St Patrick’s Day Parade showed Irish Community, and Digbeth, at their very best
I am writing this column not long after a triumphant St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which returned to Birmingham for its 50th year.
After five years off, it was wonderful to see Brum come alive in a way that you only get with St. Patrick’s Day – with all the colour, music, laughs and good humour you would expect.
I promised I would support Maurice Malone and his team at the Birmingham Irish Association to get the parade back, and what a return it was. A truly special celebration.
The Parade is not only a hugely important cultural event for our Irish community, but also one of those fantastic, iconic calendar dates that illustrate the real diversity and unity of our city and region.
The Birmingham parade dates back to 1952 and was one of the first in Britain and, for a time, was reckoned to be the third biggest in the world.
I want to thank Maurice and all of the team for all of their hard work and dedication, It really paid off. That made it such a success.
It is such an important event for Birmingham, and for Digbeth - often described as the spiritual home of the city’s Irish community.
Digbeth is going through a real rebirth at the moment, and this party felt very much like it celebrated those changes. It was great to see the parade come home after five years.
Fittingly, I thought I would end this column by welcoming another homecoming to Digbeth – the Peaky Blinders!
As you may know, Digbeth is becoming a hugely important area for TV and film production – some have even called it ‘Brummiewood’. Among the many creative businesses making the area their home is the Digbeth Loc studios, run by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.
It has just been announced that a new movie based on the hugely popular TV show – complete with Oscar-winning star Cillian Murphy – is to be shot soon at the Digbeth studios.
Just like the return of the Parade, the progress with the Metro, the BBC’s new HQ and the great new public realm works that look so good, and the arrival of the Shelby brothers in Digbeth show the area really is being out on the map.
I can’t wait to see the finished film – and I’m already looking forward to next years' St Patrick’s Day parade.
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