a bit of a bind. A necessity not a joy. Same old route, same old people, nothing new. People rarely even look up anymore. For Kris Askey this became an opportunity. He’d been hankering after increased hours behind the lens, but with a full-time job as a graphic designer at Free Radio and limited spare time at the weekend, his time was squeezed, which is how the commute came into play.

Kris began utilising the journey to work to pursue what was his hobby at the time, photography and began documenting the everyday life of Birmingham and its people to stunning effect. “I had about 28 minutes from Moor Street station to Brindleyplace in the morning and a bit more time after work,” he said. “I suddenly had an extra five hours a week.”

BEAUTIFUL AND GRITTY

The resulting images show Birmingham at its beautiful and gritty best. A local lad born in Walsall, Kris found himself viewing Birmingham from a new perspective. “It was right on my doorstep and I had to walk through it twice a day, but I’d never photographed it in the way I would a place I was visiting for the first time. There’s a tendency to be complacent about the things you see and experience every day.” The route didn’t change as it was pretty direct, but there were an immeasurable number of situations and exchanges everyday on that same stretch.

Rather than waiting in the street for something to happen, Kris preferred to move through the city, seeking out interesting things/people. “I like candid, reportage style shots. Sometimes I wouldn’t see anything for days and then a hundred things would happen before my eyes.”

Because the city is changing so rapidly, looking back over the photos from two years ago is an eye-opener. There are scenes that just don’t exist anymore. It’s a valuable project and one than Kris wants to keep working on for another few years to really feel the changing shape of Brum. He says: “To publish a book of the project would be good. Once I’ve documented five years of the city that would be great.” While the photos are essentially of the street, Kris feels they’d be nothing without the people in them. “If you take the people out of the city, you remove the life from it. It just becomes an empty space.”

RADIO TA TA

In 2016, Kris took the plunge and left his job at Free Radio to pursue photography as a career. “It was scary to make the break and it took quite a long time to get myself into the position mentally. I’d been at Free Radio for five years,” says Kris. The station had been supportive of his photography and often let Kris photograph artists that came in to be interviewed. Before he left, Kris was asked to deck out the reception area with his shots to give it more of a cool vibe. “It didn’t look like a radio station or feel like you were walking into a creative work space, so it was nice to do.”

Now that Kris had more time to devote to photography he ventured from his old commuter route extending his documentation of the city resulting in a riveting body of work, such as the view from the roof of Aston University or the Old Fire Station flyover. Last year he got to photograph backstage at an empty Hippodrome for the first time which was interesting. Kris is also enjoying cherry-picking his projects and being in charge of the creative process – and outcome – and not banging someone else’s drum. Regular client work as well as street photography make for a great creative mix. “Being able to pay your bills doing something you love and not comprising is a success in my book.”

TESTED LOYALTIES

Kris has sworn by his trusty Nikon since 2011, but he’s just been lent a Fujifilm model which is testing his loyalty! “You’ve caught me at an odd moment. It’s smaller, lighter and good quality, so I may be tempted.” Lighter actually matters a lot says Kris. “Aside from editing I’m on my feet all the time, so I need to look after my back.”

Of his favourite bits of Birmingham, Kris says: “I have a little bit of a thing for a stretch down Colmore Row and also Moor Street station. I’ve spent so much time there over the years.” Despite Kris and presumably you, the Birmingham Living reader appreciating the city’s beauty and great potential, he thinks the city is underrated: “The city gets a bad rep, but over the past half-a-decade it’s really stepped up its game. It’s truly multi-cultural, there’s a wealth of talent and I think it’s underestimated.” He adds: “I think Birmingham has a lot more to offer than say Manchester.” Hear, hear!

A major area of Birmingham has been revolutionised over recent years bringing wealth, jobs and international recognition to the area. Calthorpe Estate – which is one of the UK’s largest urban estates – has just celebrated its 300th birthday and its recent history and future has never been brighter.

The 1,600-acre estate is home to some of Birmingham’s most iconic institutions, such as Edgbaston Stadium, the Botanical Gardens and MAC arts (all of which featured in our series of articles naming Birmingham’s Greatest). The estate is also home to some leading schools including Edgbaston High, St George’s and Hallfield.

The ongoing development of Edgbaston Village hosts some fine leisure and retail outlets but perhaps where Calthorpe Estates is excelling most, certainly on an international stage, is the Edgbaston Medical Quarter (EMQ). The Quarter boasts 64 per cent of the city’s health care economy. It is at the hub of the medical and life sciences revolution taking place in the West Midlands.

GO-TO DESTINATION

EMQ is home to more than 550 medical companies, 180 medical organisations, 80 hospitals and specialist care centres, 44 GP clinics and routine care facilities and 23 training facilities. It the location for 25 life sciences specialisms with active research programmes and is Europe’s largest clinical trials centre and the go-to destination for more cost effective and rapid clinical trials.

Many are at the cutting edge of world-class medical technology and involve leading practitioners and students from internationally renowned medical facilities, including the University of Birmingham, Birmingham’s Women’s Hospital, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Biomedical Research Centre for Inflammatory Diseases and the Institute of Translational Medicine – all part of Birmingham Health Partners which is one of the lead centres in the 100,000 Genome project into rare diseases.

EMQ is most famously home of the world-class Queen Elizabeth Hospital, as well as Birmingham Dental Hospital and School of Dentistry, the BioHub Birmingham, and the Accelerated Trials Programme, as well as the Rare Diseases and Personalised Medicine Centre – which is helping to improve diagnosis, clinical management and treatment of rare diseases.

SCIENTIFIC CATALYST

West Midlands Academic Health Science Network is a catalyst and helps drive forward cooperation, collaboration and productivity between academia, industry and healthcare providers to accelerate innovation and improvement in the region’s health and wealth. It has been responsible for the delivery of new innovation products and services such as Medstars and Script.

EMQ’s blend of existing medical buildings and health care development opportunities has seen it attract world recognition and international investment from the medical industry.

It offers some of the best and cutting edge places to be treated in the UK providing faster access to treatments and helping to save lives.

Specialist care centres include:

• Oncology: The Institute of Translational Medicine and Birmingham Centre for Clinical Trials takes the very latest research findings and progresses enhanced treatments for patients across a range of major health issues including cancer and liver disease.

• Trauma: The Centre for Defence Healthcare Engagement is the leading centre for dealing with military and civilian trauma cases.

• Mental Health: The Centre of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Mental Health promotes excellence, innovation and creativity in the delivery of interdisciplinary mental health teaching, learning and research.

• Diabetes: The Centre for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism takes a bench-to-bedside approach working closely with the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

• Addiction and eating disorders: The Addition Detox and Rehab Centre delivers the latest treatments for all forms of addiction.

THRIVING VILLAGE

Set in tree-lined avenues with green open spaces within the Calthorpe Estates, the healthcare and medical facilities sit alongside a thriving leisure, lifestyle and commercial community. Edgbaston Village boasts many character buildings and premier places to eat – including Michelin-starred Simpsons and the Edgbaston Hotel – and shop, such as OKA and Neptune.

A further phase of expansion for Calthorpe sees the replacement of the old 70s and 80s office blocks creating a new prosperity and skyline. As part of its £300million New Garden Square project Edgbaston House will be demolished to be replaced by new apartments, commercial units and leisure facilities built around a stylish garden square.

Calthorpe Estates chief executive Mark Lee said: “Edgbaston has got so much to offer and has undergone the biggest rebirth in its history. If you go back 25 years it was very tired but there has been a change of outlook for the whole area. The area has a new lease of life. On the back of Calthorpe Estates raising its profile on a national and international level, we have attracted Circle Health to Pebble Mill, who plan to build a 19,000 sum facility, along with Bupa who are due to open early 2018 a 62-bed care home.”

“More recently we have seen the opening of a world-class IVF centre by CARE Facility on Highfield Road, who are the UK’s leading independent provider of fertility treatment. Re:cognition Health recently established a new pioneering brain and mind clinic at 100 Hagley Road, where they specialise in the diagnosis, treatment and care relating to cognitive impairment symptoms or mental health concerns. The EMQ initiative at Arab Health has to-date led to direct pipeline inward investment in Edgbaston of over £73.5million and created 300 jobs.”

Alongside this, EMQ has seen strong demand for consulting rooms and healthcare facilities, as businesses grow. All of which means the future is very exciting indeed for this very important corner of the city.

HISTORY LESSON

The Calthorpe estate was bought in 1717 by London merchant Sir Richard Gough. His son Henry succeeded to the estate in 1727 and married Barbara Calthorpe. He maintained the rural character of the area by banning the building of warehouses and workshops. Edgbaston was developed as a residential area from 1810. The trades of Birmingham brought prosperity to the city and Edgbaston became a fashionable suburb for wealthy industrialists.

We first encountered the Miss Fortunes over the summer performing at the bandstand in Birmingham Botanical Gardens on a gloriously sunny Sunday and were utterly blown away. The group belted out an eclectic mix of tracks from Forties’ classics through to Bruno Mars Uptown Funk while people of all ages bopped their way through the set on the lawn. It’s quite a talent to entertain toddlers, teenagers and twilighters in one hit, but the girls pulled it off.

We caught up with Jen Lali, aka Miss Chief, who met Miss Fire (Rian Harris) at university in Wolverhampton while studying for a teaching degree which is where the retro magic all began. Jen and Rian both loved music and went to loads of gigs together, but neither had really sung in public. They went to a burlesque show in Wolverhampton and thought the musical interlude was completely out of keeping with the rest of the show. Jen explained: “That kind of show needed a retro, tongue-in-cheek act not the boring entertainment they’d shoehorned in, so it got us thinking.”

NERVE-WRACKING

Jen and Rian hatched a plan to create a group and do something better. Both loved rockabilly and a retro vibe, so that’s the direction they took. The girls were determined. They knew they could harmonise well after singing along to the many gigs they’d enjoyed together, but putting themselves out there was still a bit of a nerve-wracking prospect. They started going to karaoke to get used to performing and began looking for a third member to complete their dream of a retro trio.

The third member is a bit of a sore subject and it took three attempts to find the right fit in Amy Groom, aka Miss Fit, but it’s now working well. The group began singing to backing tracks and the girls’ first gig was a birthday bash at a cricket club. They started off performing vintage and Forties’ tracks, but progressed to include Fifties, rock ‘n’ roll, rockabilly and Twenties even. Jen said: “We choose songs we like and enjoy doing mash ups where we can.” Their version of Bruno Mars Uptown Funk is a show-stopper. Teaching took a backseat once the Miss Fortunes took off and it became a full-time career. “Teaching full-time and gigging at the weekend wasn’t an option. I couldn’t keep up,” said Jen.

The group has recently started performing with a three-piece band called the Banned which means they have more flexibility and can come up with arrangements outside the norm – not that you’d ever put them into a normal bracket. The style of the group is almost as important as the vocals and the trio looks immaculate at every gig. I’d assumed they had a stylist and certainly a hairdresser to perfect the retro vibe, but no. The girls do it all themselves. They buy clothing online from Lindy Bop or Collective Clothing to achieve the vintage feel and style their own hair.

ALL IN A NAME

The Miss Fortunes name has lent itself to creating personas based on their own characters for each member – Miss Fire, Miss Chief and Miss Fit – which is particularly fun. The girls’ chat on stage and their obvious friendship is compelling and completes the picture.

The group’s best gig to date was with a three-piece live band called at the Dog and Doublet in Wolverhampton. Jen said: “We put all our energy into that and the place was full. It was just electric.”

Interestingly the gig of their dreams would be Jools Holland’s Hootenanny who happens to be gracing this month’s cover. We’ve put in a good word…

MEET THE MISSES

Miss Chief: The brainy blonde of the group, Jen keeps the others in check and loves to sing and dance. The trio is her brainchild and as such she’s constantly pushing for it to be something spectacular and definitely not run of the mill.

Miss Fire: Fiery redhead Rian has a knack of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time inducing fits of giggles as she makes a hash of one-liners and stumbles into unintentional innuendos. Coming from a musical family, Miss Fire has always been a lover of song and dance.

Miss Fit: The newest addition to the group, Amy is the loudest singer with plenty of banter. Singing before she could talk and influenced by her family, music and singing have always been her bag.

Birmingham’s role as a national centre for excellence in performing arts has been taken to a new level with the opening of a £57million complex which has been labeled one world’s greatest music colleges and concert centres.

The awesome new Birmingham Conservatoire – part of Birmingham City University –boasts five public performance spaces, including a 500-seat concert hall, a 150-seat recital hall and a 100-seat organ studio. There’s also The Lab, a cutting edge, flexible black-box studio and the first permanent jazz space in any UK conservatoire – the 80-seat Eastside Jazz Club. Alongside private rehearsal rooms and dedicated teaching spaces for musicians, the five-storey high building has more than 70 teaching practice rooms.

Led by its principal, Professor Julian Lloyd Webber, the new Conservatoire has also been recognised by the Queen who has granted it a Royal title – which means the music and drama academy is being renamed the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, joining a select list of performing arts institutions bearing the Royal name.

MAGNIFICENT

Internationally renowned cellist and conductor Prof Lloyd Webber said: “With our new name and suitably magnificent new home we intend to set the global benchmark for music and drama education and performance.

“This is a hugely significant moment for music and drama education in the UK. The Royal title bears testimony to the value the Conservatoire rightly places on the importance of the performing arts in all our lives.”

Birmingham City University vice-chancellor, Professor Philip Plowden, added: “The Royal title not only indicates the Birmingham Conservatoire’s national and international repute but also its transformative impact on people’s lives.

“The Royal title has been achieved as a result of substantial efforts from Prof Lloyd Webber and his dedicated team over the past year and we are all extremely proud of this extraordinary accolade that will be celebrated within the university, across the city and beyond.”

The protected Royal titles are conferred sparingly, and all applicants must satisfy several strict conditions. The bestowment follows the Earl of Wessex becoming the Conservatoire’s first Royal Patron in March 2016.

DIGITAL AGE

The historic Conservatoire’s new state-of-the-art home – which sits proudly and confidently next to Millennium Point – is the first purpose-built music college to be constructed in the UK since 1987 and the only one in the country which has been specifically designed to cater for the demands of the digital age.

Prof Lloyd Webber said: “The new Conservatoire emerges during a difficult time for arts funding and music education, meaning our role in training the world’s next great musicians and actors is more vital than ever. Personally, I don’t think there will be another built in the UK. Of course, a building is only as effective as the people inside it and my team and I will continue our work to ensure that the future arts industry is not dominated by the wealthy elite.”

Designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and constructed by Galliford Try using 400,000 bricks, the main performance venues are comprised of independent ‘box in box’ structures and built on dedicated acoustic foundation bearings for optimum noise control. Double and triple-glazed windows have been used to achieve the high level of acoustic requirements, supported by bespoke timber panelling throughout the building.

The new Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s inaugural season will begin on Sunday 11 March 2018 when the new concert hall will host a Royal Gala concert performed by the Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s music director, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla.

FAMOUS

Professor Plowden said: “The Conservatoire has nurtured the talent of many household names, including singer-songwriter Laura Mvula, conductor Mike Seal and actor Nicol Williamson. Our fantastic new facility will ensure we can equip future performers with the skills they need to meet the demands of today’s fast-paced creative economy.

“However, this is not just a state-of-the-art home for developing the next generation of talented and versatile performers, but it will also enrich and deepen the university experience for all our students, who will be able to make full use of its facilities and enjoy the rich programme of events planned.

“The new Birmingham Conservatoire is a significant investment for the University, the city and, indeed, the country as a whole, and one in which will certainly set a new global benchmark for music and drama education and performance.”

The Conservatoire has nearly 70 formal partnerships with some of the world’s most prestigious performing arts institutions, including the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, National Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Paris and Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

The new building is a joint project by Millennium Point and Birmingham City Council.

Jazmin Sawyers is a woman of many talents. Not content with being one of Team GB’s rising stars – she is Commonwealth and European long jump silver medallist and came an impressive eighth in Rio – she also has a World Junior bobsleigh gold medal in the trophy cabinet and unexpectedly popped up on The Voice, storming the blind auditions to bag a place on team Will.i.am. Versatility seems an understatement.

Make no mistake though, athletics is Jazmin’s first love while music is a hobby. She made it clear to Will.i.am that athletics came first and I wonder if that affected his decision to send Jazmin home in the battle round. She doesn’t think so and just thoroughly enjoyed the ‘amazing’ experience.

Rather than being a distraction, Jazmin says that music has enhanced her training. “I need something outside of training to engage my brain and music provides that. It’s nice to have on the side but the focus is sport.”

BOBSLEIGH

Like most children, Jazmin tried athletics at school aged nine and took to it immediately. At 11 she started training at a club and by 14, she’d competed in her first competition abroad. “I loved it and thought I want more of this.” Incredibly driven, Jazmin persuaded her parents to let her apply for a scholarship to Millfield School in Somerset where the sporting facilities are top notch. They relented. Jazmin boarded from the age of 16 and relished every minute. “I know it doesn’t suit everyone but I loved boarding.”

Millfield gave Jazmin opportunities she wouldn’t have ordinarily had like bobsleigh of all things. It requires the same explosive power and speed as long jump, so she was in her element. Training at a special facility at Bath University as well as Austria, Germany and Latvia to get the necessary experience on ice, it was quite intense for a while, but worth it when she came away from the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics with a gold medal. Post-2012 Jazmin has focused on long jump but would like to revisit bobsleigh at some point in the future.

Training while studying for a law degree at the University of Bristol meant a few sacrifices that she was happy to make. “I didn’t lead a normal uni life. With studying and training there wasn’t a lot of time left for socialising.” Dreaming of Olympic glory since she was a child they were small sacrifices to make.

Jazmin was ‘gutted’ with eighth place in Rio which was her Olympic debut aged 22 and disappointed with her performance at the World Championships in London earlier this year. She competes to win, so anything less than gold isn’t where she wants to be. Her ambitions for Tokyo 2020 are clear. “Gold all the way.” Along the route to Tokyo there are smaller goals and competitions that will reveal any weaknesses that can be ironed out and help her to get faster.

NAILING IT

Based in Birmingham with her coach, 2004 Olympic heptathlete Kelly Sotherton, the regime is full-on with Jazmin training six days a week with double sessions twice a week. Jazmin receives Lottery funding, so is able to focus full time, but not everyone is so fortunate. “To fit training around a normal job wouldn’t be possible. Without funding this wouldn’t be an option.”

Jazmin’s jam at competitions is her nails. They are always immaculate which makes her feel ‘sorted and ready.’ She has Olympic rings, Union Jacks, whatever takes her fancy. Today they’re bright red. She’s recently become an ambassador for nail brand Semilac based in Solihull and swears by them. “I reckon they last until the nails grow out. I’ve had these on for five weeks.” There isn’t a chip in sight despite spending a lot of her life in sand as well as weight-lifting and training extensively.

Of Birmingham’s sporting events Jazmin is full of praise. She said: “There’s so much going on. The British Championships are always brilliant plus the best indoor event in the calendar is in Birmingham. Athletes look forward to coming here.”

We’ll be following Jazmin’s journey to Tokyo keenly and willing her to fulfil her gold ambitions.

A late starter in racing terms, Jake Hughes has been playing catch-up for the past seven years. Now aged 23 with his sights firmly set on Formula 1, he’s rocking the European Formula 3 championship as part of the Hitech GP team after dominated Formula 4. A member of the British Racing Drivers Club Superstars programme and Motor Sports Association elite Team UK driver programme, Jake’s talent is not in question – but getting into the top flight is frustratingly as much about money as ability.

Jake got into motorsport by chance after having a go at karting at a friend’s 15th birthday party in Oldbury. The owner of the track thought Jake looked like he knew what he was doing and suggested he took it further. He went to Andy Cox Racing in Bromsgrove, took part in a practice day in the Cotswolds and loved it. Clocking Jake’s talent, Andy Cox said to his father: “I’m so sorry. I have some bad news. Your son is about to cost you a lot of money.” He wasn’t wrong. Jake had always been football mad and his dad used to moan about the cost of soccer boots so racing was a shock to the system!

LATE TO THE PARTY

Drivers usually get into karting from eight to 16 before progressing to cars between 16 and 20 – so at aged 16 Jake was pretty late to the party. A lot of hard work teamed with natural talent and determination got him on a par with the best. “There’s no grass roots funding like there is with other sports which means you have to stand out,” explained Jake. “You need to make an impression and attract sponsors which forces you to keep winning.” It also matures you pronto as Jake found out. He’s gone from being fairly shy to travelling round Europe, meeting new people and dealing with the media regularly.

The intense physical side of racing is sometimes overlooked as Formula 1 can appear easy from a viewer perspective, but Jake explains it’s anything but. From a cardiovascular point of view, a two-hour grand prix is on a par with a marathon. Add into the mix the 3G and 4G pressure on drivers and it doesn’t sound so easy. He says: “The training is similar to boxing. You need to be incredibly fit and strong and above all be able to concentrate in tough circumstances for prolonged periods – in temperatures of 50 degrees wearing a fire-proof suit with 4Gs putting the neck under immense strain. Drivers can lose 4kg in one race.”

Jake’s been double training in the few days before we caught up which means cycling, interval sessions and strength work, particularly for the upper body and neck. “Neck strength is most important. It hurts.” Speaking of getting hurt, clearly there are safer sports than racing and Jake’s mum struggles with it.

POOR MUM!

He remembers: “The family travelled out to Macau in China for the Formula 3 world championships which is a 12-hour flight and my mum didn’t even watch the racing! She looked the other way.” Jake’s favourite quote from ex-Formula 1 world champion Mario Andretti probably doesn’t help… ‘If everything seems under control you’re not going fast enough.’

With Formula 1 winking, Jake explains why it’s harder than just being a talented driver. “The four top teams can afford to pay drivers but the midfield and back marker teams just about break even and don’t tend to pay much, if at all.” With a season costing £15million it’s tough, but Jake’s determined to get there. More than 20 titles in Formula 1 have been won by drivers who did it via Formula 3 such as Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher among other greats. So, watch this space…

Beth Goodrham’s Instagram profile featuring her trademark pink front door and daily outfit shots showcases the sort of breezy, effortless style we’re all after. She has the school run well and truly nailed, likes a bit of sparkle as much as the next girl and sports active wear with a flourish.

A body to die for honed through years of running obviously helps; in fact she’s running the inaugural Birmingham Marathon later this year. It could all be a bit intimidating except she’s just so utterly lovely and self-deprecating that you end up wishing she was your mate.

Life hasn’t always been so fluffy though. Beth trained as a lawyer in London and worked for a private law firm for three years before moving to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) based in Birmingham. With wide ranging powers, the CCRC is an independent body tasked with investigating miscarriages of justice. Beth stayed for nine years and loved her work but started to think she’d either stay forever or do something completely different. While on maternity leave with her third child, Beth decided to make a very dramatic change.

BITING THE BULLET

A styling course run by Nicky Hamilton Jones of TV’s 10 Years Younger fame appealed to Beth who had always been interested in fashion. While she was toying with the idea of booking the course a friend asked her to sort out her wardrobe for her as she loved Beth’s style. This gave her the impetus to bite the bullet and go for it – and he hasn’t looked back! Beth recalled: “The course was brilliant and I knew immediately that’s what I wanted to do. Everything just fell into place.”

Slightly daunted by the prospect of such a radical change, Beth began hosting small events like coffee mornings at her children’s school, armed with a rail of clothes and roped in her friends to model. Then Beth made the bold move of hiring a room at Edgbaston Priory for a much larger affair. She said: “I was completely out of my comfort zone in effect selling myself and when I look back I can’t believe I did it. Everything I’d done previously had been academic and behind a desk. This was a bit scary.” Around 100 people turned up and it was a big success.

Beth launched a blog called Style Guile and got to grips with social media with great success. The blog was shortlisted by Marie Claire for the fashion blog of the year award. “The blog has been particularly good,” said Beth. “People can get to know me from a distance. It’s an extra layer.”

Styling individuals is at the core of Beth’s work which is very rewarding. “There’s a trigger point that makes people come to me. They may have had a baby and are going back to work. There are a variety of reasons. I find out where they are, where they want to be, so I can help teach them and hone in on the things that will work,” Beth explained.

BRAND AMBASSADOR

Beth’s reputation spread and as well as styling individual ladies she’s worked on campaigns for The Fort and the WI, was an ambassador for Pavilions and has worked with big brands like Boden, LK Bennett and Hobbs among others. A presenting gig on QVC followed where she’s a brand ambassador for Orla Kiely as well as presenting for other fashion and beauty brands too.

Now the children are bigger Beth has more time and would love to work with more brands. “I’ve worked with some smaller businesses recently like Air and Grace which I’d like to do more of. Also, connecting with people and being involved in blogger and Instagram events is something I enjoy, so I’d like to do more of that.”

