Beorma’s Home – The Beorma Project – A strange project idea, which I’m admittedly inclined to be biased against, not being a fantasy fan:
Just as Winchester has Alfred and Nottingham has Robin Hood, Birmingham has Beorma. The difference: he is a mystery, undefined, and unburdened by thirteen centuries of social evolution. So here’s the challenge: To create the core story of Beorma, founder of Birmingham, as a heroic, Beowulf-like icon, but whose story resonates with 21st Century Britain. Then, once the basic story is defined, for everyone to interpret it, rewrite it, mould it just as people would have done throughout history, if the legend were real.
The story will be based around Digbeth, the location of the proposed Beorma Quarter development this is riding on the back of. It’s an interesting idea but I personally think Digbeth and its own history and heroes which need celebrating. I’d say to project manager Adrian Middleton exactly what I’d say to local planners or building developers – please don’t wipe the slate clean and start again, explore the brilliantly rich mix that’s already here, which locals are keen to preserve and commemorate. I think evoking existing icons would be far more rewarding than creating fictitious ones.
The Beorma Project also has its own Facebook group.
I think that, at my age, I could be one of your “existing icons”. I certainly qualify for a bit of preserving!
Thanks for the link. A couple of things – first, the project isn’t riding on the back of the Beorma Quarter, it just happens to be the highest profile use of the name Beorma. Second, it isn’t about fantasy, or about displacing aspects of our more recent living history, but it is about reconnecting the city’s links to its anglo-saxon origins – look at the place names surrounding us: Dudda’s Tun (Duddeston), Estone (Aston), Bealh Healh (Balsall Heath) etc. These are lost links to an anglo saxon past that a million Brummies can’t experience without travelling to the fringes of the region – to Hereford, Ludlow, Upton or Clun – just because the city’s industrial heritage has overshadowed its older history.