Saturday Fun at Bert and Gert’s
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| Hattie & Michele McInerney, Jason Wilkes, Kevin McInernery, Mark Wilkes |
Jason Wilkes wants people to have fun, he says. And that’s
certainly what they do at Bert and Gert’s market, which is here at The Square on
the first Saturday of every month.
Jason has put his heart and soul into organising the urban
and vintage market. And the atmosphere is buzzing with around 25 stalls selling
everything from hand-made cards to sports jackets.
‘There is a very big
community of arts and crafts and vintage in Birmingham and people are looking
for the opportunity to sell their wares,’ says Jason who was lived in
Birmingham all his life.
One of his stallholders knits handmade bags and lines them
with fabrics; another grows her own peppers and makes pepper sauces. There are
vintage clothes and jewellery and handmade funky frocks too.
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| Hattie McInerney |
Hattie McInerney is 15 and has a stall at Bert and Gert’s to
raise money for a World Challenge expedition to Madagascar next year. Hattie, a
pupil at King Edward V1 High School for Girls, has called her stall ‘Hattie’s
Emporium’ and is making her own jewellery.
Her mum Michelle helps her out by selling by selling vintage
bone china on a separate stall. Michelle, who works as a nurse at Queen
Elizabeth Hospital, spends her days off in charity shops or car boot sales
looking for stuff to sell.
As for Hattie, she has drawers full of beads and charms and
chains at home. ‘It’s doing really well,’
she says.
Jason loves buying from the stalls himself. There’s a
battered old suitcase that he is really proud of. His terraced home is full of
stuff he has bought at the market or stuff he is making. He has his own stall
selling cards, jewellery, framed photographs and more.
‘When I’m looking for presents I like to
look for something different, something that some thought has gone into,’
he says.
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| Mark and Jason Wilkes |
The name of the market comes from Jason’s family. Bert was
his granddad on his dad’s side and Gert was his nan on his mum’s side of the
family. It’s a real family business with Jason’s brother Mark now about to join
him as business partner.
Jason has been running markets at The Square since last
August and he says that people come back month after month. ‘They like what we are doing and they come and find us.’ he says.
