The latest Birmingham Future Meet & Mix gathering took on a slightly new look as members were treated to a sumptuous evening dinner in the lavish surroundings of the Directors’ Suite at Villa Park. The event was further enhanced by the amusing and insightful words of the 2009 BYPY Winner of the Inspiring Leader Award, Alan Chatham of the Birmingham Development Company.
Alan proved to be a most engaging and entertaining speaker regaling the audience with tales of his upbringing in Glasgow, his alternative approach to education (showing far more interest in learning to play the guitar instead), his determination not to be a banker, his 10 years in the construction industry as a Quantity Surveyor (in Rugby) before finally moving into the property industry with a London company that had taken on responsibility for the development of Brindley Place.
This is where it seems Alan truly found his vocation and his team at BDC are currently in the process of working on the final phase of The Mailbox – The Cube – with completion due in June 2010. Yet another example of BDC’s pioneering work in mixed use development in Birmingham. They are also in the process of submitting plans for the development of the Birmingham Post & Mail building too.
Listening to Alan, it became clear very quickly exactly why he was such a worthy winner of the BYPY Inspiring Leader Award. In imparting his wisdom on Birmingham Future members, Alan demonstrated a refreshingly simple yet very effective approach to management, leadership and the pursuit of success. Here are a few of Alan’s top tips:
• Believe in yourself and be ambitious
• Get stuck in and be positive
• Never underestimate the role that fate can play
• Find a good boss
• Work with good people and ensure you have a good time along the way
• Be flexible
• Take more (calculated) risks
• Read the Economist for three months (and your mates will think you’re very clever!)
Alan appears to be spurred on by his desire to do something different and prove people wrong whilst helping move Birmingham forward and showing immense pride in the city. He also graciously acknowledged the hardworking contributions made by his colleagues and having personally spoken to some of them at the dinner it was pretty evident that Alan is definitely doing something right.
Alan summed up both his career and his journey thus far in simply one word – Brilliant. I suppose if you turn up for work one morning and you are given the task of naming all the streets in Brindley Place (one of Alan’s many claims to fame!) then I guess there are worse things to do for a day job!
Many thanks to everyone at Aston Villa Football Club for supporting the event and in particular for arranging the stadium tours exclusively for our members on the night.
See you all at the next Meet & Mix in 2010!
Ateeq Ahmed (Associate, Harvey Ingram LLP)

The Hampton Manor
Shadowbrook Lane
Hampton-in-Arden
Solihull
B92 0EN

http://www.hamptonmanor.eu/

I love discovering new places especially when they are literally on your own doorstep leaving you wondering how you never knew about them before! I had such an experience last Sunday when I visited the new Hampton Manor Hotel in Hampton-in-Arden.
Once the estate of Sir Fredrick Peel, the house was originally designed to host political, commercial and social meetings that a man of such standing would have been expected to hold, so as you can imagine it’s quite an impressive building. Until recently the estate was used as a care home for people with learning difficulties until it was bought by hoteliers Derrick and Janet Hill who have successfully converted the manor into a luxury hotel and conference centre.
The restaurant is currently only open for Sunday Lunch prior to the official launch of the hotel, a clever idea as it gives the kitchen a chance to iron out any potential issues before they fully open and also allows the waiting staff a good opportunity to perfect their service.
Sunday Lunch is a tour de force of five courses for £29.95 a head. A weekly changing menu features locally sourced seasonal produce and features a choice of starters, mains and desserts.
On our arrival we were shown to the bar to have a pre-lunch drink as we considered the menu. The house has been lovingly renovated with a few modern touches in the furnishings. Our order was taken whilst we had our drinks and we were shown to our table in a nice, leisurely fashion when our food was ready. The meal began with an amuse bouche of vine tomato soup with freshly baked bread, a delicious gutsy start to the meal that would have been welcomed as a full starter in its own right. This was followed by starters of sweet melon with passion fruit sorbet and a smoked mackerel and crab parfait, both of which were interesting and rather unusual but none the less tasty. The sorbet was a rather new way to begin a meal while the fish parfait was more of a terrine.
For mains we had roast pork with crackling, roast potatoes, apple puree and sage, and roasted vegetable with polenta and a fresh pepper sauce. My companion thoroughly enjoyed the pork, however is a fan of more chunky apple sauce. My vegetarian main was packed with flavour and very satisfying.
Between dessert and mains we were served a vanilla panna cotta with rhubarb compote which was rather rich and creamy. The rhubarb cut through the cream nicely but there wasn’t enough in comparison to the panna cotta.
We both opted for crème brulée for dessert which was, for what is essentially baked eggs, very, very good!
Overall the lunch was a real treat and the service was impeccable. The team at the manor is well on their way to opening with a finely polished product when they launch the full Hotel.
Alternatives:
Mint – Sutton Coldfield http://www.mint-restaurant.com/
Pascals – Edgbaston www.pascalsrestaurant.co.uk

