The clocks go forward again in the early hours of Sunday. This for me is the real start of Spring with the return of the ‘light nights’. But in my opinion we should have the clocks set two hours, rather than the present one hour, ahead of Greenwich Mean Time in the summer and have them set one hour ahead in the winter. It is an established fact that this would save lives in traffic accidents. It would also be better for evening sport and outdoor recreation in general.

Furthermore, it would reduce the effect of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) as people, on the whole, would get more daylight. It would also save energy. In the United States they have brought forward the date of summer time to early March for energy saving reasons. Our farmers may grumble (and indeed they’ve much to complain about as undervalued contributors to the productive economy) but I imagine that the livestock go by other perceptions of time rather than how we set the nominal dials on our clocks. I believe that most people in England support such a measure - and indeed have done so for a long time. Let’s hope that the Government one day sees the light! An extended version of this posting, along with critical discussion of the intended phasing out of incandescent lightbulbs, appears on my blog which can be found at  www.michaelwilkesblog.blogspot.com

As regular visitors to this website will know, I continue to be a strong supporter of the idea of re-establishing the Birmingham Municipal Bank as a safe and trustworthy haven for the savings, small and large, of the people of our city.

The fundamental values of the Bank would exclude needless chopping and changing of frivolous financial ‘products’, slippery small print and other devices of the trickster. The simple principle of constancy would prevail.

Constancy and confidence were the values on which much of the true wealth of the country, much now wasted alas, was built and which other institutions, such as Municipal Banks and National Savings, sought to support. Is it too much to suppose that these principles might be worth rediscovering today?

When the Municipal Bank was first established in the early part of last century it faced opposition from commercial banks. The tactic today from various quarters opposed seems to be to frighten the horses by waving around large numbers for which I for one have not seen hard evidence in support.

I hope that enough of the Council will be constant in finding a way forward for proposals that will once more offer ‘Security with Interest’ and attract the trust of the citizens of Birmingham.

More News from the club: “The weather is changing. Spring and summer are on their way and in no time at all Wimbledon will be on television. But at Beechcroft we are playing already, and if you would like to join us then come along on Saturday the 25th of April, or Sunday the 17th of May, or even Sunday the 21st of June.

We will be running our monthly ‘American’ tournaments, where anyone who fancies an afternoon of fun, mixed tennis can come along and join us. If you like it and find us friendly and like our tea and cakes…we are always looking for new members. You could even be the first monthly holder of the Ken Wilcox Trophy, to be presented in memory of our recently passed away Club President, a founding member of our club.

Beechcroft is a small local tennis club that has been in existence since the early 1930s. We still have our original clubhouse! We are always looking for the support of the local community for membership and sponsorship. Peter Nottingham of Nottingham Watson, Highfield Rd, Hall Green, provided support for our Junior Championship last year, while Walter J. Parsons Ltd, rebuilt half of the club house roof to keep the rain out. We thank them for their generous support in these difficult times. So if you would like to play tennis in a friendly, sociable club, you will be very welcome. Who knows, we may be switching on Wimbledon to see you playing in the future!”

My colleague Councillor Jackie Hawthorn writes: 

A fully-grown fox recently expired on ground to the rear of Harewood Close. A simple task to get it removed, you would think? Not so! Environmental Services failed to respond to emails and telephone calls. Public Health stated that they could do nothing as the removal would involve stepping over a fence consisting of wire strands and that this would have ‘Health and Safety’ issues for the staff.

There was a possibility that the land belonged to Network Rail so their ‘National Helpline’ was contacted - and if ever there was a case of a Department being wrongly named, then this is it! The ‘National Helpline’ gave the phone number for ‘London Midland’ who eventually advised, when a human being took the call after much pushing of menu buttons, that they couldn’t help with dead animals as they ‘only did bookings.’ The request for the direct number for ‘Yardley Wood Station’ was refused on grounds that they were ex-directory but the human being said that they would connect the call. They were unable to do so, however, as no-one at ‘Yardley Wood’ was answering the phone. The call was referred back to ‘London Midland’ who said that the ‘National Helpline’ would deal with the problem. The whole experience was reminiscent of the song ‘There’s a Hole in my Bucket.’

