A Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice volunteer has won a prestigious accolade in recognition of his outstanding efforts to the community.

Richard Green, who volunteers in the income generation team at the Hospice, won ‘Community Volunteer of the Year’ at the Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC) volunteering awards.

The retired engineer from Sutton Coldfield picked up the award at Soho House in June, at a ceremony that celebrates the achievements of Birmingham’s top volunteers.

Having dedicated five years to the charity - which provides vital care and support to families living with terminal illness across Birmingham and Sandwell – Richard took home the acclaimed gong due to his fundraising and event-planning efforts.

The award-winner was particularly praised for his role in the organisation’s ‘Treecycling’ campaign – a seasonal initiative that recycles unwanted Christmas trees whilst raising funds for the Hospice. By writing proposals, securing top sponsorship deals and mapping out collection routes, Richard’s support helped raise an incredible £33,000 earlier this year, which was a 32 per cent increase from 2016.

Richard Green, volunteer at Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice, said: “Winning this award is not only rewarding from a personal point of view but it is a fantastic way of raising the profile of the Hospice and our brilliant Treecycling campaign. Seeing our community grow year-on-year is gratifying and I’m proud to be a part of it.

“I am incredibly grateful to the fundraising team at the Hospice for their help, support and friendship, and for giving me the opportunity to work on some amazing projects and events – it has been both a privilege and a pleasure.”

Tina Swani, CEO at Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice, said: “Richard is an exceptional volunteer and we couldn’t be prouder of his award win. His specialist skills, and his drive, passion and positive thinking, have had a huge impact on the fundraising team and the campaigns he regularly supports.

“Without Richard’s help – or the assistance of our other 400 volunteers – we wouldn’t be able to provide such a wide range of services to support local families living with terminal illness. The BVSC awards are a brilliant way of recognising the commitment of these individuals and we’re thrilled that Richard was amongst the winners on the night.”

Staying Cool, the award-winning boutique serviced apartment operator, has announced plans for a new 41 unit apartment hotel in Manchester to open next year.

The hotel on Chorlton Street, within the Whitworth Street / Princess Street Conservation Area, will see the regeneration of a strategic city centre building – a former cotton warehouse – that has lain empty for several years.

Once home to Oliver Peyton’s Mash & Air in the 1990s, the building was acquired by the Cringle Corporation. In January, Staying Cool won a competitive tender, led by CBRE, to find the right hotel or serviced apartment operator.

The two parties have signed heads of terms and submitted a joint planning application, which includes the addition of a new roof top extension. If approved, redevelopment works will commence this Autumn and Staying Cool will welcome its first guests in late 2018.

“Given the location of the building, and its particular loft style features and appeal, interest in leasing the site was significant, with strong bids received from a range of regional, national and international operators. We selected Staying Cool for their forward-thinking business style, attention to detail, quality and award-winning brand,” said Cringle Director, Joshua Senior.

“The building is a real gem, a classic Manchester warehouse, with tonnes of character,” said Paul Taylor, co-founder of Staying Cool. “We believe that the significant redevelopment schemes in the immediate neighbourhood, including Kampus across the road, make this a perfect location for a design-led apartment hotel by Staying Cool.”

This is the first joint partnership scheme with Bespoke Hotels, announced last year, which will see the Staying Cool brand brand roll out across the UK. Staying Cool already has a 45 bed apartment hotel on the top floors of Birmingham’s iconic Rotunda.  “We’re delighted to be able to announce this new scheme – one of a number over the next few years as we move ahead with our ambitious expansion plans. We are especially pleased to be opening in Manchester as it is the city where our story began,” continued Paul Taylor.

The architects on the scheme are Halliday Meecham and Euan Kelly Property Solutions the planning consultants. Staying Cool was advised by Tony Bray of Pure Real Estate Solutions. Nick Huddleston of CBRE managed the tender process on behalf of the Cringle Corporation.

City of Wolverhampton Council was crowned Council of the Year at the ‘Oscars of local government’ and also scooped three other awards at a ceremony in London.

