Local singing sensation Bradley Simpson, from pop rock band The Vamps, joined sick children at Birmingham Children’s Hospital as excitement builds in the city for this summer’s free public art event, The Big Sleuth.

Heart-throb Brad took time out of rehearsals for The Vamps upcoming world tour to surprise the kids spending a few hours in the hospital’s Play and Admissions Centre designing and painting one of The Big Sleuth’s miniature bear’s, which could make it onto the 10-week trail.

The excited patients joined the 21 year-old lead singer from Sutton Coldfield, as he used inspiration from the kids’ hospital visits and their love of music to add his artistic flair to the project.

The Big Sleuth, so named because sleuth is the collective noun for a group of bears, will see up to 100 giant bear sculptures (and bear cubs created by schools and young people) leave their paw prints all over the city as it gets set to be known as Bear-mingham in 2017.

The project, brought by Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity and creative producers Wild in Art comes hot on the heels of The Big Hoot which attracted more than 800,000 visitors and in total raised over £625,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity.

In connection with Chief Minister Talent Hunt Program, Rawalpindi Arts Council (RAC) arranged a divisional painting competition here on Monday aim to provide platform to young artists aged 18-35 years. The top three artists were given cash rewards of Rs.150,000, Rs.100,000 and Rs.75,000 respectively. Encouragement reward of Rs.10,000 each was given to ten artists of Rawalpindi region.

In the painting competition held at the RAC, Chairman Metro bus and PML-N Senior leader Muhammad Hanif Abbasi was chief guest flanked by Additional Commissioner Tariq Mehmood Tariq, Naheed Manzoor and Resident Director of RAC Waqar Ahmed. The competitors were given a portrait of Ustad Allah Bux to paint on the canvas provided by this Council.

Top three artists will take part in the provincial level competition to be held in Lahore. Shields were given to all participants of the competition. Asma Bibi got first position; Sonam Nawaz secured second position while Shumaila got third position. Ten awards of encouragement were given to Asher Masih, Numaira Javed, Wahaj Ahmed, Aleena Azhar, Anum Akram, Asifa Jabeen, Sadia Naurin, Sania Imtiaz, Fatima Naveed and Tayyaba Hassan.

Speaking on the occasion, Muhammad Hanif Abbasi said it was the vision of Chief Minister Punjab to make the youth self-employed and include them in national development. He said Chief Minister Talent Hunt Program is a positive step of the government where youth has been enabled to show their hidden talent.

Airlines have awarded Birmingham Airport the Routes Europe 2017 Marketing Award in the 4-20m passenger category for its marketing activity over the last 12 months. The awards, voted by a panel of senior airline executives, are an annual event and highly regarded in the aviation industry. They recognise the outstanding marketing services that have supported the launch of new air routes or the development of existing services.

The ceremony held last night (Monday) in Belfast, Northern Ireland, saw the Midlands’ largest airport beat stiff competition from Warsaw Chopin, Budapest, Cologne Bonn, Marseille Provence and Larnaca Int’l Airports in its category.

Paul Kehoe, the Airport’s Chief Executive, said: “I’m delighted for the team on receiving this accolade which has recognised our airline marketing campaigns as well as business development and sales activities over the last year. The team have explored innovative new ways to engage with global audiences through traditional and new marketing channels and they should feel very proud of this award, as do I.”

In 2016, the airport saw a 14.2% increase in passengers and has celebrated more than two years of consecutive monthly record growth. Despite this boom, the airport managed to get more flights in and out on time than any other airport, becoming the world’s most punctual airport in 2016.

Following on from the launch of nine airlines in 2015, last year the airport launched six new carriers – Blue Air, Qatar, CSA, Iberia, Cobalt and Alba Star. So far in 2017, it has welcomed Jet2, bmi regional and has announced British Airways and Fly One, both due to launch this summer.

Steven Small, brand director, Routes, added: “Congratulations to Birmingham Airport on the winning the award. It’s not surprising due to the dedication and enthusiasm of the team, and the creativity and hard work put into the submission.”

Wolverhampton Grand Theatre are appealing for information on an actor who appeared in a production of The Little Minister in 1909.

The Little Minister is a play published in 1897 based on the 1891 novel by the author of Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie.

Chief Executive of the Grand Theatre, Adrian Jackson recently received a framed collection of old postcards featuring nine cast members, photographed in costume from the play, The Little Minister. On the back, they have been signed and posted to a Mr William Oliver at Darlington Street, Wolverhampton. Mr Oliver also features as a cast member on one of the cards.

The Grand Theatre heritage website, grandmemories.co.uk has no record of the production and based on the postmark and inscription on the mount it took place in December 1909.

Wolverhampton Grand Theatre are calling out to anyone who may have information on the production, a programme, or anyone who may be a descendant of Mr Oliver. Perhaps someone remembers seeing the framed postcard collection on display. It is hoped that the theatre can display the postcards for the public to see alongside any extra information.

Those who wish to contact the theatre with any information, to show or donate any programmes from the period should contact Scott Bird, Sales & Marketing Manager (Press & PR) on 01902 57 33 11 or by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Brexit effect is creating uncertainty among people planning to retire in 2017, with more than one in four (27 per cent) of this year’s retirees worried the decision to leave the EU will negatively impact their finances in the long term, according to the latest research by Prudential.

Prudential’s unique research, which has monitored the financial plans and aspirations of people planning to retire in the year ahead is now in its tenth year. Its Class of 2017 research provides a snapshot of the views of people retiring this year, as the UK starts the process of leaving the EU. It found that, for one in three (33 per cent) of the Class of 2017, the result of last June’s referendum has impacted their plans for retirement.

One in nine (11 per cent) of those who had planned to retire in 2017 have now changed their retirement date as a direct result of the outcome of the referendum. In fact, more than one in every 20 of this year’s retirees (six per cent) have actually changed the country they had planned to retire in including some, who had always planned to stay in the UK, now looking at options to move overseas.

However, two thirds of people planning to retire in 2017 (67 per cent) say that the vote to leave the EU has had no impact at all on their retirement plans, and one in eight (12 per cent) believe that leaving the EU will be good for their long-term finances in retirement.

Uncertainty caused by the decision to leave the EU appears to have underlined the value of financial advice to many of this year’s retirees, with nearly one in five (19 per cent) saying they are more likely to seek financial advice as a consequence of the referendum result. Meanwhile, 14 per cent say they are worried about the negative impact of the post-referendum market volatility on their pension fund.

Kirsty Anderson, a retirement expert at Prudential, said: “People planning to retire this year are expecting the highest retirement incomes since 2008 – so on the face of it, Brexit has had little impact on their retirement expectations. However, looking below the surface, there is a degree of uncertainty and nervousness among many of this year’s retirees.

“As you would expect, for many people who have been planning and saving for their retirement for most of their working lives, even the biggest of political upheavals won’t make a difference to their long-term plans. But with one in three new retirees telling us that their retirement plans have been affected by the referendum result, it is clear that uncertainty is having an impact for some.

“It is encouraging to see that faced with uncertainty, be it around the performance of their investments or where they plan to set up home after their working lives, the Class of 2017 are seeking professional financial advice. It is also important to remember that pension saving is for the long term and, irrespective of single events no matter how momentous, the best way for most people to provide for a comfortable retirement is to save as much as possible from as early as possible, into a pension.”