Wednesday October 7th saw the third annual Welcome to Birmingham event, hosted by Future’s Talent Retention and Development Committee at the Council House. Now a firm fixture in the Birmingham Future calendar, the event was once again a roaring success and welcomed almost 250 guests and sponsors including Locate, Marketing Birmingham, Generation BEST, The National Skills Academy, FleetMilne Residential and Crest Nicholson, in addition to several significant charities.
Guest speaker was Paul Thandi, Chief Executive of The NEC Group and number 1 in The Birmingham Post’s Power 50 2009, who extolled the virtues of the city as a venue to both start and progress a successful career and urged Birmingham’s newest recruits to do all in their power to “make the city different”, pointing out that we have at our disposal all of the

resources to drive Birmingham forward as one of the most exciting cities in the world.

Anthony McCourt, Chair of the Talent Retention and Development Committee commented: “The Welcome to Birmingham Event 2009 was deemed a huge success by all in attendance and once again provided a great forum for our new graduate talent to meet and start building new relationships. Birmingham is the only UK city to extend a civic welcome to its graduate intake, and bearing in mind we’re in the middle of a recession, the turn out was simply fantastic.”

Suzie Branch, 2009 BYPY Winner, has challenged Birmingham’s new recruits to sleep out for a night to help raise money for the West Midlands homeless charity St Basils.
At the annual Birmingham Future “Welcome to Birmingham” event, Suzie urged the audience of new graduate employees and trainees to get involved with the city by supporting local charities.
She highlighted the forthcoming St Basils Corporate Sleep Out as a great opportunity to start getting to know more about Birmingham and the wider community.
“This is the second year that the team at BHMG Marketing and I will be taking place in the St Basils Corporate Sleep Out,” she said.
“I remember last year’s event so well – the dawning realisation a couple of days beforehand of what we had signed up for, quickly followed by a rising fear of whether we would actually be able to complete the challenge of sleeping outside with nothing more than a cardboard box,
“It underlined just how tough life is on the streets but it also proved to be a very positive experience for everyone in the team, so positive that they have committed to do it again.”
The St Basils Corporate Sleep Out is an annual fundraising event when Birmingham’s business community are encouraged to work together for one night to raise sponsorship for the charity by sleeping out.
“The entry fee is just £30. Thirty pounds allows each young person arriving at St Basils to work with a professional key-worker to assess their needs and create an action plan – in short it helps them plan their future, which is why I am encouraging our future business community to be sign up and get involved,” said Suzie.
This year’s event is being held on Friday 13th November on the St Basils car park in Digbeth and further information can be found on www. www.stbasils.org.uk. To register for this event please contact the SleepOut Team at fundraising@stbasils.org.uk

Birmingham Young Professional of the Year (BYPY), Future’s flagship awards ceremony, is embracing social media this year with its first Twitter account.
The BYPY committee is hoping that Birmingham’s professional community will use Twitter to share views on the event and put forward suggestions and ideas for 2010’s 10th anniversary bash.
The event will take place on 27th May in the ICC’s largest hall. Last year more than 650 people attended the lavish dinner and awards ceremony and the committee is hoping that BYPY 2010 will prove even more popular.
Darren Walker, committee chairman, said he was hoping social media would play a big part in helping to shape next year’s event.
“Twitter could be a great way for people to have their say and let us know their opinions on what they would like to see at next year’s BYPY.
“We want people to contribute ideas as well as sharing their thoughts on our existing plans.
“For example, one great debate we would like to open up is whether we should have a band or a DJ or both.”