By dogged persistence and sheer defiance at the thought of giving up, the name of the ‘Maintenance Protection Co-ordinator’ at Saltley Depot was eventually extracted. At last - someone who cared and who was willing to help! An email was produced showing a map of the station at ‘Yardley Wood’ and a site visit, armed with the map, identified that the deceased animal was indeed on land belonging to Network Rail.

Getting the fox removed, however, was still not that easy as the Network Rail patrolmen were unable to find the body, despite the location being pinpointed for them. At one time it was suggested that the fox may have been asleep and had ‘run off.’ The retort to that comment was that it must have been a very tired fox as it had been ‘asleep’ in the same spot and in the same position for several days!

Eventually though (and after many Boom Boom jokes) Basil was removed and given a decent ’send off.’ It was agreed that we had all grown quite fond of him in the days it had taken to get him re-located. Many thanks to the ‘Maintenance Protection Co-ordinator’ at Saltley who has once again proved that it is not what you know but who you know that makes the difference.

We are very pleased to say that the website of Shire Productions is now back on line once again. As you may have noticed, the website has been unavailable for a couple of weeks. This was because the company that hosted the site, Lycos, rather surprisingly decided to leave this line of business.

Shire Productions are a Hall Green based drama group specialising in outdoor productions, especially adaptations of works by renowned Lord of The Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien. You may have seen the group perform at the annual Middle-earth Weekend that is held at Sarehole Mill (near to which Tolkien lived as a child).

The latest details of this year’s event, which will be held on the 16th and 17th of May, and much else besides, can be found by visiting the Shire Productions website.

March 13^th is the anniversary of the decision by the Planning Committee that led to the demolition of Highfield House totally against the wishes of the community.

Approval was given to the proposal for flats and houses on the site of the distinctive 150 year-old house and once beautiful gardens that graced the corner of Highfield Road and Robin Hood Lane. The land where the house once stood is now like a bomb site with no sign of building work commencing. We understand that the would-be developers have acquired further land from some of the surrounding gardens and have extended the original plan. But of course we are now in a recession, so it is anybody’s guess as to when the eyesore that has been created will be removed. We hope the planners are pleased with themselves. The planning laws give far too much latitude to developers and precious little recognition to the views (in more senses than one) of local communities. It is high time that this imbalance was redressed. I have posted a more extensive and informative article by John Worthy on the ‘Highfield House Memories’ page on this website. Recommended reading, and many thanks to John for ensuring that what was lost is not forgotten.

The Hall Green Preservation Group recently paid a visit to the Beechcroft Tennis Club, located off Beechcroft Avenue, Hall Green which has been established for over 70 years. We have previously mentioned the tennis club’s very fine pavilion, which is included in a published record of sports pavilions. Our photos show a view of the inside of the pavilion and the courts.

The Preservation Group viewed the pavilion and the grounds for themselves and heard about the club’s plans in terms of upkeep and membership (new members are always made very welcome at the club) and met several of the members as well as the club’s chairman. The preservation group will be working with and supporting the club, which makes a very valuable contribution to the local community.

Local recreational activities -which are nearly always led by volunteers - are a very important contributor to both the quality of life in our area and indeed the social fabric. Your local councillors do all in our power to ensure that as wide a range of activities as possible remains available in the community.

We continue to press Centro on the delay in moving forward on the extension of the Yardley Wood Station Park and Ride scheme. “The former garage site has been derelict far too long,” said Councillor Michael Wilkes. “At the same time, local residents experience continued problems with vehicles parked all day in front of their houses. This and the fact that use of the train service is effectively restricted at a time when we need to be increasing the use of public transport. We must move forward with the scheme - the existing car park is jam packed every day.”

Your three councillors visited the site recently and explained the situation to the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary spokesman for Hall Green, Councillor Jerry Evans, who is helping to represent our views to Centro. There should be a few spaces reserved for local use and near neighbours such as the Scouts should be given fair and consistent consideration and should be kept closely informed.