“Commonwealth People ” a poem for the Queen’s Baton Relay for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games

Birmingham poem for the recent Birmingham Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton Relay inspired by Birmingham Poet Laureate Casey Bailey https://www.facebook.com/groups/471194117471294/permalink/571311560792882

This is a poem that I wrote in October after being inspired by Birmingham Poet Laureate Casey Bailey whose poem for the Queen’s Baton Relay celebration and party at Buckingham Palace I heard. 

Here goes:

Birmingham Games Baton Relay Poem entitled: “Commonwealth People” with apologies to the Great Jarvis Cocker & his 1990 hit: “Common People”

“Commonwealth People”

Commonwealth people come to Brum

To celebrate 🍾 youth with sport and fun

Brummies, Villains, Bluenose too….

Baggies and Saddlers, Yam Yams though The Black Country & BrummaGEM’s 

People are all United in their common ground

Wolves, Moors and Glassboys Pitmen rough 

This region’s appetite for sport has no end for you……

Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club, 🏉 Bournville Rugby Club as well,

The coming Rugby Club at Avery Fields Sports & Events it’s said!!!!

Harborne Hockey 🏒, Bournville as well, Edgbaston’s

The place for many a well-$erved Ace….

With lawn tennis invented there in 1858……

Edgbaston’s 🐻 Bear’s T20 Cricket 🏏 for the England women….

Along with Archery 🏹 under the Cricket club’s lights….

My word what a great inspirational sight!!!!

The Cricket 🏏 is so very fair if you happen like me to be a 🐻 Warwickshire Bear!!!

Rugby 🏉 at Coventry where the Sky Blues played……

Now it’s Wasps with the Ovoid leather  Ball….

Coventry City were soooo dismayed!!!

No longer The Ricoh Football Stadium

It’s now the Coventry Building Society Arena

SISU Cov’s owners were issued with a slapped up Subpoena!

To the Courts it went as The Sky Blues fought ….

To stay at their home….or so they thought?

Wasps dug their well heeled Rugby players heels 👠 in…

After all they’d bought it….

It could easily end up in a messy Court bid!!!

So the Sky Blues went to St Andrews where they played two seasons

Without a home to play home games in….!!!!

Now Coventry City are looking to the University of Warwick

To build ’em a Super Soccer Stadium…..

That’s fit for a Wayward Wandering Prince!

That’s William whose the Aston Villa’s Kingpin!

Chair of the FA and Vital Villa Fan……

Historians Football Club ⚽️ do they cry from The Holte End?

As The Vile Fans all bow down with bended knee to Prince William….no ordinary Fan!

One day in the future he’ll be “King of this Island England”!!!

So Birmingham hosts the Polyglot Games…..

The Queen’s Baton Relay was such a great lark….!!!

Not merely just a “Walk in the Park”!!!

The Baton’s 🪰 flying here there and everywhere, not just in England and Brum….

But also to Cyprus and our Indian chums….Africa, 🇨🇦 Canada, Australia, the Caribbean too

The Baton’s travelling all over this Wanderful World…..

96000 miles it’s a great long run….

So I can’t wait for the Games next July & August 2021….

I hope to volunteer 🙋‍♂️ at The Aquatics Centre in Sandwell…

Let’s hope they finish it so Adam Peaty can Lord it over The Commonwealth’s swimmers….?

Not just Breaststroke but Medley Relays too!

And Dear Tommy Daley swims, dives and knits at the same time what a sport…!

So BrummaGEM’s Song has been a treemendously Long One!

We all us BrummaGEM’s get our Brummie Day in the Sun…..!!!

By hosting the Great Games ….oh what a lark….!!!!

Let’s hope that it’s not just a 50 kilometre walk in Sutton Park…???

Some serious Sport is what our Youth want….

So come to Brum and watch as all us BrummaGEM’s shine ….

Like the 💎 Gems in The Jewellery Quarter….oh what a place!!!

