Community News

The youth and student wing of the Green Party is set to hold its largest ever National Convention in Nottingham later this month. Membership of the Young Greens has grown more than tenfold in under two years, and currently stands at over 20,000. The National Convention, an annual event at which training, elections and the Young Greens’ AGM are held, will take place at Nottingham Trent University on 31st October and 1st November.

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner has thanked the media and politicians from around the West Midlands for their support in convincing the government to back down and change the formula for how police forces will be funded in future. Following a large campaign and much pressure the Home Office’s new preferred formula has had an element removed from it that would have disadvantaged forces such as the West Midlands and could have resulted in a huge loss of funding.

Thousands of people joined Yoko Ono and tried to set a world record for largest group of human bodies forming a peace sign. The record attempt to honor Ono's husband, John Lennon, didn't succeed. Still, the Central Park crowd celebrated the upcoming birthday of the late Beatle. Lennon would have turned 75 on Friday. A Guinness World Records representative says Tuesday's effort brought together more than 2,000 people.

The curious tale of a former Bilston MP's links with Mount Everest and the Abominable Snowman will be regaled in a free talk on Wednesday. Community historian Greig Campbell will be showcasing the many adventures of former MP Charles Howard-Bury, a world renowned botanist and explorer who was one of the first Western explorers to traverse what is now Eurasia.

This week sees the launch of a new scheme which aims to coordinate groups that help the homeless in order to provide more effective and targeted support. The Homeless Outreach Accreditation Scheme will be launched on Thursday 8 October and will bring together about 25 voluntary organisations in Birmingham with a shared commitment to helping homeless people.

Wolverhampton’s Mayor is to join local war veterans and young people from Germany and the Black Country at a unique service of remembrance and reconciliation next weekend. A century after the end of the Battle of Loos in the First World War, students from the Academy of English in Oldenburg, Germany, and its partner institution, High Arcal School in Sedgley, will be taking part in the second in a series of annual Anglo-German Services of Remembrance and Reconciliation.

Researchers have compiled a list of things the nation feels will be no longer with us by the year 2025 – and no surprise that cheque books came out top with 69 percent of those polled claiming they will disappear. We also expect to have seen the last of high street staples such as fishmongers (34 percent), greengrocers (31 percent) and estate agencies (26 percent) within the next decade, according to the study.

Whitehall Director General Stephen Rimmer is confident children in the West Midlands are safer now than they were when he moved to the region two years ago. Stephen, seconded to the West Midlands from the Home Office, today ends two years as the region's strategic leader on action against the sexual exploitation of children and other vulnerable people.

The mandatory 5p charge for plastic bags, which came into force in England on Monday, is set to generate more than £70 million per year for good causes. Supermarkets across the country plan to put profits from the levy to good use by ensuring it benefits charities and good causes, the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has found.

National charity Suzy Lamplugh Trust is urging young men throughout the UK to ‘Keep It REAL’ this National Personal Safety Day (Wednesday October 7) by making themselves aware of potential dangers and taking appropriate steps.

Sandwell Council has unveiled plans for a bus and cycle only zone in part of West Bromwich, to make it safer and easier for shoppers and students using the town centre. The council is consulting on proposals to introduce the zone along 40 metres of New Street, outside Sandwell College’s Central Sixth campus. Many motorists are ignoring existing traffic restrictions on this stretch of road – and the new order would allow the council to use CCTV to enforce a ban on other vehicles.

An additional consultation event is being held for people to have their say about proposed changes to a number of social care services in Wolverhampton. The City of Wolverhampton Council has put forward plans which it says will transform social care services and help older people in the city remain independent for longer.

A ban on smoking in cars carrying children and young people up to the age of 18 which came into force on Thursday 1 October, 2015 is the England-wide ban following the introduction of similar legislation in Wales, and both the driver and the smoker can be fined £50 if found flouting the law. Experts say second-hand smoke is particularly harmful to children and young people as they breathe more rapidly and have less developed airways.

New fire safety measures will help save the lives of tenants and ensure all rented property is equipped with a smoke alarm, Housing Minister Brandon Lewis said today. From  the 1st October, landlords are required by law to install smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in their properties, under new Government measures coming into force. It is estimated this could help prevent more than 25 deaths and nearly 700 injuries a year. 

A sniffer dog helped trading standards officers in Sandwell to find more than 5,000 illegal cigarettes and a quantity of counterfeit hand-rolling tobacco on raids on two shops. Yoyo the spaniel helped to find the illegal merchandise in the raids on the shops in West Bromwich and Tipton. The tobacco products were sniffed out by Yoyo from various hiding places including some behind a false panel within a shop's tobacco display.

It was fantastic to see so many local organisations and people from across the Black Country come together as one, to support the latest event celebrating Dudley’s unity. The Dudley ‘CommUNITY’ day of celebrations followed on the back of the hugely popular and national award-winning Funday Sunday event held earlier in the year.