Words by Josh Neicho
Self-professed patriotic campaigners from Kingstanding have started an online petition to see a commemorative statue of King Charles I officially erected at Kingstanding Circle, as a replacement for the unauthorised flag displays.
Legend has it Charles I reviewed his troops while standing on a neolithic barrow north of present-day Kingstanding Circle, in the run up to the first major clash of the Civil War, the Battle of Edgehill.
Keatley says that growing up locally, he often wondered why there was no monument to King Charles, given the name of the area, and argues Kingstanding deserves the equivalent of Brownhills’ 40 foot Tin Man or Spitfire Island in Castle Vale. His vision is of a statue similar of Charles I on horseback in scale and style to the one in the centre of London, at the top of Whitehall.
Now he is looking to amass support for the statue and has told media if approval is given to the monument the sea of St George’s Cross and Union flags on the Circle could “come down permanently”. Raise the Colours’ Chris Davis adds that “having something a lot more permanent would be a lot more fulfilling”.
For several months, the Kingstanding ‘flaggers’ have played cat and mouse with Council workers and anti-flagging activists over the display around Kingstanding Circle – with local residents debating if the campaign represents patriotism or jingoistic aggression.
Some even call the campaign racist in its intent, echoing the historic concerns over cultural division in Kingstanding – where the British National Party candidate Sharon Ebanks was nearly elected as local councillor in 2006.
But Keatley insists things have moved on in the last twenty years and believes “we should be able to celebrate our history and our culture.”
“If we aren’t doing anything to celebrate it, it’s being taken away,” he adds.
Raise the Colours Kingstanding is optimistic about the statue, after receiving support from several candidates in the recent local elections. They now hope to progress the idea with the ward’s new Reform councillors, including the Birmingham group’s newly appointed leader, Jex Parkin.
Reform UK Deputy Leader, Richard Tice, who visited during the local elections campaign, “is in full support of our movement and what we stand for”, Keatley adds, and he’s waiting to see if Tice “will help us make it happen”.
Keatley suggests funding could come from the £20 million awarded to Kingstanding under the Government’s Pride in Place scheme.
Announced by the Erdington MP Paulette Hamilton in September last year, after funds were released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Pride in Place will see £20m come into Kingstanding over the next decade – with £2m allocated for projects annually.
Following an open application process, Birmingham Settlement boss Martin Holcombe has been appointed Chair of the Pride in Place Board that will oversee spending – with additional members being made up from local stakeholders and residents.
Hamilton says she is proud to have secured the funding and decisions on spending must be community-led. “This funding should reflect the priorities of local residents, whether that is investing in youth services, safe and welcoming spaces for older people, improving parks and public spaces, or indeed proposals such as a statue of King Charles I,” she confirmed.
But historians warn that claims about Charles I’s presence at Kingstanding should be treated with due scepticism.
Professor Andrew Hopper, a Civil War specialist who grew up in Solihull, says he knew the story years ago, “but only from ‘tradition’ and oral sources”. Professor Hopper adds that enthusiasm for a Charles I statue is ironic, given Birmingham’s noted Parliamentarian sympathies in the Civil War and the sack of the city by Prince Rupert – an incident recalled by several Erdington Local readers.
After reading about Keatley’s petition on Erdington Local’s social media, James Wells from Erdington Lunar Society posted: “Let’s commemorate someone who attempted to take our democratic rights away, caused a civil war that divided the country and whose son viciously attacked Birmingham who supported the parliamentary side. I don’t think so.”
Doyen of Birmingham history Carl Chinn says a more prosaic explanation is that the name comes from a ‘standing’ – a hunter’s station – which Chinn thinks is plausible given the area’s proximity to Sutton, a royal chase.
Meanwhile researcher Ronald E. Crook once documented the word ‘king’ was common in the names of local fields before the Civil War and that there are stories linked to the Kingstanding barrow about a medieval Danish king’s exploits too.
To see the online petition visit www.change.org/p/install-a-statue-of-king-charles-i-on-kingstanding-circle
LOCAL POLITICS: Campaign for statue of King Charles I at Kingstanding Circle gets support from Council election candidates
Words by Josh Neicho
A campaign to commemorate King Charles I’s reputed visit to Kingstanding during the English Civil War with a major statue has been drumming up support from candidates at the upcoming Council elections.
Kingstanding local Sean Keatley has launched an online petition to ‘Install a statue of King Charles I on Kingstanding Circle’ through the Change.org website – which at the time of writing has 331 verified signatures.
Legend has it that King Charles I reviewed his troops while standing on a neolithic barrow north of what today is Kingstanding, in the run up to the Battle of Edgehill in October 1642.
Keatley’s petition says the story of the troop review “adds character to our community” and “connects us to our country’s rich historical tapestry”.
The proposed statue at the six-ways roundabout would have educational value and build pride and identity, the petition adds.
Kingstanding current elected official, Councillor Clifton Welch (Local Conservatives) told Kingstanding/Erdington Local he is “absolutely massively in favour of the principle,” of the Charles I statue – or an alternative proposal of a war memorial after surveying local residents.