BIG UP BIRMINGHAM

What of Birmingham’s shopping scene? “In the Nineties it was either Rackhams or nothing, so the change in the city has been phenomenal. The Bullring’s great for high street, Grand Central for top end high street and the Mailbox for high end. What the city is seriously lacking though is independents. “You’ve got Loved & Found at John Lewis and that’s about it.”

Beth recognises the city’s offering has moved on at a rapid pace though and clients that come to Birmingham from outside the city to shop with Beth are always thoroughly impressed even the ones that travel from the capital.

Ten years ago, a small Midlands music publishing company took the decision to diversify with a vision to revolutionise the brass music instrument sector. The aim was to make affordable, durable, stylish instruments that delivered the same high quality sound with none of the problems of heavy and expensive traditional items.

Following the theory that the best ideas are often the most blindingly obvious ones, the plastic trombone – called the pBone – was born. Well, actually it was born three years after the original idea… because, as always, simplicity can be hellishly difficult to make a reality.

Today, the Warwick Music Group’s pBone has become the biggest selling trombone in the market with more than 150,000 finding homes since launch.

Single-handedly, the pBone has turned the declining trend in trombone sales on its head. Every 20 minutes, someone in the world picks up a pBone – one of the main reasons for a 15 per cent increase in world sales of trombones in the last three years. And there’s no doubting that the pBone has brought a younger profile to the sector, too.

ACCESSIBILITY

The success has spawned a range of plastic instruments. In 2013 came the pBone mini, for smaller children to handle. And then the following year the world’s first all-plastic trumpet – the pTrumpet. July 2016 saw the launch of an entirely new musical instrument aimed at children aged three and over called the pBuzz – a brightly coloured alternative to first instruments such as the recorder. Over the next few months WMG will unveil a new plastic cornet (the pCornet) and a trumpet made of 50 per cent plastic and 50 per cent metal (the pTrumpet Hytech) to specifically target professional musicians.

“The keyword has always been accessibility with our instruments,” said WMG’s chief executive Steven Greenhall. “We determined that the trombone would be the easiest first brass instrument to make in plastic. We focused on it being very light, easy to play – especially for kids, durable so that when it was dropped in classrooms it wouldn’t need repairing, and we also wanted to make it fun in lots of different colours.”

The original idea for the plastic trombone came from Hugh Rashleigh, a product and design engineer who teamed up with Steven who had spent 10 years in the music industry in the US. “It seemed a crazy idea, but it made sense to us,” said Steven. “The trombone is the easiest instrument to make – it’s basically a horn with a slide – but it had been around basically untouched for 500 years.

THE PROMS

“No one had made one in plastic and it took us three years to do the R&D with Hugh making prototypes in his shed at the beginning. On the outside it looks like a trombone but inside it is very different. The fact that we are both musicians meant we wanted to keep pushing the boundaries, and it proved to be worth it. It has been a big success.”

The instrument has been used on TV shows such as Britain’s Got Talent, at major festivals including Glastonbury and even at The Proms. The pBone and pTrumpet have both won leading industry awards, including the Music Teacher and British Plastics Federation awards. WMG now employs 18 people and is also involved in local partnerships and education outreach programmes with the likes of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. The business has claimed a number of major awards for innovative, including the Nectar Small Business of the Year for Innovation, Midlands Business Award for Innovation and the Future Champion title at the National Business Awards.

Bright to look at and fun to play, the plastic instruments have proved a big hit with kids and schools. A pBone will cost a school around £100 to buy, well under half the price of a conventional trombone producing the same sound quality. The pBuzz recorder alternative, which is made in the UK, is just £20.

GROWING RANGE

“There are 17,000 to 18,000 primary schools in the UK with four-and-a-half million kids,” said Steven. “We see getting the pBuzz into more schools as one of the big growth areas, along with expanding the whole business internationally.” Right now, 85 per cent of trombones that children learn to play on are pBones. Along with the growing range of other instruments – including a design for a pFlute – the future looks a real blast for the plastic instrument makers.

The toughest market to crack will be getting the instruments into the hands of professional musicians in the UK and world-leading orchestras and bands. “It’s a notoriously traditional area,” said Steven. “But we’ll get there, I’m confident. We had a musician in one of the very top orchestras use one of our instruments in rehearsals and the conductor didn’t realise it wasn’t a brass instrument. The sound quality is as good, better actually, than brass.”

Nothing like blowing your own trumpet is there?….

Local country singer-songwriter Sally Rea Morris has been into music for as long as she can remember, but things just got a little bit more serious. After winning the opportunity to support the X Factor’s Sam Bailey in March, Sally has left her job in events and hospitality at The Belfry and is pursuing her dream to make a living from her music.

It was while at The Belfry that Sally’s music career took an up-turn. In the hotel’s talent competition, Belfry’s Got Talent which was judged by Sam Bailey, Sally triumphed and relished her prize supporting Sam on stage. While Sally was used to gigging, she hadn’t performed in a theatre setting and was wowed by the experience. She said: “It was amazing. A theatre audience is so different and all the attention is on you”.

Surrounded by music as a child, it was obvious early on that Sally was a bit special. She said: “I’ve always loved music. My dad had guitars and there were all kinds of instruments at home”. Sally started writing music aged 12, performed in school choirs and was a regular in the city of Birmingham Young Voices choir. Clearly creative, Sally was baffled when taking her options at school it wasn’t possible to choose music and art. It was one or the other. She opted for music and went on to complete a Btec in music at college too.

AMERICAN DREAM

Always performing, Sally was a regular on Birmingham’s music scene gigging around town while studying. Not content with promoting her own talents, she started running an open mic night at the Roadhouse that became hugely successful and uncovered some great local talent like Esther Turner. “Aged just 15 at the time Esther has gone on to do really well. She’s supported The Jacksons among others. I’m really proud of that,” said Sally.

Clearly America is the centre of the country music universe and Sally loves it. An internship in events and hospitality in the US meant she was able to absorb the country vibe first-hand which cemented her passion for the genre. “I began open mic singing while I was out there. It allowed me to travel and I met loads of amazing people.” She plans to spend a lot more time there and was preparing to go to Nashville just after we spoke.

Leaving The Belfry was a bit daunting, but the company has been incredibly supportive making it clear the door is always open. Sally’s focused on writing and recording working with Gavin Monaghan in the studio preparing to put a record out with her band Gasoline and Matches. Influences include US country star Butch Walker who Sally was lucky enough to meet. She recalled: “They say never meet your idols in case you’re disappointed, but it wasn’t the case. We were in a bar drinking vodka at 2am! He’s just a great guy. Really charismatic.”

With only one major country music event in the UK, Sally would like to see more. “There’s C2C at the O2 in London which is pretty big, but that’s it. It’s an amazing genre with really passionate fans. There should be more here in the UK.” With her events grounding we wouldn’t bet against her forging ahead and organising her own.

Despite her penchant for the US, Birmingham will always be home. Sally explained: “It’s such a young energetic city. The shopping is second to none and there are new restaurants popping up all the time. Independents are thriving. Places like Digbeth Dining Club are doing great things. I can’t see myself living anywhere else. Birmingham’s home.”

Growing up in the landlocked Midlands wouldn’t seem the perfect backdrop to becoming one of the country’s leading seascape artists. But Jo Ashby has a habit of bucking convention all her life. Born in Moseley, her love of the sea came from the many, very regular trips to the beautiful coasts of Wales and North Cornwall as a child with her parents. With both mum and dad being artists and art teachers, it is no surprise that Jo has followed in their brushstrokes – eventually! But becoming a professional artist didn’t come via the most direct route!

PSYCHOLOGY

“I went through the typical teens rebellious thing,” she explains. “I thought I go into anything but art. I tried psychology and then spent my time back-packing to ‘find’ myself.” It wasn’t until she’d ‘calmed down’ a bit that Jo realised that her natural love of art couldn’t be ignored or denied.

She returned to Birmingham and post-graduate art education before finally taking the plunge to become a full-time professional artist. Next month she joins fellow artist and close friend Majella O’Neill Collins to return to her home city in an exhibition of their work entitled Two Distant Views at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists.

Both artists live on Sherkin Island, a tiny gem just off the south-west coast of Ireland. The stunning beauty of the island has made it a hub attracting artists across a huge range of creative mediums from around the UK and beyond. Jo lives there with her partner Mick, but she maintains strong connections with Birmingham, is a regular returning visitor and is an associate member of the RBSA.

“Birmingham is my city and even though I live on Sherkin, I’m always yearning to return to home,” she says. The exhibition at the RBSA showcases Jo’s beautiful interpretation of the West Cork coastline. “Exhibiting at the RBSA brings my life full circle, as Birmingham is my home town,” she says. “This exhibition is a wonderful opportunity to reveal Sherkin to a wider audience and share our affinity and connection with the sea.”

Jo is fascinated with the effects of the elements and nature on the sea. She has a deep love of drawing and mark-making and is always seeking the changing effect of light and wind on the surface of the water. The impact of wind is something which can be seen clearly in Jo’s work. “Different conditions and seasons change everything,” she explains. “In autumn I get obsessed with trees bending over in the wind. I winter I’m obsessed with the water surface and the movements caused.”

SKETCHBOOKS

Jo works in acrylic which involves laying down a drawing and then gradually building up layers of glaze. The days of lugging around materials has long gone – Jo goes out walking with lots of little sketchbooks to jot down ideas. Her work in her studio happens in the mornings when the light is at its best, and she’ll work on five or six pieces at a time. The exhibition in Birmingham will feature between 40 and 50 works by the two artists, who have been working towards the event for the past year.

“Art is the soul of the community and it’s so important that organisations like the RBSA flourish,” said Jo. “ I’m getting all political now. It is crushing how the arts are being squeezed out of the curriculum in schools. People wring their hands about the lack of emotional intelligence in our communities, but studying the arts is where emotional intelligence comes from.”

Never was the phrase ‘poetry in motion’ more apt than when talking about Matt Windle. The up-and-coming Birmingham boxer is also the city’s official Poet Laureate. If, like me, you didn’t know there was such a thing then you should also know that to win this literary title is almost as demanding as claiming a champion’s belt in the ring.

Matt, 26, started off 10 years ago by being Birmingham Junior Poet Laureate after he was pestered by his English teacher at Moseley School, Wake Green to enter for the competition. “The class was given the choice of writing an essay or a poem and, me being lazy, I thought it would be easier to write a few lines of a poem than do a long essay,” explains Matt. “The teacher was so impressed by my poem about homelessness that she said I should enter in for the Young Poet Laureate. I was 15 at the time in Year 10 and she kept asking me day after day if I had entered. I finally gave in and put in my entry, which had to be four poems, on the very last day possible.”

JUNIOR LAUREATE

Matt was suitably amazed to be called to read his poems in front of a judging panel. “I didn’t really prepare properly because it was my first experience like that, so I didn’t get through,” he said. “But the following year, after working really hard on my poetry I won the competition and became Junior Poet Laureate.”

Fast forward nearly a decade and Matt is now the adult Birmingham Poet Laureate. The Laureate scheme has been going for 21 years and is now a joint venture between Birmingham Library and Writing West Midlands. Matt’s just in the first few months of a two-year term in the job which sees him record important or momentous events on the Birmingham scene in verse, write commissioned pieces of work and take his inspirational message and story out to local and national schools, universities, clubs, organisations, young offenders centres and charities through workshops, boxercise classes and other events. His number one priority is to use his poetry to show youngsters that no dream is impossible, all goals can be reached.

“Most kids have a preconceived idea that poetry and the Poet Laureate is for old people. Say Poet Laureate to them and they’ll think of someone who is dead, from history. They are amazed to see that it is someone of my age who is a professional boxer.”

The self-styled ‘Poet With Punch’ was first an amateur boxer who had more than 60 fights for Warley and Jewellery Quarter boxing clubs. In 2012 he became Birmingham Featherweight champion and the following year was Midland Central Area Bantamweight titleholder. In 2014 he won the Birmingham and Midland Flyweight title and was ranked in the UK’s top eight.

WRESTLING

As we talked Matt was training at Henrietta Street Gym for his fifth fight to be held at Villa Park since turning professional. So far unbeaten in the ring, Matt is returning after a nasty back injury. He’s ranked number six in the UK in the eight-stone flyweight division and number 11 in Europe. His aim is to get a title fight within the year and go on to win the British title.

Matt’s love of boxing is total but as a youngster he kind of stumbled into the sport. “At primary school age I loved watching the WFF wrestling, but at senior school I grew out of that. I still enjoyed the combat aspect of sport though and in my teens I just wanted to box. I’m only 5ft 4in so I was never going to become a Usain Bolt or a top class footballer. But boxing is different.”

So, when it comes to ‘The Big Fight: The Crunch Match’ what’s it to be ultimately for Matt – boxing or poetry? “I suppose you could say that I’m a poet by day and a boxer by night. I am fiercely committed to both. I’m able to do my training without any impact from by poetry work,” he says

BREAD AND BUTTER

“On my boxing, I’m training hard for my latest fight. On my poetry, I am currently writing pieces for Birmingham Ladies FC. A couple of weeks ago I did a workshop for Amnesty International in Sutton Coldfield. I’ve also been involved with Remembrance Sunday and Holocaust Memorial. Today, I’ve been to Kidderminster to help sixth-formers that have just left school get more creative with their CVs to get a better chance of getting jobs.”

Matt admits that even if he proved good enough to become a world boxing champion, he will always have poetry in his life. “Poetry is my bread and butter for when I’m older, for the rest of my life. It provides me with a much better income than boxing. But boxing is always with me too. Wherever I am, I’ll walk around doing a bit of shadow boxing, throwing a few punches.”

POET WITH PUNCH

An extract from City Me by Matt Windle, Birmingham Poet Laureate

Verbal material is stitched

And moulded by thoughts

As well as vocal chords

Caught strumming itself when the wind is still

But even when movement is minimal the wind is still…

A part of your enzyme

Every breath makes me try harder by ten times to not allow the gift of life to be simply sent by

We were all sent by someone

Or something

Not to be everlasting but to be temporary kings

Not to back down from challenges but to beat things

So that even a Queen couldn’t stop you

And if someone tries, let them know that we will, we will rock you

We could be the stars etched on to city streets

And morph in to the soul that helps the heart, beat

I’m not just a part of my city. My city is a part of me

I gave birth to this with dodgy dialect, bad behaviour and good luck

And I give many things but I will never give… up

I will never forget what made me

What participated in the evolution to man, from baby

My built up surroundings are a combination of sweet and savoury 

Imagine a Friday night in Digbeth before the vibrant DDC rolled into town. It would have been cool and edgy, no question, but things got a whole lot more interesting in 2012 when a few drunken conversations between Jack Brabant and his pals became a reality. An event like no other in Brum exploded onto the scene with its focus on top-drawer inventive street food teamed with great music in an environment that’s inclusive and celebratory. Brummies had a unique place to hang out after work and stay all night. So popular was Friday night, that a Saturday has been added catering for a different weekend crowd and there’s more expansion on the cards.

In just five years the street food scene in the city has exploded exponentially thanks to Jack and fellow founder James Swinburne, who is also part owner of Spotlight, a venue central to DDC. Jack’s vision was born out of frustration when he came back to Brum after a stint in London. Having witnessed the rise of street food in the capital around areas like Brick Lane where traders were operating out of side streets selling amazing food, Jack was staggered that there was no scene to speak of in Birmingham at all. “There was a smattering of Midlands-based traders serving fantastic food, but their outlet was the region’s farmers’ markets. There was nothing more than that,” explained Jack.

EDGY VIBE

Digbeth was an obvious choice because of its space and edgy vibe that could potentially replicate the Brick Lane set-up that had so impressed Jack. He met James and already knew the people behind Rainbow Venues, so it all clicked into place. Finding traders was easy, in fact the pair now turn down 75 per cent of applications that just don’t cut the mustard. Clearly the quality of the food is the number one priority as well as marketing and various other aspects. It’s not a prerequisite that traders are Midlands-based although it leans towards that. The focus is absolutely on the best. Jack said: “They’ve got to be the best. We’re going through applications every week. It’s like the X-Factor of street food!”

DDC stalwarts Original Patty Men were on board from the get-go when their foodie venture was still a labour of love. Jack’s not taking credit for their rise or any other trader’s success, but we reckon DDC has played a massive part in helping independents thrive by giving them a platform from which to shine. People like Buddha Belly, Meatshack and Low ‘n’ Slow have featured regularly over the years.

There were mistakes in the early days although never food related. Initially, the choice of music was a bit leftfield for punters. Jack clocked early on that the techno and deep house needed to go. “We realised a 50-year-old looking for some incredible street food didn’t want to listen to Ibiza Classics!” There’s now live music, house bands and a much more laid-back vibe.

EXPANDING

Seriously hands on, Jack and James run DDC like a well-oiled feel-good machine every weekend, plus their involvement in other events across the country meant that in 2016 they were involved in 80 events. Jack missed only three. Either James or Jack attends Digbeth every weekend to ensure things run smoothly. “It’s important that we’re present from a logistical point of view, plus it gives us a sense of pride.” The duo is looking at expanding with the possibility of increased units on Lower Trinity Street and more live music. More activity in Coventry is in the pipeline too.

Winning awards like Best UK Street Food Event at the British Street Food Awards two years on the bounce in 2013 and 2014 helped put the event and Birmingham on the map, so much so that the city actually hosted the awards last year – something that would have been unthinkable five years ago. Rainbow Venues got the gig which was a massive success and a coup for the city. To give you some idea, the previous year’s awards were held at the O2 London. Of the award-winning streak Jack said: “Awards are a nice thing and we certainly wouldn’t turn them down, but they’re not the focus. We focus on being the best we can be.”

How many coffee pods do you go through in a day? We reckon at Brum Living Towers we consign at least 30 of the little blighters to landfill every single day and we’re not alone. Cue talented designer Rhys Ellis whose stunning work transforms the nuisance material to catwalk chic with striking results. His eureka moment came in Milan where drinking coffee is like breathing, and now the fashion world is starting to sit up and take notice.

Lucky enough to bag free studio space at super cool Gallery Six at the Old Truman Brewery in London, Rhys is working on a new collection that will feature wearable day-to-day pieces to be sold through retailers as well as his signature couture style. There are roughly 6,000 pods in each dress. Each pod is treated and manipulated by hand then attached to a mesh structure allowing Rhys to mould the garments. It sounds pretty technical and quite a feat of engineering as well as clever design. The structural quality means it’s no surprise to learn that Alexander McQueen is one of Rhys’s heroes.

FOOTBALL VS FASHION

Not always into fashion or saving the planet, football was Rhys’s jam throughout his teens which he played to a very high standard until a nasty injury spelled the end. While he was completing a foundation course in sculpture and textiles at Birmingham City University and wondering what to do with his life, one of Rhys’s tutors suggested fashion design which struck a chord. He took her sound advice and embarked on a BA in Fashion Design at BCU.

As part of his course Rhys spent a year in Milan which cemented his career path. “I mixed with loads of people from the creative industry including architects and interior designers which was phenomenal,” he said. He learned from a highly respected 74-year-old tailor who had ‘trained Armani before he became Armani’ if you see what we mean. It was important for Rhys to get this traditional tailoring experience. He explained: “I wanted to be able to make clothes not just draw them for someone else to make.”

With this grounding under his belt, Rhys then went to train with someone at the other end of the design spectrum, Iris Vanherpen in Amsterdam. Iris’s designs are futuristic and she’s hugely into technology, so it couldn’t have been more different and Rhys came back buzzing with ideas. He began networking with hotels, schools and universities mooting the idea of taking their used coffee pods off their hands.

Rhys has found the fashion world to be utterly supportive. “I’d heard bad things about this industry, but I haven’t experienced any of it. Whether that’s down to the environmental thing I’m not sure.” He’s referring to things like being offered free studio space which is a huge bonus and means he’s in the heart of a creative hub in an accessible part of town allowing him to get up and running without the financial pressure of renting in the capital.

The first collection took five months with influences including art, sea creatures and history. A number of pieces from the Spring/Summer 17 collection will be displayed at Selfridges Birmingham for the next couple of months as part of the store’s Material World project. For Rhys who worked at the iconic store as a student it’s incredible to have his creations on show. “It makes me so proud to see my work on display in my home city.”

We travel into it every day, we walk around it, we even eat and sleep in it… but how many of us actually take notice of how beautiful this great city of ours is? Life’s too hectic, time’s too short to stand, stare and admire. But not for talented local photographer Verity Milligan. As her reveal, Verity sees that which we don’t, and she’s in no doubt that Birmingham and its surroundings are breath-taking especially when viewed through the lens of her camera.

Brilliantly creative and simply stunning, her images of the city architecture and landscapes have not just attracted local attention and acclaim. Two years ago a national newspaper spotted Verity’s work and ran an article about ‘the photographer who is changing the perception of Birmingham’. Verity says: “From that moment on the whole thing has gone crazy. The Daily Mail article talked about how my pictures showed the changing face of Birmingham, and as a result I had so many people contact me wanting me to do work and commissions for them – not just locally but across the country.”

IT JUST CLICKED

What’s all the more amazing is that Verity didn’t pick up a camera until she was 25. The Leicester University student had always been artistic growing up but had her mind set on being a painter. “But I struggled with paint,” she says. “When I picked up a camera and started clicking away I realised that just like paint it allowed me to show the world as I wanted. I’ve not looked back since.”

Living with her partner in Acocks Green, Verity has many strands to her photography career. She divides her time between working on commissions, shooting on her own time and selling prints of her amazing landscapes of Birmingham and Britain as a whole, producing calendars, lecturing on photography and film-making at Leicester University and even still keeping her hand in on the occasional wedding.

“They are all different pieces of the puzzle to make photography a commercial success,” she says. Verity is also looking to move into fashion photography – “but fashion in the landscape”. She adds: “This could be urban landscape or up a hill somewhere. One thing I am not is a studio photographer. For me it is all about being outdoors somewhere.”

Social media plays a big role in getting Verity’s talent out there. Her website is packed with gorgeous pictures she has taken in Birmingham and elsewhere. Her Brum portfolio includes stunning views of the canals, Lickey Hill at sunrise, the Jewellery Quarter, misty Fox Hollies Park and spectacular mono and colour images of the commercial centre at day and night.

DREAM SHOOT

If you prefer to widen you horizon, Verity has also shot around the country, including in the Lake District, the Peak District, the West Country and Isle of Skye. Her ultimate dream shoot would be to follow in the footsteps of famous American photographer, the late Ansel Adams whose remarkable black and white landscapes of the US West, such as Yosemite National Park, have been widely reproduced in books and on posters and calendars. “That would be amazing to go and shoot all the major national parks in the US and Canada. The scenery is breathtaking,” she says.

As you can tell, Verity loves everything to do with photography. “Some people relax by sitting and watching a good film or TV but I relax by doing some picture or film editing,” she says. “I never sit down, I’m always on the go.”

Currently, this talented camera lady – whose past commissions include work for Visit Engalnd, Visit Britain and picturing the hills and dales for a Yorkshire Tea campaign – is collaborating with Marketing Birmingham and their projects for 2017. Verity is also working on a couple of other exciting Birmingham-based ideas, but she says: “I can’t talk about those just yet!” We can’t wait to see what she’s got in store…

Famously, they reduced Simon Cowell to tears. It’s safe to say that The Neales took Britain’s Got Talent by storm in a way previously unseen since singer Susan Boyle. Like Boyle six years earlier, the four-part family harmony group from Birmingham made the show’s final in 2015 and didn’t win. But they became overnight stars with millions of viewers and millions more worldwide on YouTube and social media.

“Britain’s Got Talent is one of the biggest TV shows in the world, so reaching the live final was pretty incredible to say the least,” said James. “You’re in a bit of a bubble during the show because it really is one of those special shows that the whole nation is talking about whilst it’s on.”

The foursome – dad Laurie and sons James, Dan and Phil – went into the show as amateurs with no experience and with no expectations but after reaching the final they knew that the real test was going to be how they progressed once the show had finished. They have been careful to balance their fame with their day jobs – Laurie and James are both lawyers, while Dan works for Deutsche Bank in Birmingham and Phil for a major supermarket chain.

SOLD-OUT GIGS

“It’s been a lot of hard work, but thankfully there’s four of us to share the workload,” said James. “We make sure we all have fun together, whether it is on stage, on the road, in the studio or just when we’re at home. We’re delighted that over the past year since the show, we’ve sold out some great venues across the country, raised tens of thousands of pounds for charity, met loads of inspirational people and made some unforgettable memories. Topping it off, in June our debut single I’ll Be There which went straight into the Official UK Charts at number 22, peaking at number six. We continue to take things one step at a time though.”

The Neales auditioned for BGT after years of Laurie, now 60, nagging his sons. Laurie had always been passionate about singing but a heart attack 10 years ago which brought him close to death convinced him to make up for lost time. “ Music is my therapy to de-stress after I almost worked my way into the grave,” said Laurie. “Enjoying music with my sons is all I ever wanted to do.”

