We're so proud of the vibrant, creative community of Middlesbrough who are coming up with some brilliant ways to support City Status for Middlesbrough!
As part of Middlesbrough's bid for city status and the centenary celebrations for the Transporter Bridge, local artist Eamonn McGovern is doing a series of paintings that celebrate what makes Middlesbrough great.
Email him with your suggestions for what would make a great Boro painting!
More information on Eamonn McGovern Arts - News
Best of Boro Paintings at Middlesbrough Railway Station
View photos from the Launch event
Flava - Fresh about the Boro
Fresh About The Boro is by rap artist Flava. Fresh About the Boro shows Flava's support for Middlesbrough's bid for city status! Flava is a Teesside University student and now lives in Middlesbrough. He couldn't believe Middlesbrough was not already a city!
Download: Flava - Fresh about the Boro MP3
Flava on BBC Tees
Listen to Flava on BBC Tees (starts at about 1.13.30)
CITY! a song by James A. Gilman
James A. Gilman has submitted a song for Middlesbrough in support of its bid for city status! To the tune of the Colonel Bogey March.
CITY!
A song for Middlesbrough
in support of its bid
to the tune of
'Colonel Bogey'
First section
CITY!
We aim to lead those bids!
CITY!
We're in this for our kids!
Rate us,
Then raise our
Status,
For Middles-borough
Is thorough-
Ly proud of its heritage. Our
Future
Is resting on your choice.
Grant us,
And watch us all rejoice!
Support us
And you'll transport us
Into a brighter,
Delighter
MI - DDLES - BROUGH!
Second section
tune of Colonel Bogey continues
Third section (repeat of first section)
CITY!
We aim to lead those bids!
CITY!
We're in this for our kids!
Rate us,
Then raise our
Status,
For Middles-borough
Is thorough-
Ly proud of its heritage. Our
Future
Is resting on your choice.
Grant us,
And watch us all rejoice!
Support us
And you'll transport us
Into a brighter,
Delighter
MI - DDLES - BROUGH!
copyright James A Gilman, March 2011.
This gorgeous cake was brought out at a community event in support of City Status for Middlesbrough!
This homemade cake was baked for the most recent Boro tweetup. Our logo was recreated with red and blue M+Ms!
The Boro tweetup takes place once a month on the first Friday of every month. It is a relaxed get-together for people in the area who enjoy being part of the local twitter community.
Bob Beagrie and Andy Willoughby, poets, respond to City Status
When The Infant Hercules Comes of Age
(Citius, Altius, Fortius)
When awe-struck Gladstone spotted him
Through Empire’s smoke & fire, Behold!
He said, the hero of the coming age!
This infant Hercules born again on river banks
In the land ‘tween cliffs, Domesday’s terra wastea.
But from what is he made? The Great Orator asked.
The booming infant reaches from his cradle
Burly arms like bridges span the boiling Tees
Shakes the slither of life from snakes
Sent to strangle him at birth, hissing viciously
‘Thou shalt not be! Thou shalt not be!’
Those serpents of Self Doubt and Temptation
Known to those who dare to be a hero.
He flings one wide across the hills
Where it rolls into the Trustee Drift
Where shed skin whistles in the wind
‘You’ll never make it son! Outside this ring of iron!’
The other falls from chubby, clanking grip
Into the muddy water of the Tees
Where the bubbles sing the song of
‘Drink this my son, forget it all.
Pop a few of these, lets have a ball!’
On this day when the flame is passed
From the Middle Kingdom to Blake’s Albion
To the Great Smoke in the South,
Still underpinned by girders from our hills
We’ll answer Gladstone’s question
To find what we need to make us strong.
And silence those snakeskin voices
To find the heroes of a thousand faces
Still living on these thriving shores
Who know when you have given everything
You may still need to find a whole lot more,
To meet the daily sacrifice,
To travel beyond the end of Self,
To dig deeper for endurance,
Leave easy pleasures on the shelf.
To find the strength of mind
To rise before the dawn, still knowing
Without the Luck of the Gods
Triumph may never come.
To know that struggle itself is reward
And not the gold that it may bring,
To go faster, higher, stronger
For the sake of taking part
Not the victor’s bauble on a string.
So from what are we made?
Not just iron, steel, rail tracks, ships and chemicals,
Out of dreams and struggles from across the world
That drove the diaspora, built the booming baby
That will take us to the highest bar, the longest leap
To drive us on to breast the winning tape once more.
We are made of a pinch of spice from a Lascar’s pocket
A Cornish charm on the wrist of a miner’s wife
The scientific institute’s finest minds
The defiant roar from a Boro red riverside
The horsehair tip of Lowry’s brush tackling the old town hall
The innovation & chips of the digital city
Cartoons and games transformed into pixels
Proms in the Park and AV Festivals
A rousing tale of Finn McCool’s fight against the giants
The flowers to Our Lady from the Catholic parade
A straw dolly from the Broads to bless the harvest
A crescent moon and a hundred flags
Sakura trees donated by the Japanese
A Scots hammer and a Stevedore’s hook
The rhythm of a poem from a Rabbie Burns book
Jammed on in a slam in a poetry cabaret
David’s Star rescued from a pogrom, brought in on a train
A hungry Kerry song to keep the devil’s teeth at bay
A bhangra dance in flashing sari on modern Mela days
A recipe carried from Mirpur before the dam was built
A Kurdish shamshale and an African djembe
The tip of a Rhondda red dragon’s wing.
The adult Hercules draws strength from all these things.
Now the smoke has cleared and he will come of age
We will be! We will be!
Higher, faster, stronger.
Meet the future, write a new page!
Download: Poem
When The Infant Hercules Comes of Age
Rhymes from Yazzaboub Teessidespitter
A dream within a dream
Woke up in industry but we’re rising to begin anew
Digital education awards: we’ve had a win or two
Not stuck in time, the evidence shows to advance this placing
From Athena to MIMA showcasing Thorpe beside Francis Bacon
And sure, we’ve been a long time comatose
Went from less is more now we got more to boast
Major investments and influence: either onshore or boats
From the greatest steel to ever leave a windy Northern coast
Yes, and we’re talking about Middlehaven
To Boho, to Temenos
To the Riverside: RIP Bernie Slaven
Too much latenight entertainment to stay in
Headline acts
From the Empire to Arena
To the Town Hall that they play in
Vibrant bars scatter far coupled with the finest bite to eats
Because in Middlesbrough the days whisper, we use the night to speak
Personality is widespread throughout this gridded zone
So let’s merge as one body to carve this bid in stone
Bert Smith sings Jeff Stelling's famous rant
Dance tribute to Middlesbrough in honour of City Status
Featuring Linda Boninsegni, Maria Cassar, Neil Hainsworth, Tees Valley Dance and the people of Middlesbrough. Posted on Neil Orange PeelSubmitted via twitter