Where the Gold 🏅 Medals, rings, necklaces & bracelets are made….

And the Queen’s Baton too…96000 miles taken by a British Airways Crew to Cyprus the first point of frantic departure….

Why don’t we all just sit and relax & wait for next July & August…

When there’ll be lots of facts about #Brum: “More Canals than Venice!”….”More Trees 🌳 than Paris”….

Brum’s such a young City with sooo much talent to offer….

Can’t wait for The Birmingham Games to begin!

And see 👀 our great Diverse City of Birmingham prosper!!!!!

 

Queen’s Baton Relay celebration Poem by Birmingham Poet Keith Bracey AKA the Brummie Bard Birmingham and Black Country history writing poet journalist and broadcaster on Sports Radio Birmingham please read my Birmingham and Black Country writing at

https://keithbracey.wordpress.com Ends

Yours in Birmingham

Keith Bracey….Commonwealth Games Volunteer (hopefully 🙋‍♀️???)

Birmingham and Black Country poet AKA @BrummieBard

07552 758710
Email keithbracey1@gmail.com
Twitter @1truclaretnblu @brummiebard
Instagram @brummiebard

Please read my Birmingham and Black Country poetry history heritage and sports blog posts on my Bracey Blog at:

https://keithbracey.wordpress.com

Keith Bracey the Brummie Bard Birmingham & Black Country poet & writer

Birmingham Games Baton Relay Poem entitled: “Commonwealth People” with apologies to the Great Jarvis Cocker & his 1990 hit: “Common People”
“Commonwealth People”

Commonwealth people come to Brum

To celebrate 🍾 youth with sport and fun

Brummies, Villains, Bluenoses too….

Baggies and Saddlers so sound

Are all united in their common ground

Wolves, Moors, Glassboys too

This region’s appetite for sport has no end for you……

Birmingham Moseley Rugby Club, 🏉 Bournville Rugby Club as well,

The coming Club at Avery Fields it’s said!!!!

Harborne Hockey 🏒, Bournville as well, Edgbaston’s

The place for many an Ace….

With lawn tennis invented there in 1858……

My word what a great sporting place…..!!!

The Cricket 🏏 is so very fair if you happen like me to be a 🐻 Bear!!!

Rugby 🏉 at Cov where the Sky Blues played……

Now it’s Wasps with the Oval Ball….

Cov were soooo dismayed!!!

No longer…

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MY DAD LEADING AIRCRAFTSMAN LESLIE BRACEY DURING WW2

My dad Leslie Charles Bracey was a leading Aircraftsman in the Royal Air Force signing up as an 18 year old callow youth in the Autumn of 1940, no doubt inspired to join up by the Battle of Britain. Les as he liked us kids to call him was stationed at RAF Tempsford 138 & 161 Squadrons SOE and dropped Air Force Special Operations Command resistance fighters over occupied France 🇫🇷 flying without a parachute in a Westland Lysander over the English Channel pursued by Messerschmidt 110 Night 🌙 Fighters. The planes would often land in occupied France 🇫🇷 as they could practise short take off and landing. The other photos show Les and a group of many other RAF personnel in front of an AVRO Lancaster or Short Stirling (I am not sure which can anyone else help?) One the other photos is of Les and a small group of other airmen at the side of a De Havilland Mosquito Les is the third in from the right. Happy memories of my dad Les Bracey. My daughter has followed her grandad into the services by joining the Royal Air Force Police and has been in service for over 6 years now Keith Bracey

Various photos from dad’s RAF service. In the first one he’s a very callow 18 year old youth as a new recruit in 1940. The group photo is of Les and the others in his RAF Tempsford Covert Squadron based in Bedfordshire. The other photos are of me dad who is 3rd from the right in front of a De Havilland Mosquito. Dad’s RAF memories

Steam Revolution: The Turbine

Incandescent electric light did not immediately snuff out all of its rivals: the gas industry fought back with its own incandescent mantle (which used the heat of the gas to induce a glow in another material) and the arc lighting manufacturers with a glass-enclosed arc bulb.[1] Nonetheless, incandescent lighting grew at an astonishing pace: the […]

Steam Revolution: The Turbine

Bearwood the foodies favourite….

