July 2009 Archives

What do Cyrille Regis, Tony 'Bomber' Brown, Brian Little, Robbie Savage and Bob Taylor all have in common?

Yes, of course, they are all former Midland football stars, but what else?

They are among 14 legends so far who have signed up to take part in the inaugural Birmingham Mail Football Legends Charity Dinner.

The event starts at 7pm on September 17 at the National Motorcycle Museum in Bickenhill, with Captial Gold/BRMB's Tom Ross compering the evening.

All fans of all colours are welcome, with tickets at just £30 a head.

Or, if you're a company looking to host guests, corporate tables of 10 with a guaranteed star guest cost £550.

Tom Ross will interview stars before, during and after dinner, with a themed approach to match memories for each course.

Plus there will be a raffle, auctions of signed shirts and opportunities to donate a fiver (or more!) for the charity in return for your picture with ANY star at the end.

All profits from the evening will go to the Birmingham Mail Charity Trust.

A real night to remember. And, amidst the noise and strife of the economy, disputes, etc, a way to ensure the Birmingham Mail keeps it's mind on what it does best... serving its readers and communities.

Up to 500 will have a great night out, and the resulting proceeds will mean many more grants of between £500 and £2,000 a time to the applications we receive each quarter from voluntary community groups.

Click here for more details and to download an order form.

HOW do you deal with a 95-year-old reader you have inadvertently let down?

Let me explain. Regional journalists like to feel they're helping local people and, more often than not, they do.

Especially the old and vulnerable, and those with nowhere else to turn.

The evening paper especially, as well as its big breaking stories and regionwide campaigns, can also call for justice in a small way for minor matters that would never make the pages or airwaves of any other media.

And they provide a way for readers to reflect their angst, joys, sorrows or celebrations, either through small stories on inside news pages or through the letters pages.

The Birmingham Mail's letters page provides this latter window for more that 80 readers every week, and is part of the paper I care for as often as I can personally, because of its direct link with our audience.

Not much can or should go wrong here, surely? But it did for me and one of my 95-year-old readers the other week.

It started with a letter she had sent via copytakers by phone, so there was no shaky ink writing that sometimes gives ages away.

It was an angry letter, succinct and well-phrased, from an indignant lady who'd had a decorative item stolen from her garden.

She demanded, through our letters page, for it to be returned by whoever took it without delay. Her letter read quite forthright, determined and upstanding. She didn't appear very elderly, frail or vulnerable.

Items for the Birmingham Mail's letters pages are normally placed with full names but only a suburb instead of the full postal address.

On this occasion, for what I thought was practicality and the stated wishes of the correspondent, I included the full postal address.

That was what I thought she wanted and, I'd hoped in passing, the lady concerned might see her treasured garden ornament again. But I should have double-checked first, of course.

I realised my error when she phoned in near-tears. She had never written to a newspaper before, she explained, and had not dreamt that we would include her address.

Yes, she realised why we had used it, but that eventuality hadn't occurred to her and now she felt upset, embarrassed by what neighbours might think and frightened of the world at large knowing where she was in print.

And here she was, a 95-year-old for pity's sake, at her wits end of what this might mean for her, living alone.

Weak excuses aside, I'd personally let her down. I took her call into my office and spent a good 15-minutes trying to reassure her, and then more time listening to her life story of sadness.

First the treasured stolen item, which was her beloved late husband's, and through which she felt she was holding his hand when she touched it; she still deeply grieved his passing ten years before; her daughter had died at six from an illness; her son had died in recent years; and her grandson (I think her only grandchild) didn't visit often.

And now her local paper, (through which she wanted only wanted to vent her anger, really, albeit through a symbolic call for justice that she never intended to be fully detailed,) had shone a mini-light on her personal address.

However much I may have felt this was not the case, and that people would think well of her for publicly asking for her property back, her perception was that they would not. And perceptions, as we know, are important.

All I could do was listen, apologise, reassure, empathise and talk with her about a life I didn't know but could imagine was stressed with loneliness and concern.

After her call, I used her address one more time to order a bouquet of flowers which I hoped would cheer her up. And, according to her call later that day after receiving them, they had brightened her day, also giving her a good reason to call again and to once more share her ups and downs with me.

A even happier ending, of course, will be to learn that she has also had the treasured item returned to her garden, although to date this has not happened.

The moral of the story? Newspapers, of all organisations, must handle well-meaning readers' personal details with the utmost care, checking that they agree with how we plan to use them.

AS I'VE mentioned in passing a few times, most recently with the Buckingham Palace wash-out, we editors are lucky to attend some fantastic events.

They make up for the 7am starts and 7pm finishes on what can be a punishing daily work schedule.

The latest enjoyable invite to look forward to came today by phone...

Would I like to join CAMRA's Tom Whitton, chairman of the judging panel, at the forthcoming Beer of the West Midlands competition at Aston University on the evening of September 10?

Oh yes. I feel a a bus timetable for my journey home that evening might be appropriate...

We editors are sometimes privileged to take part in some amazing events, and a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace yesterday was a memorable example.

It was an excuse to put on one's best tucker and tie, and on this occasion I was even able to share the day with my wife, Ruth.

Yes, there were a few long queues, but for us this added fun to a very different, exciting day.

We met some fascinating people, Lords, Ladies and all, as well as some great 'normal' folk like us; we compared posh frock and hats; we sipped tea on the Queen's lawn and ate cucumber sandwiches.

We even caught a good glimpse of The Queen in dazzling turquoise and hubbie Prince Phillip, which was itself interesting.

And then the heavens opened...

To start with, it was just a steady drizzle. But then it really RAINED and HAILED, with thunder and lightening straight overhead...

We just about managed to squeeze under a packed marquee, but even here the downpour quickly started to seep in...

Before we knew it, there was a mini-lake in the marquee where we stood, with ladies in high heels up to their ankles...

But it was worse outside, with shoes lost, people stumbling and many, many specially bought silk frocks flattened and see-through against drenched bodies...

Despite this, many guests - there were around 3,000 - still managed to have fun...

Yes, it was very wet! But this was a collective soaking, with even the Queen having to be evacuated from her Royal but dripping tent.

We were all damp, but we had all been treated to super sarnies in Lizzie's gracious garden.

I'm no huge Royalist, but what a tremendous, fun-packed day. Treasured memories.

Just met up with Steve Dourass, of MacMillan Cancer Care, and he tells me that proceeds from the Birmingham Mail Fun Run have now broken through the £60,000 barrier.

The Dyson family's sponsorships came in at £771.25, which along with the £50 entry fees make £821.25 from the combined efforts of Ruth, Tom, Ben and Dan (and a bit of huffing from me!). Plus there's another £100-worth still 'in the post' from one or two contacts.

We're still hoping the grand total will top £70,000, so if anyone's still waiting to send their sponsorship collections in, please do so soon!

The cash is split 85:15 to the MacMillan Cancer Care and Birmingham Mail Charity Trust respectively.