Casey Bailey
As part of National Apprenticeship Week 2025, we held a one-year anniversary event for Xcelerate with Edgbaston.
The occasion featured a series of inspiring talks, providing guests with opportunities to network and learn from industry experts. We were privileged to host poet, Casey Bailey, who was Birmingham poet laureate 2020/22. He recited a special poem he had written in honour of the anniversary, to our guests.
The poem called What A Difference, perfectly brought to life our ambitions for Xcelerate with Edgbaston and the impact on people and the local communities.
To watch to full poem read by Casey, .
What a difference a day makes; 24 hours can change a life,
So let鈥檚 reflect on what can happen in 365.
You can convince hundreds they can grow, flourish, and thrive,
And provide them with a space where their dreams can come alive.
You can grow the individual; serve a whole community.
You can鈥檛 just give qualifications, but you can give opportunities.
Show that if you work and believe in yourself truthfully,
That鈥檚 great, and great is really something you can truly be.
From the insecurity of absence and the worry that you feel,
Knowing you don鈥檛 know how one day you will pay the bills,
To bringing heat to the kitchen, not believing that it鈥檚 real,
That you have talent and qualifications in culinary skills.
Here鈥檚 where we build, but you don鈥檛 need a hammer or a drill,
Where we don鈥檛 sink, we swim like we鈥檙e equipped with fi ns and gills.
It鈥檚 surprising, realising you鈥檙e not battling uphill,
But still, you鈥檙e rising by the temperature of what you鈥檙e searing on the grill.
And let鈥檚 be real, it鈥檚 not only in the kitchen you鈥檒l find stars.
Some people shine over the stove; some people shine behind the bar,
Where the warmth comes from a smile and being proud of who you are,
Because who you were took a leap, and it鈥檚 taken you this far.
Forget the person that you鈥檝e always been, and look to who you might be,
After you learn about procurement or do an apprenticeship in IT,
Make business, your business, and set your vision to the sky,
Or maybe find out that Learning HR is what makes your heart race,
These are the people who find love in learning what you鈥檙e living,
This is the space that told them they could earn while they were giving,
Made connections, made the courses, now they truly make a difference.
At Xcelerate, people elevate the gifts they have been given,
From excuses why you can鈥檛 go,
To moving like you're cargo.
Here鈥檚 a secret: these baristas
Make more than Americanos.
They make confidence and self-esteem,
Self-respect and bigger dreams,
Before refreshing drinks and fine cuisine.
See inside yourself, what you鈥檝e never seen.
At the edge to Edgbaston,
Same old story to new chapters.
In these lives, Xcelerate sits
Between before and after.
A catalyst for change,
Vehicle for the driven.
After 12 months,
How many stories are already rewritten?
This is the start; how far this thing can reach, nobody knows.
But at the start, the ability to accelerate matters most.
And so many are racing while on their path to greatness.
Some who thought they鈥檇 just jog through now look like they鈥檙e racers.
We are nowhere near the finish; the end cannot be seen,
But every day another milestone, success that鈥檚 been achieved.
Moving forward, straighten out your demons while you demonstrate.
This year we鈥檙e living, and it feels like we鈥檙e dead if we don鈥檛 dedicate.
Learning and rising because the best way to elevate is to educate.
Another year where we will see Xcelerate accelerate.