James and his brothers are convinced that their BGT fame has drawn the family even closer together. “We’ve learned a lot more about each other and probably seen sides we wouldn’t have seen otherwise,” he said. “I’ve learned that Dan isn’t always as quiet as he sometimes seems, that Phil has an answer for everything and that my dad, at the age of 60, is more of a heart-throb than all three of us!

“And mum has loved it too – it’s meant that she’s seen a lot more of us when we were back rehearsing for gigs every weekend. She’s been interviewed for various lifestyle magazines keen to hear her story, and it’s shown her that if she does want to get back into modeling then the door is definitely still open.” Mother Joanne first met Laurie when they shared student digs in London – he was studying law while she was training at Rambert School of Ballet. Joanne went on to become a dancer and model and the two have been married for nearly 35 years.

Of the future, James revealed that The Neales are writing their own songs with the help of a top team of writers and producers. “From a recording perspective, we’re hoping to do some collaborations with cool artists,” he added. “We’d love to hear our songs feature on TV or in films.

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

“When it comes to gigs, we have to be realistic as to what we can sustain alongside our day jobs. We certainly hope to continue to share a stage together for years to come as we absolutely love putting on a great show.”

Among the foursome’s highlights is their annual sell-out Christmas show. Last year it was at Town Hall and just last month they brought their Countdown to Christmas – The Neales show to the Core Theatre, Solihull. “We had a great time in Solihull,” said James. “At some point we’d love to appear back again at Birmingham Hippodrome as that’s where it all started with our first audition for BGT.”

So, what about a dream gig? “That would be to appear on the Late Late Show with James Corden because like the rest of the world – we all love him!”

Tell us about your cooking

I love modern British cuisine, using classic flavours and then incorporating a modern twist. I don’t use any ingredients that people can’t recognise. I want the average Joe to know what it is. I don’t want to put something in front of someone and them have to ask twice what it is. Just as fine dining’s become more relaxed over the last few years so has our cooking. It’s really important to use British and local produce wherever possible but the priority is to use the best ingredients available. We’ve got a number of suppliers that we’ve worked with for years – our meat from Aubrey Allen, all our vegetables are from Birmingham and our fish supplier is second to none.

Describe your perfect meal

I’m a simple guy and although I love great food and visiting other incredible restaurants, for me there’s nothing better than a few beers with something simple and tasty in the local with friends and family.

How did you become a chef?

I used to love baking with my mum and nan. Nan’s scones were amazing! As a teenager I balanced college with an apprenticeship at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole where I found George Outhwaite really inspiring. I joined Hampton Manor six years ago and was lucky to work with Martyn Pearn. Martyn was the chef who influenced me the most. It wasn’t so much his cuisine, but more the robust classicism and disciplines that he taught me. I learned that simplicity didn’t mean simplistic.

What do you eat when at home?

I met my wife at the Metropole where she works as a personal trainer, so food at home is very simple and healthy! Lots of salad, fresh vegetables and roast chicken.

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

I love the food scene in New York, it’s really stimulating. We’re so lucky to have an amazing local food scene and I think Glynn Purnell is right up there. The team and I recently went for a meal at the Ledbury which was incredible. Brett Graham, the head chef there, is pretty special.

What’s the best thing about being a chef?

It’s never dull and there’s something new to learn every day. We have a great team which makes life really enjoyable and watching the lads coming through is great. We also work with a lot of apprentices from University College Birmingham and I really enjoying that nurturing aspect and helping teach and develop new techniques.

Is the customer always right?

Of course. Even when they’re not!

Share a cooking tip

Salt. Get the seasoning right.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

I think a roast dinner. Nothing beats your mum’s roast dinner, does it?

Food heaven and hell?

Hell is avocado. In guacamole it’s ok but I can’t stand it on its own, it’s like grease. Heaven is roast chicken, mayonnaise and a baguette. That simple.

What’s the most unusually thing you’ve eaten

We ate unusual, innovative things on the team trip to Faviken in Sweden. The ‘snuff’ was an interesting final course. But these days the things that I’ve eaten wouldn’t be considered that unusual. There’s restaurants out there using live ants and live shrimp… The Wilderness in Dudley, to name but one.

What do you recommend from this evening’s menu?

The mallard dish that Sous Chef Darren’s just put up. We’ve moved into game season again and this mallard, celeriac and salt pear hits the spot.

Tell us about your cooking

My style is not modern British, it’s just what I like to cook. We try not to follow trends. Tasting menus could be out, a la carte could be in. I don’t care.

How did you become a chef?

I did my apprenticeship at the Birmingham Metropole but cooking really came from home. The kitchen was the hub of our council house in Chelmsley Wood. You could never be late for dinner. I’d go with mom to Birmingham market to buy smoked haddock, ham hocks, pig’s trotters and fresh roe, which is still very much in my cooking’s DNA.

What do you eat when at home?

I like rustic food and eat a lot of meat. I’ve had a counter built so we can film there. The hob’s in the middle and whenever I’m cooking for family and friends everyone gathers round. We serve food down the centre of the table so it’s a bit like The Waltons!

Who’s the best chef in the world and why? And who’s the best in Brum?

Birmingham has gone from the culinary desert of Britain to the country’s hotspot. Anyone who dons an apron or works hard in a kitchen all day to put the city on the map, they deserve that title. In the world, it’s Paris three-starred chef Pierre Gagnaire.

Is the customer always right?

If someone’s got a complaint, I will always deal with it. I never shy away, as you may have seen on Trip Adviser. I don’t do it to make headlines – I do it to stick up for my staff who work hard all day.

Share a cooking tip

Cooking is all about organisation. I’ve got thousands of tips on how to cook but how to approach cooking is probably the biggest tip. Don’t try and do it all at once. Take your time and enjoy cooking.

What was your favourite food as a kid?

We used to buy pig’s trotters on a Saturday. By the time mom had boiled them in the pressure cooker, I’d be in my pyjamas. I’d watch Blind Date with a pig’s trotter and packet of plain crisps on my lap. Also, I fondly remember haddock and eggs on a Friday afternoon. I do an upside down version of that in homage to mom.

Food heaven and food hell?

Hell is sprouts. They smell and taste like s***. When you eat them, you smell like s***. Heaven is great food but also great company. If you think of a special occasion, you think of the food but also the person you were with. Heaven can be eating a bowl of prawns while watching the sea come in. Or it could be down the Blues, having smashed Villa 3-0, eating a Scotch egg with a flat pint.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve eaten?

Kokotxa in Spain’s Basque region. It’s a little upside down Y shape just underneath a fish’s jaw, which they cook. It’s gelatinous. Everywhere I went they were in little bowls. I thought they were cool.

If you weren’t a chef, what would you be?

A rock ‘n’ roll star, cage fighter or comedian. Or all three rolled into one! I could serenade you, punch you in the face and tell you a joke… and get paid for it!

What do you recommend from this evening’s menu?

The Provencal tart served with a really slow cooked neck of lamb. Those sort of cuts are what I ate as a kid. It’s a sticky, gooey, soft piece of lamb which you have to work so hard to make fantastic.

Try Glynn’s ‘Sweet Spicy Sticky Ribs

This awesome recipe features in his new book, ‘Rib tickers & choux-ins’.

Serves 7

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon black onion seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 rack of pork belly ribs, cut into individual ribs
• 150g caster sugar
• 50ml white wine vinegar
• 50ml dark soy sauce
• 1 large tablespoon tomato ketchup
• 2 medium–hot chillies, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped coriander
• squeeze of lime juice

Method:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened but only lightly coloured. Add the cloves, cinnamon, onion seeds and ginger to the pan and then add the ribs. Cover all the ingredients with 2 litres cold water (or enough to cover the ribs), then simmer for 30–40 minutes until the meat is tender. Drain the ribs (you can reserve the cooking liquid to make a sauce for another dish). Heat a large frying pan, add the sugar, vinegar and soy sauce and boil the mixture until reduced to a thick consistency. Add the ketchup to the pan, then stir in the ribs, coating well with the glaze. Add the chillies, coriander and a squeeze of lime juice, then serve. The ribs can be served with egg noodles or jasmine rice.

We pass them every day of our lives and barely give them a glance. Nondescript warehouses, old run-down industrial buildings, angular modern office blocks, dual carriageways plunging into dark unwelcoming underpasses. But Tom Bird doesn’t see them like that. To the 26-year-old Birmingham photographer they are potential works of art, presenting him with an opportunity to turn a picture into a dramatic and thought-provoking canvas. Tom’s vision and talent for seeing the unusual in our city earned him a place as one of only 16 contemporary UK artists invited to exhibit in a show staged by leading fine art publishers Washington Green. As the youngest contributor taking part, his amazing images sat alongside works from much more established artists. “I first photographed Queensway Tunnel in 2009 when it was closed for maintenance,” said Tom of one of his images. “The new shot in the exhibition was when it was closed off again. I knew what I wanted to do and just walked down the road, set up and took the shot. It worked out really well.”

BOURNVILLE COLLEGE

When you see Tom’s work it’s hard to realise that it’s only a handful of years since he graduated from Birmingham City University with an honours degree. And less than two years since he was working for a car dealership in Oldbury. His family is from Wolverhampton and he attended Birchfield School and Oldswinford School, Stourbridge before moving to Birmingham to go to college. “I was originally thinking I would go to Manchester University to study geography,” he recalls. “But a close friend talked me into going and doing art foundation with him at Bournville College. I started playing around with photography and found that I really enjoyed it and had a talent for it. “When I finally left BCU with my degree, I was still trying to decide what I should do with it. I needed to make a living. I worked as a sales assistant in various shops and then I went and worked at Syntner BMW as their first proper car photographer. It proved to be a very strict and stringent with how BMW would allow their cars to be shot, but it gave me a real sense of corporate and commercial work which I still like to do.” Tom says he made the decision to set up his own business because he wanted to pursue more creative avenues with his photography and “I thought I can do this, it can’t be that hard”. He came up the name Infinity Project, got himself a new camera, a website and used the contacts he had been building up to get started earning some money. “I wanted to focus on the creative side of photography and most of the people I was dealing with wanted me to go down that route too otherwise they wouldn’t have been interested in what I could give them,” he explained. It would be a mistake to think of Tom as a landscape artist. “I really enjoy anything around lifestyle,” he said. “I’ve always been interested in design oriented things, like furniture.” He has produced work for a number of local clients, including I Choose Birmingham, Horton Estates (with some amazing ongoing pictures of the renovation work inside the listed Grand Hotel, Colmore Row), Two Cats Kitchen (creatively presenting plates of food), Allied Irish Bank (where he has 44 prints on permanent display) and Resorts World.

POP-UP GALLERY

But it’s turning photography into pure art that drives him moving forward. He wants to gain a high profile in Birmingham for being known for cutting edge creative work. He also says: “I want to do a pop-up gallery at some point. More needs to be done for contemporary arts space in the city. I want to have my own permanent gallery space where I can exhibit my work with that of other artists. A retail unit but not presented as a shop, or an industrial unit maybe under a railway arch or something. Somewhere artists can showcase their work, with everything from furniture to ceramics and more.” Tom adds: “Photography is very popular now, everyone has a digital DLR, but when I started at uni it wasn’t like that. I am fortunate that I have learned so much which other people are only now beginning to understand.” After wowing the critics at the Washington Green show, he’s now onto his next project. “I’m starting a new creative collection on the different formation of clouds,” he said. The sky truly is the limit for this talented Brummie…

Birmingham born artist Patrick Hughes has blown many a mind with his 3-D ‘reverspective’ paintings that challenge the most logical of grey matter. The sculpted pieces inspired by optics, perspective and illusion have become his signature work since his first foray into reverse perspective in the Sixties with his seminal works aptly named Infinity and Sticking Out Room. He’s since exhibited all over the world building a large following and consistently selling out exhibitions. Born in Brum in 1939, Hughes now works in London with a handful of assistants in his studio, creating large scale works that each take around six months to complete. Highly coveted, Patrick’s pieces typically start at a few thousand pounds with one recently selling for more than £100,000.

NEAR AND FAR

The artist began his exploration into reverse perspective as an art student. He made a 3-D model of a room putting what the brain would ordinarily view as the furthest away i.e. the smallest bit, closest. There was nothing special about it when lying flat on the desk, but when Patrick hung it on a wall, the brain reversed the perspective correcting it if you like. This spawned the idea for the larger pieces although he didn’t fully commit to reverspectives until much later in his career and it wasn’t until the 1990s that Patrick began to make a proper living. In fact he lived in a squat for much of his mid-forties making a bit of money from the gallery, sales from postcards and prints, but nowhere near enough until the reverspectives took off. Apparently Patrick’s inspiration came from his experience of sheltering from German bombs under the stairs. The rather sad, but intriguing story goes, “when the Germans were trying to kill me, I used to hide with my mother under the stairs. The wooden stairs were shaped like my work in reverse. They were stairs that only a fly could climb. You couldn’t walk up these stairs. And that’s what my work is like.”

He adds: “Similarly, at my grandmother’s house where we were hiding, there was a mirror on the wall in a tiny room and another opposite. And so one went to infinity. In a way, all this perspective leads to infinity, so between infinity and a reverse perspective, it’s from my childhood that I’ve been stimulated to make this work.” Featured on BBC1’s The One Show in May, Patrick’s work had Phil Tufnell in a state of awe which is a typical response. Superduperperspective which hangs at BMAG is often surrounded by a gaggle of people and not necessarily art lovers, but visitors to the museum of all ages moving slowly around the piece trying to work it out. It’s difficult to walk away.

TWIN TOWERS

The subjects are varied. Landscapes, rooms and books tend to be central themes although for private commissions, Patrick’s led by the client, so anything’s possible. There’s a Beatles inspired work that’s particularly special, a depiction of Venice and a Twin Towers piece that was completed just four days before 9/11 which the artist thought would never be shown because it seemed ghoulish somehow. It was bought by one of the employees of Cantor Fitzgerald a couple of weeks after the attack where hundreds of his colleagues had died. It’s now in a private collection. It’s impossible to appreciate the full impact of Patrick’s work from the images and words on these pages, but if you pop into BMAG in your lunch hour and take a look at Superduperperspective it’ll all become clear. Well, sort of…

Sarah Marshall is the first to admit that the People’s Orchestra seemed like a “very mad idea” back in 2012. Basically it all started as a result of Sarah’s daughter Amy wanting to carry on playing the French horn after she left Earls High School in Halesowen. What Amy didn’t want was the strict confines of a ‘traditional’ orchestra. Rather it had to be free and easy and fun, and play modern, accessible music from showbiz and the movies – the kind of stuff everyone knows and can hum along to. “There were no orchestras like that which Amy could go to,” said Sarah. “So, we said ‘well, why don’t we try and start one of our own?” The People’s Orchestra was born. And today, four years on, it comprises of nearly 80 like-minded playing members who perform upwards of 10 concerts a year.

COMMUNITY WORK

The People’s Orchestra does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s an orchestra by the people for the people. It’s a diverse mix of talented musicians of all ages who come together as a full orchestra or in smaller groups to create and perform across the Midlands. As an independent charity it has also developed a very successful volunteer programme which helps local unemployed people back into work. So as well as playing wonderful music, the orchestra also achieves much more for the good of the community at large. Unlike any other orchestra there are no limits on the number or types of instruments people play. “We have held auditions at the Custard Factory,” said Sarah. “We’d advertised in the local press and on social media and by word of mouth and we expected to find people to fill a normal style of orchestra. Instead, we found we had a lot of flutes. So to let as many people as possible take part, we changed the format of the orchestra to cater for all the flutes. The format is constantly changing, depending on what instruments people who join us are playing.” The orchestra rehearses every Sunday at Trefoil House behind The Mailbox, but even those are fairly unconventional. “It’s very much a drop-in, drop-out orchestra,” explained Sarah. In fact the only requirement to become part of the orchestra is that you have to have played towards Grade 7, plus sight-reading of music is key too.

BAFTA-WINNING

Just about everything is different and wonderful about this amazing orchestra. Unlike most amateur groups, the People’s Orchestra has a permanent office manned by three volunteers in West Bromwich Town Hall. Unsurprisingly one of those volunteers is Sarah herself who seems to spend every waking moment planning, scheduling and managing the orchestra and its needs. “I have a very good husband who lets me do all of this for nothing,” she jokes. The orchestra regularly performs and records world and UK premieres of new music from composers working in the film and TV industry today, including BAFTA and Emmy award-winning John Altman, John Koutselinis and Chris Nicolaides. In 2014, the orchestra was recognised by the Arts Council who provide a grant to help the project. And this year, Sarah is hoping the musicians will get further national recognition after applying to be part of an exciting new BBC TV reality competition series featuring five very different and varied orchestras from across the UK. Like most arts organisations, the orchestra’s biggest challenge is funding. While Arts Council help is a vital contribution, it is just that – a contribution. The orchestra has to find ways to raise its own resources to service what is a big group of people. This involves a lot of creative thinking – including outdoor concerts in Dudley’s Priory Park, ‘flashmob’ performances by smaller groups to the likes of commuters on Virgin Trains and playing at corporate events and awards and weddings. They have also collaborated with a local game designer to produce Shenanigans: The Musical, a speedy game of intrigue in an orchestra setting.

RISING COSTS

“The concerts help raise some money,” said Sarah. “But the costs we have to meet are challenging. All our music, whether from films or TV, costs money to buy. You can’t just take it and perform it for free. The cost of music for just one concert can be anything up to £7,000. Multiply that by the number of concerts we do and you can see the size of the challenge.” While most orchestra members supply their own instruments, larger items such as percussion are provided – and maintained – by the orchestra. “And they wear out eventually,” Sarah sighed. The dream is to find a corporate sponsor who wants to get involved in what is one of Birmingham’s brightest cultural and community projects. “The orchestra is continuing to grow,” said Sarah. “We don’t place any limits, we want people of all ages to take part.” So, what happens when the numbers top 100? “We’ll have to see then,” said Sarah. “Maybe we have two orchestras instead of one… we will never turn people away.”

Widely regarded as one of the UK’s most successful classical musicians of a generation, Julian Lloyd Webber was left devastated when his playing career came to an abrupt end due to a horrible neck injury. “I just lost power in my right hand mid-performance and felt I might drop the bow,” he says. “Instinctively I knew it was bad.” With a heavy heart and after many medical consultations he accepted it was over. Ten months ago an opportunity arose at the Birmingham Conservatoire which helped fill the void. Julian accepted the role of principal and threw himself into it with the same irrepressible vigour as his playing career. “There’s no question I would have gone on playing,” he admits. “But I love bringing music to an audience, so the Conservatoire has become that.”

STATE-OF-THE-ART

On his role as principal, he adds: “It was a simple decision. The organisation is spending £46million on a new state-of-the-art facility allowing us to embrace the digital age. It will be absolutely up-to-the-minute, so it’s a very exciting prospect.” Due to open in September 2017, the building in the Eastside of the city is well under way and the fine tuning stage is in full swing with Julian checking out potential technologies and systems. He’s just returned from San Francisco looking at a brand new piece of kit that will enhance the facilities. The building will knock spots off some of the most established musical organisations in the UK drawing more people into the city and boosting its already significant reputation. Julian explained: “Many music schools, even the Royal Academy, are housed in Victorian buildings that makes responding to new requirements difficult. It’s such a luxury to start from scratch.” Julian talks with incredible enthusiasm, not just for the Conservatoire but for Birmingham too. He lives in the city centre with his wife and daughter and has embraced the way of life and in terms of what Birmingham offers musically Julian thinks the city is punching way above its weight. “Birmingham is incomparable to a city of its size,” he says. “With two top class music halls – among the best in the world, not just the country – the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and its own Conservatoire, Birmingham performs musically like a capital city. The CBSO prom last year was as good as any I’ve been to. It’s a truly world class orchestra.”

OPEN DOOR

Julian approaches the education side of his role with an open door policy and is eager to teach the students the practicalities of life as well as music. “It’s an important part of training. We teach the students how to get a job and we’re succeeding. Eighty-nine per cent are employed within two to three months of leaving. We teach them how to set up websites effectively and how to promote themselves properly. It’s hugely important.” Outreach is a bit of a buzzword but introducing Birmingham Conservatoire to the masses is high on Julian’s list of goals. “We have the junior Conservatoire but I’d like it to have a larger reach. We’re not a closed shop and reaching more people should be at the heart of everything we do.” As Julian joined the organisation, an outreach officer was brought in too and together they are committed to achieving this. Julian was lucky enough to have had access to music through his composer father, so was more fortunate than most in that respect, but he was never pressured into playing. “Although my brother and I have both gone into music they’re very different routes, probably a result of not being pushed.” He recognises the difference a good teacher can make as he didn’t get serious about the cello until he was aged 13 when he switched tutors. “I got a new teacher and everything changed. I dropped all other school work and began to focus.”

CITY OF SOUNDS

A fan of many forms of music, not just classical, Julian is hugely excited about the six-week City of Sounds Festival, which is both a celebration and send-off for the Conservatoire’s Adrian Boult Hall, which disappears as part of the redevelopment of the Paradise area of the city. The festival encompasses many genres including jazz, folk and classical which will recognise the history and significance of the Hall. It’s an exciting time to be in Birmingham and Julian’s here for the long haul. “It’s very exciting. I can’t think of anything that would tempt me away,” he says.

Ninety-seven days and counting. The race to go to the Olympic Games in Rio this summer is under starter’s orders and for the top athletics club in the Midlands it can’t come soon enough. Birchfield Harriers is steeped in Olympic tradition and history having been represented at every Games, bar one, since 1908. This year looks to be no different with a clutch of great young athletes – including Commonwealth triple jump champion Laura Samuel – aiming to make the British proud in Brazil. You could call Laura, pictured above, the ‘pin-up’ girl of Birmingham athletics. She’s one of the current crop of role models based at the Alexander Stadium, where the final pre-Olympics meet will see many of Britain’s finest athletes take to the track and field on 4 June. But there’s more – much more – to Birchfield than the big stars past (such as Olympic champion Denise Lewis) and present. Birchfield is a place where anyone can turn up and run, jump or throw whether they’re nine years of age or 79. The club has more than 800 members who enjoy the outdoor facilities but also the High Performance Centre, an indoor base which provides training for a range of events – even pole-vaulting!

SPOTTING TALENT

There’s proper professional coaching on club nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the club runs two youth academy programmes for youngsters from nine to 15 on Saturdays and Wednesdays. “We want to give as many youngsters as possible the chance to have a go at lots of different events,” said Birchfield’s commercial manager (and also a coach) Cath Muth. “Of course we are always looking out for young talent to develop, the ones that show not only talent but a real commitment to work hard and a mentality to succeed.” For those teenagers with real elite promise, Birchfield has a junior development programme launched in 2012 and sponsored by Lloyds Capital which currently helps finance 10 budding stars of tomorrow. It’s this kind of attention to youth that has seen 100 Birchfield Harriers fly the flag for Britain at the Olympics and countless more compete in European and Commonwealth championships. Birchfield held its very first track meeting way back in 1879 when a cinder running path was laid on a meadow at Aston Lower Grounds which was part of the Aston Hall estate. The club was created after a row in a cross country event led to disillusioned runners meeting up in a Sunday school in Wheelers Street, Lozells. They took their name from the Birmingham district where they were based.

ROLL OF HONOUR

It’s doubtful many of today’s Harriers know how their illustrious club came about. They are much more likely to recognise the names on the modern roll of honour. Like Olympic bronze medal-winning heptathlete Kelly Sotherton, now one of the Harriers coaches, gold medal sprinter Mark Lewis-Francis, bronze 400 metres runner Katharine Merry – and of course Denise Lewis. The club also boasts London 2012 Olympic wheelchair gold medallist Mickey Bushell among its stars. While the sport of athletics internationally is mired in ongoing doping controversy, there’s been no impact on major regional clubs such as the Harriers attracting youngsters into track and field. “We are very confident about the sport at our level,” said Cath. “We take a lot of care in everything we do and we make sure that our athletes have all the relevant information they need.” Cath quoted an example of just how alert the club is to any possible drugs issues. “This was a couple of years ago,” she explained. “We were holding training inside the stadium when we could smell someone smoking what seemed to be cannabis outside in the park. We reported the incident to the authorities as we didn’t want any of our athletes facing the possibility that they had inhaled it from outside. That’s how careful we are.”

