Research from home improvements experts Synseal reveals Brits are feeling the squeeze when it comes to entertaining friends and family this summer. In a survey of 2,000 homeowners, four out of 10 said they didn’t have enough space for welcoming guests. Nearly a quarter said they planned to extend in the next five years with an orangery or conservatory, with a similar number opting for a brick built extension.

Green fingered council tenants and leaseholders across the city are invited to battle it out in Birmingham City Council’s annual gardening competition. Birmingham in Bloom gives prizes for glorious gardens, best balconies and baskets, prettiest pots and voluminous veg.

Anyone who uses roads in Birmingham is being invited to have their say during the development of a new Road Safety Strategy for the city. The invite has been issued by Cllr James McKay, Cabinet Member for Inclusion and Community Safety, whose portfolio includes road safety.

Britain is nation of prolific tea drinkers, but we’re lagging in the global tea drinking league tables, according to a new survey by working animal charity, SPANA. West Midland tea drinkers get through more tea than any other region in Britain with over half (52%) drinking four or more cups a day, while over one in ten (11%) make their way through eight or more cups each day – equating to more than 2,900 cups per person each year.

A rehabilitated loggerhead sea turtle that convalesced about four months at the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital was fitted with a satellite-tracking transmitter and released Friday, 17 July 2015 off the Florida Keys. Named Aaron, the subadult reptile crawled into the Atlantic Ocean in front of several hundred cheering spectators at Marathon's Sombrero Beach.

A draftsman from Staffordshire has signed up for the Morrisons Great Birmingham Run in October after running 13 events in the last two years. Ian Rowlands, 29, from Burntwood, Staffordshire, was thirteen when a car accident left him in a coma for six weeks and in a wheelchair for a year. Two years ago, he decided to get fit so started taking part in running events around the country; eleven half-marathons and two marathons later he’s showing no sign of stopping!