“Both ideas are excellent, ” adds Cllr Welch. “There’s a lot of pride from residents; they’ve also been strong supporters of the monarchy. Kingstanding was under Labour for decades and taken for granted for a long time.”
Meanwhile, independent candidate in the ward and veteran Birmingham community and race justice activist Bishop Desmond Jaddoo has also given his approval. “They were shocked when I said it, because they just don’t know me,” Jaddoo says. “Just like I pushed for [the] Windrush stuff, I will push for anything.”
Keatley also claims to have support from Reform’s Deputy Leader Richard Tice, who recently visited Kingstanding in support of local candidates Jex Parkin and John Lambert.
Sean Keatley is part of the Raise the Colours group in Kingstanding, who have been responsible for installing unauthorised Union Flags and St George’s Cross flags around Kingstanding Circle and across the B44 postcode – garnering mixed responses from local residents and stakeholders.
Growing up locally, Keatley says he has wondered at the absence of a monument to Charles, given the area’s name. The statue would be a worthy replacement, he adds, for the extensive display of flags which are eventually taken down by council workers and anti-flagging campaigners.
Fellow Raise the Colours member, Chris Davis, says: “Having something a lot more permanent would be a lot more fulfilling.”
Birmingham voters will head to the polling stations on Thursday 7 May to elect local councillors in all the 69 wards throughout the city.
To find out who is standing in the Council elections across the Erdington constituency, click here.
NEWS: Kingstanding gets its lifesaving first bleed control kit on the Hawthorn
Words by Adam Smith / Pics by Ed King
The first bleed control kit has been installed in Kingstanding to save lives if stabbings and shootings continue to happen in the area.
The Grapevine off licence, Hawthorn Road, now has the medical equipment needed to stop bleeding immediately if someone gets injured nearby.
After a wave in deaths in inner city Birmingham, Bishop Desmond Jaddoo from Yes2Life put the kits in Lozells, Aston, and Handsworth – and has now set his sights on Kingstanding and Erdington.
He told Erdington Local: “We have wanted to get a bleed control kit in Kingstanding for a while.
“The recent spark in violence has made it essential, it is about being prepared, just in case, many times things happen and we do not know what to do.
“We started in Lozells, Handsworth and Newtown but our target has been North Birmingham, Kingstanding, Erdington, Oscott etc.”
He added: “We want to get bleed control kits in these areas but also provide training too, however, due to COVID training sessions have been hampered.
“When there was a shooting in Great Hampton Street, Hockley, a woman got a bleed kit and saved his life, she had not had training but had seen some of our Facebook videos, so we are looking to produce more training videos.
“The violence has not stopped because of COVID, in fact it has gone up.”
The bleed control kit includes items such as a tourniquet, bandages, and a foil blanket, and has been created with the help of Bunzl Healthcare, Purple Pharma, and Blue Kit Medical.
Bishop Jaddoo is delighted to have got a lifesaving foothold in Kingstanding.
He said: “This is the first bleed control kit in Kingstanding, we would have been in Kingstanding before but we are not funded. We have to fund these ourselves, so every time we get some donations we install more kits.
“Our aim is to get bleed control kits on the College Road, Witton Lodge, Kingstanding Circle, here on the Hawthorn and up Kingstanding Road.
“What we try to do is cover an area completely with kits and educate people how they can be used and then move on, we will go to Erdington next. But as we are not funded we need to build it slowly.
“When people talk about issues proportionality, poverty and violence, a lot of people think because Kingstanding is in North Birmingham, which is seen as more affluent than inner city Birmingham. it’s OK but there is a lot of social housing in this area, and with that there is a lot of working class white people, and they are totally forgotten about and that is so wrong.
“We need to think how society rates us, they lump in the black and Asian communities in with the working class communities. So, we have to class ourselves as one group.”
He added: “We picked The Grapevine because the shopkeeper understands the importance of bleed control kits and why they need to be in the community.
“If someone is hurt, and we are not just talking about stabbings and shootings, if there is a car crash, the kit is for the zero responder, the person who sees the incident and can help immediately before the emergency services get there. These kits have tourniquets and bleed pressure bandages, those first minutes are vital.”
Owner of The Grapevine off licence on Hawthorn Road, Paul Bradford, wanted to have a bleed control kit in his shop to foster a sense of community in Kingstanding.
He said: “I have followed the work (Bishop) Desmond has done over the years and he told me how these bleed control kits can save lives so I wanted to get involved.
“It is not just about the rising crime; we witnessed a really bad car crash outside the shop not long ago and we could have really done with a bleed control kit to help those injured.
“If something happens on the Hawthorn we will be prepared, and anything can happen, we are a community on the Hawthorn. There is a defibrillator in the Co-op as well in case anyone has a heart attack, we are all in this together.
“I’m glad that The Grapevine is the first of hopefully many businesses in Kingstanding to have a bleed control kit, I wish there was no need for them but there is.”
Bishop Desmond Jaddoo – outside The Grapevine off licence on Hawthon Road, Kingstanding
For more on Yes2Life, including the work they do challenging knife and gun crime, visit www.yes2life.co.uk
For more information about Bishop Desmond Jaddoo visit www.desjaddoo.org.uk