Over time Birmingham has been known by a variety of names originating from "Bermham" where, in Saxon times, Berm was the family name and ham meant "home".

Workplace of the world
By 1851 when Britain was producing nearly 50% of the world's manufactured goods, the greatest proportion of these were being made in Birmingham. Much-loved brands today and a wide range of food and drink was also produced in Birmingham including HP Sauce, Bird's Custard, Branston Pickle and Cadbury Chocolate.

Formerly enclosed by ring roads and concrete, Birmingham has, in the last 20 years undergone a period of momentous change with developments such as Brindleyplace and the Bullring. Now home to one million citizens from many cultures, Birmingham has been transformed into a city that is surprising, vibrant, appealing and exciting.

Host to G8 European summit
The International Convention Centre (ICC) which will host the BGS Spring Meeting on 15 - 17 April 2005 is one of the leading conference centres in Europe with advanced technology, comprehensive support facilities and the highest possible levels of service. Having hosted such important events as the G8 European summit, it has to be! Situated in the Centre of Birmingham with new squares, restaurants and nightclubs all recently developed around it, there is ample hotel accommodation within a few minutes walking distance, and in line with its modern entrepreneurial image, the city now has superb shopping facilities including the futuristic Selfridges store. Situated at the Heart of England, access to Birmingham by road, rail and air is extremely convenient from the rest of the UK and Europe.

Spring Meeting Programme
The Spring Meeting will start with a sponsored symposium on Wednesday evening. Throughout all of Thursday and Friday there will be two parallel sessions running concurrently, apart from the keynote lectures. This year there will be no Saturday session and so the Society's dinner will take place on Thursday evening. The format will be nearer to that of an Autumn meeting than previous Spring Meetings.

The Society's dinner will be held in the Banqueting Suite in the Council House situated in Victoria Square which is only ten minutes walk from the ICC. Built in the late 1870's it is a grade II listed building designed on the theme of a Venetian palace in classical Renaissance style. The dinner will be preceded by a reception hosted by the City Council in the adjacent Museum and Art Gallery.

Joseph Sheldon - the father of community geriatric medicine
The meeting will begin on the Thursday morning with the Sheldon lecture on the social medicine of old age in the 21st century. Dr Joseph Sheldon was a consultant physician at the Royal Hospital, Wolverhampton, who became one of the most distinguished figures in early geriatric medicine. In 1948 the Medical Sub Committee on the causes and results of ageing of the Nuffield Foundation published his report of an enquiry in Wolverhampton entitled, the Social Medicine of Old Age. He personally visited 477 older people in their homes over twenty one months and described their physical and mental health, functional ability and social circumstances, including for the first time, an analysis of those who fell. The Sheldon lecture will describe how things have changed in the fifty five years since that time, and will be given by Prof Shah Ibrahim from the University of Bristol. Joseph Sheldon published further on drop attacks and sway, and lectured on the role of older people in modern society. He was elected President of the International Association of Gerontology in 1954, the only President of the IAG from the UK. He advised within the West Midlands region on geriatric services and designed hospital accommodation for older patients. Many of these units are still in use within geriatric services in the region. It is said that he turned down a number of chairs of medicine as he did not wish to leave Wolverhampton and he was honoured by the town by being made an Honorary Freeman. However, it is for his early work on the social medicine of old age that he has been called the Father of Community Geriatric Medicine.

Educational Programme
The other keynote lectures will be given by Prof George Lewith from the Universities of Southampton and Westminster on Complementary Medicine in Chronic Disease Management, and by Prof Robert Howard of the Institute of Psychiatry on Can the brain reorganise itself to cope with Alzheimer's Disease? There will be clinical update lectures on oral malignancy, the MRC trial of assessment of management of older people, ethical issues of artificial feeding, and essential tremor. Multidisciplinary symposia will take place throughout the two days on the topics of neurorehabilitation, the dysvascular limb, the trials of intermediate care, heart failure (from evidence to practice), older people with mental illness in the general hospital, and asthma and pulmonary rehabilitation.

Parallel SIG sessions
There will also be sponsored breakfast symposia on Thursday and Friday mornings and two parallel sponsored symposia on the Thursday evening prior to the Society's Dinner. The SIG sessions will be organised by the Medical Ethics and Diabetes Groups.

BGS Birmingham Spring Meeting
Organising Committee

City Hospital, Birmingham
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust
Sandwell and Rowley Regis Hospitals