Stirchley Schmerzley the happening place to eat is BEARWOOD! From Indian Street Food at Dhamaka at the top of Bearwood Road to great brunches at Tamu and the Polish influences of the Old Dresser Cafe and Edge Coffee ☕️ at the top of Bearwood next to the bus station

That’s where today’s Bearwood Lunch Club organised by Bearwood Bites (on Instagram) Rosie Wells @RosieWells also on Instagram Christmas 🎄 lunch was held with Polish stews and goulash Polish dumplings Polish potato 🥔 cakes and sweet treats like choux pastry cream cakes among other delicious delights.

A La Mexicana is a Mexican restaurant on Sandon Road near the Bear 🐻 Tavern where Frank Skinner used to do comedy nights 🌙 when he was a young comic

Nearly opposite A La Mexicana also on Sandon Road is Vaz Portuguese/Madeiran bar and restaurant. On a similar note is Brasil Portu a Brazilian bar restaurant and delicatessen further down Bearwood Rd towards Cape Hill.

If it’s steak you want it’s De La Vie’s on the corner of Anderson Road and Barnsley Road Conservation Area. 

My favourite place to eat just over the border on Smethwick High Street near the former Smethwick Council House is the Punjab Sweets Centre on High Street almost opposite one of the very first Desi Pubs The Red Cow 🐄.  It’s cash only but samosas are only 40 pence each and the vegetable pakore is to die for as is the kathlama and the tandoori toast. The curry menu is a little limited with only chicken curry for £5 and lamb curry for £6. Vegetable curry such as spinach and chick pea 🫛 is even cheaper! Two people can eat a curry 🍛 like a king with 3 courses (we always end up with the sweet treat of chocolate barfi) for under £20 but remember it’s cash only!

Bearwood is best for foodies

Keith Bracey ❤️ The Brummie Bard Birmingham and Black Country poet writer historian journalist and former broadcaster on Sports Radio Birmingham Please read my food reviews at @Bearwoodbites on Instagram and please read my Birmingham and Black Country poetry history heritage and sports related and foodie related musings on my Bracey’s Bostin Bearwood Blog at: @brummiebard

https://keithbracey.wordpress.com

Keith Bracey the “Brummie Bard” Biography

Keith Bracey: Biography

I was born and brought up in Bearwood, Edgbaston so I’m a Brummie through and through, using the pseudonym the @brummiebard for my Birmingham and Black Country heritage-inspired poetry.

From 1969–1976 I attended George Dixon Grammar School and then went up to read Commerce and Economic History at the University of Birmingham, 1976–1978, representing the University 1st XV as an 18-year-old Fresher. At this point I had a breakdown and was diagnosed as being Bipolar. 

After working for the Civil Service, 1979–1984, I returned to academia as a mature student studying Modern History and Politics at the University of Nottingham, graduating in 1987 having also represented the university 1st XV. I then embarked on a Postgraduate teaching degree at my Alma Mater, the University of Birmingham, teaching History and Physical Education at both Handsworth Grammar School and Solihull School. 

Feeling teaching was not for me I worked for International Property Consultants, Lambert Smith Hampton, for five years from 1989–1994, before joining Locate in Birmingham, the city’s former inward investment and investment promotion agency.

From 2000–2004, I project-managed the relocation of the Elmhurst School for Dance from Camberley in Surrey to Edgbaston to become the feeder ballet school for the Birmingham Royal Ballet. That is my legacy to my home city of Birmingham.