UNFIT KIDS

In fact it’s child obesity rather than drugs which is of more concern day-to-day. “The general fitness and condition of youngsters has fallen hugely,” she explained. “When youngsters first come to us we have to do a lot of work with them to get them fit before they can even step onto the track.” Despite this, Cath is confident the Harriers will continue to discover future Olympic talent in Birmingham. At the end of April the club launched Search For A Star with a free year’s membership and paid-for training fees for the best boy and best girl winners who will be selected at the stadium on 8 June. Who knows, maybe the next Denise Lewis or Mark Lewis-Francis could be among them…

April is a biggie for the indie foursome Spilt Milk Society who have been performing together for less than a year. The boys will be headlining the Rainbow in Digbeth, playing the O2 Institute in Birmingham, 229 venue in London and The Grapes on their old stomping ground in Stafford. BBC Introducing spotted their potential back in January playing Help Me Out while Dermot O’Leary aired For the Last Time on his Radio 2 show. Dermot even interviewed Harry and Adam’s mum, Penny! So let’s introduce the band. We’ve got Chan on drums, Josh on lead guitar, Adam (Harry’s big brother) plays bass guitar and Harry is lead singer, guitarist and writer. Each member is into a different genre of music from blues, heavy rock and indie plus Chan is a DJ which makes for an eclectic set of influences. Harry says: “We’d class ourselves as indie rock, but not sloppy indie. It’s more precise than that.” (Have a look yourself at the band’s Soundcloud.)

KITCHEN DECOR

The group formed quite naturally. Harry and Adam played music together at home, Chan is Harry’s best mate from school and Josh was decorating the Handford’s kitchen when he happened to mention his musical leanings to Mrs H who promptly put him in touch. Harry explains: “We had a session together and instantly knew it worked and we had something really good.” The band has been approached by ‘minor people’ in terms of management but they’re holding out for something more solid. When we talk about ambitions, their goals are refreshingly down to earth. Harry says: “The goal is to tour, but we’ve got benchmarks really. Our first one was to gig in Birmingham, which we’ve achieved. We know the odds are against us but we rate ourselves obviously!” The band had been playing around Wolverhampton and Stafford previously, so Birmingham is a step up. When Dermot O’Leary’s show came knocking that was pretty ‘surreal’ and got even more so when Harry’s mum was interviewed. Harry says: “We’d been working hard and it was a great moral boost.” Social media has been the best source of promotion and the band has enjoyed positive feedback across their chosen platforms.

GOOD OLD PENNY!

Chan and Harry are 16 and 17 respectively with the older two in their early twenties, so exams are an issue this year. Harry is taking maths, history and music A-Levels in the summer with his chosen universities demanding A-A*. No pressure then. Harry, or certainly his mum, feels a break from rehearsing in March and again in June to revise and sit exams seems sensible. “My mum’s quite into me doing well in education.” In fact Penny who pops up now and again as we chat has been financially supportive too loaning the boys the money to make their first EP. “Good old Penny!” Highlights of the last nine months have been headlining the Sunflower Lounge in Birmingham in February along with a series of house parties they’ve taken on to hone their performance. It sounds like a complete hoot. Harry adds: “It’s been brilliant. We’ve had crowd surfing in someone’s living room.” We predict the lads will be enjoying themselves in significantly larger venues very soon.

This great city of ours is full of genuinely top-class organisations and institutions that fly the flag for Birmingham – we’ve featured many in these pages. And Elmhurst School for Dance is right up there with the best. While the name might not be on everyone’s immediate radar, budding dancers travel from across the globe to study at what is the oldest and one of the most prestigious dance schools in the UK. Many former students have gone on to dance with some of the most renowned companies in the world receiving rave reviews and international acclaim. Alumni include Jenny Agutter, Dame Merle Park , Helen Baxendale and Sarah Brightman, while Britain’s most famous modern ballerina Darcey Bussell is also a big supporter. The school opened in Camberley in 1923 and moved to its Birmingham home in 2004 largely driven by its increasingly strong links with Birmingham Royal Ballet.

THRILL OF PERFORMING

Of the move, which realised a £20million investment, principal Jessica Ward says: “We were delighted to become part of the rich tapestry of Birmingham, contributing to the arts and culture scene with our parent company Birmingham Royal Ballet.” These close ties with BRB are a coup for the school and mean that pupils are given the opportunity to experience the thrill of performing in leading productions with a world-class company while they study. They also enjoy tuition with BRB’s leading lights and get a real taste of life as a professional dancer. With pupils from as young as 10, Elmhurst is largely a boarding school although there are a handful of day pupils. The school receives applications from as far afield as Japan and even Australia and has a rigorous audition process. Jessica says: “While the school has an international reach and students join us from across the globe, Birmingham is home.” The school continues to engage with the local community through its outreach programme taking dance to the masses. Ballet still feels like an art form for the privileged, so Elmhurst does its best to break down barriers through regular workshops and performances in local schools, hospitals and other community groups reaching people who might not encounter classical dance in their normal lives.

LOCAL INITITATIVES

More than 100 performances have taken place since the programme’s inception under the direction of Errol Pickford (head of graduate performance and touring). The programme has been universally well-received and has even uncovered hidden potential with some of the city’s youngsters showing great promise. There’s an associate programme that runs workshops at the weekend for local children allowing them access to the school’s facilities and top tutors. Clearly the focus of the education is dance, but recognising that a career as a dancer is limited in terms of longevity, Elmhurst offers a holistic approach with a broad curriculum that ensures pupils leave as rounded individuals with a wide skills base. They work hard to fit in the academic requirements as well as dance with long days usually running from 8.15am to 6pm, but there’s a real family ethos. With a medical centre, physiotherapists, nutritionists and strong pastoral care, the pupil’s packed schedule is balanced with strong support and nurturing. Recent former students have gone on to forge successful careers such as Nicol Edmonds who is a soloist at the Royal Ballet, Rosanna Ely who joined BRB, Max Robertson a soloist with the Serbian National Ballet and Nastazia Philippou, a first artist in the Bucharest National Ballet, to name just a few. It’s worth noting that these four talented students received DADA funding which is a Government financial support scheme assisting pupils throughout their time at Elmhurst. Ninety-three per cent of the lower school receives financial help supporting the school’s ethos that every student should have the opportunity to fulfil their potential regardless of their background. All of which perfectly reflects what the school calls its Three Stands of Life – Live, Dance, Learn!

At 12-years-old Florence Harper started dancing relatively late after being wowed by a girl performing a dynamic routine in a school show. Although her mum wasn’t keen, Florence ‘begged her’ and she relented. Once enrolled at Steptoes dance school in Quinton under the inspirational tutorship of principal Donna Shepherd the extraordinary journey into the unique world of freestyle dance began. Firstly, put all thoughts of Strictly from your mind because the style of dancing Florence excels at is nothing like it. Imagine the most insane show dance and times the energy and tricks by 10. Team that with the bold and highly expensive outfits that are like something out of futuristic Bruce Willis film Fifth Element and you’re somewhere close. As our picture of Florence, now 15, suggests her style of dancing is highly acrobatic. Florence competes in two categories – Freestyle which is fast and furious performed to hyper techno beats. Then there’s Slow – Florence’s favourite – which is more elegant and lyrical. Florence trains for 10 hours a week and although she was athletic before she began dancing (she was on the gym squad at school so definitely no slouch!) she admits dancing pushed her further having to work hard on flexibility and strength. That said, she started to show promise straight away and some of the hardened dance mothers would say to Florence’s novice mum, “she’s going to be really good. You can tell”.

BEATING INJURY

Most girls start dancing way before they reach double figures, but late starter Florence began catching up to the highly experienced girls and doing well in competitions. So much so that she caught the attention of a sponsor, designers of the dancer’s elaborate outfits, A Bizarre Obsession run by Karen Whelan. They began sponsoring Florence 15 months ago and it’s proved a good move. Although plagued by injury for a few months – she’s broken metatarsal bones in both feet – Florence came back stronger and more determined and started winning trophies. The moment people realised that Florence had something special was last year when she was crowned winner of the intermediate category at the Eurodance championship in Burnham-on-Sea beating 90 other dancers to the title. Now promoted to the highest and hardest level, Prem Champ in the under-16 category, Florence has stepped up a gear. With GCSEs in the summer and choices to make about A-Levels, Florence’s school, Edgbaston High School for Girls, has been very supportive of her dance commitments. Accepting that training might take a slight backseat while she navigates her way through her exams successfully, Florence has her head screwed firmly on. Given that generally freestyle dancers retire at the age of 23, education is all the more important. Florence is studying dance at GCSE naturally and probably will at A-Level too, so it’s part of life on multiple levels. Her ultimate dance ambition is to win the biggest competition in her chosen discipline, Disco Kid at the famous Blackpool Tower Ballroom which is a huge championship. Competing at Eurodance at Breen Sands in April first with Disco Kid in December and GCSEs in between, it’s going to be a busy year for the talented teen. We’d invest in a bigger trophy cabinet. Just saying.

Taking up the wall behind Paul Thandi is a huge piece of artwork. Made up of hundreds of multi-coloured lines, it’s a typographical tribute to history and culture. They’re all here… great heroes and villains, momentous people, places and events that changed and impacted our world, from One Small Step For Man to Tiananmen Square. From Mother Teresa to Nelson Mandela. From Elvis Presley to Sesame Street. All pieced together in an elaborate jigsaw to form the Union Flag with the aim to excite and inspire. Looking at it dominate the office of the boss of the NEC Group it’s almost impossible to think that he once kept it in his kitchen! Breakfast with Bjorn Borg, lunch with Ludwig Van Beethoven and dinner with Marlene Dietrich indeed! Thankfully, for the sake of space and the sanity of family life at his Warwickshire home the masterpiece produced by an artist friend several years ago now resides in his office at NEC HQ. “Not so long ago he contacted me and tried to buy it back,” said Paul. “It was obvious from the size of his offer that he wanted it badly – and it was also obvious that if I ever decided to sell it I could get a helluva lot more for it.”

RAZOR SHARP

Ah, there’s the businessman for you, always thinking of the best deal. But in Paul’s case there’s more to the man than just a razor sharp commercial, corporate mind. He’s also pretty super cool with it. His choice in office art is just one clue to the personality he brings to the job. Sprinkled on the coffee table are copies of the Harvard Business magazine mixed up with issues of Wired. And it only takes a few seconds with the man, complete in trademark figure-hugging black roll-neck, to appreciate that he looks after himself. “I run a lot,” he says. “On Saturday mornings. I take my boy to football – it’s the one thing I won’t let my business life interfere with. We all talk about work-life balance, but who among us gets it right, or anywhere near right. My family has to put up with a lot of not seeing me as much as I’d like them to. So, while he plays football, I go running – without my mobile. So I’m away from it all for a few hours!” There’s something ironic about the fact that the head of a group of businesses that brings enjoyment to millions every year finds it so difficult to carve out time to relax and have some fun himself. But that’s the way it is for the Midlands’ very own ‘Mr Entertainment’.

As chief executive of the UK’s largest and most high-profile venue management company, he’s responsible for 10 businesses in the NEC Group which deliver £2.1billion of economic investment to the West Midlands, supporting nearly 30,000 jobs. It’s a huge, growing business which is very different to the animal which Paul took over back in 2006. Not only has the group branched successfully into ticket sales (more than two million a year through The Ticket Factory), it has also gone into event catering with Amadeus, event hospitality with Amplify and most recently global show promotion and production with MemoryHaus. The CEO also led the NEC out of council control to private ownership earlier this year with the private equity company LDC, part of the Lloyds banking group. Also this year, the wraps came off the stunning Barclaycard Arena in the city centre and the Genting Arena on the NEC site. At the end of last year, Resorts World with its casino, shops, restaurants, cinema, hotel and conference centre was opened in partnership with Genting. “The key thing when I first arrived here was to turn the business into a data-led organisation. Prior to that we had no idea who we were selling to or talking to. That has completely changed so we are able to offer a complete experience to our customers. We also worked tirelessly to create a positive culture across the NEC Group, from the car park attendant to the finance director.”

THINKING BIG

Paul believes that positive culture needs to be scaled up so it becomes more evident and is adopted more widely across the region’s commercial, political and cultural communities. As a board member of Marketing Birmingham, he argues passionately that Brummies as a group must think bigger about the huge opportunities which are opening up for the city. “As a business the NEC Group contributes hugely to the wealth of the Midlands and together with the fantastic technology centres, the city’s excellence in health with the likes of the QE, our wonderful universities and colleges, the expansion of our airport and the arrival of HS2, the region has the best chance it has ever had to become a true global player. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity and we are now pushing at an open door to really achieve. Birmingham is a great place to be right now.”

John Taylor sounds nostalgic. “When we were shot out a cannon in the Eighties part of me was left in Birmingham and no morning since has passed without me thinking ‘I’ve got to get back there and have a really good look around some day’.” Maybe this month will present the perfect opportunity for John and the rest of legendary rock band Duran Duran to drop in and revisit their roots as Birmingham’s superhero group comes home to perform for their adoring fans at the Genting Arena? “It all depends on the day if we get the chance to go around Birmingham,” answers John. “It’s so difficult to make hard and fast plans, but it’s possible and we’d love it to happen. There are so many haunts to go back to. It’d be a bit like a treasure hunt looking for lost souls.”

PAPER GODS

The band is always short on time, it goes with the territory. They are in town for one night as part of a packed three-week UK tour promoting their 14th album Paper Gods. We caught up with John, Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor as they grabbed a short break just after returning from playing a series of gigs in the US. “We’re into rehearsals for our UK tour in a week, so we’re in a kind of limbo right now.” explained John. “While it’s similar to the States, our UK performances will be slightly longer. “When you’ve been doing what we do for a long time you tend to romanticise about the cities and places you go to. You can always come up with something special to add to your performance. If it’s Liverpool, you say ‘Hey, we’re playing in the city where the Beatles were born’. Coming home to Birmingham is extra special. It’s bound to be an emotional occasion.” It’s difficult to imagine a more famous, more Brummie bunch. John is from Hollywood in Solihull, Nick hails from Moseley and Roger has his roots in Necells. And while ‘odd man out’ Simon was born just outside London in Pinner, he considers himself an ‘honorary Brummie’ after the band was founded while the guys were studying together at Birmingham Polytechnic, now Birmingham City University.

RUM RUNNER

Simon has no hesitation in describing playing Birmingham as the band coming home. “We’ve got a special thing with Birmingham and people are proud of Duran Duran for being a Brum band – that’s how it feels to us,” he said. “And we’re proud to be Brummies. I miss Broad Street and the old Rum Runner where the band first started and used to rehearse. It’s not just where we met but where we first worked.” Duran Duran hit superstar status in the early 1980s, subsequently selling more than 100 million records and racking up 14 UK Top 10 singles, including huge favourites such as Rio, Notorious, A View To A Kill, The Wild Boys, The Reflex and Union of the Snake. Accolades include two Brit awards, two Grammys and in September this year they received the inaugural MTV Visionary Award. In the same month, the Paper Gods album reached the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 album chart, making the band one of the few artists ever to achieve the accolade in three different decades. PASSIONATE “In the Eighties we were barely hanging on, we were kids,” remembers John. “Duran Duran has settled down and these days we’re relatively stable, relaxed professionals who are still passionate about what we do and are eager to please. We’re pleased with the new album, we spent two years on it in our studio in Battersea. Touring is much more instant and happening now, whereas you build an album up over time, you need to think things through. Everyone wants to make a great album, but you can each have different ideas of what great means.” We’re in no doubt what the verdict of the excited fans in Birmingham will be…

It’s a big, big month for Birmingham Museum and Art Galley. On the 28th the museum in Chamberlain Square in the heart of the commercial district will celebrate its 130th birthday. Opened in 1885 by the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, BMAG has been at the heart of the city’s cultural offering ever since. And today through its great exhibitions and displays and interaction with communities and schools, it is more relevant to Birmingham life than ever. Home to the priceless Anglo Saxon treasures of the Staffordshire Hoard and the largest public collection of pre-Raphaelite paintings and art in the world, BMAG has quite a birthday party planned to mark its anniversary. A special exhibition traces its rich past, its position today as a major tourist attraction and its ambitious plans for the future, while events include live music, entertainment for visitors of all ages and the creation of a time capsule for future generations to explore.

INSPIRING THE CITY

Among the founding ideas when the gallery was first launched was that it should be generally free to the public and open at weekends when working people had the best chance of visiting it. Hundreds of thousands of visitors from the UK and abroad have taken advantage of that promise since. Dr Ellen McAdam, director of Birmingham Museums Trust – the largest independent museums trust in the UK – which runs BMAG and eight other museums and galleries in the city, including the ThinkTank science and Jewellery Quarter museums, said: “The Museum and Art Gallery was originally founded to improve the quality of Birmingham’s manufactures in the face of foreign competition by showing the city’s craftsmen the best in art and design. We continue to use the city’s great collection to inspire the people of Birmingham as well as visitors to the city.” The Staffordshire Hoard is a good example. Discovered in 2009 by a man with a metal detector on farmland near the village of Hammerwich, the gold and jewelled treasures buried more than 1,400 years ago drew crowds queuing in the street outside the historic Grade 2-listed BMAG building when they went on display later that year. Since then more than a million people have seen the collection which has its own dedicated gallery. The past is also celebrated by the Birmingham History collections which chart the city, its people and background. But BMAG is also looking to the future with its Collecting Birmingham project which works with communities via volunteers and local ambassadors in areas such as Aston, Ladywood, Nechells and Soho. Encouraging youngsters to know more about their roots and city is an important element of BMAG’s education programmes. On-site and outreach sessions are led by a specialist team of learning officers who cater for all ages from early years to further education students with interactive science shows, workshops and mobile sessions in schools. The team handles all styles of learning, including special needs and home education.

MUSEUM IN A BOX

The innovative Museum In A Box project allows schools to use the museum’s collection in classrooms with more than 200 boxes available to support lessons by handling authentic artefacts, some of which are more than 3,000 years old! How cool is that? The Arts Council has called BMAG “one of the jewels in Birmingham’s crown” and leading tourist website TripAdvisor says “Birmingham’s art gallery is one of those hidden treasures waiting for you to discover”. So, happy birthday BMAG – and here’s to the next 130 years!

One of Birmingham’s most important cultural centres, the Midlands Arts Centre has gone through many changes – not least the demolition of a fence that transformed the face of the organisation forever! In the year that Brian Epstein signed The Beatles, the Midlands Arts Centre for Young People as it was called then, opened its doors for the first time under the leadership of John English and began working towards its mission of arts for everyone. For more than half a century this mantra has produced some stunning results and changed the trajectory of many young lives. One such life that was shaped at MAC was that of a young skateboarding named Adrian Lester. Now a huge star of stage, film and TV, he told us: “It’s because of that building I do what I do. It introduced me to all forms of art and allowed me to just turn up and absorb it.” As it did his wife and award-winning playwright Lolita Chakrabati and famously Tony Robinson cut his teeth directing at MAC in the Sixties.

ALL-EMBRACING

We could go on, but Lester hit the nail on the head: The point of the place is to enrich the lives of Brummies and beyond through its deep and diverse mix of exhibitions, performances and workshops in a space that genuinely looks to embrace all. One figure responsible for the success of the organisation over the last two decades is Dorothy Wilson who has made significant changes since her appointment as chief executive and artistic director. She explains: “In 1990 there was work to be done. The organisation was at a stage where it needed significant refreshment largely due to lack of resources nationally. The building needed a lot because it was well-loved and therefore well-used.” Thanks to Dorothy’s drive and commitment major work to redevelop the site eventually began in 2008 resulting in the multi-purpose, contemporary space today. One of Dorothy’s simplest yet most effective changes was to take down the old fence that used to separate MAC from the rest of Cannon Hill Park. It had a startling effect on the number of visitors and the vibe of the place.

Dorothy said: “People saw that fence and thought ‘it’s not for me’. Once the barrier came down, people wandered in. The door was open.” Families were able to experience performances and small scale children’s theatre, potter’s wheels and puppet shows and from that first exchange people realised it was for them and came back again and again. The challenge was also to reflect the diversity of Birmingham and its migrant past. Dorothy said: “Second, third and fourth generation South Asians, African and Eastern European – we aimed to bring those communities together and through programmes and projects we found a voice. Multiple voices actually. A new vocabulary to reflect the new Birmingham.” This enrichment is central to the ethos of MAC. The projects that worked across cultures had spectacular results and made sense. There have been many highlights during Dorothy’s 25 years at MAC, but the one that stands out is The Playmakers project that launched the organisation’s 50th year celebrations in 2012. It commissioned a family of Japanese artists, Kosuge1-16 to create an artwork representative of MAC and activated by its audience. Dorothy explained: “It was a sort of look back at MAC. The artists created a series of puppets and scaled down versions of buildings in the park that could be manipulated by the public. It was hugely interactive and represented what the organisation is about beautifully.”

THREE STRANDS

MAC has to flourish financially as well as culturally and with many projects and performances either free of charge or costing a small fee, this has been tricky at times, but the organisation has largely bucked the trend, managing to thrive through the recession. “We use every bit of the building. As well as an income from the shop we also hire out rooms to businesses and theatres extending the building even further,” explained Dorothy. The organisation is also part funded by Birmingham City Council which has been on board since the days of John English and the Arts Council. There are three strands to the organisation’s future goals – artistic, social and economic. Artistic being to support and grow the next generation of artists; social being to ensure that community arts are for everybody in their own community and economic being to increase income through donations, trusts and foundations. The idea that MAC reaches people who wouldn’t naturally engage with the arts because of where they live is at the core of everything the organisation does. Half-a-million visitors a year is a great endorsement that this ethos is working brilliantly.

Photos by Kris Askey

Hootankhamun, You Can Call Me Owl, Florence Nightin’owl… it’s difficult to escape the amusing puns and vibrantly decorated owls that have become fond fixtures of the city, confusing tourists and delighting schoolchildren. From Sutton Coldfield to Northfield, 89 large owls and 122 of their offspring or owlets are gracing the pavements, brightening up the dullest of days until 27 September. There’s a bigger purpose than just raising a smile and offering up a photo opportunity though.

The Big Hoot is Birmingham Children’s Hospital’s fabulously ambitious fundraising project which they hope will raise a whopping £500,000 when the owls are auctioned off in October. With the experienced team at Wild in Art driving the project – you may remember Gromit Unleashed in Bristol – it’s taken on a life of its own and captured the imagination of Brum’s residents and visitors. Wild in Art’s biggest UK project to date is proving to be a massive hit. Social media is awash with owl images from serious snappers cataloguing the whole collection to kids on school holiday. Many of the owls even have their own Twitter accounts and the nocturnal beasts chat to one another while we sleep.

BRUM ROYALTY

Famous faces, talented artists and local businesses have offered their support. The large owls have been designed by world renowned artists such as local lad Temper who brings a street art flavour to one of his two owls Re-tail, and Josh Billingham who has also created two owls including Fleet and Free, which celebrates Birmingham’s cultural diversity. Brum royalty Ozzy Osbourne is probably the most famous face to get involved and while he might have the least imaginatively named owl – Ozzy’s Owl, it’s creating an increased buzz about the project that only a global rock legend could muster. His son Louis was treated at BCH as a child, so it’s a cause close to Ozzy’s heart.

The smaller 122 owlets have been created by local school pupils involving 25,000 children from 120 schools embracing the wider community and giving the whole project a feel-good vibe that connects the city. It’s not all positive though. A handful of owls have been damaged either by over-zealous children or thoughtless vandals. Thankfully all have been returned to their former magnificent glory, but the almost parental backlash on social media confirms the success of the project. It’s got us hooked…

FAMOUS HOOTERS

• Temper’s Re-Tail is on the Junction of New Street and High Street.
• Ozzy Osbourne’s Ozzy’s Owl is on New Street.
• Joshua Billingham’s Fleet and Free is at the Alexander Stadium in Perry Barr.
• Milan Topalovic’s Owl Aboard is at New Street Station.
• Goosensei’s Nature’s Growth is located on Church Street Square.

UP FOR GRABS

Pick a favourite, break into your piggy bank and take one home. The 89 large owls will be auctioned on Thursday 15 October at Millennium Point by Fieldings Auctioneers to raise funds for BCH. To register your interest in the auction email auction@thebighoot.co.uk You can also support the hospital by texting HOOT to 70099 to donate £2 or by purchasing merchandise from the The Big Hoot shop in Great Western Arcade.

When Gary Hall first came to Coventry he recalls the whole city “felt a bit doom and gloom” about what had happened to its motor industry over the years. “The place seemed really down,” he says. “But when I looked around the Transport Museum for the first time it struck me what a fantastic, exciting story there was to tell and what a terrific future the place had.” That was back in 2007 after Gary had given up life in the aviation and airports business and become Coventry Transport Museum’s chief executive. “I had a vision of what the museum could be, and now these years later we’ve finally realised that.” The museum relaunched in June with a completely new look, layout and exhibits after a massive facelift which aims to lift visitor numbers from just over 400,000 a year to topping half a million… and beyond. The new place certainly looks the part. Inside it’s slick, smart, stylish and bang up to date with what visitors expect today. In fact the word ‘museum’ somehow feels out of place – it’s more of ‘an experience’ which guides you through the city’s past, present and future with real panache and pride.

