Community News

SCC, the Birmingham-headquartered international IT services firm, and Canal & River Trust (‘the Trust’), the charity that looks after and brings to life 2,000 miles of UK waterways, have restored green space in Birmingham under the Trust’s canal adoption scheme.

Survival, a fear of failure and a sense of duty. Twenty-two women from Commonwealth countries tell their migration story for the first time, in the year that Birmingham hosts the Commonwealth Games.

Keep Britain Tidy and the Mayor of the West Midlands are working in partnership to deliver the West Midlands Great Clean Up - a litter-picking campaign to spruce up the West Midlands region ahead of the Commonwealth Games this summer.

Working alongside Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Wolverhampton and Walsall councils, they will be mobilising an army of volunteer #LitterHeroes to clean up the region’s parks, streets and waterways on 24th and 25th June and beyond.

The UK has announced further funding to support grassroots human rights defenders and advance equality and freedom across the Commonwealth. Despite welcome progress in recent years, many LGBT people in Commonwealth countries continue to face discrimination and criminalisation.

Passengers planning on travelling during a third day of RMT strike action yesterday were being warned not to get caught out with trains finishing much earlier than normal. Many last trains were set to leave between 3pm and 5pm and arrive at their final destinations before 7pm.

A reggae choir has been launched to celebrate the Windrush generation and their contribution to British society.

The Bristol Windrush Reggae Choir is a six-month project that includes vocal workshops and specially commissioned music.

Haringey residents turned out in their numbers as they helped to celebrate South Africa’s Youth Day at our coproduced event in O.R. Tambo Rec on Sunday (19 June 2022).

There were plenty of free activities on offer throughout the afternoon, with children and their families making the most of the summer weather to participate in the basketball, football and/or tennis sessions.

Hickman Park in Bilston, Wolverhampton will be filled with the joyful sounds of uplifting gospel music, talented Christian artistes, inspirational speakers, and tasty cultural foods as the inaugural Come-Unity in the Park Festival comes to the Black Country on Sunday 3^rd May 2022, 12noon – 7pm.

A group of dedicated community and corporate supporters from across the West Midlands have been officially recognised at Midlands Air Ambulance Charity's Recognition Awards and Charity Ball 2022.

Now in its 10^th year, the prestigious Recognition Awards and Charity Ball was hosted by ITN's Nina Hossain and one of Midlands Air Ambulance Charity's official ambassadors and BBC Radio 2 presenter, Richie Anderson.

Windrush Day was celebrated throughout around the UK as cities up and down the land marked the day the Empire Windrush carried many hundreds of Caribbean people to a new life in the UK – following a call from the British government to rebuild the war-torn country just years following the ending of World War II.

Hundreds of new, higher-quality computers for public use have been installed in all community libraries in the city.

In total 520 PCs are now available across the city making it easier for those residents who struggle to access digital devices.

Funds totalling more than £1million have been given to 247 projects thanks to the second round of awards for a city council programme designed to help people celebrate the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

With the Games just over one month away, the latest round of grants means 320 initiatives across all 69 of the city’s wards have now received support worth more than £1.4million through the Celebrating Communities Small Grants Funding Scheme.

The number of road works carried out across the country has increased over the last three years, reveals new research from breakdown provider Green Flag. In 2019, some 17,600 miles of roads were worked on, rising to 19,400 miles by the end of 2021, an increase of 10 per cent. Road works include improvements in the form of resurfacing and repairs, through to utilities digging up the road to access pipework and infrastructure.

A leading UK independent bookshop has called out major book publishers for not doing enough to support dyslexic readers. 

Books on the Hill, located in Clevedon, North Somerset, established the BOTH Press publishing house to fund and produce larger font books aimed at dyslexic readers.

As temperatures across the region are set to rise, Severn Trent is issuing a reminder for visitors to keep safe, and to not take a dip in one of its reservoirs.

With temperatures expected to hit the mid to late twenties today, Severn Trent is advising anyone who is thinking about cooling off in the water to keep safe and to keep out.

Plans to regenerate another two historic buildings – the Victorian-built Globe House in Walsall and the derelict former Erdington Baths in Birmingham – have been unlocked by fresh investments from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).

As part of its nationally acclaimed brownfield regeneration and housing delivery programme, and using funds secured in the 2018 Housing Deal, the WMCA Board has agreed in principle to make investments that will kick-start both schemes, breathing new life into the historic buildings and creating more than 150 jobs and 35 new homes in the heart of Erdington and Walsall.