Community News

Former Pope Benedict XVI died almost a decade after he stood down because of ailing health.

He led the Catholic Church for fewer than eight years until, in 2013, he became the first Pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.

Cycle parking racks used at Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games venues during the summer have been handed out to 50 community groups, local authorities, and businesses.

A wide range of organisations, from schools and residents’ associations to health centres and housing developers are benefitting from this Games legacy and helping to boost cycling rates in their areas.

As festivities draw to a close, Birmingham City Council has once again set up locations for residents to recycle their Christmas trees. Disposal points for anyone with an unwanted real tree are identified close to the main entrance to each of the following parks:

Millions of people hunkered down in a deep freeze overnight and early morning to ride out the frigid storm that has killed at least 24 people across the United States, trapping some residents inside homes with heaping snow drifts and knocking out power to several hundred thousand homes and businesses.

It was the $10bn gift to the world. A machine that would show us our place in the Universe.

The James Webb Space Telescope was launched exactly a year ago, on Christmas Day. It had taken three decades to plan, design and build.

After safely getting tens of millions of trains to where they need to be over 57 years, the Network Rail team at Birmingham New Street’s iconic railway signal box moved its last service on Christmas Eve. And while its ‘Brutalist’ external appearance has divided opinion over those seven decades, what’s less well-known is how integral its insides have been to run Britain’s railway.

A new partnership between Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) and community transport operators across the region is helping to connect people experiencing loneliness and social isolation with new friends and vital support services. Over three million people across Britain have described themselves as chronically lonely in 2022* – equal to the population of the West Midlands.

The cost-of-living crisis is set to cause heartbreak for UK families as more than one in three (39%) Brits plan to stay home rather than visiting family or friends in order to save money on fuel.

Leasing.com has revealed that the UK is curbing costs wherever possible. A quarter (25%) are spending less on fuel with fuel prices increasing by more than 25% in the past year (Oct 21 to Oct 22), adding £28 to the cost of an average tank.

A taxi driver will be working on Christmas Day to drive families to their desired destination and donating his fares to St Giles Hospice.

Mark Dewar, from Tamworth, in Staffordshire, works for his local taxi firm, Acorns Taxis. In 2020, St Giles Hospice began caring for his wife at the end of her life after she was diagnosed with lung and spine cancer.

Major sections of barriers have come down in time for Christmas and New Year as city centre transformation works enter the final leg. City of Wolverhampton Council has listened to traders’ concerns and reduced the barriers to only small areas of Victoria Street, making pedestrian access to businesses easier.

Birmingham’s biggest taxi and private hire vehicle operator, A2B Radio Cars, has donated £1000 to Free Radio’s Mission Christmas campaign, supporting Cash for Kids Midlands.

Cash for Kids Midlands is a grant-giving charity that helps improve the lives of disadvantaged children and young people affected by poverty, illness, neglect or have additional needs.

The City of Wolverhampton Council has pledged that it will do all it can to help the city's adult social care sector as it deals with rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.

The council has already invested nearly £5m more in the sector this year – and says it will seek to further increase payments to social care providers as much as it possibly can in 2023.

Councillor John Cotton, Cabinet Member for Social Justice, Community Safety and Equalities, writes about the work being done to support residents during the cost-of-living crisis...

‘As part of our response to the cost of living crisis – which has included the development of warm welcome spaces and financial support for food banks amongst many other things – we began providing extended opening hours at our Advice and Information Centres in Erdington and Northfield at the start of November.

As scores of children prepare to look to the skies this Christmas Eve, they will be relieved to know scientists are helping to clear a path for Santa in space. 

Space is becoming crowded as more and more satellites are launched into the Earth’s orbit. We have a space traffic problem – with junk from satellites, rocket bodies and other debris accumulating in the skies. Determined to tackle this problem, scientists at the University of Warwick are researching these growing threats to the spacecraft we rely on. 

Regulated rail fares in England will rise by up to 5.9% from next March, the Department for Transport has announced. The rise is being capped at a level well below inflation, "to help reduce the impact on passengers", the transport secretary said.

"This is a fair balance between the passengers who use our trains and the taxpayers who help pay for them," Mark Harper said. Fares will officially rise on 5 March 2023.