Personal highlights were the 100 kids who performed Rosie Kay's Big Dance piece – twice – and the amazing Soweto Kinch who created a freestyle rap on the subject of those major anniversaries and incorporated suggestions for words and phrases from the audience.
And then as it got darker, major monuments of Coalbrookdale started to shine out – amazing lighting designs were projected across the site - on the viaduct, the buildings the iconic iron bridge itself. The effects were beautiful, and the show culminated in fireworks and celebration as Beijing Cycling Gold medallist Paul Manning (who grew up in Staffordshire) raised the 2012 flag to rapturous applause.
But that was just the start…I started Saturday at Much Wenlock, one of many places holding storytelling events across the country. This story was the story of William Penny Brookes' life, in the town where he was lived. It was particularly poignant to find myself standing next to his grave, reading the news of his death, and then that the first Modern Olympic Games happened in Athens just six months later.
The region has responded so imaginatively to Open Weekend - and organisations like Natural England in this region really got behind the whole concept. On Saturday afternoon they 'opened up' two rare natural habitats in a way which they aren't normally open to the public. I joined the walk around Aqualate Mere – the Midlands' largest natural lake - on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border. Our guide, Tim Coleshaw, explained how the lake was created, the key features of the landscape, plans for preserving it, archaeological details and the birdlife. We walked across a part of the deer park which hadn't been open to the public for twenty years! It was fascinating. A perfect afternoon – the light, the landscape and the privilege of our guide's enthusiasm and being able to see things most people never get to see.
The day ended in West Bromwich with Black Country Touring and Foursight Theatre's 'Corner Shop'. The reception beforehand included speeches by Mick Elliott, Director of Culture for DCMS, Sally Luton, Arts Council regional director and Kate Organ, chair of BCT's board. The show is amazing (it's on until 4 October so there's still time to see it) – exploring the heritage of a range of Black Country corner shops over the decades. The audience moves round the space – set in a disused shopping centre – hearing about the different people who have run the shops and their cultural heritage. It culminates in an amazing scene where half the audience witness what happens in a shop at the same time as the other half were 'backstage' seeing what was going on in the living room behind. Amazing timing, performances, humour.
Sunday started with Ed Vaizey MP, the shadow Minister for Culture, visiting an open air photography exhibition in the centre of Birmingham – called 'The Knight of the Camera', drawn from the Sir Benjamin Stone collections of Birmingham Central Library. Pete James, curator of the exhibition and keeper of the amazing photography collection at Birmingham Library, Neil Rami and colleagues from Marketing Birmingham, Cllr Chris Saint of the WM 2012 Leadership Group and Steve Mannix of London 2012's culture team gathered to show Ed round the show and explain both what Birmingham wanted to do by viewing the 'city as gallery' and what the Cultural Olympiad meant for the West Midlands.
Steve Mannix and I then went to see Stan's Café's show 'Of All the People in All the World' in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter – or the 'rice show' as it's also known. 6.7 billion grains of rice represent the 6.7 billion people on the planet subdivided to represent a range of population statistics. This show has been seen in different guises in 30 countries already – but this is the biggest manifestation of the show to date. It's beautiful, startling, funny and slightly scary by turns.
The day ended with another visit to Corner Shop in West Brom. This time a performance with a special look 'behind the scenes' in honour of the Open Weekend. It was even funnier and more moving the second time around. And I even got to 'play' Sylvester Stallone….
Overall I got the sense of a very wide range of activity across the region, representing the broader cultural sector, and engaging with a very wide range of people – including children and young people, people who wouldn’t normally participate in cultural activity and people using the weekend to explore their environment. Well done to the 40+ organisations who took part, and thanks for all their hard work. It was a great start to our 4 year journey.
