HAVING A PADDY

10-03-2007

Birmingham hosts its annual St Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday - reputedly the third largest event of its kind in the world. Pete Millington reflectson a weekend when the craic can be enjoyed by all.

Thursday evening was a busy one for me as I attempted to show my face at two different meetings at virtually the same time, the venues being at either end of a bus journey up and down the Hagley Road on the number nine bus

Although the two meetings were actually quite different, there were common links between them… a cultural connectivity I guess you might say

For starters, both meetings, whilst having an air of organizational legitimacy and social importance, were scheduled to take place in drinking establishments….

Secondly, and I would have to admit this might explain that choice of venues… both events have strong connections with the Irish community

The first meeting was a gathering of the Irish Professionals Forum at the Jury's Inn hotel on Broad Street

Now, I know what some of you might be thinking, “what's a Brummie bloke named Millington (no not even an Anglicization of Milligan) doing getting himself an invite to the Irish Professionals Forum? Rubbing shoulders with Mr Brolly and the editor of The Harp herself whilst necking the free booze laid on by the Irish general manager of Jury's?”

Well, it's a long story involving traveling salt hawkers from Antrim, dispossessed peasants from Mayo and elopers from Dublin, in fact if Irish people had green skin I think I'd be a dark shade of emerald, the Millington bit is largely circumstantial let me tell you

Not that I feel the need to explain my credentials to anyone these days, I've gone way past the point of worrying about whether or not I'm that scorned and much-maligned creature known as the Plastic Paddy

..but part of my point here is actually to challenge that stereotype and shout up loud and proud, for a change, for Birmingham's 2nd and 3rd generation Irish community

It was interesting for instance that the majority of the people attending the Irish Professionals Forum on Thursday night, like myself had broad Birmingham and Black Country accents

It was only the second meeting of the Forum, which I think is extremely significant for a minority ethnic community that has been in the city for at least 150 years and is also the largest (after the pure English - does such a thing exist?)

Whilst every other community in the city has, it seems, been very publicly building up strong business networks for generations, you'd be forgiven in believing that the Irish community must have been conducting our commercial networking activities in the bars of public houses, at the side of race tracks and in the backs of motorway construction vans since at least the 1950s…

There must be a large amount of truth in that when you think about it… why organise a conference of the chamber when decisions can be made just as easily round a table filled with large glasses of stout?

Many will trace the historic tendency of Irish people in England to keep their heads down back to the days of the dreaded ‘Troubles', those who have read their Irish history books will know the line of connectivity goes back much further than 1969 or 1974

Or is this just the Irish way? I remember my wife's Uncle Dan, an Offaly sheep farmer calling round on his tractor to say they were having ‘horse racing' in a field close to her mother's house near Moate, when we turned up to the said field we discovered that someone had recreated Aintree at the side of a remote country lane, complete with grandstands, bookies, short men in multi-colored jockey outfits… the works… and by the following morning the whole lot had gone - as if the fairies had been there

A bit like the feeding of the 5000, Irish people can create a party for 200 people out of two tins of Guinness, a packet of rashers and half a loaf of bread, partying is in the genes

Hence it was that I found myself going through the motions of the potentially embarrassing small-talk with complete strangers, one woman asking me:

“so what's your background?”

when I answered “well I work at the Disability Resource Centre, but I'm also a nurse and a youth worker…” she said “Ahh no! I mean, what's your background? Parents, grandparents?”

It's at times like this that you wish we had a secret handshake or some sort of ring with an emblem on, like certain other groups. As I said earlier, the green skin color would have helped. But joking aside, why should Irish people always have to keep quiet and go around doing the impression of Terry Wogan at the Eurovision Song Contest…

“Ahh, those damned Irish, dey've gone and done it again, so they have, we gave them the 12 points and they've gone and given their's to Portugal!”

Hello … Terry… sorry to be the one to tell you this.

Anyway, that's enough about my chip on the shoulder, as an internationalist I dream of the day when all nation's flags of separatism are tossed onto the pire, but it doesn't stop me enjoying a little sentimentality for the green, white and orange alongside the flag of St George every now and then… waving a flag doesn't have to stand for a declaration of war against every one else

So back to the forum, it was great to hear a short presentation from a good friend of mine Ted Ryan. Ted and his wife Pauline have been leading organizers of Birmingham's St Patrick's Festival since the parade was relaunched by Father Taaffe and co a few years back following nearly three decades of absence after the Birmingham Pub bombings

This year Ted has become the full time organizer of the festival, which includes the world's third largest St Patrick's Day Parade, after New York and Dublin

This year the City's festival will be marked by Selfridges turning green between until Monday 19th March. So make sure you get down there after dark one night and get some photos for The Stirrer.

The Festival really kicks in on today (Saturday March 10th) with Pipe bands and marching bands in St Martin's Square, Bullring and traditional Irish music and dancing inside Bullring (in front of Selfridges food hall) and inside Selfridges itself.

That same evening there will be more music and dancing at the Birmingham Irish Club with an evening with Sam Maguire and the Kingdom Country band. Then on Sunday March 11th the Parade itself begins at 11.30am from Camp Hill through Digbeth to Alcester St.

The Parade will be launched live on air at 11.30am by the one and only Bob Brolly, BBC WM, make sure you get a good spot to view the fantastic floats! The day will include an Emerald Village and Funfair for the children. 6 bands are traveling over from Ireland especially for the parade and I'll be there, hopefully with John the Barmy Bluenose Doherty (at least he has got the surname) handing out the first ever printed edition of my magazine Spaghetti Gazetti (or click here to see it online).

Then on Friday March 16th at the Birmingham Irish Club there will be the launch of a book about the history of the festival in Birmingham called The History of St Patrick's celebrations in Birmingham, A Great Day. Taking its title from a comment by Fr Joe Taaffe after the first parade in 1996. The book traces the history of St Patrick's Day celebrations in Birmingham from the early part of the last century to present day and finally, on the 17th March which is of course St Patrick's Day itself, there will be Mass celebrated at the Irish Club followed by a mixture of entertainment.

So come on Brummies from every community, regardless of flag, football team, surname or skin color … as we say in the Irish quarter of Quinton.. come and have the craic (roughly translated as “damned good time involving beer and River Dancing inappropriately”) !

On the authority of a long ancestral line of salt hawkers, park bench dwellers and men who persistently lost the week's housekeeping money on the 3.15 at Bromford Bridge, I officially grant you all status of honorary Irish men and women for the duration of the festival!!

Finally, just when you thought I'd forgotten, I eventually crawled out of Jury's Inn with a skin full and, clambered back onto the number nine and headed for the Amber Tavern in Quinton…

…for a meeting of the Catholic School Parent Teacher Association…