I hope to leave a more international legacy for Birmingham and my adopted Black Country home with the whole Galton Valley World Heritage site project. This begins with the Soho Foundry in Smethwick, moving along the valley to the Galton Bridge – one of the oldest iron bridges in the world – to the Brasshouse Pumping Station and its Smethwick Engine. Then onto the crowning glory: the Chance Brothers glassworks in Spon Lane, Smethwick.

On the community engagement aspect of the Chance Heritage Trust project, I will be working with Narinder Singh Rai [more on Narinder in the next issue], but also adding my expertise in property, planning and regeneration having worked for Birmingham City Council for nearly twenty years in that field. 

I have a special interest in local history and heritage, and with ‘Save Dudley Hippodrome’ where ‘buildings at risk’ are involved.

Additionally, I am an active member of Birmingham Civic Society and the West Midlands Victorian Society in trying to save Icknield St School, in Winson Green where my mom’s family lived in back-to-back housing.Keith Bracey Heritage Consultant, Greensward Enterprise Heritage Consultancy, 1 The Orchard, Oldbury, West Midlands B68 9LS 07552 758710 keithbracey1@gmail.com Twitter @1truclaretnblu IG @brummiebard Website http://keithbracey.wordpress

TEN TERRIFIC FACTS ABOUT BIRMINGHAM

10 ‘FASCINATING FACTS’ ABOUT BIRMINGHAM

1.CITY OF 1,000 TRADES

Birmingham has always been a hive of activity and was at the heart of the Industrial Revolution, which was set in motion by the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a group of the greatest scientists, inventors and manufacturers of the time who met to exchange ideas and knowledge at Matthew Boulton’s home Soho House in Handsworth.

By 1791, Birmingham was being hailed as the first manufacturing town in the world, and after it gained city status in 1889, it was named the City of A Thousand Trades because of the huge variety of companies based here. It’s also been called the Workshop of The World and the First City of the Empire.

It was at The Soho Manufactory, the first factory in the world – that assembly-line mass production was created by pioneering industrialist Matthew Boulton. It was built on Handsworth Heath in 1766 and it made a range of goods including buttons and buckles and was home to the first steam-powered mint. The Soho Mint opened in 1788 and used eight steam-driven machines designed by Boulton to strike up to 84 coins a minute.

The Czech composer Anton Dvorak ((1841-1904) came to Birmingham and said: “I’m here in this immense industrial city where they make excellent knives, scissors, springs, files and goodness knows what else, and, besides these, music too. And how well! It’s terrifying how much the people here manage to achieve.”

2. ECONOMIC CENTRE

Today, figures from Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that Birmingham is the largest centre in Great Britain for employment in the sectors of public administration, education and health, and the second largest centre outside London for employment in financial and other business services.

Four FTSE100 companies have their HQ in the Birmingham area – the largest concentration of such firms outside London and the South-East. Birmingham’s wider metropolitan economy is the second largest in the UK with a GDP (gross domestic product – the value of all goods and services) of £68 billion.

According to the rankings of the Globalization & World Cities Research Network, Birmingham is a beta level city – the third highest ranking in the country after London and Manchester. Birmingham has the highest level of entrepreneurial activity outside London, with more than 16,000 business start-ups registered in 2013. The city is behind only London and Edinburgh for private sector job creation between 2010 and 2013.

3. MORE CANALS THAN VENICE

Birmingham has 35 miles of canal compared with 26 miles of canal in Venice. And the entire Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) is a network of waterways connecting Birmingham and the Black Country. The BCN comprises 114 miles of waterways less than the 174 miles it had at its peak in the 18th century. More cubic metres of water flow through Birmingham’s canals than any other city in the world.

4. MORE TREES THAN PARIS

Birmingham has “nearly 600 parks and public open spaces” compared with 400 in Paris. Birmingham City Council gave a more exact number with a figure of 571 parks and open spaces with more than 3,500 hectares of public accessible space, and 250 miles of urban brooks and streams. Birmingham City Council estimates that there are six million trees in the city. The 2,400-acre Sutton Park in Sutton Coldfield is the largest Urban Park in Europe.

