Wolverhampton will be celebrating the first-ever National Libraries Week with a host of activities across the City.

CILIP, the library and information association, is organising the week-long celebration of Britain’s much-loved libraries from Monday to Friday, 9-14 October, 2017 – and Wolverhampton’s libraries will be marking it with a wide-ranging programme for all the family.

As well as regular activities such as story times and children’s clubs, it includes author talks, poetry events and digital workshops.

It gets underway on Saturday 7 October with African Tales with storyteller Grace Bennett at Central Children’s Library at noon, which is also marking Black History Month. On the same day, Wednesfield Library will host a talk on the Second World War by Guy McElvery from noon-12.45pm.

Pop up poet Jane Seabourne will be on the prowl at Central Library on Monday 9 October from 11am-1pm as she completes a mini residency project, while volunteers from the Coventry Building Society will be offering help to job hunters about CV writing and online applications at Central Library from 2pm-4pm.

Also on Monday, writer and performance poet Emma Purshouse will be sharing entertaining anecdotes about her life as a professional writer at Warstones Library from 5.45pm-6.45pm.

Central Library will be marking World Mental Health Day on Tuesday 10 October as mental health practitioners hold a tea and talk from 10am-2pm, while a check and send service for people who wish to apply for or renew blue badges will be taking place at East Park Library from 9am-1pm.

Other attractions on Tuesday include storytime for under 5s at Warstones Library from 2.15pm-3pm, in which Peppa Pig will go to the dentist, while local author Guy McElvery will be talking about his latest publication, The Stranger at the Window, at Penn Library from 3pm-3.45pm.

Emma Purshouse comes to Central Library on Wednesday 11 October to host a workshop on creating “flash fiction” from 4pm-6pm. People will be able to take part in three fun activities which will introduce them to the art of writing short stories.

Children aged five and over can get creative at a Lego club at Finchfield Library on Thursday 12 October from 5pm-6.30pm, while digital champions from Lloyds Bank will be on hand to help people get online and improve their computer skills at Central Library from 10.30am-12.30pm.

The programme continues on Friday 13 October with an afternoon of tea and poetry at Ashmore Park Community Hub hosted by Marion Cocklin and Bert Flitcroft from 1pm-2.15pm, and concludes with three activities on Saturday 14 October.

They include a pop up workshop for 16 to 25-year-olds on writing haiku-sized poems for bookmarks led by Jasmine Kardos at Central Library from 11am-1pm, fun with magician Ronnie Cracker at Bilston Library from 1pm-2pm and a Diwali-themed storytime for younger visitors to Central Library from 12.15pm-1pm.

Councillor John Reynolds, the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Cabinet Member for City Economy, said: “Through our Transforming Libraries Strategy we are responding to demand from customers for more events in our libraries, and we are delighted to present this wide-ranging programme for National Libraries Week.

“It celebrates the fact that libraries are no longer just about books, but are places where people can explore a hobby, brush up on their IT skills, find a job or simply have some fun.”

Misty mornings, ripening blackberries, windfall apples and the golden, orange and red hues of falling leaves provide dazzling displays of autumn colour on the nation's beautiful waterways. The Canal & River Trust has handpicked 11 sites across the country that provide special places to visit and to wonder at nature's farewell to the summer.

Pull on your wellies and woollies and get set for some great woodland walks by the water. Prepare for conker fights, leaf-catching competitions and scrunching through deep drifts of leaves as well as some splendid seasonal views of our historic canals.

Leeds & Liverpool Canal, Farnhill, Nr Kildwick, North Yorkshire

As the mill towns drift into countryside follow the Leeds & Liverpool Canal as it snakes from Bingley towards Skipton. At Farnhill there's a sheer wooded cutting that provides an impressive ravine to journey through. Each side of this tiny wooded valley and Farnhill Wood provide displays of beech, oak, silver birch and sycamore interspersed with some evergreen holly bushes.

Getting there: park along the Main Street in Farnhill, just off the A629 to Skipton, BD20 9BW.

Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, Brecon, Wales

Meandering through the Welsh countryside the isolated Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal is the most popular attraction in the stunning Brecon Beacons National Park. It is one of the Canal & River Trust's most beautiful and peaceful waterways following the line of the lovely wooded Usk Valley. Travelling west towards Brecon a wooded bank of beech trees provide a golden backdrop to huge landscape views of the Usk Valley. From here it's a short walk to the basin in Brecon where there's a café for a cosy lunch. The navigable section of the canal runs for 35 miles from Brecon to the Pontymoile basin. Its location makes it a haven for wildlife and a favourite with nature-lovers, walkers and cyclists.

Getting there: park roadside where the B4558 crosses the canal and River Usk. Brecon, South Wales LD3 7UY.

Kennet & Avon Canal, Avoncliff Aqueduct, Avoncliff, Wiltshire

Surrounded by woodland the Avoncliff Aqueduct is a stately spot to view the beautiful turning colours of the Bath Valley. The woodland here is made up of a rich variety of trees and includes oak, ash, sycamore, hazel and hawthorn. The aqueduct at 100m long and 18m wide provides a pale limestone contrast with the colourful displays of leaves. If you're lucky, this is a great spot to see bats flying to and from the tall arches of the aqueduct and wandering deer feeding on hedgerow leaves and berries.

The Arenacross Tour is set to burst into 2018 with a bigger and better format for its seven-round action-packed UK indoor Motocross race series and Freestyle extravaganza - and the third leg of the Tour will take place at the Genting Arena, Birmingham, on Saturday the 20th of January.

AX is high-octane entertainment at its very best. It throws together an intoxicating mix of world-class indoor Motocross racing, high-flying Freestyle Motocross and a show to rival any music festival. In its five-year history, it has seen thousands of fans streaming through its doors every year.

Enthusiastic fans packed out the Genting Arena, when the 2017 Tour visited Birmingham earlier this year. They enjoyed a night of tense race action, high-air FMX antics, lights, lasers and music. The West Midlands fans were vocal in their support of the home riders and virtually raised the roof when a British rider fought off the charge of the internationals to take a podium position for the first time.

2018 promises to again deliver an electrifying Tour. A crammed agenda will cater for mini-racing gladiators from the age of seven – who manage to fit in school and homework around the gruelling AX races - right through to the most talented line-up of Arenacross Pro racers ever to place a wheel on UK soil.

Away from the racing line, the Freestyle MX boys never fail to impress with their electrifying, high-air whips and flips which keep the audience hollering for more. In its five-year stint, the UK Arenacross series has been revered for showcasing FMX at its very best and that’s why the big-hitters of the sport, the FMX royalty, have made the series a must-do affair and worked it into their busy schedules. When it comes to AX; X-Games gold medallists and Nitro Circus superstars abound with Spaniard Edgar Torronteras and the UK’s very own Jamie Squibb and the Bolddog Team at the fore, together with arguably the most spectacular double-flipper in the world, 6’ 4” Czech uber-cool superman, Petr Pilat.

Commenting on the growth and popularity of Arenacross, ArenaSports Live (the company behind AX) boss Matt Bates said; “I believe we have a massive future! As well as ramping up the AX experience for our UK based fans, we’re extending into Europe next year and I’m set on making sure we develop both the riders’ rewards, team support and take the entertainment of AX to a whole new level.”

Arenacross 2018

20 January 2018, Genting Arena

Next year’s Wolverhampton Original Literature Festival (WOLF) has received a funding boost from Arts Council England. The city’s inaugural festival in January proved a popular event with audiences.

Following a successful bid from City of Wolverhampton Council’s libraries service, it has now secured £13,250 from the Arts Council’s Grants for Arts programme to help it grow in 2018.

The additional funding means the literature festival’s future is secured for the next five years, with money from the Arts Council England National Portfolio for organisations already in place for 2019-22.

The 2018 festival, from Friday, January 26 to Sunday 28, will follow a similar format to the first as organisers look to build it over the next five years and make it a permanent fixture in the calendar.

City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet Member for City Economy, Councillor John Reynolds, said: “We will grow the festival over the next few years to create a unique Wolverhampton flavour.

