To Next Year…

On Sunday, the Birmingham Future Half Marathon team successfully took part in the city’s first attempt at the 13.1 mile event.  Sunday’s weather was far from perfect, with rain and strong winds, but all of the Future team made it round safely.

The ‘undulating’ course took its took on some of the runners legs, with the first six or seven miles being predominately uphill!  Matt Taylor, Future’s current chair, was delighted to part of the the day: “The blood, sweat and tears were all worth it in the end as I crossed the line, beating my previous half marathon time by a full five minutes.  I was delighted to be running for Birmingham Foundation, and want to thank all the members of Future who took part”.

Geoff Guerin, of BHSF, and Jason Norris of Deloitte, both hit the metophorical wall during the race.  For Geoff, it was at the 9 mile mark: “Once I hit the 7 mile mark I knew I was on the way back, unfortunately my body didn’t think the same… and after pushing through the wall at 9 miles I got back into the swing of things at 11 miles and headed for home”.

For Anthony McCourt, of Wragge & Co and current BYPY, it was a first half marathon experience, and a positive one finishing in 1 hour and 46 minutes.  “It was a challenge, but with hindsight, a fantastic thing to be part of.  I really enjoyed running through, in, out and across our city… though I will never think of Hagley Road in the same way again”.

Also running for Future was Neil Murphy, of Lloyds TSB who was surprised and encouraged by the support all the way around the course, and is already looking forward to taking part next year.  

In all, the Birmingham Future team raised over £1,000 for the Birmingham Foundation, with more money still to collect.  The whole team are extremelly thankful to everyone who has donated to date, and remind you that should you wish to recognise the acheivements of the team, you can still make a donation to the team.

So here is to next year… where again, Birmingham Future will be entering a team in a run through the city… will you be part of that team?

Graduates In Birmingham

Birmingham Future has a range of committees, one of which, Graduates Into Employment, seeks to contribute to the work of ensuring that Birmingham’s professional and business services’ sector continues to attract and retain the top graduate talent.

One of the ways it looks to do this is through events such as “Welcome to Birmingham” reception, which recently took place in at the council house in the city centre.  In its second sucessful year, it offered graduates starting out in their careers in Birmingham a warm welcome to the city, and introduces them to the lifestyle and opportunities Birmingham has to offer, with the aim of encouraging them to stay in the city for the long term.

With so many new people in the city, the GIE committee could not pass up on the opportunity to interview them about their reasons for choosing Birmingham.  The results were quite interesting:

Only 26% of the 152 people who responded indicated that they grew up in the Birmingham area, which is compared to 35% in last years survey.  Contrast that with 36% who stated they had studied in Birmingham, which was an increase from 28% last year.

Only 6% of the graduates both grew up and studied in Birmingham.

Interestingly, 44% of the surveyed had no affiliation to Birmingham before choosing to start their career in the city.  Of those individuals, nearly half (46%) cited that it was a particular job offer or firm that brought them to Birmingham.

Last year, 45% of the graduates recorded that the city centre lifestyle attracted them here, but in this year’s survey, only 26% cited this as being a reason to move to Birmingham.  So what are the reasons for this significant drop?

Perhaps most disappointingly, and the key statistic for the GIE committee to work on is that only one in six stated that they moved to Birmingham for the career opportunities that the city offers.  Clearly, there is still work to be done in promoting the fantastic opportunites for individuals looking to move into the professional and business services sector.

So what brought you to Birmingham? What do you think the city can do to continue to attract and retain the best graduate talent? Are you interested in learning more about what Future, and specifically the GIE committee do? Please leave any comments below.

Setting the Foundation for the Future

This year, Birmingham Future nominated the Birmingham Community Foundation as its chosen Charity, and with Matt Taylor the current Future chair, setting one of his themes as charity I caught up with Derek Inman, Chief Executive of the Foundation at the recent Graduates Welcome Event.

I asked Derek to give Future members a little background on what the Foundation do: “The foundation is a distributive charity, which is predominatley about getting into the grass roots of Birmingham.  Typically we will give amounts of about £5,000 to areas where it can really make a difference.  There are some really deprived areas in Birmingham, and our aim is to engage with the local community and increase the opportunities available to the individuals living in these deprived areas.”

As the nominated charity, Birmingham Future members can clearly play a role in helping to raise funds for the great work that goes on, with the up-coming Birmingham Half Marathon being one example, but Derek also believes that Future members can play another important role:

“I’ve always been a big fan of Birmingham Future, especially for the enthusiasm and youth of the committee structure.  We really appreciate being the nominated charity for future, and see it as a great way to get more individuals involved in the work that we do.  The foundation encourage people to go out to the deprived areas of the city and show them what opportunities are out there.  This could include showing them jobs in the professional services sector that otherwise they would not be aware of, and in giving them role models to aspire to be like.  I think that Birmingham is a fantastic city, but there is still the ring of areas around city which are in great depravation, which it is our peril to ignore”.

Derek is very keen for the youth of Birmingham Future to engage with these deprived areas, give them access to professional services opportunities and to provide a solid and stable career path for them.  The Foundation are a local charity with local issues at their heart, and Birmingham Future are proud to support the work that they do.

If you want to know more about what the Foundation do, then please visit their website, or contact the Birmingham Future office.  If you believe that you or your organisation could help support the work of the Foundation, then Matt Taylor would love to hear your thoughts.

Running For Future Are…

With only one week to go, Birmingham Future’s Half Marathon team are looking at the weather forecasts and praying for ideal running weather.  The long range forecast does not too too good, but at least we will all have an extra hour in bed that morning when the clocks go back.

With only one week to go, the team are determined to increase the amount we raise for the Birmingham Foundation.  The full team are listed below, all of whom will be raising money for the Foundation:

• Matt Taylor – Headline Communications & Birmingham Future Chair
• Bina Ganatra – Lloyds TSB & Birmingham Future Marketing Committee
• Anthony McCourt – Wragge & Co and current BYPY
• Roula Samaha – Radisson SAS Hotel and BYPY Chair
• Jason Norris – Deloitte
• Neil Murphy – Lloyds TSB
• Mayur Murali – Graduate Apprentice 2008
• Geoff Guerin – BHSF & Birmingham Future Membership Team
• Gareth Morgan – Turner Townsend & Birmingham Future Membership Team

The team would like to thank everyone in advance for their very kind donations which will go a long way towards the fantastic cause that is Birmingham Foundation.  

Three weeks from thirteen miles

With thousands of people today competing in the Great North Run, a selection of Birmingham Future Members are looking forward to Birmingham’s first ever half marathon, taking place three weeks today on the 26th October.  Around 10 members of Birmingham Future will be joining forces to run and raise money for the Birmingham Foundation, a local organisation focussed on the regeneration of local communites in the area.

With the 13.1 miles being only three weeks away, training should now be going well but the weather and work pressures have meant that some are still far from being in top shape.  However, come the day, all of those competing aim to complete the course and raise important funds for this very worthwhile charity.

You can donate to the Birmingham Future Team through their dedicated page, where you can also find a little more about the Birmingham Foundation.

If you are a member of Birmingham Future running the half marathon and want to join the team, simply leave a comment and someone will get back to you.