5. GERMAN MARKET

Birmingham’s annual German market – officially the Frankfurt Christmas Market – is the largest outdoor Christmas market in the country and the biggest outside Germany and Austria. It attracts more than five million visitors, earning £90 million for the city, and is even bigger than the market staged in German capital Berlin.

6. DIVERSITY

Birmingham is the most culturally mixed city in the UK, with 33.3 per cent non-white according to 2007 figures, compared with London’s 30.7 per cent.

Outside London, Birmingham has the UK’s largest Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist communities, the second largest Hindu community and the seventh largest Jewish community. The city’s Sikh Vaisakhi celebrations are the largest in Europe.

7. CONFERENCES

Birmingham is one of the UK’s top conference destinations. According to Core Cities, the National Exhibition Centre Group (which has four venues in Birmingham: the NEC, International Convention Centre, LG Arena and NIA) attracts more than 4 million visitors a year. That’s 42 per cent of the UK’s total exhibition trade and major conferences.

8. TELEVISION & RADIO

Birmingham has a long tradition of TV and Radio production with many shows recorded in studios in Birmingham or filmed on location in the city, while others have been produced here but filmed elsewhere. Among the programmes to come from Birmingham are Doctors, Hustle, Crossroads, Boon, New Faces, Spitting Image, Pot Black, Gangsters, Dalziell and Pascoe and Tiswas, plus the game shows The Golden Shot, Bullseye and Blockbusters.The Archers, the world’s longest running radio soap, is recorded in Birmingham for BBC Radio 4.

9. ST PATRICK’S DAY PARADE

Birmingham’s St Patrick’s Day Parade is the third biggest in the world, after New York and Dublin with more than 80,000 people turning out to celebrate the occasion. Birmingham has a large Irish community dating back to the Industrial Revolution when Irish people, known as ‘Navvies’ moved here to work in the construction  of canals, railways and factories and is estimated to have the largest Irish population in the UK. The city has the UK’s only Irish Quarter, centred on Digbeth and Deritend.

10. MUSIC

Birmingham is the birthplace of Heavy Metal, with Black Sabbath and coming from Aston in Birmingham Tony Iommi learned to play guitar in a different way following an industrial accident that removed the tips of two of his fingers. He tuned the guitar down and relied on power chords, something guitarist Geezer Butler also did and together they produced the classic sound of Heavy Metal. Subsequent Heavy Metal bands Napalm Death and Godflesh also hail from Birmingham. Birmingham also boasts Dave Pegg  (Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention), Martin Barre (Jethro Tull), and Blaze Bayley (Wolfsbane). Other music acts from Birmingham include ELO, Duran Duran, UB40, The Moody Blues, Fuzzbox, Ocean Colour Scene, The Move, Toyah Wilcox, Joan Armatrading, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Ruby Turner, Fine Young Cannibals, The Streets, Musical Youth, Jamelia and Pato Banton. Mother’s Club in Erdington was voted the world’s best rock venue in 1969 and 1970, with a Blue Birmingham Civic Society plaque unveiled in 2013 to commemorate the iconic venue where such acts as Pink Floyd, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Black Sabbath, The Who and Led Zeppelin played.

In the 1960s, Birmingham was the birthplace of modern Bhangra and is also the centre of the UK’s Asian music industry. Birmingham is the global centre of Bhangra music with almost 90 per cent of it made here.In the classical world, Worcestershire-born composer Edward Elgar was the first conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra (later the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra: CBSO) when it was officially founded in November 1920. Elgar was also the first Professor of Music at Birmingham University. In 2002, the CBSO won the most prestigious Record of the Year prize at the Gramophone Awards, the classical counterpart to the Oscars. The CBSO’s most famous conductor is Sir Simon Rattle, for whom Symphony Hall was built, often cited as one of the best classical music concert halls in the world.

