Better a year late than never
ALMOST A year to the day after the NUJ celebrated its centenary at its 2007 ADM in Birmingham, a plaque went up on the building that now occupies the site where the union’s inaugural meeting was held in 1907.
It has taken Chris Morley, the NUJ’s President last year and a long-time Birmingham branch activist, years to fulfil an ambition to have the site of the former Acorn Hotel permanently recorded. After negotiating with civic bodies and the owners of the present building, Imperial House — and after the makers had correct a literal that had appeared in the wording — the plaque was ready for mounting a year ago. Then there was a legal snag.
For the plaque to be guaranteed a permanent place required a licence binding future owners of the building. This took months to negotiate with the owners, Scottish Widows, and cost £587 (including VAT).
Eventually, on March 28, just one day short of the 101st anniversary of the gathering at the Acorn Hotel that brought the NUJ into being, Chris Morley, a fitter and a photographer turned up at Imperial house in Temple Street and the plaque went up.
Chris Morley, now the union’s full-time organiser for the north of England, said: “I’m just glad it’s finally up there. It does look good, mind.”