Community News

When thinking of the violin and classical music, it may come as a surprise to learn that at one point the greatest classical soloist of that instrument was a Black man who lived for most of his adult life in Peckham, South London.  

George Bridgetower was a virtuoso violinist born in Biala Polaska, Poland, on 11th October 1778, to a musical family. His mother and father were from Germany and Barbados, respectively, and met while working in Poland for the Hungarian Prince Esterházy.

This year’s Yo! Summer activity programme was bigger and better than ever before, with thousands of children and young people taking part in a wide range of fun days, sporting activities and holiday clubs across Wolverhampton. Held throughout the summer holidays, over 32,000 children, young people and their families enjoyed a wide range of activities, up from 12,000 the year before.

A statue of a pioneering Black footballer has been unveiled.

The 12ft (3.7m) statue of Jack Leslie has been placed outside the ground of Plymouth Argyle, the club he scored 137 times for in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1925 he was the first Black player to be picked for the England squad, but his family said that he was later denied his place due to the colour of his skin.

National recognition has been earned for the city council’s Mobile Household Recycling Centre (MHRC) service – in the form of a prestigious Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) Award.

At the organisation’s 2022 awards ceremony, staged on Wednesday (October 5), the MHRC initiative, which launched in the summer of 2021, earned top honours in the Best New Idea category.

The Woodland Trust has delivered a major boost for communities across the region by providing nearly £300,000 to ramp up tree planting and help the West Midland Combined Authority (WMCA) tackle climate change.

The funding will be used by the WMCA to establish the West Midlands Forest Partnership which will help partners reach their tree planting targets by identifying ways to coordinate different projects and programmes and complete the largest I-Tree Eco study in the UK.

Iain Holloway and his family made the surprise discovery when they were unpacking their food shopping after a delivery at their home in Tamworth, Staffordshire. The tiny 1.5-inch (3.8cm) amphibian, who is now in the care of the RSPCA, was in good condition, despite being inside the bag of bananas which would have been wrapped up for some time.

People in Wolverhampton are being encouraged to join the Race Against Hate at West Park next Sunday (16 October 2022).

The 5km race, equivalent to three laps of the park, marks the culmination of this year's Hate Crime Awareness Week and is open to individuals, families and teams, or all ages and abilities. People can run, jog or walk.

Researchers at the University of Wolverhampton are working in collaboration with Birmingham Children’s Trust to improve the lives of families affected by domestic abuse.

Domestic abuse is a significant and widespread national issue which has a profound and long-lasting impact on victims, their children, wider family, communities, and society.

Island Records, the iconic music company, whose record releases made global stars of the likes of Bob Marley & The Wailers, U2, Steve Winwood, Robert Palmer, Grace Jones, Angelique Kidjo and Baaba Maal, and launched the careers of British black music acts such as Millie, Aswad, Steel Pulse and Hi-Tension, is to have its last building as an independent company – 22 St Peter's Square in Hammersmith, west London, affixed with a Nubian Jak blue plaque on Saturday

A document providing a vision and principles to protect and enhance the environment as well as inform future investment of the area around Edgbaston Reservoir is set for approval on October 11. The Edgbaston Reservoir Masterplan Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) was drawn up after the Birmingham Development Plan (BDP), which was itself adopted in 2017, identified Greater Icknield as an area for growth  with the reservoir specifically described as one of the city's most significant areas of open space.

An adrenaline seeking bride and groom enjoyed their dream wedding this week by tying the knot at one of the UK’s favourite theme parks, Fantasy Island.

Self-confessed thrill-seekers Leanne Smith, 33 from Derby, and Lee Churchill, 39 also from Derby, enjoyed the b-ride of their lives on September 27th, as the pair committed their vows to each other at Fantasy Island theme park, Lincolnshire. The newlyweds are huge fans of the Skegness theme park, visiting regularly and enjoying all the thrills on offer from the site’s 30-plus attractions.

From Monday 10th October 2022, every household in the UK is invited to access a free 45-minute workshop dedicated to showing  households how to cut their annual energy costs, courtesy of Utilita Energy.

The free-to-attend ‘Bill Buster’ sessions will be delivered by Utilita Energy - the UK’s only energy supplier created to help households use less energy.

The Royal College of Anaesthetists welcomes Black History Month as an opportunity to celebrate the huge contribution of Black anaesthetists and other healthcare workers to the NHS throughout its 74-year history. 

They value the rich diversity of their membership and recognise that Black healthcare workers are a fundamental part of their specialty, their College and their community.

NESCAFÉ, Nestlé's largest coffee brand and one of the world's favorite coffees, outlined today its extensive plan to help make coffee farming more sustainable: the NESCAFÉ Plan 2030. The brand is working with coffee farmers to help them transition to regenerative agriculture while accelerating its decade of work under the NESCAFÉ Plan.

A far-reaching blueprint setting out what is needed to level up the region was launched by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. The ‘Levelling Up Growth Prospectus’ aims to fire up the regional economy by driving forward a new, green industrial revolution while attracting major private sector investment.

Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator, an activist for civil rights and women’s rights, a college president and an adviser to U.S. presidents. Recently, a statue of her was unveiled in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.

She was born in Mayesville, South Carolina, a decade after the Civil War ended. Her parents had been enslaved.