WORLD LEADER

As well as housing the biggest collection of British transport in the world, it is one of only two that tells the story of transport made in that city – the other is Ford’s heritage centre in Detroit. And as Gary is quick to point out, that only features one make while Coventry boasts a host of the greatest-ever manufacturers. “The museum is now firmly at the forefront of the world stage,” said Gary. “The old museum had many fine elements and qualities but was a bit random in how they were displayed and explained to the public. Now it guides people through the story of the amazing history and ties Coventry has with the motor industry and transport and also tells the story of the city itself. It’s an engaging and exciting experience for the visitor.” Engagement is key to what Gary and his team are trying to achieve – whether it’s with regular visitors coming through the doors or by the programme with local schools and links to Coventry and Warwick Universities. “The story in the new museum starts as it should from the beginning,” he explained, “with the cycle industry and works its way through motorcycles, cars and all the other vehicles, both in peacetime and wartime, that are synonymous with the city, and then on to what is coming in the future.” The project to make the museum a must-see free attraction for the Midlands took 15 months to complete at a cost of £9.5million. The revamp has seen 13 of the galleries undergo major makeovers as well as other attractions updated and added to, with previously unseen vehicles taken out of storage and featured in the new displays.

FUTURE PIONEERS

The collection includes the world’s fastest cars Thrust SSC and Thrust 2 as well as the oldest vehicle manufactured in the city and more than 3,000 model toy cars. Latest technology has been introduced to bring to life Coventry’s war effort in the Blitz Experience, while the Future Pioneers section showcases design and innovation from a host of local companies at the forefront of the transport and automotive industry. “There are over 1,000 local companies all making niche products for transport,” said Gary. “It is important that we reflect that and show our visitors what a thriving and innovative city and region we have.” The museum opened in 1980 when the road transport collection outgrew the space it occupied in the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum. The museum’s current collection of vehicles includes more than 550 cars – from the early days of the first motorised vehicle to the latest F1 race machines – motorcycles and bicycles and 25,000 models. It’s all managed by the Culture Coventry charitable trust formed in 2013 and bringing together four of Coventry’s finest museums and visitor attractions – the Transport Museum, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, the Lunt Roman Fort (a fully excavated and partially reconstructed turf and timber fort), and the Priory Visitor Centre, where you can explore the excavated remains of Coventry’s first cathedral. The Culture Coventry attractions are visited by more than 800,000 people from around the world each year. Despite the economic challenges facing galleries and museums of all shapes and sizes across the country, Coventry Transport Museum is in the best shape of its 30-year history. “We’ve had lots of really positive feedback about the new features,” said Gary. “A number of people have told me that what we have created is truly world-leading and we are very proud of that as a team, a museum and a city.”

There was a lot of fuss around the turn of the millennium. Plenty of grand promises and even grander plans. In London, it all centred around the Millennium Dome. Here in Birmingham we had our own focus with the construction of the biggest millennium landmark outside of the capital ¬– fittingly known as Millennium Point. The Dome was quickly labelled a white elephant and sold off to become the big success story it is today as the O2 Arena. Millennium Point meanwhile has become the hub of something much greater and more important than a concert venue. As the flagship development in the city’s previously run-down industrial Eastside it’s been the catalyst for regeneration for getting on towards two decades. Yes, progress has been somewhat steadier than many would have hoped due to the tough financial times we’ve been through these past years. But with Millennium Point at its centre, things are moving ahead for Eastside. And that momentum can only quicken as plans to build the city’s new HS2 rail terminus just a stone’s throw from Millennium Point push forward.

HEARTBEAT

In a city with the youngest population in Europe, Eastside actually has an age profile that’s half of the rest of Brum. As a result, the area has become synonymous with learning and knowledge. Millennium Point is the heartbeat as the home to a number of faculties of Birmingham University and of the city’s science museum, Thinktank. “When we first opened in Eastside, we were a bit of a grey box stuck on our own,” said Millennium Point’s chief executive Philip Singleton. “In the decade or so since then, we’ve really pushed on and been the catalyst for real growth and change.” The first thing to say about the building itself is that it certainly has the ‘wow’ factor! It’s big and dramatic, the result of a £114million project between the city council, Birmingham University and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. While construction was well underway as the millennium arrived, the building was actually completed in 2001 and officially opened by the Queen the following year. As well as being home for Birmingham Museums’ excellent Thinktank, the multi-use complex contains BCU’s faculty of technology, engineering and the environment, Birmingham Metropolitan College and Birmingham School of Acting. It is also a thriving centre for a large range of events, exhibitions and arts – including Birmingham Independent Food Fair, the Flatpack Film Festival and International Dance Festival – frequently showcased in its vast atrium and 375-seat auditorium.

Since opening it has welcomed more than 15 million people through its doors, and continues to attraction more than a million visitors each year. “With our partners, we have become the centre of knowledge and exploration – a destination to experience the future,” explained Philip Singleton. “We explore, feel and test what the future might be like. We have many events here which look at what technologies and developments are coming, whether that be in design, innovation and development. It might be something like looking at hydrogen fuel cells in cars for instance.” The complex has hosted a number of design expos as well as climate change conferences. “Millennium Point is at the cutting edge and is a very exciting place to be,” said Philip. “We are a hotbed of technology reaching out to Birmingham of course, but also well beyond to the wider region and the country. We fuse traditional Midlands values and quality with the future. “Moving forward, the picture is looking very positive with the continuing expansion of Eastside and with the arrival of HS2 which will be just a two minute walk away from us. We have got land here which we want to develop and we want Millennium Point to become even busier and have even more impact of the lives of people and the success of Birmingham.”

CONSERVATOIRE

Among the projects bursting onto the scene is a new £40million home being built for Birmingham Conservatoire which will open in 2017. As a centre of education and training across a wide spectrum of musical genres, the Conservatoire is the perfect fit to become neigbours of Millennium Point. “I’ve been around Birmingham for 25 years,” said Philip Singleton, “and being the chief executive of Millennium Point at such a time, with all that is happening now and is about to in the future… it’s just a great place to be.”

Professor Charlie Craddock always seems to have a smile on his face, but right now he is a particularly happy man. More than a decade after setting out on a mission to change the way we treat some of the worst diseases he is about to achieve a significant landmark. This month sees the opening of the superb new Institute of Translational Medicine at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The project has cost more than £24million and will bring new hope and ground-breaking treatments to cancer patients – while at the same time creating 2,000 new jobs and confirming Birmingham as a world-class centre for medical excellence. Housed in a totally refurbished old hospital building on the QE campus, the centre has been funded jointly by the QE, University of Birmingham and Birmingham Children’s Hospital with matched Government finance.

GROUND-BREAKING

It will bring patients suffering the most serious illnesses into direct contact with new ground-breaking drugs developed by leading pharmaceutical companies that will save or significantly prolong lives through a programme of intensive, targeted clinical trials. It’s a truly awesome development and one that delights the man who has worked tirelessly to find new ways to successfully treat cancers, while at the same time using all kinds of ingenuity to source the necessary finance to do so. “The new institute confirms to everyone throughout the UK, around Europe and across the world that Birmingham is great. Birmingham is world-class and world-leading,” said Prof Craddock. But being the modest chap he is, the professor is determined not to take any individual credit. He believes it’s all about getting the right health experts in the right environment and matching the right drugs with the right patients. Birmingham, with its large and diverse population, is the perfect crucible for this work. But the people whose lives he’s changed and saved since he came to Brum back in 1999 aren’t so shy at singing his praises. Everyone we spoke to from TV stars and sports celebrities, who lend their time and support to Prof Craddock’s work, to charity workers and ex-patients, are in no doubt about his vital contribution.

While the new Institute is the realisation of a dream, it was all very different a decade ago when he was appointed director of the QE’s blood and bone marrow transplant centre. Just after taking up the job Prof Craddock attended a medical conference in New Orleans which he says provided the ‘wow moment’ in his professional life. Oregon physician-scientist Prof Brian Drucker showed the benefits of conducting clinical trials of previously untested new drugs on patients. The survival rates were incredibly high and the time taken for the trials was significantly shortened. “It clearly showed that it was no use having new and interesting drugs sitting on a shelf when they could help patients who were being told nothing could be done for them.” On his return from the States, Prof Craddock set about creating a centre where the drugs, patients and clinical staff came together. “At that time we had no out-patients and no research structure,” he explained. “There was an old broken down building which I was told I could have if I raised the money to rebuild it!”

With the help of regional funding agency Advantage West Midlands, the Centre For Clinical Haematology was created in 2005. It houses an integrated clinical leukaemia and transplant programme and an early phase trial unit serving one of the largest catchment areas in Europe. It has played a central role in the delivery of 30 groundbreaking clinical trials and many of the drugs studied have now become standard for blood cancer patients on the NHS. As its director Prof Craddock leads a team of 80 specialists who have been responsible for saving thousands of lives.

CURE LEUKAEMIA

Key to the ongoing success of the centre is Cure Leukaemia, the charity set up by Prof Craddock 11 years ago to raise the funds. “It has proved to be an enormous success, helping provide the means to connect patients with new therapies,” said Prof Craddock. “Many drugs would never have seen the light of day without that support. Many hundreds of people are alive as a result of having those drugs. Cure Leukaemia has raised more than £3million and has allowed patients to have access to £30million of free drugs.” Prof Craddock has carried forward his Birmingham model nation-wide through the National Trials Acceleration Programme based in a number of centres across the country. “Two emotions drive me,” he said. “First, a deep respect for patients who go through tough treatments. They are an inspiration. Second, I hate telling people that their treatment has failed – I want to create situations so that doesn’t have to happen.” To that end the University of Birmingham and Cure Leukaemia launched the Birmingham, Let’s Cure Leukaemia campaign which aims to help the city find a cure for blood cancer within 30 years.

April is a big month for Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery. It is celebrating 50 years of artistic excellence and has a fantastic programme of events, exhibitions and experiences collectively known as Ikon 50 to mark the occasion. As the city’s only dedicated gallery of contemporary art, Ikon has a unique role and responsibility in the Birmingham cultural landscape and has been the catalyst in the development of many important artistic careers. Ikon was established in the Swinging Sixties by a group of artists wanting a new and accessible place to share their artistic ideas and dreams. Its first home was in a glass-sided kiosk in the Bullring before enjoying a succession of venues around the city, including the Pallasades shopping centre where it was bombed by the IRA as part of an attack on an army recruitment centre next door. It moved to its current Brindleyplace base in 1998 after converting the former Victorian school into a striking contemporary gallery space.

REAL MAGNET

The wonderfully intimate gallery, and the charming café linked to it, have become a real magnet to art lovers in the city and beyond, attracting more than 130,000 visitors a year. And as is the case with so many of the groups and organisations who we feature in Birmingham’s Greatest, Ikon has an even bigger reach and audience thanks to its dedicated work out in the community with young and would-be artists. Its youth interaction is perfectly captured by the Slow Boat project which sees members of the Ikon Youth Programme crew a 72-foot narrow boat converted into a floating studio and exhibition and theatrical space. The youngsters enjoy day and weekend trips, plus longer voyages away from Birmingham along the many canals that link the city to the rest of the country. “The project has proved a big success,” said Ikon’s director Jonathan Watkins. “You don’t have to be a member of the youth programme to be part of it – just come along and have fun. It’s very much in the all-inclusive spirit of Ikon.” The gallery’s 50th anniversary is about celebrating with the community as a whole. “Ikon has grown from humble beginnings to develop a worldwide reputation,” said Jonathan. “In recent years exhibiting artists have come from China, Japan, Australia, France, the US, Russia, Canada and of course the UK.”

Among the leading homegrown Birmingham talents are John Salt, John Myers, Ruth Claxton, Stuart Whipps and Hurvin Anderson. “Originally when Ikon started it was thought it would be a touring collection and have no home of its own,” said Jonathan. “That changed with the first small venue in the Bullring. Artistic ability and accessibility was key to Ikon then, and 50 years later it remains the same. We are a flagship for contemporary art both locally and in the wider country as a whole. Indeed globally, too.” At the local level, Ikon expends a lot of effort to involve those who do not come from a professional art background or indeed have any real knowledge of art. “We regularly visit schools and they come to us also,” said Jonathan. “It is important to encourage children not to be alienated or intimidated by a traditional art gallery environment. We are not dealing in exclusive luxury goods here. Art is for everyone to enjoy and be part of.” One of the highlights of the gallery’s birthday celebrations is Artists for Ikon, an exhibition at the gallery from 24 April to 5 May followed by a major contemporary art auction at Sotheby’s in London on 7 July. The exhibition previews works donated for the auction by some of today’s most important artists, all of whom have exhibited at some time at the gallery. Money raised by the auction will form the foundation of Ikon’s 50th Anniversary Endowment Fund dedicated to the gallery’s artistic programme and the commissioning of new art work.

LARGEST-EVER

In common with many of the city’s other centres of culture, Ikon is a registered charity, and the anniversary will give it the opportunity to undertake its largest-ever fund-raising campaign. “The aim is a simple one – to ensure that Ikon continues to grow, making the very best in contemporary art available to all,” said Jonathan. “Funding for everyone in the arts is harder now than it has ever been due to the cuts in public funding. It means a redoubling of the effort to get funding from elsewhere and for making the case that art in Birmingham is a good investment. Without art this city wouldn’t be as cosmopolitan. Investment in culture reaps such huge rewards – it makes the city alive and attractive.” Fifty years on, Ikon is playing a more important role in Birmingham life than ever – so join us in wishing this remarkable hub of contemporary art a truly great year.

David Bintley has waited right until the end of our interview to make what he calls “a most important” point. While it addresses an issue which he kind of dismisses with a smile and a laugh, it clearly touches a nerve which has been tweaked once too often for his liking… “Please, don’t call us the Royal Ballet,” he says “We are not the Royal Ballet. We are Birmingham Royal Ballet. There are still people who think we all live in London and just pop into Birmingham once in a while to dance and then go back again. But we are here – we live here. It’s who we are.” Not that David has anything against the ‘other lot’ at Covent Garden – he was resident choreographer there before becoming artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet in 1995. It’s just as he says: “We are part of the community and fabric of Birmingham and we are very proud indeed to be so. It’s what makes us unique and different.”

SUPPORTERS

Based at Birmingham Hippodrome, BRB recently unveiled its £2.7million new-look complex, delivered by its own Campaign for the Future fundraising project, headed by its president Darcey Bussell, and an Arts Council grant. Donations towards the state-of-the-art complex came from all walks of Birmingham life, including leading businesses, well-known local families such as the Cadburys and everyday ‘small’ supporters who just love their ballet, and in particular their Birmingham ballet! BRB’s chief executive Christopher Barron said: “The refurbished facilities will allow us to increase delivery of our community work in-house, offering unique, first-hand experience of dance and Birmingham Royal Ballet. It also enables the enhancement of the Company’s scope for rehearsing and tagging large-scale ballet and provide outstanding facilities to attract, retain and care for our elite dancers.”

Based at the Hippodrome since 1990, BRB is the UK’s leading classical ballet touring company. An ever-more hectic schedule takes it around the country and overseas but its roots are firmly in Brum with around 200 people working out of its base, including nearly 70 dancers and teachers, an orchestra of 45 and services and admin departments. And each year BRB devotes two seasons of performances spanning 10 to 12 weeks right here in the city. As we spoke to David Bintley was preparing the company to perform in Edinburgh, before heading to London’s Coliseum and then a little later off on tour to Japan. “They seem to love us in Japan,” he says. “We are regulars there.”

While the public face of BRB is massively impressing, the huge activity which goes on unseen behind the scenes is equally jaw-dropping – especially the largely unsung work in the community. “I would estimate that through our Learning Department we have seen 40,000 local children in the past two years across our various projects,” says David. “These would be both schools and one-off projects.” Among the most significant is Dancetrack, an initiative which offers children from the age of seven the opportunity to train in ballet for three years. “Dancetrack sees us go out to 50 inner city primary schools in the area – schools with children that wouldn’t normally come across us,” explains David. “We have auditions and pick 50 or so kids who we think show promise. We give them free shoes and lessons over a three-year course which gives them a basic platform.” At the end of the three years, there’s the opportunity for budding ballet stars of the future to progress to Elmhurst School for Dance – BRB’s associated ballet school. BRB also operates Freefall Dance Company, set up with Fox Hollies Performing Arts College, for young people of school-leaving age with severe learning disabilities. “This is a project that’s the first of its kind not just in the UK but in the world, and is very close to our hearts,” says David. Run by ballet staff, freelance artists, teachers and a group of gifted dancers with severe learning difficulties, Freefall meets every week at the Hippodrome. While BRB’s aim is to nurture and encourage dance talent across the spectrum it is the main company of dancers from which everything else flows – and like all highly-trained athletes they need the very best care and attention.

SUPER CENTRE

At the heart of BRB’s fantastic complex at the Hippodrome is the Jerwood Centre, a world leading facility in dance medicine, research and science with state-of-the-art medical and rehabilitation equipment. As a founding partner of the National Institute of Dance, Medicine and Science, BRB is one of only three NIDMS healthcare centres in the UK. In an environment which would make leading clinics green with envy, the centre is staffed by a team of physiotherapists, masseurs and a body-conditioning instructor and contains state-of-the-art diagnostic and fitness equipment, including a hydrotherapy pool where dancers can work safely on their injuries. “Over time, sports methods of treating injuries have come to the fore, and we lead the way in this in the world of ballet. Every dancer in our company is well covered and looked after. We have a very small turnover of dancers here – and quite often when one or two do leave they are soon very keen to want to come back.”

TAKE 5 ABOUT BRB

1. BRB never dances to recorded music and are always accompanied by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia.
2. The company will spend three weeks next month in Japan performing and promoting the Birmingham brand globally.
3. In today’s testing economic times BRB is rare in that it continues to create new ballets. Over the past 10 years it has created 24 new works.
4. David Bintley is currently working on a brand new ballet, The King of Dances, which will premiere in June
5. The Campaign for the Future was launched to raise £15million for BRB three years ago. It is within £2.5million of reaching that target.

As anyone with a young family knows, looking after an unwell child is one of the hardest jobs in the world. Fortunately for most, when illness strikes it amounts to little more than the odd virus or rash, sniffle or sneeze, and things are quickly back to normal much to the relief of worried and tired mums and dads. But imagine for a moment what it would be like if your family was just a bit bigger. How would you cope with more than 700 sick children wanting your help every day of the year? And what if the illnesses are much, much more serious? That’s the size of the task facing Birmingham Children’s Hospital. “We are a world class hospital and very proud of who we are and what we do,” said chief executive Sarah-Jane Marsh. “We aim to provide the best healthcare possible for children and young people, giving them the support and treatment they need in a hospital without walls.”

GLOBAL LEADER

The hospital has been making the young better for more than 150 years, having opened in 1862 as the Birmingham and Midland Free Hospital for Sick Children in Steelhouse Lane. In 1998 it became the Diana Princess of Wales Children’s Hospital before taking its current name. Today it is recognised as not only the best of British but also a global leader in the research, development, treatment and care of the young. Unlike most other children’s hospitals, such as Great Ormond Street in London, BCH provides general services – it has an emergency centre – as well as nearly 40 specialities. These include liver transplant, bowel and cardiac surgery, burns and major trauma treatment and blood and bone marrow transplants. BCH is a national specialist centre for epilepsy surgery as well as a centre of excellence for complex heart conditions, cancer and liver and kidney disease. It is also one of the largest child and adolescent mental health service providers in the UK with a dedicated Eating Disorder Unit, while also leading the NHS with its Rare Diseases Research Centre. As well as treating more than a quarter-of-a-million youngsters each year, BCH also deals with more than 160,000 outpatient visits and more than 50,000 Emergency Department patients. State-of-the-art facilities include 14 theatres, a £3.7 million MRI scanner which supports pioneering research in brain tumours in children and a world-class facility which leads the way with pioneering international research into childhood cancer and liver diseases; infant brain tumours; infection and immunity; nutrition; and drug use in children. Key to BCH’s mission statement is its pledge to be a hospital ‘without walls’ making life as normal and relaxed as possible for both children and their parents. Inhouse, there’s a 61-room parent and family accommodation facility, while outside hospital-at-home teams set up programmes so as many children as possible can be treated and nursed in the familiar surroundings of their own homes.

WORLD CLASS

“We never forget we are a children’s hospital and that children need the chance to play and learn. This can have a huge impact on their successful recovery,” said Sarah-Jane. BCH has its own fund-raising team which raises more than £5 million a year. Charitable donations fund improvements to the hospital’s environment providing playrooms, family areas and a sensory garden – and paid for an £800,000 refurbishment of the Emergency Department. In addition, nearly £250,000 alone was raised from participants if the Great Birmingham Run. A £4 million appeal to pay for a world class children’s cancer facility, which will help treat the 240 new cases a year of youngsters with the disease, is within touching distance of its goal. “The hospital’s reputation and success means we are always facing growing demands,” said Sarah-Jane, “and keeping up with that demand and having the right expert people and the right facilities in the right place is crucial.” There’s certainly no one better placed than Sarah-Jane to make those right calls. A true Brummie, she worked in hospitals at Walsall, Worcester, Redditch and Bromsgrove before taking up the helm in Birmingham. So, she knows exactly how local people think and what they want.

PIONEERING FIRSTS

• 1951 – First UK successful hole-in-the-heart operation
• 1998 – First UK child triple-transplant of small bowel, liver and pancreas
• 2001 – First UK successful separation of conjoined twins
• 2015 – Recognised as international leader across 34 medical specialties including cardiac services, neurosurgery and trauma surgery

According to William Shakespeare ‘all the world’s a stage’, but it’s doubtful that the great Bard had in mind performing his work in a front room in Erdington! However, the company from Birmingham REP have no such problems. “We’ve performed 30-minute plays in people’s homes more than a dozen times now,” said artistic director Roxana Silbert. “It’s all part of our ‘champion’ programme to create arts provision for an area and interact with the community. We asked people in Erdington to commission us to make short plays, which we wrote and then our actors performed in their homes.” This really is theatre by the people, for the people – but it fits right in with the REP’s USP which is to ‘inspire the city of Birmingham to a lifelong love of the theatre’. And unlike most other theatres they achieve this by creating, writing, making, producing, staging and performing everything themselves – whether it be in their three auditoriums in Centenary Square next to the new Library, or away from the footlights, like those front rooms in Erdington.

WORLD PREMIERE

Even productions featuring our most famous stars, such the recent Rudy’s Rare Records starring Lenny Henry, are ‘home-made’ at the REP. The comedy drama made its world premiere in Birmingham with the staging and set created and built by the inhouse team. When the production transferred into London, the set went with it. “It’s what makes us different to anyone else,” said Roxana. “We have our own artists, production people, technicians, costumer makers, wig makers, carpenters and everything else we need to make everything on site. So, when you see something for the first time at the REP, you really are seeing it for the first time anywhere.”

The REP was founded in 1913 when the son of a wealth local grocer built what is now known as The Old Rep in Station Street. It developed into one of the most exciting and famous repertory theatre companies in the country, launching the careers of acting luminaries such as Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Edith Evans. In 1971, the company moved to a newly-built theatre in Broad Street, and from 2011 to 2013 the REP underwent redevelopment as part of the new Library of Birmingham complex. “Having the new Library next door has been fantastic for the REP,” said executive director Stuart Rogers. “Getting the necessary finance is always an ongoing challenge for any theatre and by being part of this exciting new complex it has given us better, greater and more modern space to use for the theatre but also for conferencing and other commercial initiatives.” The REP has a £7.5 million a year turnover of which a third of the money comes from Birmingham City Council and the Arts Council. With ongoing pressure on public funding it becomes ever more important that the theatre is creative in finding other additional revenue streams.

FOCUS ON YOUTH

The importance of the work of the REP’s development team is not just crucial for what is delivered on stage, but also the huge amount of youth and community work that the theatre undertakes and promotes each year in Birmingham and the region. These includes projects to support and develop emerging directors, writers, theatre makers and companies across the West Midlands and to find and help talented young actors who just can’t afford the cost of entering the theatrical world via the normal route of going to drama school. The REP’s popular youth theatres attract nearly 300 young participants every week. The REP also nurtures the youngest members of society with its early years officers providing a wide range of creative sessions in Birmingham and elsewhere in the region for children up to the age of six, their parents and nurseries. The theatre is also active in local schools, children’s centres and various junior workshops. The REP helps communities with specific needs – currently it is organising a festival involving those with mental health issues. It all adds up to a big and challenging brief but one which the REP is undoubtedly up to fulfilling. As Roxana Silbert put it: “The REP is a huge benefit to the region. We know that we are making work here that speaks directly to our audiences and which they appreciate. This region has a huge amount of artistic talent and it is our job to make sure that we fully support it and give young people the confidence and opportunity they need.”

THE REP BY NUMBERS

• 65 shows a year
• 750 performances
• 175,000 tickets sold
• 5 London transfers
• 7 world premieres
• 2.5 million visitors a year to the REP and Library of Birmingham complex

If you’ve been to a concert, visited an exhibition, attended a business conference, dined at a country club, corporate event or sports match, or even just ordered show tickets, the chances are you’ve come into contact with the NEC Group. This Birmingham powerhouse of a business deals with more than four million people every year – and when you realise that the population of Birmingham is just over 1.1 million, and the West Midlands as a whole 5.6 million, that’s a pretty impressive number. And here’s another couple of equally jaw-dropping figures… the group delivers a £2 billion annual shot in the arm to the regional economy, while supporting getting on for 30,000 jobs in the region. Unsurprisingly, all this adds up to make the NEC Group not only big news here at home, but also a major player in the venue and events market in Europe.

