Community News

In Selly Oak, national deafblind charity, Sense, held a ground-breaking ceremony to celebrate the launch of construction of a new major centre for disabled people. The TouchBase Pears centre, which is due to launch in summer 2017, will provide vital services to help disabled people in the West Midlands lead more independent lives.

Dog owners across Birmingham are being encouraged to get their pets microchipped before a new change in the law comes into effect next month. As people prepare to bring their dogs to Crufts (10-13 March), Birmingham City Council is reminding owners that from 6 April all dogs must be microchipped and have their details registered on an authorised database.

Pupils at Whiteheath Education Centre are preparing to become space biologists and embark on a voyage of discovery by growing seeds that have been into space. In September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S where they will spend several months in microgravity before returning to Earth in March 2016.

City of Wolverhampton Council is offering a special Fairtrade breakfast menu at its catering facility on the Civic Centre ground floor in support of Fairtrade Fortnight until 13 March 2016. Fairtrade Fortnight is the Fairtrade Foundation’s campaign to highlight the severe lack of food security for farmers around the world.

Wolverhampton will be flying a special flag to mark International Women’s Week and Day on Tuesday. The handmade flag was created by the voluntary sector organisation Women of Wolverhampton (WOW) and local textile artist Sue Chand. She helped WOW members design the flag using the internationally recognised colours of the women’s movement.

This Mother’s Day, the mum of an army patient who has been at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham since September 2015 is calling for people to help Fisher House, QEHB Charity’s ‘home away from home’ for military families. Christina Carter, who lives in West Yorkshire, has been staying at the house for almost six months, after her daughter Abby was injured in August last year.

TV’s Paul O’Grady’s real life ‘Love of Dogs’ has been reflected by the British public in a new poll naming his dog Olga as their favourite celebrity dog for 2016. Dog lovers in the Midlands voted EastEnders’ ‘Princess Di’ as their second favourite pooch and Simon Cowell’s Squiddly and Diddly as their third favourite.

Give it a go! That’s the message from WV Active @ Bert Williams Leisure Centre, where a morning of free activities is being held on Tuesday, March 15 as part of Residents’ Week. There is something to suit everyone between 9am and 12.30pm on the day, with a range of exercise activities available, including aqua aerobics, a mini-circuits taster, gym inductions, lane swimming, and a group walk in partnership with the brilliant ‘Beat the Street’ team.

Tesco customers will decide which of three local community projects in their area will receive the lion's share of the money donated through the Government's 5p plastic bag charge. Through the scheme, called 'Bags of Help', grants of £8,000, £10,000 and £12,000 will be awarded to charities and groups across the UK for spending on environmental improvement projects.

The drive by the Electoral Commission and the National Union of Students asking people to use social media to inspire their friends to register to vote ahead of the elections which are taking place on Thursday 5 May has begun. Utilising the power of social media, they are asking young people across the UK to encourage their friends to register to vote by sharing photos of their ‘voter cross’ and using the hashtag #RegAFriend.

The most deserved of people in our life is to be celebrated and honoured as Mother's Day, approaches us. A day to heap the world of praise and prayers, on mothers and other mother figures, such as grandmothers, stepmothers and mothers-in-law, this Sunday, March 6, will see gifts bought in abundance, cakes, flowers, chocolates, jewelry, and luxurious clothing flying off the racks – some on Sunday morning first thing.

The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Youth Summit took place last week with hate crime, knife crime and personal safety high on the agenda. As the previous eight Youth Commissioners step down, Commissioner David Jamieson welcomed the six new Youth Commissioners to the role

This year’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) History Month theme is ‘Religion, Belief and Philosophy: A Leap of Faith’ , and the month closes with a debate on ‘Faith and the LGBT Community in 2016′ at the Council House today. Organised by SHOUT Festival (a project of Birmingham LGBT) and Birmingham City Council’s LGBT Employees & Allies Network, the multi-faith panel  will consider the question ‘Faith and the LGBT community in 2016 – where are we now and what next?’.

The 29^th February offers the unique opportunity to create a completely fresh, national date in the diary, according to the #Make29Matter campaign. The idea is to establish a national day shaped by contemporary values and society, to stage extraordinary activities across the UK for the greater good. Its unique occurrence every four years automatically gives 29^th February a special feel and while it’s unlikely to happen in 2016, the four years to 2020 gives organisers plenty of time to plan.

People in the West Midlands who volunteer say it makes them feel happier and helps them contribute to their local community. These are the findings of new research about volunteering by sight loss charity RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People). The survey also found that 56 per cent of respondents in the region who do not volunteer said they want to in the future, with nearly a quarter most keen to share their technology skills.