Community News

Millions of households across the UK will benefit from a new £15 billion package of targeted government support to help with the rising cost of living, the Chancellor announced on May 26. The significant intervention includes a new, one-off £650 payment to more than 8 million low-income households on Universal Credit, Tax Credits, Pension Credit and legacy benefits, with separate one-off payments of £300 to pensioner households and £150 to individuals receiving disability benefits – groups who are most vulnerable to rising prices.

A soldier from Telford is on standby for a major part in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Birthday Parade, Trooping the Colour, in London on 2nd June.

Major Stewart Halliday, 52, will be among 1,500 soldiers and 250 horses from the Household Division who will parade in front of thousands of spectators in London, and millions globally watching on television.

The end-of-life charity Marie Curie is calling on people across Birmingham & Solihull to throw a Blooming Great Tea Party in June and July to help fund vital care and support for those living with a terminal illness, and their families.  

The charity’s fundraising appeal is a piece​ of cake – simply set a date to host a tea party and invite family, friends, or colleagues to tuck into a delectable treat and catch-up over a cuppa. 

A display, celebrating Birmingham’s status a Proud Host City for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, has earned the city council its tenth consecutive Gold Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show. Flowers grown at the council’s own nurseries and features linked to the Birmingham 2022 sporting competition and venues made up the eye-catching display, which has an interpretation of the official Games logo as its centerpiece.

One of the world’s most famous road interchanges - Spaghetti Junction - turns 50 and tributes have been paid to the iconic highways landmark. It’s 50 years since the distinctive junction, which is officially called Gravelly Hill Interchange, first opened to traffic.

The junction carries more than 200,000 vehicles each day and forms part of the M6 travelling through the West Midlands.

Birmingham City University’s Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity is carrying out new research to provide evidence aimed at lobbying the UK Government to introduce tax breaks that will encourage film and TV companies to put diversity at the centre of new productions.

Sir Lenny - broadcaster, activist, author, and Chancellor of Birmingham City University - announced the news with guests at an event marking the second anniversary of the Centre.

The Midlands’ newest and longest railway bridge is now fully functional after carrying its first freight train. Tracks reopened on the Stechford to Aston freight line in Birmingham following the installation of a massive 2,600-tonne bridge built by Network Rail in partnership with HS2.

At 92 metres long, the steel and concrete structure becomes the longest single span railway bridge in the Midlands.

Together they've travelled further than the moon so now the entire fleet of passenger assistance buggies at London Euston station have been replaced after 18 years.

On average 87,000 passengers who need help getting to and from their train rely on the vehicles at the West Coast main line’s southern terminus each year – that’s around 240 passengers every day.

A city councillor who worked tirelessly to create Wolverhampton’s historic Saragarhi Monument has been announced as one of the community Batonbearers for the Birmingham 2022 Queen’s Baton Relay.

Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, cabinet member for city assets and housing at City of Wolverhampton Council and ward member for Wednesfield South, was nominated for his work in the city.

For 6 weeks from 28 May anyone will be able to award the Key to the City to whomever they want, for whatever reason they want.

Key holders will be able to explore private and intriguing places and spaces that they might not have happened on before, bringing a new perspective to the city. Keyholders will be able to access these locations until 7 August 2022.

Denise, John and Peter Coates are the richest people in the West Midlands, according to the new edition of The Sunday Times Rich List, published online and in the print edition of the newspaper. The 68-page special edition of The Sunday Times Magazine reveals the wealth of the 250 richest people in Britain in its 34th annual edition.

As his cortege left Birmingham City’ St. Andrews ground, with fans and loved ones setting off flares and waving blue and white balloons, hundreds of mourners turned out for the funeral of much-loved community anti-gang campaigner Barrington 'Baz' Patterson. Boxing legend Frank Bruno was among the guests seen attending the service at St. Philips Cathedral.

Birmingham’s iconic water feature – The River – was officially switched back on in Victoria Square in the city centre. The fountain has been repaired and refurbished as part of a £12.395m city centre public realm scheme – the first phase of which has seen improvements to Victoria Square.

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) are on the lookout for disabled volunteers who can help trial a new journey planner aimed at removing barriers on public transport for those with long term health conditions.

The new service will look to allow better coordination of personal travel assistance needs, between the transport operator and the destination host, by alerting each stage of a journey when a person is on the way who needs additional support.

City of Wolverhampton Council shared the new Wolverhampton Investment Prospectus for the first time at the UK Real Estate, Investment & Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF). The Council is showcasing Invest Wolves opportunities to thousands of investors, funders and developers at the event in Leeds between 17 and 19 May, ahead of some major development announcements this year.

A man with severe learning difficulties was among at least 20 people who were facing deportation to Jamaica on a Home Office flight scheduled for yesterday (Wednesday). Half of the detainees – held in Brook House, Harmondsworth and Colnbrook immigration removal centres – have direct links to the Windrush Generation and most arrived in the UK when they were children, campaigners claim.