BONNIE AND BELLA THE CATS’ WHISKERS

A hassle free life

Without any strife

Is enjoyed by our Bonnie and Bella

Their servants are Mary, my long-suffering wife

And me, I’m a gullible fella

We feed our two old dears on chicken and beef

A pampered life with no hassle or strife

As treats they get tuna and liver

And while Bella is calm, young Bonnie’s a thief

But so sweet that we always forgive ‘er.

Keith Bracey the Brummie Bard with amendments by Jen Coley a fellow Bearwood poet

EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE A CAT

EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE A CAT

This pampered life

With no hassle or strife

Is that led by our cats 🐈 

Bonnie and Bella

Looked after by this gullible fella 

And his beautiful long suffering Wife

We feed the cats 

Who dine on chicken and beef

Along with tuna and liver

Which can be a bit rich

For our two….the serene bitch

Bella and the delinquent teenager Bonnie who eats so much but is so thin…..

They hunt for mice and catch the birds 🐦 

Lethal killers the two of them

And they bring the bodies for our approval 

A problem we’re keen to stem

By stopping them bringing their prey into the house

The poor little mouse or the tiny Jenny Wren, a pigeon or a sparrow with these two hunters as swift as an arrow.

Our tiny garden is their domain

We hope they dispatched the birds 🐦 with little pain 

They die of shock most of the time when these are in their prime 

It is their natural instinct to kiĺl and maim so we must not blame the gentle pussy cats who can sit on your lap, purring away without a care in the world save where their next food sachet is coming from 

Fed by their masters Mary and I….me an ordinary guy with a love ❤️ for pussies, not dogs for me,

I am of the feline persuasion rather than a canine type, unlike my brother Rich who has a mad labradoodle Rio who’s such a handful, barking all the time…..

In contrast to our cats 🐈 who are so quiet and unassuming and lovely to behold as they paw your arm to get your attention and let you know they love you all day…

A cat 🐈 is for life if you can put up with all the poo in the litter tray……!!!!

Keith Bracey the Brummie Bard…..cat lover ♥️

Tonight there’s a blue moon: This is my poem on the Birmingham Lunar Society

THE LUNAR MEN

Well – met by moonlight

These Lunar Men, these ‘Men of Moment, great men all

Gave thought to science

Held nothing in their thrall

The ‘Natural Philosophers’

Of the widening world

Held mostly against the enslavement of Brothers

Felt deep the pain of others

In Africa, where one of their number by name of Galton 

Sold guns as a Quaker,

A real ‘Wrong ‘Un’

At Great Barr Hall he lived,

High on the Hog

Admonished by the other Lunar Men

Be damned in Hell for exploiting his brethren

They weren’t all bad

These ‘Lunarticks’ 

Whose ideas were thought to be full of tricks!!!!!

By ordinary Men, the BrummaGEM mob

For when they praised Revolution in France and America

The Priestley Riots ensued in Brum, in 1791:

‘Gunpowder Joe’ Mr Priestley to you

Would espouse Revolution

From his fiery pulpit True

But soon Mr Priestley had to the Americas fled

Fearing for his life as the Brummie mob burned down his home in Sparkbrook

Sparks indeed they flew

And Joe made a good life in the US too

The discoverer of O2

This Northern Lad, an adopted Brummie

Feared for his life and was forced to flee

When he did not go down on bended knee

To this Brummie mob

Who’d foam off at the mouth and shout their gob

Against the enfranchisement of the Common Man

In Revolutionary France and the US

Where these Lunar Men continued to bless

Their thoughts and ideas 

I do confess 

Were ‘Out of this World’

And they created this Modern World

In these ‘Times of Enlightenment’ in the West Midlands centred on Birmingham

And SOHO House:- Boulton : the ‘Foremost Man’

The maker and creator of this great group

His recruitment of James Watt……

His greatest coup!!!!

