Chris was born on the 17^th of August 1960 in Birmingham and is the youngest of three children. Since his childhood Chris loved to draw on whatever space he had in sight. As a young teenager he was strongly encouraged by his friends to display his work at science fiction and fantasy conventions it the local science fiction bookshop, where he made his first sales.

After he graduated from Bournville School of Arts Chris went on to become one of the most well-known illustrators. He has gained experience working as an Art Director, Graphic Artist, Production Designer, Scenic Artist and Storyboard Artist.

His adaptations and covers for the British and German versions of three of the Redwall fantasy novels (Marlfox, The Legend of Luke, Lord Brocktree) have made him popular among his peers and a sought-after artist. He proceeded to work on the series during the creation of the Redwall animations in the position of a character design consultant.

Chris’ name is often associated with Tim Burton and Stanley Kubrick, two of America’s greatest filmmakers. As Chris himself confesses, his work has always been influenced by film. After Kubrick’s assistant Tony Frewin showed his boss a copy of a graphic novel called Legend, which Chris had illustrated, the producer asked him to join the team for A. I. Artificial Intelligence as a storyboard artist.

Storyboards are crucial for films which rely heavily on special effects since that is the only way to estimate the eventual cost of the shots and how they will be produced. Chris started off on a trial period for 6 weeks but ended up staying with the crew for almost 2 and a half years. At the same time the artist participated in the producing of designs and concepts for another of Kubrick’s films -  Eyes Wide Shut.

Chris continued working on the A.I. project with Steven Spielberg after the director took over following Kubrick’s death. Spielberg was so pleased with Chris’ work that he hired him for War of the Worlds and then later again for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Chris has also been an integral part of the Art Department for a number of Tim Burton’s films – Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride (where he took care of the conceptual design). He was also one of the illustrators for Alice in Wonderland.

Currently Chris is a concept artist for the up-coming sci-fi thriller Gravity directed by Alfonso Cuarón which will star George Clooney and Sandra Bullock in the leading roles.

For the future Chris plans to further develop his skills in 3D animation and become more involved in art direction and production design.

To see Christopher Baker’s work visit his website.

It was reported earlier this year that a £3.7m loan was to be used to convert the derelict baths into a community centre. Early designs even included a new ‘cinema‘.

Writing on the local Conservative website, Cllr Rob Sealey claims that: “the first major action taken by the leader of the Labour group Sir Albert Bore as leader of the City of Birmingham has been to instruct the Chief Executive to cancel the contract for the funding of the regeneration of the former Stirchley baths building into a new community centre for Stirchley.”

The baths were due to renovated with a city council loan, supported by funds from Tesco as part of the supermarket chain’s deal to buy land for a new store in Stirchley that would sit on the site of the current community centre and indoor bowls centre. The loan was to ensure that the renovation got underway as soon as possible and a funding bid to the National Lottery was due to be submitted in June this year.

However, a recent court judgement has thrown light on the the process being followed to secure the renovation of the baths. It reveals that Tesco will be under no obligation to move the community centre from its existing site. A statement from the council’s Business Centre manager said: “There is no question of these works being undertaken or commissioned by Tesco.”

Instead, the council intended to utilise the funds from the sale of the existing community centre as part-funding to support the re-development of the baths. As part of the tendering process for the sale of the land for the new supermarket site the council demanded a 50% deposit up front.

The court judgement says: “By obtaining a 50% deposit, the Council could start work on the Bournville Lane Baths refurbishment, in order to provide a new community centre there as soon as possible; which, in turn, would ensure that the Council could deliver vacant possession of the Site.”

Although the court case is resolved, Tesco will have to restart the process of compulsorily purchasing the remaining land, thus delaying any potential start date for the redevelopment.

A meeting of Stirchley Neighbourhood Forum is due to take place on Monday 14th May at 7:30pm with local councillors, including newly elected Labour councillor Phil Walkling, expected to attend. The subject of the baths and their redevelopment is due to be discussed.

Local resident Matthew Somerville has published an excellent set of links and excerpts covering the story of the recent council and legal decision surrounding the redevelopment.

Green Flag Volunteers Needed – 15th & 16th May – 6-8pm
Can you give an hour or two to help get the park looking it’s best before the judging?  Just turn up at the shed and a job will be found for you to do.

Jubilee Big Lunch Picnic – Sunday 3rd June
Whether you are a royalist or a republican it’s just a great excuse for a picnic with your friends and neighbours.  Bring lunch for your friends & family and the park will provide bunting & games equipment.  We will also be planting our jubilee tree – the partner of the tree planted in 1937 for George VI’s Coronation. http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/jubilee-woods/about/Pages/royal-record.aspx#.T65zAeumjTo

Planning Meeting – May 23rd 7pm – In the Orchard
Hoping that the good weather continues the next meeting will be in the Orchard.  On the agenda – Jubilee Plans, CoCoMAD & CoCoCamp

CoCoCamp – Yes or No?
If you are interested in coming to CoCoCamp please take a minute or 2 to complete this questionnaire – http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CoCoCamp2012

CoCoMAD – 7th July
The line up for the Main Stage has been finalised and lots of the food and stalls have been booked – if you want to know more check out the website, facebook and twitter.  If you want to volunteer on the day please get in touch.

