09/10/2023
For Mickey Ramone Coyle on what would have been his 60th Birthday.
If anybody caught the article in I Choose Birmingham a few years ago then they will know that when I first started this project almost 10 years ago, it was generally a tale of being told to f**k off constantly by random strangers.
Birmingham was undergoing some pretty drastic architectural changes at the time and I was out trying to get portraits of Brummies and document their opinions on the city and the changes it was going through. It was absolutely roasting that day and people were mostly too busy to stop and take part. I was getting fobbed off all over the oche. I was beginning to lose faith in what I was doing and starting to question why I was doing it. I was about to down tools and hit the pub for the rest of the day until I clocked an old familiar face coming towards me. I ran into Mickey by the old library. We said hello and had a fag. Mickey asked what I had been up to and I told him about the project. Straight away he took an interest so I asked him if he fancied taking part. His answer was ‘yeh man, f**k it’ We did the portrait on the spot and then he leaned against the wall of the Town Hall and proudly wrote down what he thought about Birmingham. He was a proper Brummie. Proud as punch. He seen the absolute best in the city and the people that made it. We said our goodbyes and that was that.
Cool heads and friendly faces like Mickeys will always be a huge part of what makes Birmingham the brilliant city that it is. The memory of the people of Birmingham will remain with us far longer than the bricks and mortar that surround us.
Happy Birthday man x