The Scots Engineer and gigantic genius walked down from his home in Greenock

Down to Brum to work with Boulton; Two Great Men

Whose ideas transformed the World into an industrious place

This ‘Green and Pleasant Land’ this ‘Jerusalem’

Became: ‘Black by Day and Red by Night’

As coal and iron powered by Watt’s steam 

Transformed the Earth into this ‘Maker’s Place’ 

Where Boulton and Watt

Created fantastic factories to make

Their enormous great gigantic engines

Such as that from Smethwick, the last remaining in Thinktank, lost…….., 

Not producing……..

The World’s paid such a cost 

As an industrial place

Where Many Men dare not show their face

As ‘Wage Slaves’ in this relentless Human Race

Not just in Science and Industry 

Was the ‘Lunarminaries’ Mark Made:

But also in Medicine with the two foremost Physicians:

Withering and Darwin

Seeing how to save men from Death with Digitalis from the Common Foxglove being able to cure

The ‘Failure of the Heart’ using the Drug Digitalis Distilled from the ‘Glove’ like some ‘Manna from Heaven’

From Far above

And Erasmus Darwin, the Divine Doctor and poet made men better

Through his practice of Medicine

But possibly his greatest legacy was Grandfathering his Grandson 

And ‘Greatest Scientist Ever’

One Charles Darwin 

‘Survival of the Fittest’ 

Is there no end to these Great Men’s talents…..?????

By 1817 the Lunar Men’s Star had fallen 

And they were mostly all in their grave, except for the greatest of them all, the polymath James Watt

Who didn’t shuffle off this mortal coil until 1819……

But the Creation of the Modern World was their legacy and their greatest achievement

As we all mourn the modern World’s bereavement

But hope springs eternal

And AI is the future along with Makers 3D printing 

Which has the ability to change the world once again 

With a second Industrial Revolution based on Knowledge

Begun by these Great Lunar Men

Edgbaston the Home of Lawn Tennis poem

EDGBASTON: THE HOME OF TENNIS 🎾 

Edgbaston is the place

Where they serve up many an Ace

Invented by Major Harry Gem:

A game for lithe athletic men

At 8 Ampton Road: ‘Fairlight’

You’d see rubber balls in flight

Men and women both

They’d hit balls with all their might

In clothing… Oh so bright!

A game played in Lilywhites

As played on a manicured lawn

In the summer of 1859

Young men and women courting

Eating, drinking, laughing

Eligible bachelors and young maidens

Playing on a mown green grass court

‘Good shot sir!’… they’d shout

With many a lascivious thought

The young women they did ‘Glow’

As they knocked balls to and fro

Over a rudimentary net

With strawberries and cream…..you bet!

Lawn tennis started to grow

Into the game that we now all know

Fred Perry, Bunny Austin,

Ann Jones, Virginia Wade

Andy Murray and Sue Barker

Grand Slam Champions were made

Now Emma Raducanu, the teen player on the up

Proud winner of her first Grand Slam: The US Open Cup

So next time you’re in Birmingham

Recall Edgbaston’s Major Gem

And the Great Game that he gave us:

‘Game, Set and Match: Amen!’

Keith Bracey Birmingham Tennis Fan

The Edgbaston Lawn Tennis 🎾 Trail

BIRMINGHAM THE HOME OF LAWN TENNIS: THE BIRMINGHAM LAWN TENNIS TRAIL

Birmingham is the ‘Home of Lawn Tennis’ with the first game of Lawn Tennis being played at 8 Ampton Road in Edgbaston in 1859 by Major Harry Gem, Clerk to Birmingham Magistrates his friend Spanish Merchant Augurio Perera. They both played rackets at the Bath Street Rackets Club.

Gem and Perera wanted to play a rackets game outdoors and marked out a court on the lawn at Perera’s home ‘Fairlight’ at 8 Ampton Road in Edgbaston.