“Themes will include music and literature, politics and journalism, and community voices.

“People at different stages of their careers will also be given a chance to perform alongside headline acts.”

Organisers are keen to hear from writers, poets and community groups who want to get involved and link in with the festival’s programme of authors and speakers, which will be announced in the coming months.

Over 4,500 stores have signed up to the National Autistic Society’s Autism Hour. Autism Hour is the UK’s first major week-long event where shops and businesses across the UK will dim their lights, turn down music and share information about autism for 60 minutes on the week of 2 October.

The National Autistic Society is encouraging autistic adults, children and their families to attend Autism Hours in their local area by using the interactive map which shows which shops and businesses will be taking part throughout the week. The map allows users to zoom in to where you live, filter by category and start planning your visit.

Marks and Spencer, Clarks, Superdrug, John Lewis, Toys ‘R’ Us, Sainsbury’s and Mothercare are also among the 4,500 individual stores that have signed up, and Lloyds Banking Group will be supporting by educating their colleagues about autism during Autism Hour to support customers.

Mark Lever, Chief Executive at the National Autistic Society, said:

“The National Autistic Society is proud to be launching the first ever UK wide Autism Hour event and is thrilled that it’s involving such a vast number of shops and businesses.

“A National Autistic Society survey found that 64% of autistic people avoid going to the shops, and 28% have been asked to leave a public place for reasons associated with their autism. We are confident that the National Autistic Society’s Autism Hour will provide an opportunity for autistic people and their families to use shops and services that the general public take for granted.

“We are encouraging autistic adults, children and their families to head to the interactive map on our website so they can plan visits to local shops and businesses and enjoy a break from the overload of too much information.

“It is incredible to see that over 4,500 stores across the UK are taking part in this new event and we hope to build on this year on year.”

More than 1 in 100 people are on the autism spectrum which means that someone sees, hears and feels the world in a different, often more intense way to other people. Autistic people often find social situations difficult and struggle to filter out the sounds, smells, sights and information they experience which means they feel overwhelmed by ‘too much information’ when out in public.

The National Autistic Society’s Autism Hour is supported by shopping centre owner intu and will take place in 14 of their shopping centres across the UK including intu Trafford centre, intu Lakeside and intu Metrocentre. Staff at intu centres already receive training to provide autism-aware customer service and autistic people also benefit from guides that allow them to plan and prepare a visit to each intu centre.

Care workers in the London borough of Haringey are to be given the time and support they need to do their work, through a new ethical charter.

Haringey Council has signed up to UNISON’s ethical care charter, which sets out a series of commitments to protect the rights of home care workers’ and give them greater freedom to focus on the needs of the people they care for.

Under the charter, Haringey is committed to replacing zero hours contracts with guaranteed hours, and to make full payment for travel time between home care visits.

The new code means the commissioning of home care visits will always be shaped by what is best for the person being cared for and the care worker, not by the need to meet a certain quota of visits or complete care duties in a set timeframe.

Haringey Council cabinet member for finance and adult services Councillor Jason Arthur said:

“I’m proud to have signed UNISON’s ethical care charter. We’re committed to ensuring that Haringey’s residents get the best possible care, and to making sure that those who choose to devote their working lives to caring for some of the most vulnerable people in our communities get the right professional support to do so.

“Haringey has a proud tradition of union support and we are committed to protecting the rights of our residents, and of those who work on behalf of the borough.”

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said:

“Making this commitment to decent employment conditions for care workers is vital for improving the quality of life for the people they look after.

“UNISON’s ethical care charter is leading the way in highlighting the importance of care work and in fighting to win the pay and conditions they deserve.”

UNISON’s ethical care charter has three key elements covering visits, quality of care and pay. It includes abolishing time limits on homecare visits, giving care workers the freedom to provide appropriate care and spend sufficient time talking to clients and paying care workers for travel time and expenses. It also covers giving vulnerable people the same home care worker wherever possible, providing home care workers with training opportunities, paying the London living wage (currently £9.15 per hour), and giving home care workers sick pay.