St Pat’s At The Point
Birmingham Pipes and Drums Band with West Midlands Police Pipe Band at last year’s parade
This year's Birmingham St Patrick's Day Parade will once again take its route through Digbeth and Deritend and will conclude with a concert at Millennium Point. Following the success of other celebrations at Millennium Point such as Christmas Light Switch on and New Year, organisers of the Festival are to use Millennium Square for the finale of the 10th anniversary celebrations. All the main emergency services believe the square at Millennium Point to be a safe, easily accessible venue that can entertain large numbers of people. Located adjacent to Digbeth and Deritend it is the ideal location for family entertainment, keeping families close to the traditional heartland of the Irish in Birmingham and the festivities on the Sunday. Laura Grigg; Director of Birmingham St Patrick's Festival said; "Following the usual lively celebrations on the Friday and Saturday in Digbeth and the City Centre, the Parade on Festival Sunday will still take its traditional route through Digbeth before ending in Millennium Point. This will enable us to celebrate with a concert, marching bands and dancers all afternoon. We will also have our usual funfair and stalls. We want this to be a great party to mark the 10th anniversary of the St Patrick's Day celebrations." "However, the 10th Festival could be the last if we cannot secure funding for the future. Each year we start with a blank sheet and have to raise the money from scratch. The Festival Committee have well-thought plans for the sustainability of the Festival, an event which includes Britain's best-attended Parade, but these plans cannot be achieved without co-operation." The Festival begins on Friday 11th March with the launch at the Paragon Hotel, a lively celebration of Irish music and dance in the City Centre on Saturday 12th March, with the culmination of the St Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday 13th March. This year's souvenir brochure will be a celebration of the last 10 years and we would love to hear from anyone with stories or pictures of their favourite event . Please send to Birmingham St Patrick's Festival, Cara House, 12 Birchall Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B12 ORP or email to stpatricksfestival@hotmail.com More details on this year's celebrations and how to secure your free copy of the souvenir brochure in the next issue of the Harp.

For the first time Millennium Point will be the final destination
for the parade, where there will be a concert and dancers
all afternoon, with fun fair and stalls