To mark a year since the Crooked House fire there was a special event at Himley Hall.
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00:00Just briefly, like I never thought I'd before
00:09Back in the place in which I belong
00:30This is the place in which I roam
00:41These are the people that I can't shoot down anymore
00:46But it's when you showed me the door
00:51This is the place in which I roam
00:56Like on this road I left before
01:01Back in the place in which I roam
01:25Thank you for coming today, we're looking forward to a great event
01:29and we've already had part of it, I was supposed to do this earlier
01:32and an opportunity to meet and chat with other people
01:36who feel as strongly as we do about the Crooked House
01:40It was slightly over a year ago when I found out that Marston's had sold the Crooked House
01:46as they described it to a private buyer for an alternative use
01:51The Crooked House had been there all my life
01:54and more than 200 years before I was born
01:57I never imagined that it wouldn't be there
02:00This idea of an alternative use worried me
02:03It was being talked about on Facebook and I joined in that conversation
02:08Between the ages of 16 and 19 I was on a youth opportunity programme
02:13working at a place called Wombourne Building Supplies
02:17and a lad called Andy Trotman was also doing the same thing
02:21I hadn't seen Andy for decades
02:24but we'd made contact again on Facebook and he asked me
02:27Why don't you set up a petition?
02:29and that was where all this started
02:32I did what he suggested and the numbers that signed it
02:35demonstrated how the world felt about the importance
02:39of us keeping the Crooked House as a club
02:42Stu Hall, another local, saw my petition and set up a Facebook group
02:47calling it the same as the petition, Save the Crooked House
02:51We couldn't have known how much more difficult it was going to get
02:55One week after I started the petition, around 5 or 6 days after the Facebook was started
03:01on the Saturday night the news came through that the Crooked House was on fire
03:06The next morning news stories showed us the burnt out shell of the building
03:11Just the walls were standing, absolutely devastating
03:16But this wasn't the first fire at the Crooked House and it had come back before
03:21However, on the Monday we heard that the Crooked House had been demolished
03:26and a video appeared showing that this was true
03:30Now the pub we loved so much was a pile of bricks
03:34The world was angry, not just the local people but people across the world
03:39I found myself talking to international TV and radio news programmes and newspapers
03:45My whole life changed, not because Andy Trotman said
03:50why don't you start a petition
03:53I'm sure that a campaign would have started anyway
03:56but it wouldn't have been this one
03:58Soon after that conversation on Facebook between Andy and me
04:02he had a nasty motorcycle accident for which he is still recovering
04:07I'm very happy that he's been able to come and make it here today
04:12and I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing him a speedy recovery
04:16Please would you all give Andy a round of applause for those few words
04:21which started some journey to where we are now
04:24This is Andy
04:27Thank you
04:32Stu Hall decided for various reasons that he needed to step aside
04:37and he trusted me enough to take over the admin of the Facebook group
04:41which has now grown to 38,000 members
04:44and which has appealed to the world's media who've watched what's been going on
04:48and approached us frequently to speak to us
04:51and keep everybody updated on what's happening
04:54Ian Sandal and Dave Shotton were already involved with the Facebook group
04:59I can see Dave. Dave Shotton, put your hand in the air, up by the gate there
05:05and where's Ian?
05:07Ian Sandal?
05:09He's outside I think
05:14They were with me at the start of the campaign
05:17and we worked hard together to build a team of people to manage this campaign
05:22Over the next few weeks we carefully selected new members of the team
05:26meticulously going through what they'd said on Facebook
05:29so that we knew that we'd got people who understood what was required
05:33to protect the reputation of the campaign
05:36Put your hands up as I say your names, they're all by the gate there
05:39Liz Shanley
05:41Linda Redmond
05:45Jackie Marsh isn't here today unfortunately
05:48John Hutchinson
05:51James Raybone who's the drone man who isn't able to be here
05:55His partner Laura Hawkins who's around somewhere there
06:00She's gone somewhere else
06:02Tony Chen who can't make it because unfortunately he's got Covid
06:06and Jennifer Allen all became involved
06:09and my wife Jacqueline Ariola in the red coat there with the phone
06:14who's also involved and accepted allies being taken over by this campaign
06:21as well as getting involved herself
06:23Others have also been involved and for different reasons stepped back
06:27including Stu Hall
06:29I want to thank every one of them for their fantastic contributions
06:33to what's been a massive undertaking
06:35Please give them all a big round of applause for their hard work so far
06:43As well as ordinary people we've been fortunate to have the support of some key people
06:48Marco Longhi who you've already heard from today
06:52was the MP for Dudley North and was involved from the start
06:55calling a public meeting to discuss what we could do