HISTORIC MOMENT

This month all the attention is on the lead-up to the opening of the £26 million revamped NIA, now rechristened the Barclaycard Arena thanks to a naming rights deal with the credit card company. NEC chief executive Paul Thandi said: “The arena has a rich 21-year history in Birmingham, welcoming world-renowned singers, athletes, comedians and performers who all help to shine a light on what our city has to offer. The renaming is another historic moment and allows us to continue to be a world class venue leading in providing the ultimate live experience.” For months, Brummies have been watching the new arena take shape as it evolves from a symbol of 90s monolithic concrete into a gleaming copper and glass clad structure that sits proudly as a modern landmark for the city. The new venue opens next month – and as befits a world class centre, organisers have come up with a world class act to kick things off in the shape of Michael Bublé. The NEC is no stranger to big stars of course – the LG Arena, which itself had a £29 million refit four years ago, attracts the biggest acts in the world of music such as Rihanna, Elton John and Beyoncé. While the NEC halls themselves – the UK’s largest exhibition facility – host some of the biggest exhibitions in the country, including the likes of Crufts and Grand Designs Live. The NEC Group also has a huge presence in selling you the tickets to these events via its Ticket Factory arm which handles 2.1 million sales a year. It’s not only the private customer who passes through the group’s companies. The corporate business is a major sector which is continuing to grow at a rapid pace. The ICC in the city centre is one of Europe’s top conference venues with more than 250,000 delegates attending 300 events every year.

BRAVE NEW WORLD

Meanwhile, catering offshoot Amadeus serves more than 3.5 million covers with over 70 chefs providing award-winning food at events such as the Scottish Open Golf Championship, and AEGON Tennis Tournament at Edgbaston. And next year will see the group’s biggest project, the £150 million Resorts World integrated leisure and entertainment complex, open next door to the NEC featuring a new hotel, bars, restaurants, shopping centre and casino. “This will be incredibly exciting for the city, its economy and its people,” said Guy Dunstan, the general manager of NEC Arenas. “It will be great for visitors and artists alike and will offer something unique that other venues in the UK can’t.” Guy, who is also chairman of the National Arenas Association which represents the interests of all UK venues, is in no doubt about Birmingham’s position in the UK entertainment and leisure scene. “Birmingham has become the events destination of this country,” he said. “And this is only going to grow and get stronger as we enter this even more exciting phase of development for the city.”

THE NEC’S MAGNIFICIENT SEVEN

• The NEC – one the UK’s top exhibition venues
• The ICC – leading business and conference centre
• The LG Arena – home of the big music gigs
• The Barclaycard Arena – the reincarnated NIA
• Amadeus – UK’s fastest growing caterers
• The Ticket Factory – top UK ticketing agents
• Resorts World – new £150m leisure complex

It’s doubtful there’s been a more dramatic, talked-about building in the history of Birmingham than the new Library. A year on from its opening it’s still the centre of attention with Brummies and non-Brummies alike. When I was putting together this piece, I paid several visits to the Library and each time it was packed with excited children on trips of adventure and learning, scholars immersed in computers and laptops, business people meeting colleagues and contacts and assorted tourists curious to view this amazing-looking space and enjoy a coffee and a bun in the cool café area. It’s not often something as mainstream as a library can draw ‘oohs and aahs’ from visitors, such as the Japanese family with whom I shared a ride in the futuristic glass-sided lift spearing up through the centre of the building. They were impressed, as were the Spanish couple also along for the ride – as have been the vast majority of the 2.7 million visitors who have seen the new Library since it opened.

BEST BUILDING

For the record, I think the Library is a glorious place. And the team who run it have their fingers, and everything else, crossed that the Royal Institute of British Architects agrees – because as you read this, the Library will be about to learn if it has been named the best new building in Britain. Library director Brian Gambles said: “We are all very excited about this. Even making the shortlist with the wonderful buildings which are also on it, is a massive achievement.” The shortlist list includes the bookies’ favourite, The Shard in London. But if the judges have an ounce of nous, they’ll pick their winner not for having zillions of metres of angular glass, but because of what the structure means to the community. And the Library means an awful lot to the community of Birmingham. The mere word ‘Library’ is a misnomer in this instance. Yes, there are thousands upon thousands of books, films and music and photography archives of every type on every subject, but the Library is fast becoming a key hub of activity and interaction for the area’s business and youth communities. In fact, it’s more accurate to say it’s a hotbed!

On the business side, the Library has a dedicated centre and team which advises budding entrepreneurs on how to take their ‘eureka’ idea from the drawing board and set it up as a proper business. The Company Formation service is part of the Edward Cadbury Centre for Service and Enterprise on the Library’s first floor and provides A to Z help, including drawing up a business plan, helping to source finance and involving the Library’s wealth of business partners to lend a helping hand with valuable input and advice. In July, the Library launched its Business and Intellectual Property Centre – the only site in the Midlands and one of only six in the UK – offering a complete business and IP advice service. “We are very involved in focusing on start-up business, particularly relating to individuals who are thinking about setting up a business but who don’t have the skill set to do so, or have gaps in certain areas of knowledge,” explained Brian Gambles. “We also run young entrepreneur and job and work clubs.” The latter are an important service helping members of the community acquire the skills they need to become work-ready. “The recent recession hit Birmingham harder than any other core city in the UK,” said Brian. “As a result the changing requirements of the job market has seen a skills deficit, and the Library has been and continues to be instrumental in giving people the new skills they need.” In the first quarter of the year, the Library helped 3,000 people through its job search and work clubs. That figure will top 13,000 in a full year.

NOT UNCOOL

The other key area at the heart of everything the Library does is youth and schools. “Literacy is an absolute priority for us,” said Brian. “There’s a recognition that the problem of illiteracy can’t just be dumped at the doors of schools. There’s a massive association between poverty and illiteracy, and the gap between the literacy of the strongest and the weakest children at the age of 10 or 11 can be up to seven years. That’s a very sobering thought. “Our role is to inspire and stimulate a love of reading – to make sure that reading is seen by youngsters as ‘not uncool’.” To this end, the Library has a huge programme of initiatives with schools in the region as well as a multitude of children’s activities in holiday time, many being free. “If the Library as to achieve nothing more than inspiring children to read, we will have done our job,” said Brian. “But we aim to achieve much more by being an integral part of Birmingham life and communities.” Together with all its other myriad services and facilities – including outdoor amphitheatre, state-of-the-art gallery and recording studio – the Library of Birmingham is truly the Library of the People.

LIBRARY IN NUMBERS

• 3 million – page views of www.libraryofbirmingham.com to the end of July
• 316,000 – books, music, films borrowed in the last year
• 32,000 – people attending events this spring and summer
• 21,000 – sessions on the public computers every month
• 430 – events and exhibition since opening
• 5 – one of the ‘ Five Amazing Libraries You Must Visit’ as named by HuffPost Travel

One was opened in 1834 and is a monument to Victorian England, the other dates from 1991 and was the catalyst for the regeneration of the centre of Birmingham and the ongoing development around Brindleyplace. The Town Hall and Symphony Hall are worlds apart in so many ways, yet have the common bond of transforming and enriching lives through music. On the face of it, and for those who don’t know, the grand facades and opulent auditoriums might convince you that THSH is the preserve of the well-heeled – home for the city’s cultural toffs. Nothing could be further from the truth! Besides the mere fact that appealing to the minted middle-aged would be madness in a city with the largest population (over 40 per cent) of under-25s in Europe, such a policy would go against everything that THSH stands for.

VITAL QUESTION

“We are always seeking the answer to one vital question,” said THSH chief executive Andrew Jowett. “How do you get to the young person who has talent but not the ability or the opportunity to find ways to engage?” THSH tries to answer the question by powering ahead with one of the biggest outreach cultural community programmes in the country. And all this goes on, largely unseen by the 500,000-plus people who come to the big set-piece concerts and classical performances by major international stars for which THSH is rightly renown. The two halls have charitable status and are managed by Performances Birmingham Ltd. A thriving education/community department spearheads a number of projects to bring music into the lives of more than 12,000 local youngsters and 6,000 adults each year – people who very likely would never have the chance of getting that special experience any other way. “Our education work mainly comes through and is based at Symphony Hall,” said Andrew. “We work with people at many different levels, but fundamentally whatever we do has to relate to what is a very diverse and predominately young local population. And the city is getting younger all the time. That’s a challenge, but a very exciting one for us. “So, we have to think more and more about how we can engage with children. Today’s five-year-old will be a voter in 13 years’ time – and we want all of them to grow up understanding the importance of culture in our lives.”

FESTIVAL OF YOUTH

This emphasis on youth is perfectly illustrated by the National Festival of Music for Youth held at THSH in July. The event attracted 8,000 of the country’s most talented young exponents of jazz, rock, folk and classical music, and helped earn the city the title of Britain’s ‘Capital for Young Musicians’. A few weeks earlier, THSH’s Generation Ladywood community project saw 280 young instrumentalists and 120 singers from 16 schools perform on the grand Symphony Hall stage before an audience of more than 1,000 people. “We launched Generation Ladywood in 2012 with the aim to connect young people in our local community to music,” said Andrew. “We wanted to give kids the chance to learn to play an instrument, and then they have to come and perform on one of the greatest stages in the country.” The project, five years in the planning and now two years in the delivery, has seen THSH raise more than £300,000 to provide nearly 8,000 children so far with the opportunity to play or sing. It’s an awesome effort of which Andrew and his ‘crew’ are immensely proud. Equally as impressive is THSH’s Jazzlines team – charged with finding, developing and working with exciting musicians in the substantial and rapidly growing Birmingham jazz scene – plus the Women in Jazz project which helps and empowers young and exclusively local female talents to find a career. “THSH is also a city council arts champion which sees us work with even more young people,” said Andrew. Of course, most of the audiences who come to enjoy an evening out at THSH have no idea how much is going on ‘behind the scenes’ in their local communities. They come in huge numbers to see stars from across the world of entertainment perform.

LOVED BY LEGENDS

And those stars are also huge fans of THSH. Legendary crooner Tony Bennett, who returns to play Symphony Hall this month, says: “The people of Birmingham are so fortunate to have this beautiful hall right in their home town – it is one of my favourite places to perform.” Multi-award winning singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading adds: “Having grown up in Birmingham, I feel so proud that this city has one of the finest concert halls in the UK. On my tours around the world, Symphony Hall is at the top of the list.” Andrew Jowett cites a newer home-grown star as proof that working with youth is a vital part of the city’s musical future. King’s Heath queen of pop Laura Mvula came to the top via the city’s school music system, and spells with Birmingham Conservatoire and Symphony Hall’s resident orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. “Laura is the perfect example of what engaging with the young and developing their joy of music can achieve. We’re about much more than just what you see on the stage.”

We don’t have to tell these children how great Birmingham Hippodrome is – they already know it! Together with thousands of other local youngsters each year, they’ve been given their first taste of ‘the arts’ thanks to Britain’s most popular theatre… and as you can see they’re all just loving it. And they’re not the only ones. Last year, the Southside theatre notched up its highest-ever annual attendance figure since records began 50 years ago, with nearly 630,000 paid visitors from more than 50 countries as far afield as Australia, Japan, India and Brazil. The staggering figure officially made the Hippodrome the UK’s Number One Most Popular Theatre. A breakdown of the figures reveals that 40 per cent, or a quarter-of-a-million theatregoers, came from outside Birmingham and the West Midlands. According to Marketing Birmingham that generated a contribution to the local economy through visitor spending in the city of more than £60million. Impressive!

HUGE HITS

The theatre is well-known of course for its hugely successful major shows – the last 12 months have seen sold-out productions including Phantom of the Opera, The Lion King, War Horse and a blockbuster Christmas pantomime that attracted an audience of more than 115,000 during its run. The Hippodrome is also the home of the world-leading Birmingham Royal Ballet and partner of DanceXchange which produces Birmingham’s annual International Dance Festival. It’s all a far cry from the trials and tribulations the theatre was facing over a decade ago after it was hit by unexpected costs incurred in redeveloping the building in Hurst Street. The Hippodrome site dates back to the 1890s when there was a stage and circus ring under the name the Tower of Varieties. This eventually became the Tivoli in 1900 and then the Hippodrome under the ownership of impresario Thomas Barrasford in 1903. The current neo-classical auditorium was designed in 1924.

Today, the theatre – a self-funding independent charity – has expanded well beyond what happens on the main stage. Under the banner Hippodrome Plus it runs a huge programme of education, access, free outdoor performances and activities as well as many workshops for the young, disadvantaged and disabled. Paul Kaynes, director of creative programmes who heads up Hippodrome Plus, said: “People don’t necessarily know about all the work that goes on in the community behind the scenes. We aim to bring the streets of Southside alive and this is primarily through reaching young people. Last year with all of our activities we reached 70,000 people this way.” This year the programme is even bigger and bolder and includes the exciting Summer in Southside, a mainly free open-air extravaganza of cultural activity being held on three consecutive weekends from 9 and 10 August in Hippodrome Square, Inge Street, Hurst Street and the Arcadian.

“We close the roads around Southside and put on all sorts of things on the streets during the day and the evening,” said Paul. “The first weekend is all about the arts and artists from the West Midlands, the second is a mix of amazing UK and foreign artists featuring circus, dance, theatre and roaming acts that just pop up here and there, and the third weekend is a huge audience participate dance event.” One of the amazing things about the Hippodrome Plus programme is that it is run by a core team of just five people, supported by 25 volunteers. Such a small team hasn’t prevented Paul’s outreach projects from becoming the envy of every other theatre in the land. “Most theatres work with young people and schools in some way but what picks us out is our work with children with learning disabilities. Also with young carers who have responsibilities way beyond their years to look after sick parents or other family members. We give them the chance to take a break from it all and come to us and just enjoy themselves. This is among the most special work that we do.

NEW PROJECTS

“Our aim is to reach the city’s most disadvantaged children in schools that are in less wealthy parts of the city. Children who wouldn’t otherwise be able to come to a theatre and enjoy the activities.” Paul is planning a number of exciting new Hippodrome Plus projects moving forward. Among these is a yet-to-be announced initiative to take art out onto the streets later in the year. “I can’t say any more about it right now,” said Paul, “but we should be able to tell more shortly. It is a very exciting development. “Southside is a truly wonderful, vibrant area of the city with so much going on and I would also very much like to create a season of work every year that reflects this amazing community but for a slightly different type of audience than we would normally get at the theatre.” All-in-all, a truly amazing Southside story!

The stats are impressive. Fifteen acres of lush greenery and vegetation set like a multi-coloured jewel in the heart of our city. Around 250,000 people coming to enjoy it or just pass through every year. More than 20,000 schoolchildren experiencing first-hand the wonders of nature and the environment. An army of 200 volunteers keeping everything prim, proper and in its place. The Botanical Gardens are one of Birmingham’s Greatest – and also one of its ‘best kept secrets’. Opened nearly 200 years ago by Birmingham Botanical and Horticultural Society, the Gardens – designed by J C Loudon, the most innovative and successful garden planner of his day – are simply glorious. Wonderful Grade II listed architecture abounds with imposing glasshouses spanning climates from tropical rain forests to arid desert, a very special birdhouse and equally lovely butterfly house, plus beautiful grounds, wildlife tracks and trails. It’s also a centre for corporate functions, weddings and summer parties and festivals.

WORLD-CLASS CENTRE

So, what’s this ‘secret’ thing all about? Well, we think that not enough Brummies – or garden lovers in general – realise what a world-class centre of excellence they have in their midst. The Gardens’ relatively low profile is something chief executive James Wheeler is willing to admit to. And it’s something he’s looking to change over the next couple of years. “Best kept secret is a fair description,” he says. “But last year saw a 40 per cent increase in visitors, so we must be doing something right! And we are actively pursuing marketing changes to ensure those figures keep rising and many, many more people get to know how special our Gardens are.” Running any business has been challenging over the past five years, but none more so than for James and his team. As a self-supporting independent charity the Gardens don’t receive a penny of external support funding. “We are the only gardens in the whole of the UK, other than Chelsea, that totally pays its own way,” says James with a sense of pride. “And we actually view that as a positive as it gives us greater autonomy and flexibility to do what we want. We are about sharing our plants and our knowledge with the community across all frontiers. “What we have is something very special, and you can see and feel that from everybody who works here. It’s just such a wonderful place to be, and a real privilege to share with as many people as we can.”

MINUTE TEAM

The full-time team running the Gardens is mind-bogglingly minute. Just 12 full-timers and eight part-timers – plus those volunteers – to look after the biggest glasshouses around for over 200 miles. The catalogue of the 7,000 plants on show runs to nearly 200 pages! “Our volunteers are so important to us,” says James. “Many of them are horticultural students who come via our partnership with Birmingham Metropolitan College. But we have a lot of older volunteers too. For some reason we always seem to have a tremendous number of retired head teachers helping us out!” James is especially proud of the interaction with schools. “Many of the children who come are local school parties, but we get youngsters coming from all over the world too. The Gardens have a very wide appeal. The wonderful thing is that we have everything the children could want to see about flora, wildlife and the environment in general right here in one place.” He’s particularly aware of the importance of ‘grabbing them when they’re young’ as he came to the gardeners’ world relatively late after initially working in the City of London. “I decided I couldn’t imagine years of being something in insurance, so I went to art school and then into garden design.” He took over as chief executive at the Botanical Gardens seven years ago after being head gardener at Heever Castle – the childhood home of Anne Boleyn – in Kent.

JAZZ IN THE JASMINE

“Although I have the title, I’m just as likely to muck in and do anything that needs doing around the place,” he explains. “Everyone’s the same here because we all have a fearsome pride in the Gardens.” And, just in case you think the team already has plenty to do, this summer’s activities are more full-on than ever. Apart from the usual visitors, the Gardens are hosting open days for charities, charity walks, many music and drama events and performances and various demonstrations and shows. So, if you want to hear classics among the chrysanthemums, jazz next to the jasmine or brass by the begonias, you know where to go…

Edgbaston is one of the world’s great cricket arenas. There’s nothing special about that statement – it’s a fact that fans of the great game, from Melbourne to Mumbai and Kingston to Karachi, will recognise. Or, as chief executive Colin Povey likes to put it: “Edgbaston is Lord’s without the stuffiness but with truly world-class facilities.” Over the years, it’s been the scene of some amazing pieces of sporting theatre and drama – West Indian great Brian Lara made his 501 highest score by a batsman in first-class cricket on the ground in 1994. England won the closest ever Ashes test match against Australia by just two runs in 2005. There are many, many more… Here in Birmingham, it almost feels at times like this great 128-year-old institution is taken for granted – just like so many other world-class organisations and venues we have in our city. Yet it’s debatable whether any single name bears the flag and good name of Birmingham around the world quite as well and proudly.

COMMUNITY FIRST

What makes Edgbaston especially great is what goes on behind the scenes – the largely unseen and unsung projects and initiatives which put the ground and Warwickshire county cricket club at the very heart of the city’s communities. Work that brings the club into contact with tens of thousands of schoolchildren and youngsters every year and which raises hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity and good causes. All these community and recreational projects are run Warwickshire Cricket Board – one of Edgbaston’s three main operational strands. The other two are Warwickshire County Cricket Club which looks after the first-class team, and Edgbaston Experience Ltd which manages the superb conferencing and entertainment facilities at the ground. As chief executive, Colin Povey heads up all three – and there is nothing, and we mean nothing, that he doesn’t know about Edgbaston, past, present and future!

SCHOOL LINKS

“This is a very, very special place,” he says. “And in so many different ways, from what we see on the pitch every summer, through to everything we do with the community throughout the rest of the year. Our brief is to foster healthy participation in sport, healthy living and social activity and interaction among the young. And, of course, we always hope that through this involvement we will unearth the next great cricketer, the next Ian Bell.” To that end, the club has direct links to many schools in the region as well as hundreds of boys and girls aged from 10 to 19. On the charity front, the club supports three main causes: the regional branch of the Lord’s Taverners, Cure Leukemia and Fisher House. “We have raised more than £130,000 over the past few years to help children with leukemia,” says Colin. “ It’s a charity we are especially close to.” Fisher House is a drop-in centre for the families of injured army forces’ personnel who are being treated at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. “It allows the families to spend precious time in a home-from-home which is incredibly important,” adds Colin. “We aim to raise £10,000 for Fisher House this year.” Of course, Edgbaston wouldn’t be Edgbaston without a raft of community sports initiatives. “We are delighted that we have a lot of local community use of our ground,” says Colin. “We host four inner city cricket competitions each year and have involvement with the Al Faisals and Sandwell Asian cricket leagues.” The club also holds three skills festivals for primary age schoolchildren each year. The excellent indoor Edgbaston Cricket Centre is heavily used with various clubs and schools playing their finals there. “It’s also used for quite a lot of disability cricket,” adds Colin. “So kids in wheelchairs play table-top cricket which is really fantastic to see.

NUMBERS GAME

“Elsewhere, our cricket museum is in constant use by schools as a learning centre for children that ties in with work they are doing as part of their curriculum. So for example, children studying maths will come here and use our archives of cricket statistics as part of their course work.” Leaving the confines of Edgbaston itself, the club runs a huge programme of cricket teaching sessions in hundreds of schools – each one under the auspices of coaches who have been fully trained and qualified by the club. Finally, as a further initiative to ‘get ‘em young’ more than 3,500 free tickets to top matches are supplied to schools every season. All of these things make Edgbaston a real jewel of Birmingham life. But for Colin, there’s one thing above all others that makes the place special. “It’s the warmth, atmosphere and fun that’s generated in the ground when it’s full,” he says. “It sums up perfectly an organisation like ours which is at the very heart of a wonderful multi-cultural city.”

When you make a shortlist of the great orchestras of the world, the CBSO will be right up there at the top. Renowned for its ability to search out relatively unknown musicians and turn them into superstars, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is woven into the fabric of Brum life. It’s an institution which carries the name of Birmingham with pride around the world, while here at home it touches the lives of thousands of Brummies every year. Not just in its varied programme of concerts at Symphony Hall and the CBSO Centre in Berkley Street, but at many different levels – some of which may truly surprise you! In fact ‘surprising’ is a perfect adjective to describe the CBSO.

ORIENT SUCCESS

It’s most famous of course for its wonderful musicians and musical directors. The CBSO is where the likes of a young Sir Simon Rattle cut his musical teeth and waved his baton with distinction. Current musical director Andris Nelsons was a relative unknown when plucked from his native Latvia seven years ago. Now he is one of the most sought-after conductors on the international scene and is a regular guest at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera New York. Under his director, the CBSO was named the best orchestra in Japan following its recent tour to the Far East. The CBSO’s most public face is as resident orchestra and chorus at Birmingham Symphony Hall. But its working home in Berkley Street is where most days of the week you’ll find its auditorium and studios bussing with auditions, educational schemes and concerts and workshops. Importantly, it’s also the hub for the continually expanding outreach projects with the local and business communities.

PIED PIPER

In any given year this Pied Piper of culture will interact with up to 35,000 schoolchildren and young people in the region in dozens of different initiatives. All have the same core aim – to bring as many of Birmingham’s young people as possible into contact with music and instruments at as early an age as possible. But we’re not talking serious classical stuff here – the last initiative for example saw the CBSO and legal firm DBS Law working in partnership to present a road safety message through music to more than 2,000 schoolchildren. The message was successfully delivered, the kids saw music in an exciting new light – and they had fun, too! “Partnerships with business are becoming ever more important to the orchestra as we look to widen our role in the community at a time when traditional support through grants and subsidies are continually being cut,” says communications manager Ruth Green. “The CBSO brings so much to Birmingham both here in the city and on the international stage. We are recognised as being worldclass and we are very proud of that. We think it is very important we give as much back to the city and community as possible and we work very hard to do that. One of the key areas is to bring youth into contact with music as much as possible and make it accessible to those who otherwise might never have the chance. That’s where working closely with business helps us to deliver.”

FREE INSTRUMENTS

Banking giant, Deutsche Bank, is one of the orchestra’s key players as a sole supporter for work with the schools. Their financial backing allows the CBSO to send its musicians out to the schools to give concerts and hold masterclasses, workshops and ensembles. Discussions are ongoing with other major business supporters to widen still further the reach and depth of the CBSO’s youth programmes. There are plans to launch a project which aims to transform the lives of young people and their communities through music-making. This will see the CBSO select a school within a deprived community and give the children free instruments with a planned programme of musical education and development, leading to a coherent school orchestra. A radical project is also being discussed to bring children with extreme disabilities in touch with music. “Life has never been busier here than it is now. The CBSO is an exciting place to be as we move forward,” says Ruth Green. Reflecting the sense of endeavor and confidence, the CBSO Centre is also about to get a £1.5million pound makeover thanks to grants from the Arts Council and the Garfield Weston Foundation. This will see upgraded performance facilities with state-of-the-art acoustics and new seating and lighting as well as a contemporary makeover for the building’s interior and exterior.

