Birmingham's Discovery Day was an annual event where Brummies could look around parts of Birmingham normally closed off from the public. You could walk around the Council House, have a peek at Big Brum and gawk like a pleb at Symphony Hall.

Because there aren't that many things to see in Birmingham, the council would invite you to places that were free anyway, like the city centre library, St. Philip's Cathedral and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Discovery Day was at the height of summer, the hottest part of the year. This one time, we were standing outside the Council House, and I was overheated and dehydrated and berating my mom for bringing us here to this god-awful place when I could be at home playing Runescape and suddenly I began to lose consciousness. I almost fainted. My mom and some event helper made me sit down in the shade and have a drink of water. True story.

Prizes

Like Funhouse, there were prizes to be won. At each place you went to, you got a stamp, and if you collected enough stamps, you could win a prize. The best prize was a trip to Disneyland. However, you only had a chance of winning this if you visited all the places. There were around thirty places in total, which were always too many for me and my family to visit. I always thought we should have done it by bike, but my family always went on foot for some reason.

My family never won one of the prizes anyway. Probably the Mayor's relatives won them all.

Traces of Discovery Day on the Internet

Just now I googled "Birmingham Discovery Day". I found a BBC article from 2003:

Birmingham City Centre was the place to be on Sunday 17th August as it hosted its biggest and best Discovery Day to date. The city-wide annual free event drew huge crowds who enjoyed free entertainment, took part in the Discovery Day Prize Trail and looked behind the scenes at places such as The Hippodrome and the Council House. Throughout the fun-filled day, crowds climbed the Big Brum clock tower, took to the floor for Tea Dances at the ICC and got a chance to present the weather with the Midlands Today studio at the BBC's new public space at the Mailbox.

The article has photos too, which prove that Discovery Day really did exist and was not a product of my overactive imagination:

This is from some website called "latinmotion.com" in 2002:

The ICC has 11 main halls and they are giving us one (Hall 4 - An elegant conference setting and flexible exhibition space) of them to host a FREE Salsa Party on Sunday 18th August afternoon as part of Birmingham's Discovery Day. So come and enjoy a free drink and a dance in one of the UK's premier venues.

Here's how The Telegraph described the events at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery during 2002's Discovery Day:

Throughout August there will be storytelling events, adult and child-painting workshops and Birmingham Discovery Day on August 18.

There's also a mention of Discovery Day in an old article about The Mailbox:

BBC Birmingham's public space in The Mailbox has already attracted thousands of visitors since it opened its doors June 2003. In the future the space will also be used to host a range of special events including BBC's Children In Need, Archers evenings, book signings, Birmingham's Discovery Day, and smaller events with educational and community groups. Watch out for forthcoming events for 2004.

Family photos

Here's a photo of me and my siblings in the Council House:

Here we are being accosted by a scary clown:

That guy creeps me out. He looks like a poor man's Joker. I reckon he's not wearing make-up – that's just the normal complexion of his face. Ten years of heroin will do that do you. He'd probably try to sell you crack when your parents aren't looking.

We're carrying Centro carrier bags in the photos. Centro carrier bags were a big part of Discovery Day. They were one of the cornerstones, even. There was a Centro stand in Victoria Square where people would give you the bags. Then you'd have to carry your Centro bag around with you all day while complaining to your parents that you didn't want to carry the bag anymore. And inside the bag was just a bunch of crap anyway: a sticker of a bus, a bookmark and some leaflets about public transport. This was all a major and essential part of Birmingham Discovery Day.

Another thing I remember is that my dad used to do balloon modelling for Discovery Day. My mom was often angry at him because he spent a lot of time balloon modelling and not enough time with his kids. I remember her berating my dad in front of the other people in the Council House. My brother says he was making a balloon model at that moment.

What happened to Discovery Day?

It seems the last Discovery Day was held in 2004 or shortly after. I reckon the council couldn't be bothered to do any more. Nowadays if you want to see the inside of the Council House then you have to actually work there or be related to a rich person.

But at least for one day, everyone in Birmingham was equal. There were no rich people or poor people. Everyone had the right to set foot in the city's most prestigious buildings. It didn't matter if you were the poorest orphan or a rich descendant of George Cadbury. Maybe that's what Discovery Day was really all about: equality.

Or maybe it was about collecting crap carrier bags and stickers.