If you would like to keep up to date with the latest BYPY news and share your thoughts on the event then you can follow it on Twitter by going to www.twitter.com/BYPY
For information about tickets please contact Isabel Drabble in the Birmingham Future office on 0121 632 2204 or via email isabel@birminghamforward.co.uk.

On a cold, drizzly Sunday morning approximately 12,000 people, many of them residents of the Midlands, hit the streets of Birmingham to run in the EDF World Half Marathon. Amongst these runners were the ten strong team representing Birmingham Future. After weeks of anticipation it was finally here, a chance for us to complete what we had started a few months before through regular training sessions. Full of carbohydrates from the previous night’s mountain of pasta, it was time to set off to the roar of the large and excited crowd that had gathered to support all of the runners.

(From left Paul Fielding, Matt Taylor and Danielle Osadciw-Brown)

The team itself were all very focused individually and this was proven by the fact that, rather boringly, none of us ran round together and we all stayed at our own pace. Being my first run of any kind since my school days, I was really unsure what to expect. The first mile or so was quite simply an amazing experience with competitors struggling for space whilst the crowd cheered us on. The serious athletes around me literally went charging to the front and flew off into the distance and in almost all cases were never to be seen again.

In this first mile two Birmingham Future runners and also one of my colleagues, who was not running for Birmingham Future, all went steaming past me at the rate of knots. Two of these, including Gareth Poole of Turner and Townsend and my colleague, finished in extremely impressive times of just over 1 hour and 40 minutes. The other, who will remain unnamed, struggled home in a time of 2 hrs 13mins and 6 seconds (see below!).

Being from the south of the city and not knowing many of the areas that we were running through, I believe had its advantages. This was because it gives you something new to look at whilst you are going round, thereby making it more interesting and meaning that you are not dreading any part of the circuit. However, if I had known the route beforehand, the near 45 degree hill on Maryvale Road by Bournville Station would have given me nightmares in the weeks before. The good news after that absolute killer, therefore, was that we still had approximately 6 miles left to run! Easy!

The last two miles coming back into the centre of Birmingham were extremely difficult and it was quite disconcerting to see my boss go flying past me with a smile on his face, having challenged me prior to the race. The final two corners though were absolutely fantastic. Firstly, I was able to high-five my wife and son who had come to support me and then into the final straight on Broad Street I put my foot down, inspired by the large crowd who were making a lot of noise. This truly was a testament to Birmingham and the fabulous people who live in the area.

I managed to finish in a time of 1 hour 50 minutes and 26 seconds, which I was very pleased with, especially as my only target was just to finish. The runners in the team all finished as follows;

Gareth Poole (Turner & Townsend)    finished in        1hr 40.24

Paul Fielding (Brewin Dolphin)                                          1.50.26

Emily Morris (Willis)                                                              1.54.39

Matt Taylor (Headline Communications)                      1.59.11

Maxwell Dobbs (BHMG)                                                        1.59.56

Jason Norris (Delloite)                                                          2.02.06

Ann Taylor (Innovit)                                                             2.04.30

Danielle Osadciw-Brown (BHMG)                                     2.10.53

Peter Meckiff (Brewin Dolphin)                                         2.13.06

Claire Bishop (BHMG)                                                           2.32.25

All in all, the team have managed to raise in excess of the £1,500 target and I would like to thank all of them for all of their hard work and, of course, all of the generous people who sponsored us. The money raised by the runners will go directly into the Future Foundation Fund. This will then be used to fund projects approved by Birmingham Future via Birmingham Community Foundation to provide grants which are set up to support the local community in areas of poverty and deprivation in Birmingham and the Black Country.

If you have not sponsored us and would like to do so post the event, the easiest way to make a donation is to visit the Just Giving website on www.justgiving.com/birminghamfuturehalfmarathon. Alternatively, if you see any of the runners I am sure that they will be more than happy to accept a cheque made payable to ‘Birmingham Community Foundation’, if you feel so inclined.

Finally, on a personal note, I would like to thank Danielle Osadciw-Brown of BHMG for all of her help with the organisation, the Birmingham Future Community Development Committee and the Colmore Business District for kindly supplying the team t-shirts.

If any of you feel so inclined, I am sure that I will be once again talked into not only taking part but also running (pardon the pun) a team in 2010 and you are of course more than welcome to join me.

Many thanks for your kind support,

Paul Fielding, Brewin Dolphin and member of the Birmingham Future Community Development Committee.

