Weekend round-up

I am just sitting down after a hectic but very enjoyable weekend to do a bit of a Blog style catch up. It has been an interesting week, on Tuesday I attended the anniversary of Ring and Ride at the Clarendon Suite on Hagley Road and wrote that one up on the Spaghetti Gazetti blog. The following day, Wednesday 3rd, I chaired a seminar organised by the Equality and Human Rights Commission at West Midlands Government Office in celebration of International Day of Disabled People. I have chaired meetings before but never one of such public importance and it didn't help that I lost two front teeth at the start of the week - but I managed to get through it! The teeth (actually a bridge) are now thankfully back in situ.

Spent the end of the week preparing for the launch of the Birmingham Disability Resource Centre's heritage project this Tuesday. Managed to catch up with one or two key people I have been trying to track down for the past few weeks. I hope anyone interested in that event will come along on Tuesday at BDRC, Bierton Road, Yardley from 11am. Incidentally, Carl Chinn has invited me to go on his show on BBC Radio WM next Sunday afternoon to talk about that - so listen in if you are near a radio.

Friday night my wife Theresa took two of our children to see The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe at Birmingham REP, a wonderful production in their account. We are great lovers of the C.S.Lewis Narnia books in our house. Meanwhile, myself and our other son Joe went to the school disco - before anyone asks I have to go as a Parent Teacher Association member. A great way of keeping in touch with current pop trends. Saturday morning I took Alice and Paddy to see Tweedeleededeedee at Birmingham Town Hall (see my review below) and in the evening Theresa was back into town with the children to see a production called Why The Whales Came at the Old Rep on Station Street.

So a lot of theatre for us as a family this weekend, most of these tickets were purchased at special offer rates on the day of ArtsFest a couple of months back. Our advice is look out for those offers at ArtsFest next year as it's a great way of making sure your kids get a bit of live culture and performance. You can't beat it to be honest.

This morning was nearly as hectic with Theresa and I heading off in different directions into the Black Country but this time for sporting events, Joe was playing for Lightwoods Lions at Londonderry Road, they beat Dudley Juniors to progress into the next round of the Stourbridge and District cup. Meanwhile I took Patrick to a cross country run in Sandwell Country Park where he competed on behalf of Halesowen Athletics Club - so for a family of Brummies no one can say we don't do our bit for the Black Country!

Any road up, let's get back onto the round-up of Spaghetti Gazetti stuff. Just had an email from a lady organising an international event called Veggie Pride UK in Birmingham on 16th May. She is asking if I can point her in the direction of a 'Rasta steel band' for the event which "will be part of an international event with cities such as Paris and New York taking part".

I have emailed back to query if it's specifically a Rasta steel band they are after, perhaps because the Rasta religion has strong associations with vegetarianism (I-tal food). But I personally suspect that we are more likely to come across Jamaican 'reggae' bands with Rasta members in Birmingham as opposed to steel bands which are more from the Trinidad music tradition. But I may be wrong, obviously there are many steel bands in the West Midlands, many associated with youth groups and schools and if anyone out there can send me some up to date contact details of band leaders I would be very grateful.

Whilst on the subject of things Caribbean, strangely I have had no word of Rustie Lee's whereabouts, although I haven't had much time to make my own investigations. I will try to remember to ask down at the Mailbox next week when I pop in to see our mucker Carl. But again, if you know how we can contact tv chef Rustie on behalf of her cousin down under, give us an email.

Just spoke with my dad on the phone this evening and asked him if he recalled the whereabouts of the statue we are seeking which featured four figures, one in a boxing pose. My dad was a fan of live boxing in the 1950s and remembers the amateur boxing club at Woodcock Street in Gosta Green. He says that apart from Randalph Turpin's statue in Warwick, the only other statue of a boxer he can recall in the West Midlands is that of the Tipton Slasher (in Tipton naturally). So I will try and check that out in a moment, Google is bound to come up with a local photo.

Nothing yet in response to our call for materials about Peter Jackson, the international rugby player. That might be another query for the Carl Chinn show next weekend, I will try and go for the challenge of getting as many local history questions and conundrums into a 20 minute slot as possible! Having said this, I have been given a clue this weekend as to the location of the elusive grave of the Coleshill elephant and I will blog this information hopefully this evening along with other stuff received from other kind and helpful contributors.

Right, well I will wrap this post up now as I need to plough through the emails as well as doing a bit on the January Gazettes (Harborne and Edgbaston news in particular please if anyone out there has anything - now's your chance to grab the front page for the New Year) ...blimey there's no rest for the wicked!

p.s. I heard on the radio last week that The Specials have reformed for a UK tour in 2009. I was a massive fan of this superb Coventry two-tone ska revival band from about 1978, once seeing them on the same bill as Steel Pulse one summer's night in Cannon Hill Park - oh what a night! So the prospect of seeing them back together, 30 years later (oh my dear, am I really that old!!!) is pretty .....special, I guess.