Bournville Police are looking for witnesses to an incident in Cotteridge Park.
At approx 12.30hrs Thursday 3rd May two dog walkers got into an argument resulting in one of them allegedly assaulting the other. The offender is described as a white male, 35-40 yrs, 6′ tall, slim build,wearing blue jeans and a dark beanie hat. His dog is described as a large fluffy alsation. The other dog walker had two staffordshire bull terriers. If anyone saw this incident please ring 101 and quote crime number BS/74264J/12

Birmingham Open Spaces Forum – Annual Meeting – Saturday 26th May at Cannon Hill Park
Get together for all of Birmingham’s “friends of parks” groups.  It’s free to attend and is all about meeting and sharing experiences with other groups looking after Birmingham’s parks and open spaces.  If you would like to go along please see the attached information.

This year the available funding has been increased to £16,000. There is £8,000 to match fund a Bournville social enterprise and £8,000 for smaller awards to local community projects. The criteria for both awards are simple: the project must run in a Bournville Village Trust managed area or benefit some Trust residents.

Closing dates for bids is 28th May 2012.

Residents will also be able to find out more about the successful bids and vote in person at Bournville Village Trust’s OpenView Fun Day, at Bournville Festival on Saturday 30th June.

Vision 2012 voting will close on Friday 31st August and the winners will be notified and presented with their funds at an event provisionally planned for September.

You can submit your idea online at: https://openview.bvt.org.uk/vision

At 1.27am the result for Bournville ward was discovered, a steal for Labour candidate Phil Walkling from the Conservatives. Other gains for Labour in wards previously held by Conservatives representatives included the Billesley and Harborne wards.

A close call was encountered in the Weoley ward where Conservatives held onto their position, beating labour by a small majority of merely two votes.

One question on everybody’s lips has been, are the results for the 3rd of May local elections a sign of things to come for the government? Could the change from blue to red be a recurring theme in the next general election? Only time will tell, however the future is looking positive for Labour across Birmingham.

The full results for Bournville are:

Phil WALKLING – Labour – 3185
Nigel DAWKINS – Conservative – 2878
Joe ROONEY – Green Party – 417
Tim STIMPSON – Liberal Democrats – 272
Lynne HABERMACHER – Communities Against the Cuts – 256
Allen DARREN – BNP – 188

Buses will run at less frequency than the regular train service with between two and four services an hour on Saturday.

Saturday’s altered timetable (PDF).
Sunday’s altered timetable (PDF).
Monday’s altered timetable (PDF).

“After the storming success of our first event last year, our brilliant Bank Holiday Market Day returns on Monday 7th May.

“With a vintage and craft fayre in our main hall selling some beautiful home-made crafts including jewellery, cards, household decorations and much more. As well as a unique and special mix of Vintage clothing, jewellery, accessories and home-ware.

“Outside in our grounds we have the return of our delicious farmers market bringing you all the best local produce including fruit, breads, cake, honey and chutney’s and plenty more scrumptious treats for you to buy.

“As if that wasn’t enough we have our giant inflatables and other children’s activities so that it’s a full day out for you and the rest of the family.

“And who can forget our fantastic Community Cafe that will be open all day serving some refreshing drinks, home-made sandwiches and don’t forget, our mouthwatering home-baked cakes! Don’t miss out, last year was amazing and this one will be even better!”

The Pavilion (map) is a 15 minute walk from Bournville station or a shorter walk from the number 11 bus route.

The full dates for the rest of this year are:

• Vintage and craft fayre with farmers market and children’s activities, 7th May 10-4pm  May Day Bank Holiday
• Vintage and craft fayre with farmers market and children’s activities, 27th August 10-4pm  Bank Holiday
• Vintage and craft fayre, 17th November 11-3pm

The full marathon was cancelled due to the conditions but in the video below winner Orlando says he just ‘went for it’.

Rugby

After the tough game against Walsall which ended 44-27 for our local rugby team, Bournville R.F.C had to face another hard opponent – Whitchurch. All in all, Bournville finished their league season with a 4 try win against a dogged Whitchurch side who gave a good account of themselves from start to finish. Tries by Fede Salcedo, Adam Coniff, Nick Southern and Dan Barratt secured the points.

A good winning run by B.R.F.C which should have prepared them for the playoffs.

Running

A quick reminded that there are still three days left in which you can register for the beginner’s course of Bournville Harriers.

At a total cost of £20 the course will be held each Monday and Thursday evening, between 6:30 – 7:30 for 6 weeks, finishing on Thursday, 21st June. Registration closes on 27th April and you can onlybook online here:

http://bournvilleharriers.org.uk/beginners-course-2012-entry-form/

More information – Here

Football

Cadbury Athletics Reserves suffered a second consecutive lost after a dramatic away match against Coleshill Town Reserves.

Even with a slightly depleted squad CAR started the game well. Arran Pedley, Steve Thorn and Jon Slater controlled the ball very well and played some neat 1-2 passing football.

Cadbury have taken the lead by a half volley from Jon Slater, but the home team managed to get back into the game very fast and both teams went in at half time 1-2.

Coleshill scored another one in the beginning of the second half but Cadbury Athletics pushed on from this and started to get back into the game – Nesbitt tapped it in for a corner.

The game was pretty even at this point. However, Cabury failed to clear their line and a cross from the winger found the smallest player on the pitch (and possibly the league) who headed it in unmarked to make it 4-2. The guests did not give up and got back into the game with around 15 left when Reid lobbed the oncoming keeper.

At this point it seemed as if Cadbury can still take something from the game, but Coleshill scored a fifth goal, which ended the drama.

Cricket

Bournville Cricket Club has four more days to prepare for the season. After a lost by 41 runs (148-107) suffered from Uxbridge on a friendly, two games against Five Ways OE and Four Oaks Saints were abondened.

This Saturday our local cricket club is playing a game away from home against Neither Whitacre – Their first game for this season’s Saturday League.

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