To coincide with the start of Canine Health Testing Week (21 – 27 November) and to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the Hereditary Eye Disease Scheme, part of the Canine Health Schemes (CHS), run by the British Veterinary Association (BVA) in conjunction with the Kennel Club (KC) and the International Sheep Dog Society (ISDS), free eye examinations are being offered to 50 working dogs and 50 dogs over eight years of age.

Local people have voted for six Sandwell heroes to be commemorated in the Raise a Glass to a Local Hero project 100 years on from the Battle of the Somme. History groups nominated three First World War heroes from each of Sandwell’s six towns to be put to a public vote. The six heroes chosen will be commemorated on specially-designed beer mats which will be distributed in pubs across the borough. The poll was organised by Sandwell Council’s libraries and archive service as part of the local commemorations of the Battle of the Somme.

Housing and homelessness charity Shelter is appealing for help to fund its free helpline after seeing a surge in demand from the West Midlands, with over 39,000 received in the past year alone. In a sign of the deepening housing crisis, the number of calls to the charity’s helpline from the West Midlands - which is part-funded by M&S - has increased by 11% with a call now received every six minutes.  Worryingly, one in five cases in the West Midlands dealt with by the Shelter helpline in the past year were people who were homeless or within 28 days of losing their home.

Yesterday saw the launch of the Superkart Charity Challenge – a Le Mans style race, open to teams from the community as well as corporate, raising money for some important charities including Love Brum, Birmingham Childrens Hospital, Radio Lollipop, Cure Leukaemia, The National Autistic Society, Include Me Too and the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity working in partnership with Birmingham City Council and in association with Teamworks Karting.

Police are encouraging people to back a campaign to "Orange Wolverhampton" and eliminate violence against women and girls. The United Nations’ Orange the World campaign takes place annually over 16 days between 25 November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and 10 December, UN Human Rights Day.

Despite the popularity of smartphones, traditional handwritten Christmas cards top social media messages and text messages as the West Midlands’ favourite festive greeting by far. A survey by fair trade pioneer Traidcraft, found that more than 8 in 10 (85%) people in the West Midlands prefer to receive their Christmas greetings in a card, while only 8% appreciate a festive text and no-one thinks highly of a social media message.