A campaigning daily has realised a five-year ambition after the Commonwealth Games launched on its patch.

The Birmingham Mail first called in 2017 for Birmingham to host the Games, and it is now celebrating after yesterday’s opening ceremony.

The Mail will devote 12 pages a day to coverage of the event – as well as special souvenir editions – while its Birmingham Live sister website will run live blogs every day with the latest sport and community news.

The Mail splashed on the launch of the Games yesterday, pictured below.

Editor Graeme Brown told HTFP: “The Birmingham Live team live and breathe this city, so we feel tremendously fortunate to be here at this historic time.

“The Birmingham Mail kicked this off – we were the first ones to call for the city to bid for the Games – and now it is here, we intend to be right at the heart of the celebrations.

“We will be covering inside and out all of the major days and nights at the Alexander Stadium, aquatics centre, NEC, Arena Central and more – and we’ll be bursting with pride as we do it.”

Birmingham Live is also running a companion podcast, Commonwealth Stories, to mark the occasion.

Graeme added: “Commonwealth Stories was all about asking the questions we felt weren’t being asked in the run-up to the games.

“The Commonwealth Games came to the youngest and most diverse city in Europe – we thought it was important to examine what the people of our city really thought about not just the Games but their relationship with England, the UK, the Commonwealth, and more.

“What came from it was typically diverse – a range of views, some anger, some love and some life-affirming stories.”