Parachuting teddies, a Poldark evening and sheep racing are just a few of the entries highlighting the creativity and broad-appeal in church insurer Ecclesiastical and Church Times’ Church Fundraising Idea of the Year Competition 2015. The nation-wide competition sets out to reward the best initiatives that have helped churches and other places of worship to raise much needed money to support their activities, building works, maintenance, etc. The top prize is £10,000, with five runner-up prizes of £2,000.

Members of the UK Youth Parliament in Wolverhampton are calling on the city’s young people to make their mark. The annual Make Your Mark ballot gives young people the chance to decide what issues their Youth MPs should campaign on and debate in the House of Commons in the year ahead. Last year, more than 5,000 young people cast their vote in the ballot in Wolverhampton, joining around 875,000 nationally – making it the biggest youth consultation in the country.

Google is visiting Birmingham next week as part of a countrywide roadshow to inform and train the public on how to be safer and more secure online. Following new Google search insights that indicate the public are concerned about how to secure their data online, the company will visit Birmingham to host a one-off training seminar on 21^st August at The Digital Garage.

With eight million British holidaymakers heading overseas for a holiday in August and millions making the most of summer on the UK coastline, ABTA and the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS UK), the drowning prevention charity, are again reminding holidaymakers to follow safety tips and swim safely. In Europe, authorities are warning families and holidaymakers to be especially careful this summer as record temperatures have encouraged people unaccustomed to the water to go swimming.

A study has revealed that British men have square eyes as they consider their television (40 percent) to be something they couldn’t live without – but women are more practical and said they’d be lost if they didn’t have their toothbrush (49 percent). Researchers surveyed almost 2,000 mixed gender respondents who were asked to vote for the things they “couldn’t live without” and would always find the funds for.

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