Ryan Richards, a seventeen year old from Great Barr in Birmingham, received a charity award and wide acclaim on Saturday for his significant contribution to the work of a national children’s charity.

The young volunteer was nominated for taking on a leadership role and being a positive role model in his work at The Children’s Society, a charity working to support vulnerable teenagers who experience abuse, neglect and poverty in the UK.

Ryan joined The Children’s Society’s participation group, The Hub Squad, a year ago to get involved in mental health projects and be the young people's voice for Pause, the mental health drop-in centre in Birmingham.

He went onto accompany his project workers to give talks to schools and colleges in the local area and also came up with the idea of a drama project to spread mental health awareness. The teenager worked above and beyond to get the project up and running and recruit and inspire professionals and other young people from the Hub Squad to take part.

Dave Guard, Ryan’s project worker, worked closely with Ryan and nominated him for the award. He said: “Ryan has been instrumental in his local project to gain funding and appoint a drama practitioner to work with young people.

“He is determined and gives a lot of time and energy to his youth group to highlight issues that they are passionate about. He is a natural leader with a ‘can do’ attitude that inspires others.”

Ryan was shocked to receive this national recognition, he said: “I feel honoured to have been nominated, let alone to actually receive an award. Thank you for the opportunity to try and make the world a better place.

“Being involved in this initiative has brought me to a better place than I was in before. It brought me out socially and gave me an opportunity to make change.

“This project is about allowing young people to be seen and understood. We have made a great start but there is still a lot of work to be done. I hope to continue working with Hub Squad to see this through.”

Hamad International Airport (HIA) is set to host the 12th Airport Council International (ACI) Asia Pacific Regional Assembly, Conference and Exhibition in Doha, Qatar, from the 10^th to the 12^th of April 2017. The event will be under the patronage of H.E Mr. Jassim Seif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, the Minister of Transport and Communications of the State of Qatar.

The event’s agenda includes two ACI board meetings, namely the World Governing Board meeting and the Asia Pacific Regional Board meeting. In January 2017, Engr. Badr Mohammed Al Meer, Chief Operating Officer of Hamad International Airport, was unanimously appointed by ACI’s Asia Pacific Executive Committee of the Board as Special Advisor to the ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Board. This prestigious position is earned by airport leaders who have proven their ability in providing leadership to the region and guidance on policy development, management and finances. The ACI Asia Pacific Board comprises mainly of the Chief Executive Officers of 22 member airports including, Beijing, Shanghai, Incheon, Tokyo-Narita, Kuala Lumpur, Airports of Thailand, GMR, and Muscat.

The ACI World Governing Board is composed of Chief Executive Officers of 28 member airports nominated by the regional ACI Boards including Singapore-Changi, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Amsterdam-Heathrow, Paris, Istanbul, Toronto, Beijing and Sydney.  It meets twice a year and has the authority to take decisions on all relevant issues that advance the collective interests of airports and promote professional excellence in airport management and operations.

During both Board meetings, Engr. Al Meer will be presenting the achievements of Hamad International Airport, highlighting its key success factors and explaining the strategy that has, within 3 years of its operations, made HIA one of the fastest growing hubs in world, the 6th best airport in the world and an example of a corporate social responsible airport.

The ACI Regional Assembly, Conference and Exhibition, which is hosted annually by airports around the world, will have in attendance aviation leaders and industry influencers who will speak about industry hot-topics through moderated panel discussions. The event will also see exhibitions of innovative products and award-winning services by a large number of service providers.

Hundreds of farms across the UK will throw open their gates to welcome the public and showcase the fascinating world of farming. As well as being a fun and informative day out for all the family.

On Sunday June 11 LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) Open Farm Sunday’ will give visitors the opportunity to see first-hand all that farmers do and the impact their work has on all our lives.

This so often misunderstood industry has a vital role in not only producing safe nutritious food, but also using the latest science and technology to farm sustainably – that means increasing production whilst managing the environment for wildlife and enhancing our natural resources for generations to come.

Since the first Open Farm Sunday in 2006 over 1.8m people have visited a LEAF Open Farm Sunday event.  This year, farms across the country, from Cornwall to Orkney, will provide young and old with an opportunity to see farming in action and learn more about the work farmers are so proud to do.

The mostly free events will offer a range of activities from tractor trailer rides, farm walks and bug hunts, to feeding lambs, sheep shearing and milking demonstrations. The technology and science behind farming and food production will also be a focus; providing visitors with a fascinating insight into the world of farming.

Open Farm Sunday is managed by Linking Environment And Farming is the leading organisation delivering more sustainable food and farming.

Annabel Shackleton, Open Farm Sunday Manager at LEAF commented: “Modern farming is incredibly diverse and impacts on all of us - from the clothes we wear to the medicines we take and the food we eat.  Farming plays a vital part in each of our lives. LEAF Open Farm Sunday gives us the rare opportunity to see farming in real life and to learn about the hard work, care and pride that goes into the work farmers do, which is so vital to the environment, our lives and the economy.”