06:58and showing his willingness to get his hands dirty
07:02when contractors arrived on site and misunderstood where the public right of way was
07:07Marco's involvement led to me being able to build a good relationship with Putnam
07:11the contracting company
07:13and they were able to reassure us that they were only there to clear the site
07:17clean the bricks and store them
07:20It was agreed that those bricks would be locked in shipping containers
07:23and 25,000 of them remain there
07:26awaiting the time when they're needed for a rebuild
07:29Marco has continued to support us
07:32and started the process of getting a new heritage pubs law through Parliament
07:36before that came to a halt when a general election was called suddenly
07:40we truly hope to find a way for that to be resurrected
07:43Marco, as you've seen, is still with us despite the change in his political circumstances
07:49Andy Street, the West Midlands Mayor
07:52immediately stated that the crooked house should be rebuilt brick by brick
07:56as soon as he heard of the demolition
07:58he's also maintained his support since
08:00and we were very sad that he lost the mayoral election
08:03Sir Gavin Williamson was MP for South Staffs
08:06and he also offered his support
08:08to provide for the site to be recognised as an asset of community value or ACV
08:13and Mike Wood, who's here today standing next to Marco
08:17took on the newly established constituency of Kingsford and South Staffs
08:22winning that seat as Sir Gavin moved to a seat a little further north
08:27and as you can see, he's supporting us as well
08:30Sonia Kumar, the new MP for Dudley
08:33has expressed her support
08:35and said she'll attempt to find time to call here today
08:38between other commitments that she has
08:41on our visit to Parliament as guests of Marco
08:44a couple of months ago we were amazed by the number of MPs
08:47who pointed to our Save the Crooked House hoodies
08:50and put their thumbs up
08:52no matter what their political affiliation is
08:54politicians are in full support of this campaign
08:57even on the streets of London
08:59we had members of the public
09:01who saw our hoodies
09:03approaching us to ask how the campaign was going
09:06please give a round of applause
09:08for all the politicians and their support staff
09:10who've continued to support us with the campaign
09:16ExpressTheStar.com, we're here at Himley Hall today
09:20for the Save the Crooked House event
09:22one year on from, well, we all know what happened to it
09:27and Marco Longhi, you were the Dudley North MP at the time
09:31you were at the forefront of the campaign
09:33and you spoke passionately here today as well
09:36Yes, that's right Paul, thank you very much
09:38for coming along yourselves here today
09:41today is about marking a presence
09:43it's about making sure that everybody
09:46everybody understands that we're going nowhere
09:49there's a legal process that's been started
09:51nothing has changed
09:53when people can see very little happening
09:55they become a bit cynical sometimes
09:57they might feel, oh well, it's going nowhere
09:59oh, it'll never get rebuilt and all that
10:01nothing has changed
10:03the council have done some formidable work
10:05they've served the notice
10:06and the notice is legally enforceable
10:09so now that Mike has picked up the area
10:12Mike has picked up the area where the Crooked House stands
10:15and he's always had a very, very strong position
10:18for the whole of the pub industry
10:20and we've even spoken today about
10:22following up on some of the work I've done on heritage pubs
10:25making sure that this kind of thing never happens again
10:28he's reduced the risk of it happening
10:30and he said he's going to try and do his best in Parliament for that
10:34so I'm handing over to Mike from the Parliamentary side of things
10:37but I'm going nowhere as well
10:39I'm going to stick with these guys here
10:41with the team
10:42and make sure that we are keeping on top of things
10:45and holding everybody to account
10:46including Mike
10:47including Mike
10:48to make sure that everybody's shouting as loud as possible
10:51for the Crooked House
10:52for the community that it represents
10:54I'm Mike Brightwood, King's Whip for the South Staffordshire MP
10:58good to see people out here enjoying the afternoon as well
11:01some familiar faces from the campaign
11:03and some new ones as well
11:05yeah it's fantastic
11:06and obviously today is about
11:08firstly remembering everything that was lost
11:11when the Crooked House first closed
11:13and then caught fire this time last year
11:16it's about celebrating everything that's been achieved
11:19in the last year
11:20and then as Marco said
11:21it's about reminding the world
11:23why it's so important that the Crooked House
11:25is rebuilt on its original site
11:28and why we must all do everything we can to make that happen
11:31because it's more than just bricks and mortar
11:33as I said in my speech
11:34it's about people's dreams
11:36past and future dreams
11:38and we owe it to the community that comes forward
11:40our children and grandchildren
11:41that they have the same opportunity
11:43to forge their memories
11:45to forge their dreams of the future
11:47at the Crooked House
11:49like we all have that opportunity to do as well
11:51because it's about the community
11:53we are the black country
11:54and we're going nowhere
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