Community News

As animal welfare organisations across the country face greater demand on services than ever before, Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest canine welfare charity, has taken a unique approach to staffing its contact centre.

The Dogs Trust team has identified a number of dogs with a talent for communication and, from Monday, these skilled pooches will be answering calls in the charity’s contact centre. With record numbers of calls and emails being received by Dogs Trust, it is hoped that these talented pooches can add to the support already provided by the dedicated team of human call handlers.

Ramadan is a significant month for Muslims worldwide, including those in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia. Expats, visitors, and locals join together to experience the special atmosphere one can experience during this holy month.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Tourism worked hard to raise pilgrim capacity in Makkah and Madinah to meet the growing demand for accommodation during the Ramadan holy month. Leading to the Ramadan season, the Kingdom’s Tourism Minister, His Excellency Ahmed Al-Khatib, on his Twitter page, said that the ministry is planning to operate an additional 9,000 hotel rooms in Madinah before Ramadan.

After being absent from his mosque since the beginning of Ramadan, Mohammed Hafez al-Rahman joined the worshipers of the largest mosque in the British capital, the East London Mosque, through the Otr Elkalam show, one of the initiatives of the Saudi General Entertainment Authority, which has allowed distinguished talents in recitation and adhan to participate in the largest Quran and adhan competition in the world.

Pope Francis joked that he was still alive as he left hospital in Rome following a three-day stay - after being admitted to Gemelli Hospital with breathing difficulties, and later diagnosed with bronchitis. The Vatican said that he was responding to antibiotics and would be released, depending on test results.

Residents across the West Midlands are being offered the opportunity to put forward their ideas and solutions to help improve the natural environment, tackle climate change, and reach net zero.

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is setting up the Greener Together Citizens’ Panel to examine key environmental challenges such as how to continue to improve the quality of the air we breathe and our green spaces.

It’s September 2016, and family and friends are gathered to remember the amazing life of Chief Michael Christopher Onajirhevbe Ibru. A family member reads aloud a self-penned poem:

An Edgbaston Stadium employee who spent five weeks in Pakistan helping flood disaster victims has spoken of the devastation he witnessed and how he hopes to have played a small part on their road to recovery.

Abraham Khan – Edgbaston’s Head of Finance – visited some of the villages worst hit by last year's catastrophic flooding which cost 1,700 lives and left more than two million people homeless. He raised thousands of pounds for the relief effort through a combination of an online appeal and his own savings which he used to buy food, clothing and life-saving equipment.

Craig Cooper has been announced as Birmingham City Council’s new permanent Strategic Director of City Operations. The appointment marks a return to the city for Craig, who spearheaded the council’s role in the hugely successful Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, for which he was the authority’s Programme Director.

The Games were an amazing success for the city, with over five million visitors attracted to Birmingham during the unforgettable fortnight of the event, which projected the city to a global media audience, kickstarted an investment programme worth £700million+ for north west Birmingham and acted as the launchpad for a Golden Decade of Opportunity.

The people of Perry Barr are being given the chance to work with artists to create a mosaic for display at Perry Barr railway station.

Local people and community groups will be able to create mini masterpieces on tiles by pressing tools or items of their choosing into the clay. The soft tiles will then be processed and fired and finally carefully assembled to create a mosaic depicting a Perry Barr railway station sign.

Passengers planning on using the West Coast main line this Easter are being advised to travel either side of the bank holiday with major improvements to a railway junction in Watford closing Euston for four days. Network Rail is investing £10.8m to upgrade track and overhead lines on the West Coast South route to improve future journeys between London and Crewe. The main focus for engineers will be the final phase to overhaul Watford junction which first began three years ago. The £15m project has seen track and signalling systems remodelled so more trains can run on the route into the capital in future.

Rail passengers travelling on the Cross City line between Birmingham and Lichfield this Easter are being advised to check before they travel during major work to replace a railway bridge.

Network Rail is investing £4m to upgrade the structure which takes the Sutton Park freight line over the Cross City line in Sutton Coldfield. The essential work will keep freight moving across the Midlands and mean more reliable journeys for passengers on both important rail routes in future.

The English Cities Fund (ECF), the joint venture between nationwide placemaker, Muse, Legal & General, one of the UK’s leading financial services groups and major global investor, and Homes England, has signed a memorandum of understanding with City of Wolverhampton Council.

After joining forces on a Wolverhampton panel session at leading property forum MIPIM last week, ECF will work closely with the local authority to identify future regeneration opportunities.

Because many American Muslims trace their ancestry to other corners of the globe, Ramadan traditions in the United States are diverse. Immigrants often recall their first Ramadan in the United States as a time they learned new customs. 

Rizwan Jaka, born in Chicago and a member of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) in the Washington area, notes that many fellow congregants are immigrants or have an international heritage like his — he has roots in India, Pakistan and Mexico.

New research suggesting policies to address racism and improve diversity in UK newsrooms are failing, is to be launched at an event hosted by the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity at Birmingham City University and the Film & TV Charity.

The report, “Structural racism in UK newsrooms: Experiences of Black journalists”, researched and written by Dr Aida Al-Kaisy on behalf of the Ethical Journalism Network and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, will be launched at the Film & TV Charity’s London office on Monday 27 March 2023. 

UK government leaders have continued to appeal for relatives of one of the country's last Black veterans of World War II to come forward after he died alone and apparently childless.

Born in 1926 in Jamaica, Flight Sergeant Peter Brown was one of many who signed up for the British armed forces from the country's imperial territories. Aged only around 17, he trained in Canada and joined the Royal Air Force in September 1943, serving as a wireless operator and air gunner in Lancaster bombers, according to The Sun newspaper.

A major new TV and film studios in Birmingham is expected to create more than 700 jobs. Construction has started on Digbeth Loc. Studios, set up by Peaky Blinder's creator Steven Knight.

The site has been confirmed as the location for a new Peaky Blinder's movie, and is hoped to grow the local production industry. "It's going to change the nature of the opportunities for people in this city," Steven said.

Speaking at the Fazeley Street site's launch, the screenwriter said filming for the Peaky Blinders movie would start there soon, with a call for extras to be issued shortly. "All you need is a haircut - and a cap," he added.