FIVE FACTS ABOUT THE CBSO

1. The CBSO was founded in 1920 and its inaugural concert was conducted by Sir Edward Elgar
2. The orchestra performs around 130 concerts a year, regionally, nationally and internationally
3. Its wide-reaching programme covers everything from Beethoven to Bollywood
4. The CBSO also includes the CBSO Youth Orchestra, Chorus, Children’s and Youth Choruses, SO Vocal in Sellyoak, Handsworth Community Choir and the CBSO Young Voices
5. As well as teaming up with some of the world’s leading musical artists, it has performed with unlikely personalities such as TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh and Great British Bake Off presenter Sue Perkins.

Nestling in a corner of leafy St Paul’s Square on the edge of the Jewellery Quarter is one of Birmingham’s true artistic gems – an organisation which has been at the heart of the city’s creative culture for 200 years. The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA) has been, and continues to be, home to some of Brum’s greatest and most famous artists, spanning creative disciplines across a spectrum of mediums from paint to ceramics and jewellery. And this year it is celebrating its bicentenary. Behind the neat façade of the RBSA gallery lies a charitable group founded to develop emerging local talent while at the same time bringing art and the community closer together. The bricks and mortar of the gallery house works from the current generation of local artists, including a delightful crafts and jewellery studio with designer-made pieces for sale at distinctly non-designer prices. A fitting feature given the proximity of the gallery to the creative hustle and bustle of the Jewellery Quarter.

CREATIVE BRIDGE

But the RBSA is equally about what you can’t see. It’s more than a great painting hanging on the wall or a beautiful piece of sculpture or ceramics. Throughout its history it has been a creative bridge between its members and the city at large. It continues this important role with a busy schedule of free educational workshops and demonstrations given by its artists. The RBSA, then known as the Birmingham Academy of Arts, was formed by a group of prominent artists in 1814. It became Birmingham Society of Artists seven years later before being granted Royal status in 1868 by Queen Victoria. Over the following two centuries it has inspired and developed some of the city’s greatest artists. The society moved to its current home in 2000 and has seen visitor numbers increase by a quarter as a result. Gallery director Marie Considine said: “We are Birmingham’s oldest artist-led visual charity, and one of the oldest art societies in the UK. Our aim remains to encourage enjoyment of the visual arts, whether through visiting exhibitions, collecting or developing skills. Our bicentenary presents us with a marvellous opportunity to make even more people in the city aware of the RBSA and what we do.” When you’re 200 years old you can be forgiven for planning something a little special to mark your birthday.

The bicentenary celebrations are split into three areas – past, present and future – and the RBSA has put together an exciting programme of exhibitions and events under the banner ‘Celebrating 200 Years of Art, Artists and Audiences in Birmingham’. The first, entitled Birmingham Today, saw artists competing for a £2,000 cash prize for the best interpretation of the city in 2014. In May, the Next Wave exhibition will show work from the upcoming generation of local artists. And later in the year, A Place for Art will explore the history and development of the RBSA. Liberally sprinkled between the major shows are a host of other events, workshops and exhibitions.

SPECIAL YEAR

RBSA president Robert Neil – a professional artist who by day runs his own building merchants business in the Jewellery Quarter, said: “The aim of any organisation such as ours is to interact with more and more people. We already deliver an exciting range of exhibitions, events and workshops across the year, but 2014 promises to bring something even more special. “We are one of very few societies outside London with a profile which allows us to work very closely with the community. Unlike most we don’t show art in hired space. We own our own gallery and as such are very much a working and community-involved society all-year-round. This gives us a huge advantage.” Marie Considine added: “The RBSA does not benefit from regular financial support for national or local government. We have to raise £100,000 every year to keep going, and that makes us think creatively in everything we do. Our 200-year celebrations will be a fantastic springboard for more people than ever to get to know us and appreciate what a very special thing the city has here in the RBSA.”

RBSA FACTFILE: The RBSA is an artist-led charity which exhibits more than 2,000 works by local artists each year. It runs a range of programmes for schools and other groups, aiming in particular to support disadvantaged children in the local area. The gallery is open throughout the year and admission is free. Many of the exhibits can be bought for less than £200.

Lynsey Le Keux is living the dream. A committed fan of all things vintage and retro, she gave up a promising corporate career to pursue her passion for Fifties fashion. Out went project management and efficiency reports and in came Polka dot swing skirts, beehive hairdos and pink Cadillacs with white wall tyres! After finding it almost impossible to plan her retro-style wedding in 2007, Lynsey decided to set up her own vintage events business. “It was just crazy how hard it was to locate vintage wedding suppliers, and I thought that there must be a gap here in the market. I had lots of friends just like me, and they had the same problem.”

MARILYN MONROE

At first Lynsey, who lives in Rugby, ran her fledgling business part-time in the evenings while she carried on with her day job in corporate management. She provided themed events, from weddings to charity and hen nights as well as vintage photo-shoots and started building up a collection of Marilyn Monroe-inspired dresses and accessories from eBay. “I also went on the Internet and taught myself how to style vintage hair – I thought ‘If I’m going to do this properly, I need to be able to do everything about vintage, including the hair and make-up’.” Lynsey explained. In 2010, Lynsey felt confident enough to quit her day job and opened The Vintage Salon in Birmingham’s Custard Factory. (Today, she also runs a similar salon for men in the complex, “except all the girly pinks and pastels of the ladies’ salon have been replaced with lots of more masculine red, blacks and chrome,” she says.) She also has a team of 35 freelance stylists nationwide – all recruited by Lynsey and then trained in the Birmingham salon – who offer the Le Keux ‘experience’ across the country

MAKE-UP RANGE

Importantly, the beginning of 2014 marks the opening of a new salon, dance and photo studios in Leeds, and Lynsey is looking to do the same within the next 18 months in the South West of England. Two months ago, Le Keux Cosmetics was launched – a complete range of vintage make-up developed and designed by Lynsey and her team and produced right here in the UK. “The business as a whole is really ready to expand,” Lynsey says. “I know Leeds is going to be a success because of the contacts and amount of business we already have in the area.” In March last year, Lynsey spent a month fact-finding on America’s West Coast and has plans in the pipeline to open for business across the pond in 2015. “I did a lot of research while I was there and identified lots of gaps in the market,” she says. “Here in Britain, we offer the US diner theme. But in the States, I’d change that completely. US vintage and retro experiences are ten-a-penny over there. The vintage experience the Americans want is all about the English. So, it’s the unique English tearoom themes that would work and where we need to aim.” Lynsey’s eye for identifying the right opportunity at the right time has earned her a growing reputation in the region’s business community, which saw her win the Entrepreneur of the Year title at the recent West Midlands Women of the Year Awards.

DRIVE A MUSTANG

For someone who – despite her eye-catching pencil skirt and victory rolls hairdo – prefers to remain in the background, it was confirmation of how far she’s come in just six years. “I grew up with parents who were really into their Sixties music, Motown and Soul. So, going back to that period and beyond is normal for me. I really got interested in vintage and retro in my early twenties. I live the lifestyle, twenty-four-seven. My home is all vintage and I drive a 1964 Mustang car. Yes, I guess you could say it’s an addiction! “But one thing’s for sure – when I started the business I had no idea at all it would turn into quite such a big thing.”

Old Bromsgrovian Ritchie Neville spent much of his late teens and early twenties living in a media scrum of boy band hood. After auditioning along with thousands other hopefuls, Neville became one fifth of the boy band Five and moved to the capital to live the dream. With a pretty face, adoring fans and a reported penchant for the ladies, he became a tabloid’s dream at the age of just 17. That teamed with crippling schedules and tight management took the shine off the experience at times. “Sometimes the industry can take away the fun, although people know what they’re doing so you do as you’re told and get on with it. I mean Simon Cowell for goodness sake. He knows what he’s doing, so you listen,” Neville says. The band enjoyed massive global success with hits such as ‘Everybody Get Up’, ‘Slam Dunk da Funk’ and ‘When the Lights Go Out’. The trophy cabinet was full of MTV awards, BRITs, Smash Hits gongs and the like. When the band split in 2001, Ritchie along with most of the other members went into freefall.

LOST

When Five ended, Ritchie’s life was turned on its head. He went from having every aspect of his life tightly timetabled to being left to his own devices. “It’s hard to describe, but I just felt lost for a while. Purposeless sums it up. I didn’t want to be creative. I went to Australia and opened a restaurant. I dabbled a little bit with music when I was there, but largely left it alone. There were times when maybe I made the wrong choices. And there were and still are times when I wonder if I did the right thing being in the band at all. Was it the best thing for me? I don’t know,” he says.

REUNITED

Now, older and wiser, Ritchie is back with three of the original Five line up for the Big Reunion tour and has happily discovered that second time round is more fun. “When you hit thirty it’s like a coming of age, yet you’re still young enough to be a go-getter. We’re all in our thirties, some of the boys have kids and it’s great”. And how is he coping with the energetic dance moves? “Ha. I did wonder if I’d be able to do it. I hadn’t done anything like it in a decade. It’s all good though. There is the occasional ‘Ooh my knee’,” he says.

The band has been able to things this year that they never had the opportunity to do first time round. Festivals weren’t boy band territory 10 years ago, but Ritchie describes this summer’s V Festival as “one of the best gigs I’ve ever done.” There were naturally doubts about stepping out of their comfort zone and into the festival scene. “This was not our usual fan base. We wondered if people would even come and watch at all, but it was so good. The crowd was awesome.”

The eclectic mix of fans has been a nice surprise too. “The nature of the band originally meant that most fans were teenage girls and we were sure we’d have the old fans back, but it’s been a real mixed bag. This fifty-year-old guy came up to me in the street and said ‘Ritchie, it’s so great to see you back together man’ and I just thought that was brilliant.”

GRUNGEY TEEN

A day pupil at Bromsgrove School, Ritchie was able to explore his creative side. “I thoroughly enjoyed school.  I was creative and spent most of my time in the music suite. I was into school plays all that stuff. I didn’t really focus on the academic side of school though. I just did enough to get by,” Ritchie recalls. “Now as an adult I’m naturally inquisitive and love learning about science particularly,” he adds.

As he was into grunge and American rock as a teenager it’s surprising Ritchie ended up in a boy band at all. “It was my teenage two fingers up to the world phase,” he says, “Then I saw the ad for the auditions for the band and thought ‘yeah I’ll go for it. Why not?’” Ritchie talks about his mum fondly throughout the interview which is lovely. When he made it into the band she bluntly asked him ‘what will you do if it’s crap?’

RECONNECTING WITH BRUM

Boy bands coming unstuck once they split up is pretty much standard. Not knowing how to get by without management, limelight and adoration must be tough, but thankfully in Ritchie’s case it’s a tale with a happy ending. He’s back in Birmingham for the foreseeable future, as well as back with the band and is relishing getting to know the city again.  The Australian twang has gone in favour of his natural Brummie lilt. Of being ‘home’ he enthuses, “I’m rediscovering Birmingham really. I’ve never driven here before. I moved to London at 17 and learnt to drive there, so I get a different perspective of the place now. It’s also changed hugely while I’ve been in Oz. I’m sort of piecing it all together. I’m completely in love with the Bullring. It’s amazing.” 

“You’ll never make a living out of art”, was a phrase Paul Horton often heard as a teenager, even in his own home. It wasn’t that friends and family doubted his talent. Art was just not seen as a viable career option. “It wasn’t something a person from my background did and you certainly didn’t give up a steady job to do it. It was unthinkable,” Horton recalls.
The art scene in Birmingham was ‘little more than a few shops selling Athena posters’ which added to the challenge. “It was a case of ‘all roads lead to London’ in those days,” Horton recalls. “In the late seventies and eighties all the big galleries were in the capital, so the only option to exhibit locally was through amateur societies.”
He began exhibiting forty years ago through the Royal Birmingham Society of Art (RBSA) and became a published artist in 1997. Now on the verge of his biggest show to date, Horton’s journey is one of which he feels immensely proud. The culmination of two year’s work  ‘Love and Hope’, an 80 piece exhibition will adorn the Waterhall at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG) at the end of October. “It’s made all the more thrilling because it’s happening in my home town.”

GREAT ESCAPE

Long before Paul’s battle to break into the art world, he had a struggle with ill health. He suffered with chronic asthma as a small child, which meant he missed a lot of school and fell behind. “There were no inhalers then, so I just couldn’t breathe properly for long periods. There were only two channels on the TV in those days, so I occupied myself drawing. It was an outlet – escapism I suppose.” He went on to study Life Drawing and History of Art at Bourneville School of Art. “If you can draw the human form you can draw anything. It’s the thing we’re most critical of,” he says, “It gives you the confidence to paint from your imagination.”

PUPPET MASTER

In 1986, a close encounter with a defunct puppet theatre provided the start of a journey for Horton and was the catalyst for the style of work and the characters we recognise today. “The puppet theatre at the Midlands Art Centre (mac) closed and I asked if I could see the old puppets. It was like finding a lost world in the cellar. I wanted to bring them to life,” he says.

Horton’s work feels nostalgic and uplifting like flicking through old photos. “It’s the greatest gift when people have an emotional response to my work. Being an artist tucked away in a studio is a fairly insular existence. It would be easy to slip into painting from within, but it’s important for me to have a connection with the audience.” Being published was a big deal. Rather than being stocked by one gallery, Horton was stocked by 200 gaining him national recognition and a throng of keen collectors. Horton meets his collectors as often as he can and has toured the UK numerous times to gauge the reaction to his work.

HAPPY TO BE ALIVE

The negativity Paul experienced as a youngster meant that when his son, Mark showed an interest in art he was right behind him. Mark is now an artist in his own right, manages the gallery and is his father’s ‘right hand man’. “The art scene in Birmingham has changed beyond recognition. It’s vibrant and encouraging. Nowadays, I hope somebody from my background would consider art an option and just go for it.”

Horton speaks with enthusiasm and joy, the hurdles he overcame to get to this point have made success all the sweeter. “There are so many tortured artists through the centuries whose work has only been recognised posthumously. I’m just thrilled to be living to see all this,” he says.

The creation of the new Library of Birmingham has been a controversial affair. During a time of weakened government budgets, spending £188m on a new place to read books seems like an extravagance. The design of the new building has also divided opinion, with many people, including current council leader Sir Albert Bore, being less than enthusiastic. Then there is the demolition of the old Central Library, which will stand uninhabited for a year or more to come. There is still a fringe of people who wish for the John Madin-designed structure to be saved for other purposes. However, it is now set to be demolished in late 2014 and a new ‘Paradise’ will be built in its place.

The new Library, which connects to a refurbished and expanded Repertory Theatre, is a major part of the plan to create a reinvigorated Birmingham city centre. It is also a brand new public space, which contains far more than books. Meanwhile the Rep, which has been closed for over two years, also reopens, resuming work as a full-working theatre and launch pad for national tours. If successful, this dual development will alter perceptions of the city and get people talking about Birmingham for the right reasons. A month before opening, I took a tour around both buildings to see if the plan was coming together.

EPIC

The Library’s ground floor is a wide, open and airy space, filled with light from the large windows all around it. At the time of writing, workmen and library staff were busily making adjustments and moving items around. You quickly get a sense that this is and has been an epic project. It was also conceived and constructed with remarkable speed, when compared to most British constructions. Architects Mecanoo only gained the brief in 2008 and, five years later, the building is fully operational. Since May this year, 800,000 books and files containing three million images have been moved from the old site to the new. This has resulted in 1,100 crates being hefted across every day.

DYNAMIC JOURNEYS

We hop into a lift and head up to the first floor, which contains a variety of different rooms, meeting spaces, a recording studio and ‘innovation spaces’. Although the outside of the building is square and blocky, the inside contains many circular spaces and rounded edges. The idea is to give the interior more flow, allowing visitors to move around easily and engage in what the architects call a ‘dynamic journey’.

The escalators take us up to floor two, which possesses a classic library feel, with tall black bookcases housing many collections. There are high ceilings and the acoustics are designed to prevent noise travelling far, enabling conversations while conserving quiet places for people to study and read in private.

TERRACE

But it is on the third floor where things become really interesting. Here visitors get to walk onto the ‘discovery terrace’, a wide, open balcony filled with greenery. There’s a cafe and bar here, too, and down below is the amphitheatre, where we should expect open air performances. The terrace also gives you a chance to admire more closely the lattice motifs of the Library’s exterior. The black and white circles are to represent the city’s industrial past, as well as its creative jewellery talent.

360

Unlike most libraries, the archives are in the upper floors, not locked away in the basement. On level four there is a search area, where access to original manuscripts can be obtained. There is also a Willy Wonka style glass elevator, which takes you up to the seventh floor.  Here, there are some very pleasant offices for staff, and you will find the ‘secret garden’, which allows a 360 degree walk around the building, taking in views of the city and its greener surroundings.

But there is one further surprise. Inside the gold hat on the top floor is a room which belonged to the original Victorian library and is now in its third home. The old Shakespearean reading room has been retained, complete with its old wooden panels and decorative glass roof.

THEATRE

One of the more intriguing concepts of the new Library is how it has become fused with performing arts. The ground floor connects directly to the new Rep, while the basement area leads to the Amphitheatre. There is also a new, 300-seat theatre, adding to the Rep’s 140 and 820 seat auditoriums. Rep theatre director Stuart Rogers believes this is all very good news for his organisation. “The Rep’s decision to join the project was two-fold. We wanted a new theatre, which would enable us to do a greater breadth of productions, as many plays are too big or too small for our existing theatres. But also, being connected to the new library means we will get far more footfall.”

The Rep has been significantly expanded and modified, with improved production spaces, offices and refurbishment throughout. The old exterior walls of the building have been retained where possible, and much needed air conditioning has been added, creating a more pleasant environment. There’s also a new brasserie and bar, which is open throughout the week, all of which should bring more people into the confines of the theatre.

FAITH

It’s difficult not to be impressed by the hard work and the ambition of those involved in this major project. It is also heartening to see so much faith in our public spaces on display. Combining a library with performance art is a novel concept, and it will be intriguing to see how it fares. Ultimately, public spaces are about how people interact there and the organisations that run them. Over the next few months, these questions will begin to be answered.

From the outside, David Hardy’s home in suburban Hall Green doesn’t look like the most likely destination for the HQ of global space art. But inside this unassuming property is a near endless display of paintings and pictures depicting outer space and other planets. Many of Hardy’s creations have graced the front covers of science fiction books and have been used as inspiration for Hollywood blockbusters. But Hardy says his work isn’t about “sci-fi”, a term he refrains from using to describe his work. “You need space art because it shows us places where we haven’t been, and things that don’t exist yet,” says the 77-year-old artist. “Even today we can still produce images of things that are impossible, except through art.”

CHILDHOOD DREAMS

Born and raised in Bournville, Birmingham, Hardy quickly found he had an aptitude for art when copying the pictures of books and comics of Rupert the Bear. His love of space was inspired by the work of HG Wells, and the invading forces from ‘War of the Worlds’ are still a favourite of his today. As a boy, he saw pictures of photo-quality pictures of space and asked a teacher how they were made. “The teacher said ‘oh they must be photographs’ and I replied ‘they can’t be as we haven’t been there yet, they must be paintings’ and he just replied ‘well you’ll have to work at it then.”

CHOCOLATE BOXES

In the mid-1950s, following his National Service, Hardy joined Cadbury’s and worked as an artist creating chocolate boxes and catalogues until a call came, which set him on a different track. “I was always working on my own art sometimes staying up until 3am and the getting up at 7am to go to work,” Hardy says. “Then I got this call to go to America and work on a film set for six months with Stanley Kubrick. He was working on what would be Space Odyssey.

Hardy accepted the role but was unable to move to the States fast enough to join the movie and missed the chance. However, the idea of being a full-time space artist was now too exciting and so he left Cadbury’s anyway and pursued his dream. “By then I was so enthused by the idea of doing this for a living I just had to go ahead anyway. I had a good, steady job at Cadbury’s. It was the biggest decision of my life.”

CAPITAL A

A close friendship with the late Sir Patrick Moore, which began in the 1950s, helped cement Hardy’s place in the space community and he illustrated a number of the acclaimed astronomer’s books. Hardy client list is a long and impressive one. It ranges from Hollywood studios, he provided illustrations for the film the ‘Never Ending Story’, numerous science-fiction authors, including Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, and the space agency NASA. However, Hardy also sells his work to private collectors and his prints are available online. “I try to inspire people with the beauty of space and show them how wonderful it is and that so much more can be done with art than with photographs. I believe space art is as important as surrealism, impressionism or any other school of art. I want space art to be known as ‘Art’, with a capital ‘A’.”

Russ Hobbis (RusH) has spent the past twelve months locked in a studio producing his first EP. The former employee of Cadbury World hasn’t had it easy. With no money coming in he’s been living a “hand to mouth” existence but he doesn’t regret it one bit. “Had I not had a crack at this I would have regretted it for the rest of my life,” he says. He gave himself a year to succeed and has shown huge determination to make it work. One of his tweets reads, “I’ve reached the point in my life where sleep, general hygiene and to a degree eating are major inconveniences to my music making schedule.” Now aged 38 with his EP almost ready for release and an album on the cards for next spring, it’s finally all coming good.

BRUMMIE INSPIRATION

RusH has always been into music and as a child was a massive Michael Jackson fan. He recalls, “When I was younger I thought you had to be American to make music then I noticed some fellow brummies doing it. Bands like Black Sabbath and UB40 were doing great things and I thought ‘wow it’s actually possible’.” When RusH’s metal band Digo started gigging around town they were a four piece without a drummer. “I started performing what was essentially real time production on stage to replace percussion and it worked,” he says.

FALSE START

RusH nearly went down a different path. In 1998 he embarked on a course in digital audio techniques at Solihull College, which would’ve prepared him for life as a sound engineer. However he immediately knew it wasn’t for him. “My music tutor Steve Sylvester clocked it. He led me away from sound engineering and introduced me to the production suite which he thought would be right up my street. I just thought it was amazing,” he says, “I bought a custom made computer for £2000 which was a lot of money back then and just kept adding bits and pieces.” RusH has spent the last few years building a studio sporadically as and when he could afford to. Along the way he’s borrowed bits of kit from what seems like an incredibly supportive and close bunch of friends. He talks about them with affection and feels “they’ve been instrumental in getting me this far.”

INFLUENCES

RusH’s influences include “from way back Quincy Jones and currently Liam Howlett of the Prodigy and Timbaland. The way they bring different genres together is brilliant. It’s something I do with my music but it’s not a forced thing. It just happens,” he says. When asked who would be top of his wish list of people to work with he says after some deliberation, “John Mayer and Zac de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine.”  I find RusHeffect’s sounds more chilled than his influences suggest. For instance there’s a gorgeous taster of one of his tracks on Soundcloud called A Beautiful Beginning which manages to transport you to a gloriously chilled Balearic sunset in a heartbeat.

HOME BOY

RusH isn’t cocky when he says, “I know this will be a success. I cannot see it failing.” He knows he’s talented, he understands the music industry, he’s well-connected and prepared to work his backside off. He’s beyond the age of generation X Factor who have come to expect their dreams realised instantaneously. He’s put in the hard graft and it’s paying off.

RusH is hugely proud of Birmingham, but what if great success means crossing the pond? He says, “I’m a Brummie. My roots are here. I suppose there might come a time when I need to move for work, but I’ll always come back to Brum. I’m a home boy.”

Angus Jackson knows how to tell a story on stage and as well as in real life. Our interview is full of anecdotes that prompt the giggles. For instance, his first job at the National Theatre was to chaperone a 12-year-old actress. A bit dull you might think except the girl was a juvenile Amy Winehouse. “She was a livewire, completely bonkers,” recalls Jackson. “She tried to set me up with every woman on the show.” A friend who runs a tobacco farm crops up now and then along with tales of clubbing in Brum with Jasper Carrott, David Baladi and Lucy Davis, which resembles an episode of The Office. You couldn’t make it up.

SCHOOL DAYS

Now associate director at Chichester Festival Theatre, Angus was educated at King Edward’s School, which he talks of with enormous affection. He keeps up with his “inspirational” music and drama teachers Annie and Jenny who fuelled his love of the theatre introducing him “not only to Shakespeare, but to Monty Python too.” Despite his mother being an actress and his love of drama, Jackson didn’t view the theatre as a career option and trotted off to Balliel College, Oxford, to study philosophy and physics. “I directed seven plays at Oxford, which made me think this might be more than a hobby,” he says. “It was difficult to get into Birmingham Rep at the time and I felt I had to be in London.”

