Martin and his family came to England with his six siblings in the 50’s and he went to Prince Albert Primary School which is not far from Villa Park. When his mother first saw the house they were to live in she thought it was a factory. It took two months before he and his family fully understood the brummie accent. His father was a Baptist Lay preacher so Martin and his family were often in church. Later on a further three siblings were born.

He worked in a greengrocer shop after school to earn some money. It is here that he learned how good he was with numbers and calculations. When he finished school, he joined an apprenticeship and went to night school to further improve his qualifications. He then went on to teacher training college where he wanted to be
a technical teacher but ended up
teaching Maths.

In response to some of the struggles of the time, Martin along with others was a founder member of the Afro Caribbean Resource Centre (ACRC) in Winson Green, which started life in one room. It was like a Black Citizens Advice Centre helping people with problems in employment, education, immigration, etc. They also started to train people in how to broadcast. Bit by bit, the one room grew into two rooms and a small shop building grew into a larger one by buying the shop next door and extending it and so on.

Martin had long had an interest in community radio and the authorities had started to talk about granting some licences to the community sector. Being a teacher, Martin was asked to lead the group seeking a licence for ACRC and in 1992 the Centre were granted a 28 day licence to broadcast. They called it City AM. This was an important seed in nurturing Black talent in the industry. The centre trained many broadcasters who are now working for the BBC and other established broadcasting companies in the UK and the Caribbean.

In 2003 after years of applying for funding and planning the ACRC was rebuilt and is now the Afro Caribbean Millennium Resource Centre that is an integrated, multi-use facility that delivers general welfare advice services and a specific employment resource service focused upon the Black and African-Caribbean community. It has also developed a specialism around the delivery of a Community Radio Training Programme and is the home of New Style Radio.

Martin is now the Chair of the Afro Caribbean Millennium Centre, which recently celebrated the launch of phase two of its building work opened by Sir Bill Morris of Handworth.

Comments (2) >>

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Eddy Best said:

Martin as an old friend, I am profoundly proud, but not at all surprised by your achievements. Please get in contact soon.

October 16, 2008

Elaine said:

Martin, well done and congratulations. What a spirit! You have that tenacity that we all need. God bless you. I do hope our children will learn from you.

October 16, 2006

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