The Orange Tree
Warwick Road
Chadwick End
Warwickshire
B93 0BN
With Autumn well and truly here it’s out with barbeques and alfresco dining and in with log fires and good hearty food, which was exactly what we found last weekend at the Orange Tree.

When we arrived at 6:30pm the bar was already buzzing with the post-office crowd welcoming in the weekend. We ordered a couple of drinks and managed to find a free couch by the open fire to settle into. After a while our hunger got the better of us but having not booked we were regretfully informed there were no tables available in the restaurant, however we could still order food and eat where we were which we decided to do.

If you have visited any of the other five venues in the ‘Lovely Pubs’ collection, including The Boot in Lapworth and The Crabmill at Preston Bagot you will be familiar with the menu which features a selection of sharing plates and starters, followed by salads available in either small or large portions. The mains are divided into sections starting with a range of ‘fired pizzas’ which when read quickly is easily mistaken for fried pizza! There then follows a selection of pasta, grill, and stove dishes to chose from and finally four rotisserie options including piri piri and lemon and tarragon.

We decided to go for a selection of dishes to share which included a sharing plate of rustic breads with roast garlic and extra virgin olive oil, crostini with deviled chicken livers, fresh mint and chili from the appetisers, a pizza pollo pesto with tomato, chicken and pesto and a side order of fries. The food arrived and we proceeded to tuck in attempting to retain some form of table manners despite essentially having to eat on our laps!!

The deviled chicken livers were delicious, perfectly cooked they melted in your mouth and packed a fair punch of flavour. Pizzas in pubs are in my experience a rather hit and miss affair but I can happily report a definite hit this time, with plenty of chicken and a generous scattering of mozzarella it was crispy and delicious and all gone in next to no time! The rustic bread was a little greasy for my liking but the chips were good and fluffy.

We did manage to leave room for dessert and opted for the daily special, a warm brownie with vanilla ice cream. Now with brownies being one of my favourite cakes to bake this dessert had a lot to live up to and unfortunately it didn’t quite make the grade, we both agreed it was more of a chocolate cake than a brownie but still tasty enough in its own right.

Overall the Orange Tree continues to deliver a reliable and friendly atmosphere with well cooked food freshly prepared according to the season. Worth braving the chilly autumnal wind for!

Alternatives:

The Saxon Mill
Coventry Road, Guys Cliffe, Warwick CV34 5YN

Twenty-Three Essex Street
23 Essex Street, Birmingham, B5 4TR

A week after starting as the Graduate Apprentice and I’m starting to settle in. I was really quite nervous the night before my first day in the office, but I had no reason to be! The people that I’m working with are really nice, and are happy to help me with the many questions that I’ve got! I spent a couple of days in London, doing an induction, and then my first couple of days in the office were mainly training based. But now I’m doing more work, and I’m enjoying it. There’s a lot to learn, but I look forward to the challenge that it brings me.

As I’ve only been at Deloitte for a week, and am concentrating hard on getting to grips with everything, I haven’t had much time to think about the next placements. But it will be very interesting to see how the different organisations work, and what role I have in each of them. It’s definitely going to be an exciting year!

I feel proud to be the Graduate Apprentice, especially at such a difficult time. I really want to give it my all, have an open mind whilst at each placement, and get the best from it all. I don’t know what I’ll be doing this time next year, but I know that whatever it is, I’ll definitely have an advantage, having been the Graduate Apprentice. The experience and skills I will gain, I am sure will be vital to me, for the future. I have been told, and can well believe, that the year will fly by. However, as much as I want to learn from it, I also want to enjoy it, and I have already seen that there are plenty of people on hand to help me do this. Let’s hope it goes well!

The Birmingham Young Professional of the Year committee is beginning its annual search for sponsors with even higher stakes than usual, as Birmingham Future’s flagship event will celebrate its 10^th anniversary in May next year. BYPY 10 is set to be the biggest awards ceremony on the business calendar and the committee will be pulling out all the stops to make it the most memorable BYPY to date.

This year the awards, which recognise the achievements of people from all of Birmingham’s professional sectors, saw more than 650 guests gather in the ICC’s largest hall, and the committee is confident that even more people from Birmingham’s thriving business community will join them in 2010.