LEAF works with farmers, the food industry, scientists and consumers to inspire and enable sustainable farming that is prosperous, enriches the environment and engages local communities and has organised Open Farm Sunday since it began in 2006.

Sponsors of Open Farm Sunday 2017 confirmed to date are: Asda, BASF plc, Co-op, Defra, Farmers Weekly, Frontier Agriculture, LEAF Marque, Marks and Spencer, National Farmers Union, Waitrose plus the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, with direct support from the Beef and Lamb, Cereals and Oilseeds, Dairy, Horticulture, Pork and Potatoes sectors.

Dog owners urged to microchip their dog and check the chip details are up to date on 1st anniversary of Compulsory Microchipping law.

One year on from the introduction of this important law for dog welfare, 89%* of dogs in the West Midlands are now fitted with a microchip, meaning they can be reunited with their families if they are lost or stolen. However, owners the West Midlands are being urged to microchip their dog if they haven’t already and keep the details up to date to ensure they can be reunited should they become lost.

Dogs Trust statistics show that 1,693** strays were reunited with their owners in 2015-2016; however, owners who don’t update their details risk the very real possibility of being permanently separated from their beloved family pet. 10%** of the 6,667 stray and abandoned dogs that remained unclaimed in local authority kennels in West Midlands last year, couldn’t be reunited with their owners simply because they didn’t have up-to-date microchip details.

Whilst more needs to be done to target the minority of dog owners falling foul of the law, the legislation has overall been a positive influence over the past 12 months. Local councils across the UK have issued 2,751 enforcement notices to owners since the legislation came into force – 1,464 for dogs that aren’t chipped and 1,287 for owners whose details are incorrect on the microchip database. The average fine issued to dog owners was £340, with the maximum penalty recorded as £500. It’s estimated that fines will total around £73,000 over the next five years.

What you need to know;

·      As of 6th April 2016, all dogs over the age of 8 weeks must be microchipped.

·      Under the Control of Dogs Order 1992, all dogs must wear a collar and identity tag in a public place. The tag must show the owner's name and address.

·     Anyone breeding a puppy for sale, is required to microchip the dog at the age of 8 weeks, and register their details to the microchip before the sale.

·      The owner of the puppy must then update the details on the database once they take ownership.

·      Anyone buying a puppy should be aware that the puppy should be microchipped and the microchip should be registered to the breeder

·      The only dogs that shouldn’t be chipped are those with a vet issued Defra exemption form

On Saturday, 8^th April, 2017 the Liberal Democrat’s candidate for mayor of the West Midlands, Beverly Nielsen launched her manifesto. Nielsen who is an entrepreneur, educator and businesswoman has vast amounts of  experience when it comes to life in the West Midlands, be it working for the Confederation of British Industry, working as the chief of Midlands Excellence Limited, or as a member of staff at Warwick University. From 2009 to 2013, Nielsen served on Worcestershire County Council from 2009-2013.

The launch of a manifesto is always an important event, but for Nielsen and the Liberal Democrats even more so. The West Midlands Mayoral Election is a hotly contested one, with the winner of the election promised broad powers as mayor, of one of the UK’s biggest regional areas. There are many areas in which the Midlands could do with improvement, in her manifesto, Nielsen promises to make developments in seven key areas.

These areas include: improving opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds, delivering affordable housing for all, tackling congestion on the roads, growing home made businesses, enhancing the regions natural assets, delivering safe and secure communities and delivering fairer public services.

In her manifesto, some of the key pledges that Nielsen makes to better society within the West Midlands include: offering all young people aged between 16 and 25 a Swift Travel Card worth up to £300 to improve the chances of young people actively seeking work by offering more opportunities for free off peak travel, advocating a shared growth culture through promoting a real living wage for all employees and achieving this through using local procurement and bringing back production to the West Midlands.

Nielsen pledges within her manifesto to begin a house building programme that ensures access to homes of varying length and levels of affordability for everyone. She also promises to make more public homes available for rent and sale, and to ensure adequate high standard sheltered accommodation and provide more options for the older citizens of the West Midlands to live in.

To fulfil her pledge in reducing congestion, Nielsen has proposed offering free bus passes to encourage more people to use the bus, expanding the tram network within the West Midlands and developing a railway link between Birmingham and Moseley.

Nielsen also proposes the creation of a West Midlands Regional Bank to draw on local knowledge of local businesses, the creation of a £1 billion innovation fund to provide grants to start ups, to the region’s businesses schools, universities and colleges, to further encourage local business growth.

Finishing off the launch of her manifesto, Nielsen had this to say:

“The current government has cut services to the bone, and is now cutting £4bn more between now and 2020. If you make me the Liberal Democrat Mayor of the West Midlands, I will be your champion for change, and a unifying voice across the political divide which has existed for far too long.”