Community News

Twenty-two ‘inmates’ were recently incarcerated for office-based crimes against their co-workers, all in the name of charity. The Jail or Bail event raised more than £30,000 for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity during its 30^th anniversary year.

Midlands Air Ambulance Charity collaborated with HM Prison Shrewsbury and invited employees of corporate supporters and Midlands businesses to sign up their CEOs and senior managers to a Jail or Bail event. Each ‘inmate’ had a £600 goal to fundraise in order to raise their bail and be released after a night in the clink.

City of Wolverhampton Council is seeking views on proposed changes to further protect three existing conservation areas from harmful development. A public consultation on Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plans for Bushbury Hill, Vicarage Road (Penn) and Wightwick Bank will start tomorrow (Monday August 23) and run until October 11. 

The current appraisals for these three areas do not adequately support their designation, which means it is difficult to protect their special architectural and historic features when development is proposed. The new independent appraisals have been commissioned to provide strong, up-to-date evidence to better support and protect the three conservation areas. 

Children in Heath Town, Wolverhampton, are enjoying the chance to hone their football skills for the season ahead thanks to a new grass pitch developed as part of major transformation works on the housing estate. City of Wolverhampton Council has invested in the Inkerman Street pitch and goalposts so families have green space to take part in physical activity on their doorsteps. 

The new pitch and posts come in addition to an extensive demolition programme of vacant buildings, major improvements to existing residential blocks undertaken by Wolverhampton Homes and the start of construction works on new council homes. 

As the number of road users taking to two wheels continues to grow exponentially, RoSPA and See.Sense have conducted pioneering new research which could prove invaluable in greatly enhancing cyclist safety by more effectively pinpointing potential collision blackspots.
 
Hundreds of Birmingham-based cyclists travelled tens of thousands of monitored miles to generate billions of lines of potentially transformative data as part of the Cycle Smart Brum study, which has provided city authorities with far greater insight into where proactive safety measures would be most gainfully deployed.

Birmingham Weekender is back this Bank Holiday weekend with over 100 free events including music, dance, performances and installations all hosted at Bullring & Grand Central.

The cultural festival, which takes place between Friday 27^th – Sunday 29^th August, will be set across the iconic centre’s footprint as well as the surrounding New Street Station concourse, Birmingham Markets and 1000 Trades Square.

Wolverhampton’s Beat the Street challenge has come to an incredible conclusion, with residents travelling the equivalent of more than twice around the world.

Some 9,579 players joined the giant physical activity game, walking, cycling and rolling 60,888 miles in four weeks, with the winning schools, teams and individuals announced on the Beat the Street website, www.beatthestreet.me/wolverhampton.

A family fun day and cricket match will be held in Coseley next weekend to raise money for people living with mental ill health.

The Kaleidoscope Plus Group, a leading mental health and wellbeing charity based in West Bromwich, will host the event on Sunday 29 August from 10:30am. The charity will have its own team made up of staff and volunteers playing against Wolverhampton All Stars, a local team from the city in a 35 over contest. 

From Monday August 16, people who are fully vaccinated or who are under the age of 18 will no longer have to self-isolate after close contact with someone who has Covid-19. They should still take a PCR test and self-isolate if that is positive, or if they have symptoms of coronavirus.

Anyone who has not been fully vaccinated must still self-isolate for the full ten days. A person is classed as being fully vaccinated two weeks after having their second dose of an approved vaccine administered in the United Kingdom.

Motorists in south Birmingham are being offered an alternative to busy traffic jams on the A38 Bristol Road with the opening of the new Longbridge multi-storey car park.

Built next to Longbridge Railway Station, the £7.6 million multi-storey is one of Birmingham’s largest park and ride facilities. It features more than 600 spaces, CCTV security cameras, electric vehicle charging points, lifts and a range of convenient ways to pay the £3 per day charge (£2 on weekends and bank holidays).

Following the success of its first ever artisan market, Edgbaston Village, on the Calthorpe Estate, will be hosting its next market early in September. The market, which was visited by around 2,000 people, took place on the newly-transformed Greenfield Crescent which, after undergoing significant streetscape works, is now pedestrianised at certain times of the day.

Visitors enjoyed a selection of locally-produced food and drink, including craft gins and ciders, handmade Brummie pies, vegan sausages and burgers and a variety of cheeses. For those with a sweet tooth, the stalls didn’t disappoint, offering delicious homemade brownies, steamed sweet puddings and fudge.

Wolverhampton’s Beat the Street game is entering the home straight, with just a few days left for players to clock up the miles – and the points – for their teams.

The unique walking, riding and rolling competition has been encouraging residents to explore their city over the summer holidays. Nearly 9,500 people have taken up the challenge and, together, have travelled just under 50,000 miles so far.

On Wednesday, August 11, 200 underprivileged children from around the Nottingham area were invited to Fantasy Island.

Owners of the theme park and Nottingham based company, Mellors Group, partnered with children’s charity, The Toy Library, to bring together the local kids and gift them a free day out to the theme park, in the hopes to raise community spirits following the cancellation of last month’s popular Nottingham Beach event.

West Midlands residents are being asked to roll up their sleeves and rid the region of litter ahead of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. West Midlands Mayor Andy Street launched the West Midlands Great Clean Up, aiming to help the region look its sparkling best before it comes under the international spotlight as host of the Commonwealth Games.

The campaign, which is backed by Keep Britain Tidy, aims to recruit 1,000 volunteers to get involved with litter picking across the West Midlands. The Great Clean Up kicked off today in Perry Barr, home of the Alexandra Stadium, with a litter pick around Perry Park.

Hundreds of Birmingham’s buildings and spaces, many of which are usually closed to the public, will be opening their doors as part of this year’s Birmingham Heritage Week. The annual festival returns from 9 – 19 September 2021 revealing the city’s hidden stories and historical secrets.

Birmingham Heritage Week is an opportunity to discover parts of the city hidden from everyday life and rediscover popular places from a new perspective. Residents and visitors to the city will be invited on hard hat tours of gasholders and catacombs and welcomed through the doors of magnificent mansions, churches and Victorian swimming baths. As well as visiting places in person, there will be virtual tours and talks taking place too. 

Residents and community groups have been praised by Birmingham City Council for their long-term dedication to keeping their neighbourhoods looking as good as possible.

For many years the council has supported people with a passion for their local areas by supplying litter picking equipment and arranging for collected waste to be taken away. Since the start of the current financial year in April alone, more than 5,000 pieces of equipment and 20,000 bags have been issued to those taking part in clean-ups – with anyone who is interested in joining the effort invited to contact the council to gain similar support.

A damaged war memorial in Bilston, in the West Midlands, has been restored to its former glory, to commemorate the sacrifices made by local people. Bradley War Memorial, in Coronation Park, stands in memory of those who fought and died in both the First and Second World Wars.

Coronation Park, in Wilkinson Avenue, was originally known as Memorial Park and was opened in 1922 as a memorial to the fallen of the First World War. The war memorial stands on high ground in the south east of the park and is a Celtic-style cross on a granite pillar. The names of the fallen are recorded on panels around it.