The council was the star of the show at the Municipal Journal (MJ) Awards held at London’s Hilton Park Lane Hotel and hosted by television star Joanna Lumley.

The MJ Awards are open to all councils across the country and are judged by a panel of leading experts.

This year City of Wolverhampton Council was a finalist in seven out of the 14 categories – which was more than any other council.

As well as winning the top accolade of Council of the Year, City of Wolverhampton Council also took home Most Improved Council, Senior Leadership Team of the Year and Excellence in Governance and Scrutiny.

It was also highly commended in the Impact and Learning in Children’s Services category.

Winning four awards is believed to be a record.

Heather Jameson, Editor of the MJ, said: “Judges praised City of Wolverhampton Council for delivering consistently excellent services across all key areas and the council was described as an outstanding example of modern local government where the resident is at the heart of sound commercial decision-making.

“It was a truly fabulous night and congratulations to all our winners and particularly City of Wolverhampton.”

City of Wolverhampton Council leader Cllr Roger Lawrence said that the outstanding success was independent recognition of the transformation of the authority over recent years.

He added: “Receiving these four fantastic accolades is a testament to the hard work we’ve invested into putting our residents at the heart of all we do, improving services and making our city a rising star within the local government world.

“I am delighted that we took home the top prize of the night, ‘Local Authority of the Year’ after being runner up last year.

“It shows the huge strides we have made on our transformation journey to become a confident, capable council. – and I would like to thank all those involved for helping make this possible.”

Managing director Keith Ireland said: “To be finalist in seven of the 14 categories and win four of those awards is absolutely fantastic. This is a real achievement for the city council, its residents. employees, councillors and partners.”

Birmingham City Council has scooped Platinum – and the Geoff Hamilton award for the best exhibit in the floral category – at this year’s Gardeners’ World Live Show at the NEC.

It follows the council’s sixth successive Gold at the Chelsea Flower Show last month.

The display at Gardner’s World Live Show is a smaller version of the Chelsea Flower Show display, which celebrates the work of Rowland Emett OBE – famous for his Chitty Chitty Bang Bang inventions.

Deputy Leader for Birmingham City Council, Cllr Ian Ward, said: “After last month’s Gold at Chelsea it’s great to follow up with a Platinum closer to home at the NEC, and the Geoff Hamilton award really is the icing on the cake.

“I would like to thank the team who have worked so hard to celebrate Emett’s work, and our sponsors who have paid for the display and all the plants and moving features within it.”

The BBC Gardener’s World Live Show is in its 50th year.

An array of military memorabilia will be on display at two events in the City of Wolverhampton next week in the build up to Armed Forces Day on Saturday, June 24.

The national day gives the country the chance to pay tribute to serving troops, veterans, cadets and their families.

Wolverhampton Art Gallery is running an exhibition from Monday, June 19 to June 24 to mark 80 years since the Boulton Paul Defiant’s test flight at Pendeford Airfield in 1937. The Wolverhampton-built aircraft went on to see service in the Second World War.

Tettenhall Transport Heritage Centre will be providing displays about the Defiant inside the Lichfield Street gallery, as well as equipment used by the Royal Air Force and the British Army dating back as far as the First World War.

Curator Alec Brew said: “We are happy to display what we can for this excellent cause, and people can also come along to our own Military Day on July 15th, when the local army reserve unit will be displaying their modern equipment.”

The Mercian Regiment Museum will be at the Mander Centre (Lower Mall) on Tuesday, June 20, between 10am and 4pm.

It is an opportunity to view an exhibition of the past and present, and compare the experiences of First World War and Second World War soldiers from the Staffordshire Regiment with the modern-day soldier in the West Mercian Regiment.

Antique weapons, uniforms and memorabilia will be on display, and there is the chance to take photos with former soldiers in their uniform of the day, as well as try your hand at poppy and medal making.

City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet Member for City Economy, Councillor John Reynolds, said: “These fabulous museums are just two of the events all the family can get involved in to support our Armed Forces.