HIGHS AND LOWS

Since getting a foot in the door in London, Angus has enjoyed success directing both on stage and screen. ‘Elmina’s Kitchen’ written by Kwame Kwei-Armah achieved both. Initially a hit at the National, two years later Jackson’s screen version, which he filmed in just five days, earned him a BAFTA nomination for best new director. Plays such as ‘The Prayer Room’, ‘Bingo’, ‘My Night with Reg’, ‘Rocket to the Moon’, ‘The Power of Yes’ and ‘Goodnight Mister Tom’ all followed to critical acclaim. Among the long list of hits surely there have been some howlers? Angus doesn’t hesitate, “God yes. Desperately Seeking Susan. It was enormously enjoyable, but it absolutely bombed. Looking back I can see why it didn’t work, but at the time I didn’t get it. When something like that happens it affects a lot of people – the cast who spent months rehearsing, financial backers. Awful. I learned a lot.” Despite favourable reviews, ticket sales were poor and Desperately Seeking Susan closed just a month after opening at the Novello Theatre in London.

MASS APPEAL

Still predominantly a past time for the middle classes, how would Jackson make theatre more inclusive? He uses No Sweat, a gritty play he directed at Birmingham Rep as an example of how to boost theatre’s appeal. Set in the car factories of Birmingham, the play “was incredibly powerful. To make theatre more accessible we need to produce plays like this that are about the lives of real people. They connect,” he says. “Clearly ticket prices need to come down to make it more inclusive too. Many theatres receive government funding and therefore the taxpayer has already in some form paid for it.”

ON SCREEN

Although theatre is where he’s most at home Jackson enthuses about the box. “Television is the art form of our age and to be involved in that is incredibly exciting.” His TV work receives immediate recognition too. Epiphet, a short film starring Patrick Stewart was picked up by the media and uploaded on to the Guardian website. “There’s a lot of bad language in it though,” Jackson sweetly warns. But it’s not the bad language that’s striking and unless you’re averse to the odd well placed c-word it isn’t that shocking, but it’s the way the intense close ups draw you in and the speed at which you care about what happens to the characters. It’s a short film, so a fast connection is crucial, but Jackson has managed it from the very first scene.

BACK IN BRUM

Recently back in his old stomping ground for Goodnight Mister Tom, Angus relishes his time in the city. A touring show usually means relocating and living in digs for two months, but in Brum he happily stays with mum and dad. He talks tenderly about his parents and being able to catch up with them “is a massive bonus”. A regular walk through the city takes in Symphony Hall, The Rep and Centenary Square. “The architecture in Birmingham is stunning. I usually pop my head round the door of Symphony Hall as I have such fond memories of the place,” says Jackson, who used to tear tickets there as a boy. A tipple at his favourite watering hole, The Falcon may follow and who knows what will happen from there? Happy days.

Not content with juggling school work and the odd hobby, sixteen-year-old Poppy Jones is having an altogether more focused teen experience than her peers. As well as playing for Birmingham City under-17s, Poppy already has an England under-19 selection in the bag, putting her goal of wearing a senior shirt within reach.

FOOTBALL WITH BOYS

Poppy’s introduction to the beautiful game was playing football with boys, when she was aged five, at her local club. Her natural talent was obvious and football quickly became more than a hobby when she was scouted by Kidderminster Harriers at the tender age of ten. Trials with Birmingham City followed two years later and now Poppy captains the under-17 Birmingham City Centre of Excellence team and is over the moon to be part of the England set up. Of the England selection Poppy says, “I found out on March 6 and I was so shocked and happy.”

SCHOOLWORK vs SPORT

Crucially, Poppy was awarded a Sports Scholarship to Bromsgrove School in 2010 where her talent was recognised and fostered, so she feels supported. Now in Year 11, with exams looming and schoolwork intensifying, how does Poppy fit everything in? “I train on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with a match on Saturday. I do my school work in any free time I get during the day and at weekends mainly. When selected for the England camp you have to use your spare time to do school work on site, so you don’t fall behind. There is help if need be.” Unbelievably, Poppy finds time to play several other sports at school – hockey, netball, athletics and cross- country.

FAMILY SUPPORT

Poppy spends precious downtime with her family and friends. Her older sister is very supportive, but doesn’t play football herself and Poppy’s younger brother enjoys nothing more than a kick about in the garden with her. Interestingly, he’s the same age Poppy was when she began her football career. Watch this space – he has a great teacher. For Poppy’s parents those Saturday afternoons spent shivering on a soggy touchline have been worth it to watch their daughter fulfilling her dreams. “They are really proud of my achievements and have supported me every step of the way,” she says.

HEROES

When asked about heroes I thought Poppy might say Rachel Yankey, or another star of women’s football, but instead she names players from the men’s game – “Pique who plays for Barcelona because of his first touch and his movement off the ball and the opportunities he creates. Also Gerrard for the way he holds himself on the pitch and the way he has captained England.” I wonder if this is an indication of the gulf that still exists between the men and women’s game? “Women’s football is increasingly being recognised and is getting bigger all the time. The standards are higher now for example the England Seniors winning the Cyprus Cup,” says Poppy. (England beat Canada in the final of the Cyprus Cup earlier in the year to be crowned 2013 champions). Although naturally Poppy supports Birmingham City, she says, “the team I most like to watch in English football is Manchester United, and in the Champions League Barcelona.”

FUTURE

Poppy’s future plans are refreshingly specific. “I want to gain a first team contract with Birmingham City Ladies and then go on to play football for England,” she says. “I love my football and intend to make it as a professional.” Given Poppy’s ambition, commitment and natural talent it’s probably highly realistic. While the World Cup in 2015 might be a tall order, you wouldn’t bet against seeing Poppy in a England senior shirt very soon.

Without wanting to be unkind, Reuben Colley doesn’t really look like an artist. He doesn’t really look like a ‘Reuben Colley’. As I went to meet him at his eponymous gallery in Moseley, I half expected a flamboyantly dressed libertine in a long shirt and scarf, with a goatee and an affected manner. Nothing could be further from the truth. Plain speaking and dressed in jeans and jumper, Colley has no obvious airs or graces. Pretentious he is not, and neither is his painting. Described by one critic as a “real painter”, he creates gritty, uncompromising cityscapes, avoiding romance or “anything twee”. Birmingham is his prime inspiration and where he feels most at home.

POTENTIAL

The 37-year-old grew up in Hodge Hill, and later attended Handsworth Grammar School. He was spotted by his art teacher, James Byrne, who recognised his potential and gave him support. “He saw that I took things seriously and was dedicated. He treated me in a serious manner, gave me a part of the art block and resources, which at age 15 was great. I did my first ever oil piece for my GCSE exam and that was me set then,” says Colley. Colley then attended Bournville Art College and, later, Wolverhampton University. The latter was a mixed experience, as Colley “didn’t see eye to eye” with his tutors, but he knew he’d found his calling. “They just put us in a derelict building and told us to get on with it. It gave us tremendous freedom, and we formed a small art group, bouncing ideas off each other. It was my first experience living as an artist, and it was great.”

CONSTRAINTS

Following university, Colley spent a decade under contract with Washington Green and the Halcyon Gallery. He established a following during this time, but soon felt the urge for greater independence. “It was great for exposure and building reputation, but they don’t look after the artists as much as they should. Big companies try to mould artists in a certain way and advise them on what will sell. I think that’s really dangerous.” Colley’s work was becoming grittier and darker, and he wanted to pursue his vision free from commercial constraints. He also wanted to paint his home city, rather than creating London-based pictures, which typically drew a larger and wealthier buyer. “I wanted to paint Birmingham and not London. I was fed up with going to places that didn’t mean much to me and having to paint them. “When I left the contract, I thought I would be able to work with other galleries but it just didn’t work out that way. You still come up against the opinion of the gallery director, and it was too controlling. I didn’t want to come out of one controlling environment and into another. Eventually I thought: ‘enough’s enough – I am going to do it myself’.”

GALLERY

In 2010, Colley established the Reuben Colley gallery in Moseley as a place for his own art to be displayed and sold, and for others in his circle. He is now the centre of a new group of artists (see Meet the Unromantics), which includes his old art teacher, James Byrne. But Colley says he doesn’t interfere with their vision, believing in freedom and responsibility. “Artists need to be responsible for what they want to produce, and that’s what we echo here. We can help and advise the artist on production, but we want them to be responsible for it. I am now picking up things from other people in the same way as I did when I was in the derelict building in Wolverhampton. It works because it’s not forced or contracted. Artists benefit from that kind of environment.”

HAPPIER PLACE

Going it alone was a major risk. Most major galleries are in London, where the art buying market is so much larger. Also, paintings of Big Ben sell more than those of the Rotunda. “I got to the point where I thought, if the audience isn’t out there then I am in the wrong game, anyway,” says Colley. “This was last chance saloon, and a lot of galleries wrote us off. In fact, a lot of Birmingham artists wrote us off in the first night. They said they admired what we were doing but gave us two years.” The strain of running the gallery and working as an artist was initially very hard, but now Reuben has proven the critics wrong. His latest exhibition, some of which is pictured here, is selling well. “For the first two years I was a nervous wreck. I was working so hard, both painting and running the gallery. But now I am in a much happier place, and I think it’s reflected in this new line of work.”

The end result saw the home team leave victorious with a 58-51 victory, their third win over the Australia Diamonds in a week. The England team were dominant throughout much of the game, however the expectant crowd, anticipating a whitewash, piled on the pressure. But in the end the English team gained its victory and talented Brummie players Stacey Francis and Eboni Beckford-Chambers were praised for their leadership in the defensive line.

 Little over a decade ago, very few Brummies would have known where ‘Eastside’ even was. Much of the area, nestled between Digbeth and Aston University, was effectively cut off from the rest of the city centre by a raised dual carriageway. Accessible only via dodgy and crime ridden underpasses, with old industrial units, disused car parks and a few tired pubs, the area had little to commend itself. But since then city planners have been slowly reconnecting the area with the city centre. The underpasses are gone and Eastside (one of seven city ‘quarters’) has become a destination of unrivalled investment and redevelopment.

 ”I think it took real vision from the city’s leaders to make the decision to demolish the concrete collar that cut-off Eastside from the rest of the city centre. It’s had a transformative effect and paved the way for massive redevelopment since,” says John Moffat, development director at property firm Nikal. His company has been instrumental in the area’s redevelopment, having already created The Masshouse development, which features the Hive, a £30m residential development that opened in March 2011. Nikal has recently gained approval for a Masshouse phase two and has plans to attract both businesses and high net-worth individuals into Eastside. “It’s an unprecedented opportunity for Birmingham’s city centre to expand, and by doing so to greatly improve the interconnectivity and growth of the city as a whole.”

EARLY DAYS

 Eastside’s earliest new arrivals was the £114m Millennium Point, which opened in 2001. To be sure, the centre, like so many of New Labour’s millennium projects, got off to a difficult start. It wasn’t well received, attracted bad reviews and was isolated to the point of abandonment, amidst a vast building site. However, over the past decade its relevance has grown, Brummies have started to show it more love and with new partners and neighbours it has now has stronger role in the city. Its current CEO Philip Singleton says the centre, which houses Birmingham Science Museum, a 3D cinema and faculties for Birmingham City University (BCU), is profitable, attracting a steady flow of footfall and poised for growth. “We are now into our second decade, with ambitious plans to build up our reputation for delivering interesting and fascinating insights to how we will play, work, live and move in the future. The fact that we are linked to Thinktank – the Science Museum and BCU’s expanding faculties all helps reinforce that,” Singleton says.

PROPERTY PRICES

 With property prices in London beyond the reach of many, investors and developers are on the look-out for new locations to put their money into. Jane Schofield, managing director of Hotel La Tour, which opened a four-star hotel in the district last year, says Eastside’s proximity to the city centre and key communications make it very attractive. “Some might say we’ve been particularly courageous to go ahead with such an ambitious development in difficult economic times,” she says. “But we believe there are great opportunities here. The whole area has great communication links and we’re a stone’s throw from New Street and Moor Street stations, excellently located for all the major Birmingham attractions, including the NEC and the airport.” Schofield says Eastside is still in its early development but believes it has enormous potential. “Eastside has the potential to have a great impact on Birmingham, to emerge as one of the city’s reputed “quarters”. I believe it will be known for its great hospitality, creative industries, as well as science and learning.”

FINAL PHASE

 The final building block of Eastside will surely by the arrival of the High Speed 2, which will pull into Curzon Street station for the first time in 2026. The new line will cut travel times to London down to 50 minutes and the second phase will connect Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester. The line would create regular footfall into Eastside and bring it to the attention of a new set of well-heeled consumers. Schofield is enthusiastic about the development, as are Moffat and Singleton, but says it’s not crucial to Eastside. “We’re finding that a lot of Eastside talk is around HS2 – the proposed terminal building would be right outside our front door. There is no doubt that HS2 is a big issue but a decision on it is still some years hence. We acquired this plot of land prior to the whole HS2 debate so, if and when it goes ahead, it will be a bonus to us rather than a development we are relying on.”

Festive fashion has arrived! Christmas party season is upon us, so whether it’s an office party, dinner date, lunch with friends, house party or cocktail hour, we’ve sensational styles to take you from desk to dancefloor, pub to party. Here are the top trends you need to know now. Ladies, it’s your time to shine!

A LUXE TUX

 Look subtly sexy in a luxury tux jacket. Tailoring is SUIT-ably sharp and will inject instant glamour to your going out attire. Just throw a tuxedo jacket over delicate dresses to ooze evening elegance.

WINTER FLORALS

 Festive frocks take a new direction this winter with fabulous feminine floral prints. Bring this bold and beautiful flower catwalk-inspired trend into your evening ensembles to look bloomin’ gorgeous, whatever the Christmas occasion.

LOOK-AT-ME LEATHER

 Lend a tough edge to your after-hours looks with ultra-chic leather separates. From skirts to dresses, shoes to accessories, soft leather is enjoying a major fashion moment. As seen on the runways of Gucci, Max Mara, Alberta Ferretti and Dior to name a few, every outfit needs a little touch of leather.

ELEGANT EMBELLISHMENT

 Add some serious sparkle and shine to your after-dark dressing with embellished details, coloured jewels and pretty party pieces that’ll add instant wow factor to your wardrobe.

LADYLIKE LACE

 Make an unforgettable entrance and show off your flirty side in ladylike lace. Chic and oh-so-sexy, luxurious lace will turn heads and see you soar in this season’s style stakes. Keep accessories simple to master this of-the-moment look.

THE NEW LBD

 Every woman deserves a new Little Black Dress to see you through the party festivities in scene-stealing style! From budget buys to budget-blowing, there are silhouette-enhancing shapes to suit everyone. You’ll always have a gorgeous, glamourous go-to party outfit to hand with these irresistible investments.

COLOUR CRUSH

 From racy red to powerful pink or purple, eye-popping brights are guaranteed to get you noticed for all the right reasons. Whatever the dress code, you won’t go wrong with these hot hues and show-stopping shades.

TOP-TO-TOE FINISHING TOUCHES…

And for the ultimate finishing touches to your perfect party attire, inject extra glamour with shimmering statement jewellery, glitzy gems and killer party heels to dance the night away! See you at the bar…

The dancers of Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) follow a punishing schedule of practice, performance and rehearsal. However, during any given day these stars of the stage can be found at various special places, enjoying some much needed downtime.  Birmingham, as can be seen here, offers many tranquil places alongside the hubbub and drama of city life. These pictures entitled ‘Ballet in Birmingham’ show BRB’s finest refuelling and recuperating.

 Keith Longmore of BRB explains why they were shot: “These images come with us wherever we dance, whether it’s London up to four times a year or overseas with international tours to Japan, Germany and Spain.” “This photographic campaign helps to show what is great about this city, what we love about this city. We are proud to be in Birmingham and this was another way to shout about it.”

 To ensure the shots possessed the right appeal, BRB brought in top city photographer Richard Battye, who is based in The Custard Factory, Digbeth. Battye has produced exhibitions which have toured the world and his clients include Harley Davidson, The Arts Council and the BBC. “Each location had its own challenges for me as a photographer, yet I knew my subject would be at ease as they had specified where we took the shots,” said Battye. “It did mean that we achieved an eclectic mix of images, and a portrayal of Birmingham as an interesting backdrop to these creative individuals.”

• Ambra Vallo: Yogahaven “When I’m practising yoga, I can really get in touch with my inner self and it allows me to have control of my mind through everyday life.”
• Elisha Willis: Moseley Park “Moseley Park is Birmingham’s secret garden in the heart of the city. I spend a lot of time here with my husband.”
• Nao Sakuma: The Mailbox “I love the atmosphere on a sunny day in and around the Mailbox. It’s perfect for a drink with friends.”
• Iain Mackay: The Botanical Gardens “A beautiful place that we enjoy as a family. My son loves running around in all the space.”
• Chi Cao: Brindleyplace “In the spring and summer, this part of Brindleyplace is a haven of peace in a busy city. It’s perfect for a good meal – and the cherry blossoms remind me a little bit of the Far East.”
• Joseph Caley: The Malthouse “This area is picturesque and great to walk around.”
• Jenna Roberts: The Jekyll & Hyde “The Jekyll and Hyde is a great place to unwind in a laid back environment with friends. The cinema nights are a particular favourite of mine, where they screen classic films from a bygone era on the big screen in the Victorian Gin Parlour.”
• David Bintley One of the major forces in British ballet, David Bintley CBE is also a massive Villa fan.
• Natasha Oughtred: The Barber Institute “To live within walking distance of the Barber Institute and to have the great works of Monet, Manet, Renois and Rubens as my neighbours, is something to treasure.”
• Cesar Morales: St Paul’s Square: “St Paul’s Square is the green heart of Birmingham’s jewellery quarter – and a perfect setting to walk my dog.”

 “Every time I come to Birmingham I get into trouble. I’ll have to be careful about what I say,” says Kevin McCloud. The TV presenter from Channel 4′s popular home improvement programme, Grand Designs, is not a man known for holding his tongue, particularly when it comes to his favourite subject, architecture. And Birmingham is always a contentious area for those passionate about design. Many a bad word has been said about the city, primarily due to the disastrous changes which it underwent during the 1960s. However, the city has undergone an architectural overhaul in the past decade, so we put McCloud on the spot and ask him to consider the Grand Designs of Birmingham, once again.

LIBRARIES OLD AND NEW

 Subjecting a city to enormous redevelopment is risky, says McCloud, as you risk losing part of the story. He stops short of saying that Birmingham Central Library should remain, but says he thinks Brum should preserve more of its ‘brutalist’ architecture. “The old library is unloved and I am not saying it should be saved, but we should be careful about what we do with our architecture. If you keep tearing down buildings, that’s when cities die. It’s about taste and perspective. People have done this before – we bulldozed Victorian streets to make way for new buildings. Tudor buildings were torn down in the past and replaced with new architecture. There’s nothing to say that in 20 years’ time people won’t say: ‘what about that great generation of brutalist buildings from the 1970s?’

 For McCloud, a modern city is always a patchwork of different buildings and contrasting styles. He says planners always want to make everything homogenous, but that this is a mistake which denies the true story of a city. “The analogy I give is that cities are like books, the buildings give a narrative, and looking at them is like time travel. You can use the buildings to make sense of it all, but when you start taking out the chapters, the story stops making sense.”

 So, what of the new library, which will be complete towards the end of 2013? It has its critics, particularly from those who feel its £170m price tag could be better spent elsewhere. Initially, McCloud slammed it, but he says he coming around. “I was less than keen when I first saw it; I thought there was something superficial about its skin, and that it was sort of like a giant square lampshade. But now I think it’s going to be a quite exciting place. The patterns on the exterior now are far more erudite and they rewind back to Islamic pattern making.

PARADISE FOUND?

 The demolition of the old library and surrounding buildings will make way for a whole new development, the plans for which have recently been revealed. The existing Paradise Circus is far from appealing, and the new development could herald a bright new chapter for the centre of the city. “The new work is an attempt to correct the problems of the past. If it works, it will be fantastic,” says McCloud.

A NEW STREET AT LAST

 At the top of Birmingham’s current list for redevelopment is New Street Station, and McCloud recalls an experience to which all too many of us can relate. “I was marooned there once, years ago, and it was the waiting room from hell. It was real purgatory – there was nowhere nice to sit or to wait, it’s all dark and underground and really was one of the worst stations in the world.” But will the new development deliver? The answer is it can, if there is some originality and forethought brought to its interior spaces. “I am looking forward to the new place, although I hope it is more than just 500 coffee shops. I would like there to be more varied places.”

THE CUBE’S TIME WILL COME

 McCloud loves The Cube, citing it as a real architectural achievement, but why has the place failed to capture the imaginations of Brummies? “It was designed before the recession as a mixed-use building with retail, offices and workshops. The problem is that there isn’t much retail in it, and what makes great architecture is the people who use it,” he says. “I like the way it is all square on the outside and all wriggly and nestlike on the inside. I think it is an exciting building and its time will come. It provides a great view of the city and there aren’t many places where you can get that.”

WE ARE HERE

 Our chat ends at the start of the regeneration journey: the space-age Selfridges building which landed in Digbeth at the start of the 21st century, spelling the shape of things to come. “It did its job magnificently,” admits McCloud. “It’s an ‘I am here’ building. It got everyone talking and sent out a big, single statement to the world that Birmingham is doing something amazing.”

Birmingham has been knocked down and built back up again during my lifetime, so much so that it’s hard to fully recall what the city centre looked like 20 years ago. On the whole, the changes have been for the better, helping to nurture a sense of positivity among its residents. There’s a ‘can-do’, entrepreneurial spirit in Birmingham right now, and Brummies are, quite rightly, starting to shout about their city.

GLORIOUS FOOD

If there’s one thing the city has learnt to do well recently, it’s food. Just a few years ago, Birmingham’s main contribution to world cuisine was Balti, but not anymore. Glynn Purnell was the trailblazer, winning the firstMichelin star ever held by a Birmingham-based chef.More stars followed for Turners and Simpsons, with plenty of other serious contenders in the pipeline.Husband and wife teams at Carters inMoseley, and Loves, just a fewminutes off Broad Street, are highly praised by diners and critics alike. Edmunds is another favourite, with well-respected French chef Didier Philipot at its helm.Marco PierreWhite has a steakhouse in The Cube and Jamie Oliver has premises just off Spiceal Street.Meanwhile, the city’s curry tradition is undergoing a transformation, spearheaded by innovative Indian chefs such as Aktar Islam, founder of Lasan (see pg.22).

Birmingham’s booming food culture has garnered world-wide attention. Favourable articles in the New York Times, National Geographic and the Daily Telegraph have all noted the huge changes that have taken place here, and how the world must re-evaluate its preconceived ideas about the area. Birmingham is a major European city with a young and ambitious population, and now it’s starting to feel like it.

NEW CHAPTER

 Birmingham’s growing confidence is being helped by its ever-improving architecture, and the smashing of the rotten old concrete structures for which it was notorious. The big demolitions, most notably the flyover which cut straight through the city, and the old Bull Ring, were started in the late 1990s. Dangerous pedestrian underpasses, once a haven formuggers, were subsequently filled in. The canals have been cleaned up and the surrounding factories and warehouses turned into desirable flats, offices and swanky bars. Old faithfuls like the Rotunda have been given a revamp. The RoyalMail building was converted into TheMailbox and iswith the re-opening of The Bullring and its famous Selfridges building in 2003, the city really started to show its new character.

Next on the list is the revamp of New Street station and the removal of any connecting 1960s and 70s architecture. In 2013, Birmingham Central Library will be moving to newly constructed premises, and the old inverted pyramid of concrete that is Birmingham Central Library will be pulled down. The building, designed by architect John Madin, stood glowering over the centre for too long. Its replacement, created by Francine Houben, will mark a new chapter in the city’s history.

MUSIC SCENE

 In truth, Brum has always had things to be proud of, but it has done a good job of hiding them. Take music, for instance. A city such as Manchester, famed for its ‘music scene’, boasts such bands as The Stone Roses, Joy Division and Happy Mondays. But few of these were internationally successful. Meanwhile, a band such as Black Sabbath can fill stadiums worldwide within minutes. Heavy Metal, which was invented in Birmingham and the Black Country, is a major global artistic export, yet there are all too few mentions of it around the centre. Similarly, Birmingham’s contribution to the international reggae scene, with bands such as UB40 and Steel Pulse, is exceptional but, once again, seldom noted.

THE FUTURE

 Brummies are rightly looking forward to a much brighter future, with a host of new developments on the cards. The city is surprisingly young and remarkably diverse, and in that there are many opportunities. Birmingham should be proud of its cultural contributions; it should celebrate them, and then use that confidence to create more. Right now, the region needs some more investment and opportunities to keep talent in the area. Birmingham Living magazine will do its part in highlighting the many good things which are going on, and the exciting personalities connected to these enterprises. A little more spring in its step would do Brum no harm at all. So go on, feel free to shout about it, the world is listening.