What A Difference
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, visit Vimeo.
What a difference a day makes; 24 hours can change a life,
So let’s 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’t just give qualifications, but you can give opportunities.
Show that if you work and believe in yourself truthfully,
That’s great, and great is really something you can truly be.
From the insecurity of absence and the worry that you feel,
Knowing you don’t know how one day you will pay the bills,
To bringing heat to the kitchen, not believing that it’s real,
That you have talent and qualifications in culinary skills.
Here’s where we build, but you don’t need a hammer or a drill,
Where we don’t sink, we swim like we’re equipped with fi ns and gills.
It’s surprising, realising you’re not battling uphill,
But still, you’re rising by the temperature of what you’re searing on the grill.
And let’s be real, it’s not only in the kitchen you’ll 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’s taken you this far.
Forget the person that you’ve 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’re 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’t go,
To moving like you're cargo.
Here’s 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’ve 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’d just jog through now look like they’re racers.
We are nowhere near the finish; the end cannot be seen,
But every day another milestone, success that’s been achieved.
Moving forward, straighten out your demons while you demonstrate.
This year we’re living, and it feels like we’re dead if we don’t dedicate.
Learning and rising because the best way to elevate is to educate.
Another year where we will see Xcelerate accelerate.
