Stan’s Cafe 24hr Scalextric Race
After the fun that was the Hockley Flyover Show, came the after-party. The location was in the A.E. Harris factory on Northwood Street in the Jewellery Quarter. Over the course of the weekend this was also home to the Stan's Cafe 24hr Scalextric race, timed to coincide with the Le Mans 24hr race, so inevitably the two came together!
The arena was very quiet as it closed to the public before the after-party began. But this allowed us to get up close and personal with the race, including me marshalling for 15 minutes! Listening to commentary of me marshalling a skalextric race was bizarre to say the least.
Some people will no doubt belittle an event like this as a waste of time. I couldn't disagree more. Theatre such as this (and that's exactly what I class it as) which allows people to get involved not only there in person but online through the commentary, makes the arts in general so much more accessible and interesting to a wider range of people.
I took a couple of snaps, but for far better ones from Pete Ashton go here.
Hockley Flyover Show – Save The Muhammed Ali Centre
What a day! I volunteered for Soweto Kinch's Hockley Flyover Show. For the unaware, the Flyover Show is intended to bring awareness of the creativity blossoming within the urban communities of Britain and in particular Hockley, where Soweto lives.
In an interview for BBC News last year, Soweto said, "Hockley was once an area where all kinds of iconic events used to happen; now the area is known for drugs, gun crime and unemployment. I live really close to the flyover and living in the same block as me is another jazz musician, poets, play writers, actors, dancers and all sorts of creative types. We really need to celebrate their work in the community. For me it’s about showing the breadth and excitement of the arts that people aren’t normally exposed to."
I'd say this aim was achieved and more. The crowd grew throughout the day and enjoyed a variety of acts from breakdance to drama, from marching bands to MCs. As the evening came, attention switched to the main stage where more established acts performed.
The focus of the day was on the campaign to Save the Muhammed Ali Centre, a run-down community centre just yards from the flyover which had been threatened with the bulldozer. A group of passionate "Street Pastors" have been campaigning to save it and I had a long chat with their leader Gerald, offering my help in fundraising amongst other things.
Lib Dem Councillor and new Cabinet Member for Leisure, Sport & Culture Martin Mullaney spent a lot of time at the festival taking in the atmosphere. He took to the stage during the afternoon to assure festival-goers that the Council would not be bulldozing the centre and would work with the various community groups on a plan to resurrect this vital community space. Good job Martin, but the less said about the dancing with Soweto and Ty the better 
In my role as Backstage / Artist Liaison I also got to chat to the two gents behind Jazz Alive, a London-based youth Jazz project whose performance impressed everyone. I'm now pointed towards the Midlands Youth Jazz Orchestra by Andy Derrick - I shall check them out!
Notable mentions must go to Clare Edwards and Soweto Kinch who produced a killer combination of organisation and artistic vision. Soweto amazed me with his energy and sheer passion for what he does. By 9pm I was ready to drop, but he was still bouncing around the arena. Plus a mention for all the fantastic people I met who are too numerous to list here.
New UKIP MEP – Nikki Sinclaire
Nikki Sinclaire is the new UKIP MEP for the West Midlands and as expected, she made an absolute prat of herself during the acceptance speeches. Calling members of the Lib Dem, Tory and Labour parties fascists (all of whom have campaigned against the BNP) is just plain idiotic and is not going to endear herself to anyone.
There is a hell of a lot of work to do in Brussels and I hope Nikki Sinclaire is well prepared. I also hope she does not replicate certain other UKIP MEP’s and just vote against everything, because this will be a real let-down for the people of the West Midlands. Whatever your views on Europe, you cannot deny that we need the best possible representation in Brussels to get the possible deal given the current structure.
Nikki Sinclaire, we will be watching you. And if you let us down, we will be on your case.
UKIP take Labour seat in the West Midlands
Another long night – thanks to Dudley! 29 out of 30 Council areas had declared before 11pm, but for whatever reason Dudley succumbed to delays and the results weren’t through until after 1pm. All that hanging around gave me the chance to catch up with lots of people, including several Greens that I know and a friend who was on the list for NO2EU!
Earlier in the night I’d been keeping watch on the count in Ladywood constituency. There was limited information to gain from this count but in Ladywood ward it was encouraging to see our vote increase and the Labour and Conservative votes drop.
As for the results, UKIP picked up a Labour seat, which I’d say was largely as expected. The BNP did not perform as well as I had feared, so congratulations must go to all the main parties opposing them and also to the Greens who (in Birmingham at least) fought a good campaign against the BNP.
New Leisure Facility for Ladywood
Today I went with some friends to the consultation event for the proposed Birmingham Aquatics and Leisure Centre. A lot has been written and said about the pool over the last few months. You can make various assumptions from this, but the plans give another story. For example, did you know there was a sports hall, gymnasium, café, climbing wall, 11-a-side and 5-a-side pitches, community rooms and a police room all within the development?
It was useful that knowledgeable members of staff from the City Council and the Planning Consultancy were on hand to answer questions. From our group they answered questions on the organisational structure, potential fees, parking and other pools in the city.
Parking concerns from local residents seem to have been well addressed. The centre will utilise one of the NIA car parks with the design altered to incorporate better access from the car park. There will be a new coach park and a residents permit scheme for the St Marks Crescent area to ensure they are not swamped with visitors.
All in all, this is a fantastic development and a long-overdue leisure facility for the city centre and Ladywood constituency. The design and the content, in particular the leisure pool, is just right for getting kids across the city excited about sport.
I would urge everyone to give it their full support.
Labour hold Lozells & East Handsworth
Experiencing a by-election in a ward as culturally diverse as Lozells & East Handsworth was a real eye-opener. Some of the stories that were coming back to the committee room were interesting to say the least, but having spent most of the day there, I have no idea what was actually going on on the streets. Having been relatively quiet during the campaign, Labour ran a full polling day operation and obviously did very well getting their vote out.
On the plus side Sabirul was an excellent candidate, went down well on the doorstep and we increased our vote in real terms.
We welcomed our Director of Campaigns Hilary Stephenson to our committee room and I’m pleased to say she pretty much left us to it, and went out door knocking!
The Final result was:
Lab 3,018
Lib Dem 2,000
Con 1,622
Green 209
UKIP 208
Turnout 38%
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