“Armed Forces Day 2017 will be the culmination of a week of celebrations in Wolverhampton honouring the incredible contribution made by the UK's Armed Forces in the past, present and future.

"It is our chance to demonstrate our gratitude to them, and I hope the people of Wolverhampton will turn out in force to show their support.”

Wolverhampton is a signatory of the Armed Forces Community Covenant, a pledge of mutual support between the city and its Armed Forces community.

It calls on local people to support the Armed Forces community, recognise and remember the sacrifices they have made over the years and encourage activities that help members of the Armed Forces integrate into local life.

It also encourages members of the Armed Forces support the wider community, and promote understanding and awareness among the public of some of the issues faced by former members of the Armed Forces as they return to civilian life.

We may have long been a nation of cat and dog lovers, but the extent to which we’re going to incorporate our beloved pets into our everyday lives has now never been more extreme. Some owners are even going as far as having their pets baptised, or including them in their will according to new research.

The study, which has been commissioned by MORE TH>N, reveals in the full the lengths owners are going for their pets.

It has been timed to coincide with the launch of ‘Pet Peeves’ – a new comedy web-series in which a dog and a cat are given their moment in the spotlight to air various light-hearted grievances about their owner. Voiced by stand-up comedian Russell Kane, the videos are designed to encourage owners see things more from their pet’s perspective.

Beyond revealing some of the more common ways we are guilty of pampering our pets, with over half of owners (53%) admitting they let their pet sleep in their own bed, and 63% confessing that they regularly feed them human-food, the study also uncovered some more unusual trends.

Among these findings were that one in five (20%) would consider including their pet in their wedding day. 18% meanwhile confessed they would consider leaving them as a beneficiary in their will, while 7% of those surveyed even admitted they would consider having them baptised.

Owners have even put their pets on social media -  8% have set up a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram page for their dog or cat, with each of these accounts having an average of 177 followers. 59% said their pet has more followers than them on social media, with a third (34%) saying that they post more on their pet’s account than their own.

Celebrating together on special occasions proved to be another instance of the lengths people are going to when it comes to catering to their pet. A whopping 89% of owners said they buy their cat or dog a Christmas present each year, with 12% spending upwards of £50 on the gift.

Almost half (45%) also admitted that they celebrate their pet’s birthday. The most popular ways of doing this included giving them a birthday present (77%), giving them a birthday cake (33%), take the day of the work to spend time with them (9%) and even throwing them a birthday party (8%).

Furthermore, no expense appears to be being spared when it comes to ensuring pets look their finest throughout the year, with 21% of owners spending upwards of £200 on having their dog groomed over a 12-month period.

Premiering online for the first time this week, the ‘Pet Peeves’ web-series features a clever canine and feisty feline - both voiced by Kane – doing stand-up comedy as a means of airing various gripes about their owner. It has been created to help people better understand their pets.

An example of a gag the dog tells includes: “Listen up, I’m all for physical contact. But lingering embraces… they make me uncomfortable. As a general rule, if you’re squeezing your Chihuahua and one of its eyes pops out flies across the lounge, I’ve reckon you’ve just crossed that line.”

The cat meanwhile jokes: “Kids? Who’d have them – not me. But, seriously, when they pull my tail, which is basically my spine, my claws come out. A gentle stroke! Yes please. My vertebrae being yanked out by a five-year-old off his head on sugar. I don’t think so!”

Gail Parker, marketing director at MORE TH>N said: “It’s fair to say that, as a nation, our beloved pets have never played a bigger part in our everyday lives. Above and beyond seeing them as a member of the family, the fact that so many people are going as far to include them in their wills and on their wedding day is testament to how fundamental a part of our lives they’ve become.”

“At the same time however, it’s remains important to appreciate that, however much we love them, they will undoubtedly have their own needs when it comes to the way we treat them, which is our new Pet Peeves video sets out to portray in a fun, tongue-in-cheek way – I’m sure all owners will be able relate, one way or another!”