To help the event make a splash BYPY has always welcomed the support of its sponsors, which last year included main sponsor Cobbetts, as well as AWM, Deloitte, Matthew Boulton and Sutton Coldfield College, Mace Group, Pertemps, West Bromwich Building Society, Wesleyan, Brefi, Harvey Nichols and Common Purpose.

Darren Walker, chairman of the BYPY committee, said sponsoring the high profile event, particularly in its 10^th anniversary year, would be a great way for businesses to raise their profile.

“Sponsors of BYPY 10 will not only benefit from the exposure and publicity linked to the event itself but also from a close association with Birmingham Future throughout the 10^th anniversary year,” he said.

“This is a unique opportunity to be part of the celebrations to mark BYPY’s ten year commitment to recognising and rewarding the wealth of talent in the city.

“We are currently looking for a main sponsor as well as sponsors for each of the awards categories, which include legal, financial, property and construction, recruitment and HR, communications and entrepreneurial.”

Anyone who is interested in finding out more about the sponsorship opportunities available should contact Isabel Drabble in the Birmingham Future office on 0121 632 2204 for further information.

1) What was your career path before becoming Music Director at the CBSO? I have played piano, trumpet and sung from a very early. I started my career by playing trumpet for the Latvian National Opera Orchestra and began to study conducting at 16. I became Principal Conductor of Riga Opera when I was 22 and held tenure as Principal Conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Germany, as well as making guest appearances with other orchestras across the world.

2) How important do you think it is for young professionals to have access to the arts and specifically classical music? I think it is extremely important. Art is food for our souls. We take care of our physical body by doing sport and eating the right food but we must not forget about our souls – we need to feed them with music and culture. I think it is also important that this is encouraged from the highest level like governments and councils and that we take care to educate people from an early age about looking after their inner worlds.

3) How do you normally prepare for a concert and wind down afterwards? In preparation I always read up about the piece and the composer. I analyse it technically, professionally and emotionally. I have to think about how I will present my ideas. Then we start to rehearse with the Orchestra and work on sections together. Before the concert I make sure I have had enough sleep and that I relax. After a concert I analyse and criticise myself. I think this is important, particularly when you are repeating a programme – it is how you learn and often it happens automatically without you thinking. After that, to switch off I sometimes start to look at a new score or maybe watch some TV.

4) What are you particularly looking forward to the next season? During the holidays I was really looking forward to getting back to work and seeing everybody. This season is very busy and exciting with lots of touring. I’m looking forward to meeting our audiences and seeing new and familiar faces. All of the concerts next season are going to be great so I couldn’t single one out.

5) What advice or recommendations would you give to a first-time concert-goer – are there any particular works you could suggest they saw? Just don’t be afraid. Don’t worry about what to wear or how to act. Take a friend and talk about the music afterwards. Make an evening out of it. Music is about everyday life and human beings so don’t be put off. The musicians on stage will open up to you so don’t be afraid. It can be a very emotional event so be prepared for that and cry if you want to.

6) What do you think of the CBSO’s rehearsal and performance venues? CBSO Centre is a great place for rehearsing. The acoustics are much dryer so this helps with the more technical work and helps the Orchestra acquaint themselves with the music. When we move to Symphony Hall we can the experiment with the acoustics. Symphony Hall is one of the best concert halls in the world and definitely the best in the UK. It is a pleasure to perform there.

7) How do you feel about being voted Number nine in this year’s Power50? I am surprised and very happy. I associate myself with the rest of the team – the Orchestra and its management so I am very happy that people have noticed us. This is also great for culture and I’m happy that we are recognised as a part of social life in Birmingham and hope that we can encourage more people to be part of it.

What is your favourite thing about Birmingham? The Orchestra! And the CBSO family. Other than that I like the M&S Food Hall!

9) You spend a lot of time travelling, what do you miss most when you are away from home? It’s hard to say where home is for me. I think it is where you feel the most satisfied and for me that is usually when I am playing music. Although I’m from Latvia, I miss more the people from my home rather than the place.

10) Villa/City? I do love football and I used to play a lot when I was younger but I am not so good anymore so I would find it difficult to judge two great teams! I have to say that adrenalin from a sport is very similar to live music and the expectation you have before a match is like the start of a concert. The difference is you are not supposed to cheer and shout at a concert, at least not until the end!