Tony Brett Young and his wife Cynthia moved from London seven years ago to Audley St George’s Place in the heart of Birmingham for family reasons. Tony worked as a radio and television journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation before moving to England in the 1970s where he continued in various media roles including a long stint as Australian Government spokesman at the country’s High Commission in London. In the story below, in his own words, Mr Brett-Young writes about the regular newsletter he produces for his Audley village neighbours.
Many years ago when I was a young trainee reporter my News Editor often told me: “Everyone has a story.” I’ve always remembered that sound advice and know from long experience, that there is a human-interest story in everyone.
I’ve often heard it said that people only seem to discover the interesting life stories of acquaintances at their funerals. “I wish I’d known that,” people say. “I’d love to have talked to them about it.”
I always considered myself something of a hack writer, producing thousands of stories, meeting constant deadlines, and usually not having time to delve too deeply. But I love writing, especially human-interest stories.
It was hard to stop when I retired, and moving to Audley St George’s Place in Edgbaston has provided the ideal opportunity to indulge myself. Here we joined a ready-made community, full of interesting people - retired judges, solicitors, teachers, architects, GPs, consultants, musicians, entrepreneurs, people with memories of the war, of fascinating postings abroad, or with interesting pastimes.
So that was the genesis of Audley St George’s News, launched over three years ago. It is published and distributed with the support of our Audley staff and recently reached its 75th issue.
I describe the ASGN as offering ‘informal bits and pieces from our Edgbaston community’. It carries a range of items about our neighbours, their travels, about local history, about village activities (we recently reported on a talk by a one of the Bletchley Park code breakers, Betty Webb aged 101), and a range of other topics.
From time to time we’ve also reported on achievements by members of our staff. There are some dedicated contributors and those who are happy just to be interviewed about their lives and experiences. Over the years we’ve had stories from more than 60 owners. Often the inspiration for items comes from casual conversations at Happy Hour, or on one of our regular village walks.
We’ve covered memories of wartime childhoods, of the late Queen’s Coronation, flights on Concorde, of interesting characters, of fascinating travel experiences, of lost local landmarks and of the history of our own Audley site (for 170 years it was the location of a school for deaf children).
On one occasion we carried a story about the BBC’s first Birmingham studios that stood just 150 metres from where our village now stands. That aroused memories in one of our owners who, as a young woman, had come up from London to perform there for a popular television programme.
And it’s that gentle prodding that so often stirs up memories of the past.
Audley St George’s News is not exactly a publication of record but on the basis of the positive feedback we receive we like to think it’s playing a positive role in the life of our village.
