Community News

West Midlands National Park (WMNP), the visionary long-term project to drive social, economic, and environmental transformation in the region, led by a Birmingham City University (BCU) academic, has announced twelve award winners and three new visiting professorships in a boost to its international profile.

The first six in a series of new Love Your Environment (LYE) events have seen 750 bags of litter collected, 500 graffiti tags removed and 100 dumped fridges and 50 tyres taken from city streets.

As an idea developed by Birmingham City Council, the LYE days see teams from various departments join forces with representatives from partner organisations to blitz locations that are known to be ‘hotspots’ for a range of environmental issues.

A trio from West Midlands have braved the shave and raised over £1,200 for charity Parkinson’s UK.

Elijah Chamberlain-Page, his girlfriend, Jess Howells, and twin Finn took to Brierley Hill Market to get their long locks shaved off. The headshave was inspired by Elijah and Finn’s grandad, Roger, who died earlier this year and had been living with the condition. 

A national two-minute silence led by His Majesty King Charles took place across the UK as the nation remembered all who have died in conflicts since the First World War. As 11am, wreaths were be laid by Members of the Royal Family, senior politicians and faith representatives during the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph, in London.

A new research study has set out the potential impacts of climate change on businesses, infrastructure and people’s health in the West Midlands in the decades ahead.

‘A Summary of Climate Change Impacts in the West Midlands Combined Authority Area’, uses the latest data to chart the predicted impact of increased cases of severe flooding, water scarcity and more intense and prolonged heatwaves.

A new study revealed that ‘Los Pollos Hermanos’ is the UK’s most popular fictional company, according to Google search data.   

The study, conducted by document management company SmallPDF analysed Google UK and worldwide data for the 19 most popular fake companies and ranked them according to the average monthly searches on Google in the UK.  So, if they were real – which business would be the most successful one? 

Birmingham’s Faith Covenant has been formally signed by Councillor John Cotton, Cabinet Member for Social Justice, Community Safety and Equalities and the city’s faith leaders. Sir Stephen Timms MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Faith and Daniel Singleton, National Executive Director, Faith Action plus city faith leaders also took part in the signing at the Council House.

The River Cole and surrounding area is to be transformed in a Community Commons project launched at the Birmingham Energy Innovation Centre, Tyseley Energy Park.

The Birmingham Energy Institute and project partners hosted Councillor Majid Mahmood (Birmingham City Council Cabinet Member for Environment), Adam Tranter (West Midlands Cycling and Walking Commissioner), community organisations and residents at the BEIC to mark the launch of the River Cole and Tyseley Energy Park - Creation of a Community Common project.

A Barratt and David Wilson Homes employee and her mother knitted 400 poppies to raise money for the Royal British Legion for Armistice Day (yesterday 11th November).

Dawn Mellors – who works as PA to the Sales Director at the developer’s divisional office in Nottingham – has been knitting and selling the poppies to help raise funds for Barratt and David Wilson Homes’ November charity, the Royal British Legion.

Christmas lights switch-on events for all the family will light up City of Wolverhampton for the countdown to Christmas.

The city centre switch-on will take place in Queen Square on Saturday, 19 November. The fun starts at 3pm with a funfair, a festive market on Dudley Street, real reindeer, face painting, food and drink and much more.

A charity who provides free legal advice to asylum seekers in Birmingham and the West Midlands is closing down, despite being financially healthy.

Trustees of the charity have rejected attempts by the workers’ union, United Voices of the World (UVW) to negotiate with them, after the workers’ asked for union recognition and an end to alleged trade union victimisation.

The sixth annual Remembrance Sunday Parade is set to take place in London this weekend. In recent years the afternoon ceremony at the African & Caribbean War Memorial on Windrush Square has attracted hundreds which remembers the two million African and Caribbean military personnel who served in World War I and World War II.

The GINA Project and Ovacome in Birmingham have been awarded a cash donation from TalkTalk’s Future Fibre Fund and is set to receive a combined total of £1,500 to support their local community project and initiatives. The Future Fibre Fund received nearly 50 applications across Birmingham, Greater Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool from youth club projects to organisations supporting people with disabilities.

An investment of more than £5m was announced by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to help kickstart the first phase of the transformational Brewers Yard regeneration scheme in Wolverhampton city centre.

The investment will pave the way for the first enabling phase in the delivery of almost 600 new homes and hundreds of construction jobs on the site of the existing City of Wolverhampton Council depot in Culwell Street.

A leading youth charity is appealing to people to part with a pound to make a difference to the lives of local young people who need it the most.

Proceeds from YHA’s Christmas Raffle, which has a first prize of £3000, will go towards ensuring that no child misses out on the transformative power of a residential school trip.

Councils across ​the West Midlands face a collective funding gap of over £222m in the next financial year forcing them to cut essential services, says a report published by UNISON. 

Waste collections, leisure centres, nurseries and other vital services will all be hit according to the findings based on information* from local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales.