Brummie of the Year 2007 – nominations open

Pete Ashton.

I’d like to nominate John Tighe for Brummie of the year because of his tireless efforts to Keep Digbeth Noisy, despite the attempts of many to stop him.

For anyone who hasn’t heard about this, John owns the Spotted Dog pub in Digbeth (the Irish one, not the other one), and has recently been hit with a Noise Abatement Notice due to the amount of fun being had in his pub. The 3 complaints that have led to this have been made by residents of some flats built after his late licence was granted and… I won’t go into the rest of the details, if you’re interested check out the site http://www.keepdigbethvibrant.co.uk/dog.html for more info. This website’s been set up for free by a resident of said flats who represents the majority and loves the pub.

John should also be commended for consistently keeping attractive ladies of Birmingham in employment (if you don’t believe me, pop in and see: I dare you to not ogle).

I’ll second (no hang on, third!) Pete Ashton.

No finer example of the future of Birmingham is there to be found embodied in blog author form.

Also ‘Polymath’ and ‘Explainer of Complicated Things (Such As How Teh Internets Work) To Thick People Who Wouldn’t Normally Understand Them (Such As Me) In A Very Effective Fashion”.

(Anyone but me, please…)

Okay, I’ll nominate Clare Edwards, brains behind Gigbeth, for taking a very dull job description (supporting skills development in the music industry or some shit) and transforming it into a massive music festival that brings together all manner of promoters from across the city. Gigbeth II hasn’t happened yet but for sheer vision, guts and passionate belief in Birmingham I think she deserves a nomination.

Can I second Clare Edwards for Pete’s reasons above and third or fourth Pete Ashton, even if he doesn’t want it. Both of them have been great sources of info and inspiration for me as a newbie to the area trying to run 4Talent WM, as has Antonio Gould – has he had a mention yet? I should probably be nominating folk at Maverick too, but how to pick just one of ‘em, plus nominating co-workers is kind of icky…

My reticence isn’t just modesty – I figure Brummie of the Year should go to people who were born and bred here. While my paternal family is 100% Birmingham I’ve only lived here for a cumulative nine years, three of which as a student which doesn’t count. I consider myself a Brummie but the award should go to those who’s had a lifetime of service, as it were.

if we’re taking this seriously of course!

I would have fourthed those votes for Pete, but also very deserving and a local lad to boot:

Rich Batsford

Musician, recent solo work and performances with ProjectX, music teacher, concerned local citizen and all round nice bloke.

O’Flynn is still up for a Guardian First Book award. I’d second her nomination.

I hate Birmingham. It’s rubbish. I’d rather live in Portsmouth than here. (And that’s saying something. Have you ever been to Portsmouth?) Manchester is great. I should never have left London.

I’d nominate my old mate Dr Andy Green for his work on the Connecting Histories project at the library, specifically on Abolitionists and Slavery. In fact maybe I’ll nominate the whole Connecting Histories team who’ve been taking the massive archive at the library and turning it into useful, comprehendable resources for local communities. Knowing some of them I’m aware of how important what they’ve been doing is and think it should be shouted about a bit more.

http://www.connectinghistories.org.uk/

And here’s Dr Green’s Sturge Trail:

http://www.connectinghistories.org.uk/exhibitions/sturges.asp

Can Danny Reddington have another shot? He’s got a musical about himself now – not bad for a record shop owner, even Richard Branston hasn’t got that.

Well, since Pete doesn’t want it and I can’t vote for him anyway, being family, I nominate Steve Bruce in the hope that he gets fired before he can claim the award. A double whammy for all us long-suffering bluenoses.

I’d like to nominate a brummie of the year. I work as a furnace operator with a group of metalagists at a place called wallwork and it is exactly that. Solid graft. Some of the people I work with I feel are legends in their own right and I feel at least one of them should be picked out for a reward for the work they do that largely goes unspoken. We’ve got a great team supporting what is a dieng industry and an industry that defines Birmingham as a city “heavy metal”, in the true sinister war mongering, hate filled sense of the words. These are truely the real legends of Birmingham.

Pete Mc Caulley, Scots/Irish who has been Production Supervisor for 20 years in probably one of the most hellish work environments you can imagine and is someone I admire and respect and personifies to me everything to be feared and respected about the true nature of Birmingham’s industrial working class history. He is a fair boss and quite often quite literally looks like a zombie because the hours he works are so long which is quite entertaining. I certainly feel he deserves some kind of recognition for someone who I feel could have done anything with his life and decided to stick it out in this place.

It’s not just Pete.all the staff collectively make a great team, from oxford graduates to ex-professional rugby players they’re all winners in their own right. But considering Pete’s position he could sit back and let people get on with it but he can’t help but get stuck in and his enthusiasm is contagious.

Big up Pete Mac!

How about Carl Chinn, I was lucky enough to meet him and share a few cool beverages this summer.
Now theres a down to earth fella who genuinly loves birmingham its people its culture its history.
Hes also doing all he can for the citys heritage, by promoting its historic buildings and markets etc.
Also the way he is on the radio is the way he is in real life, he’ll talk to anyone for as long as they want about what ever they want,and he really does call everyone “mucker”.
Hes a properly nice guy and a great Brummie, im glad I was lucky enough to meet him.
Carl Chin Great Call.

Has anyone nominated Capsule yet? Can I?

There can only be one candidate, Graham Webb,cyclist extrodinair, google him to find out what being a brummie is all about

JOHN TIGHE FOR PRIME MINISTER!!!

How the hell do I vote? I vote Mr Jonny Doom !