Their first experiments date back to 1859. The dimensions of a modern lawn tennis court are similar to those of the back garden at 8 Ampton Road which would be our first stopping off point on the ‘Birmingham Tennis Trail’.

The next place of interest on the Birmingham Tennis Trail would be in Sir Harry’s Road (named after Major Harry Gem) and the Edgbaston Priory Tennis Club.

In honour of another hugely significant Birmingham Tennis figure the Centre
Court at Edgbaston Priory is named after the 1969 Wimbledon Ladies Singles
Champion Ann Jones, who used to live in Edgbaston after a lifetime of service
to the game of tennis, firstly as a County player with Warwickshire and later
as a British Wimbledon Champion and latterly as an official with the
Women’s Tennis Association.

The Birmingham Tennis Trail then moves to Edgbaston Archery and Lawn Tennis Society (E.A.L.T.S.) in Westbourne Road, next to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, the oldest Lawn Tennis Club in the world. The Society’s six grass courts occupy the same piece of ground where the originals were laid down in the early 1870s. Therefore this patch of land holds the distinction of being the oldest lawn tennis playing surface still in regular use anywhere in the world.

The Edgbaston Oratory, in Hagley Road was at one time home to the first Olympic Tennis Champion John Pius Boland.

The son of a Dublin baker, John Pius Boland attended The Oratory School in Birmingham where he played cricket and had tennis coaching with Father Pereira, an Oratorian priest who also played cricket for Warwickshire. His adoptive parents taught him to play tennis. Boland attended Christ Church College, Oxford and in 1894 invited a Greek acquaintance, Konstantinos Manos, to speak at the Oxford Union on the revival of the Modern Olympic Games. Boland and Manos became close friends and Boland was invited to spend the Easter holidays of 1896 in Athens.

It appears that John Boland had no intention of competing in the Olympic Games, his host, who was a member of the Organizing Committee, prevailed upon the 26-year-old Irishman to enter the Olympic Lawn Tennis tournament.

Boland won two Olympic gold medals. He took the singles title by beating Dionysios Kasdaglis of Egypt in three sets and then joined Friedrich Traun of Germany to win the men’s doubles.

Andy Murray was not the first Olympic Tennis Champion from these islands!

Another religious tennis link to Birmingham is that Bishop of Birmingham, Alfred Gore, whose statue stands in Birmingham’s St Philip’s Cathedral grounds, was the brother of the very first Wimbledon Men’s Singles Champion from 1872: Spencer Gore.

And finally the Birmingham Tennis trail takes us to the University of Birmingham Tennis Courts halls of residence on Edgbaston Park Road. It was here that the Edgbaston Lawn Tennis Club was located until the mid 1960s, when it amalgamated with Priory Lawn Tennis Club to become the Edgbaston Priory Club at Sir Harry’s Road. The university kept the shale cpurts for a while and it was on one of these that photographer Martin Elliott shot the photograph which became the iconic 1970’s Athena poster: ‘The Tennis Girl’.

OTHER PLACES OF INTEREST

Bath Street – site of the Bath Street Rackets Club and St Chads Cathedral where Perera’s children were baptized.

Great Charles Street – Perera’s business was on tihs street. It was also the location for Gem’s feat of memory wager.

Moor Street – it is understood that the Police Courts were on this street and may have been the location of Gem’s office while he was Clerk to the Magistrates (as his father was before him).

Aston Church – Gem’s father is buried here. Grave location unknown.

Warstone Lane Cemetery – Gem buried here.

Waterloo Street – Gem’s uncle’s lw firm Gem & Co were based here.

Thorp Street – Birmingham Rifles Barracks. Gem rose to Major.

University of Birmingham – it was here that The Birmingham Rifles would come for shooting practice at the butts on the land running down to the Bristol Road. They would often travel most of the way from Thorp Street by canal so as not to put undue strain on their shoulders and arms prior to shooting.

Moseley Road/Trafalgar Road – Gem’s home Trafalgar Cottage was here.

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