Category: Birmingham

It’s something I’ve been meaning to look at for a while, so what is it?

Well…….

Two of Birmingham’s most committed journaleers and artists of human experience—a bi-polar working class warrior with a romantic streak you could drown a fascist in, and a cheerful nihilist in love with his own legend—are willing to take on the challenge of visiting every one of England and Wales’s 56 surviving pleasure piers in two weeks, because two weeks is as long as it’s possible to get off work.

Piers are the phallic symbols of our desire to own the motherly sea; our Victorian forefathers covered them with the lace dressings of amusement to prevent the working class getting too excited. Since then they’ve rotted slowly, like Britain’s empire and its self respect.

Those from Birmingham are perfectly placed to write about an ephemeral British seaside because that’s what the seaside is to them: a ghost, a Vaseline-smeared Shangri-La cobbled together from Carry On films, hazy childhood memories and nostalgia for a bygone era.

(from pierreview.co.uk (c) Jon Bounds and Danny Smith)

So there you go, I was going to attempt to write something witty about it. But to be honest I’m crap at that sort of thing so I left it to Jon/Danny (actually copied it from their site).

So what can you do. Click below might be a start.

I know the 100% target has been reached, but that was a getting the thing off the ground level – more money might mean they get an occasional meal, maybe a new furry dice for the clio and possibly a better quality of camp site.