The Phoenix Newspaper UK | Latest news in UK | Positive news | Inspiring The Next Generation
Inspiring The Next Generation Fifty-three countries will come together to celebrate Commonwealth Day 2016 today under the theme ‘An Inclusive Commonwealth’. Among the many activities and events taking place globally, a multi-faith service at Westminster Abbey will welcome thousands of guests from around the world, including the attendees of the Commonwealth Africa Summit 2016. Commonwealth Day is held on the second Monday in March every year.
The Mayor of Wolverhampton has an eye-catching new website designed to raise the profile of the role and its rich history. Wolverhampton has had an unbroken line of Mayors since G. B. Thorneycroft became the first person to hold the office in 1848. Being made Mayor is the highest honour the city council can bestow on an elected councillor. The Mayor is the first citizen and the Queen’s representative in the city. The current Mayor is Cllr Ian Brookfield.
The British Heart Foundation held its annual No Smoking Day on 9th March, which aimed to help smokers give up their habit by taking the first step towards quitting. MedicAnimal, the UK’s leading online pet retailer, also called on pet owners to consider their animals’ health as further motivation in giving up their habit.
Handmade badges embroidered with statistics and metal bricks engraved with quotes. Craftivism combines craft and activism and Birmingham based arts organisation Craftspace have invited young people to spend a week creating their own craftivist campaigns about issues that are important to them.
Rhianna famously offered the chance to “stand under my umbrella, now that it’s raining more than ever,” well if you are sheltering under a brolly in the UK there is every chance it has been stolen. New research from Churchill Insurance reveals that 11 per cent of people admit to having stolen an umbrella from a colleague, friend or stranger in the last year, with one-in-twenty admitting to stealing two or more!
When our pets are ill or in pain we naturally want to help them as quickly as possible. However, instead of immediately seeking professional help by way of a visit to the vets, an estimated 1.4 million cat and dog owners in the UK take matters into their own hands and actually give their pets potentially toxic medicines designed for humans.
Oldbury school Principal Gordon Phillips will be undertaking his tenth and final fundraising run in a bid to raise money for new playground equipment for the Meadows Sports College. Gordon, aged 63, will be racing in the Carterton 10km run on Sunday 10 April and hopes to raise £4,000 in total. All money raised will go straight to the school.
In Selly Oak, national deafblind charity, Sense, held a ground-breaking ceremony to celebrate the launch of construction of a new major centre for disabled people. The TouchBase Pears centre, which is due to launch in summer 2017, will provide vital services to help disabled people in the West Midlands lead more independent lives.
Dog owners across Birmingham are being encouraged to get their pets microchipped before a new change in the law comes into effect next month. As people prepare to bring their dogs to Crufts (10-13 March), Birmingham City Council is reminding owners that from 6 April all dogs must be microchipped and have their details registered on an authorised database.
Pupils at Whiteheath Education Centre are preparing to become space biologists and embark on a voyage of discovery by growing seeds that have been into space. In September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S where they will spend several months in microgravity before returning to Earth in March 2016.
City of Wolverhampton Council is offering a special Fairtrade breakfast menu at its catering facility on the Civic Centre ground floor in support of Fairtrade Fortnight until 13 March 2016. Fairtrade Fortnight is the Fairtrade Foundation’s campaign to highlight the severe lack of food security for farmers around the world.
Wolverhampton will be flying a special flag to mark International Women’s Week and Day on Tuesday. The handmade flag was created by the voluntary sector organisation Women of Wolverhampton (WOW) and local textile artist Sue Chand. She helped WOW members design the flag using the internationally recognised colours of the women’s movement.
This Mother’s Day, the mum of an army patient who has been at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham since September 2015 is calling for people to help Fisher House, QEHB Charity’s ‘home away from home’ for military families. Christina Carter, who lives in West Yorkshire, has been staying at the house for almost six months, after her daughter Abby was injured in August last year.
New efficient street lamps that will slash energy waste and cut costs have been installed across Haringey. The first phase of the council’s major street lighting overhaul has now been completed, with outdated lighting replaced with energy-efficient LED lanterns, which use around about 30% less energy than a standard bulb and will save thousands of pounds in energy costs.
TV’s Paul O’Grady’s real life ‘Love of Dogs’ has been reflected by the British public in a new poll naming his dog Olga as their favourite celebrity dog for 2016. Dog lovers in the Midlands voted EastEnders’ ‘Princess Di’ as their second favourite pooch and Simon Cowell’s Squiddly and Diddly as their third favourite.
Give it a go! That’s the message from WV Active @ Bert Williams Leisure Centre, where a morning of free activities is being held on Tuesday, March 15 as part of Residents’ Week. There is something to suit everyone between 9am and 12.30pm on the day, with a range of exercise activities available, including aqua aerobics, a mini-circuits taster, gym inductions, lane swimming, and a group walk in partnership with the brilliant ‘Beat the Street’ team.
