Community News

With the cost of living crisis really starting to bite, struggling households across Birmingham are being urged to check if they are missing out on the benefits they are entitled to.

As prices continue to rise, with UK inflation at a 40-year high, organisations across the city are joining forces to offer support and highlight the help available to residents.

Six Birmingham Community Libraries are celebrating the history and culture of countries from the Commonwealth through an art exhibition this summer. With Birmingham set to proudly host the Commonwealth Games next week, local artist Ken Banks has created 72 masks to represent the different Commonwealth nations and territories.

Since 1994, the National Lottery has sponsored £3,167,157,703-worth of projects in the West Midlands. Birmingham absorbed most of these funds (£990,529,164), followed by Shropshire (£207,432,625) and Sandwell (£189,959,873). Meanwhile, Tamworth only ever received £12,527,417, this being the least funded place in the West Midlands.

A Wolverhampton artist and campaigner who has worked tirelessly to support disabled people across the region is to be one of the city’s Batonbearers for the Birmingham 2022 Queen’s Baton Relay.

Worcester Cathedral has this week launched an appeal and is asking for help in supporting in its world-class music department. The Cathedral choristers are preparing for the start of this year's Three Choirs Festival in Hereford next weekend. 

Nursery heroine and tireless charity worker Lisa Potts GM has been unveiled as one of Wolverhampton’s Batonbearers for the Birmingham 2022 Queen’s Baton Relay. She has been nominated to carry the Baton in recognition of her exceptional bravery and ongoing commitment to children and young people.

Athletics legends, Tessa Sanderson, David Moorcroft, and Hannah England have been appointed as the Village Mayors at the three campus villages where athletes and team officials will be staying during the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The three former athletes were selected as they all have a strong connection to the host region.

Wolverhampton’s Yo! Summer programme is officially launched and promises hundreds of activities and events for children, young people and their families during the long school summer holiday.

The activities, many of which are free and include food, range from sports, summer camps and fun days out to dance and drama workshops, arts and crafts and more.

A choir from Staffordshire are celebrating after sweeping the board at the inaugural Midlands Choir of the Year competition, organised by Lichfield Festival as part of its 40th anniversary celebrations. 

Cor Bach from Newcastle-under-Lyme beat off five rivals in a concert at Lichfield Cathedral to lift the first Midlands Choir of the Year trophy and were announced as winners of the audience vote too.

The RSPCA says it could be ‘a matter of life or death’ if pet owners do not take extreme caution and familiarise themselves with the signs of heatstroke in animals ahead of the severe heatwave this weekend.

The urgent advice comes as the Met Office has issued an Amber Extreme Heat Warning and a Level 3 UK Health Security Agency Heat Health Alert is in place for parts of England and Wales.

It’s a summer of fun at The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust sites - with a wide variety of events taking place over the coming months.

There will be plenty to see and do over the summer holidays for all the family - from dog shows to sports and steam weekends, and much more.

Haringey Council came together to mark Srebrenica Memorial Day, with Council leader Cllr Peray Ahmet joining Mayor of Haringey, Cllr Gina Adamou and other councillors to light candles in memory of the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

Cllr Peray Ahmet, Leader of Haringey Council, said: “I, the Mayor Cllr Gina Adamou, and other councillors came together to remember the victims of the Srebrenica genocide – on Srebrenica Memorial Day.

Organisations which are holding school holiday events for children and young people in Wolverhampton are being reminded to submit details so they can be included in the Yo! summer programme. Six weeks of fun and opportunity is being lined up in Wolverhampton during the holidays, with the Yo! summer programme offering another extensive range of activities for children, young people and their families.

Today, BabyCentre releases the nation’s top baby names in its annual mid-year charts – and also reveals that parents have unnamed and shamed big buck trial celebrities, sending down key names in high-profile court cases.

There were no winners when it came to the names in defamation cases on both sides of the Atlantic as the Wagatha Christie trial and the battle between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp saw parents fling the names out of court.

With temperatures expected to reach the 30s over the weekend and heading into next week, Severn Trent is urging people to consider the ways that they use water during warm weather and is asking them to stay safe this summer by staying out of reservoirs. 

Using paddling pool water to keep the garden looking green, switching off the tap while brushing your teeth and cutting a couple of minutes from your morning shower are just a few of the recommendations to help people reduce water use during warm weather to avoid a surge in demand. 

Birmingham 2022 has announced the artists and performers that will be part of the seven magnificent Neighbourhood Festival Sites which will be held in locations across the Commonwealth Games host city.

The programme at each site will reflect a different aspect of the Games, from the ‘warm-up’ in Castle Vale, to the notions of speed and boundaries in Sparkhill.