Community News

The largest and most ambitious programme aimed at addressing holiday hunger, inactivity, isolation and learning loss has proved hugely successful over the summer.

Bring it on Brum is the city’s Holiday Activity and Food programme that ran over the summer using government funding, with six weeks of holiday club provision, healthy food and activities for children and young people aged 5 to 16 who are eligible for free school meals and have additional needs.

People in Birmingham are actively participating in a range of activities to save the planet with more than 91% trying to do their bit now to save the planet according to research revealed today. Most popular activity undertaken in the city to help save the planet is recycling with 61% saying they are now recycling more than ever.

The Yo! programme of half-term events was a great success with hundreds of children and young people taking part in a wide range of fun days and sporting events across the city.

Held over the October school holidays, youngsters and their families took part in activities from local providers ranging from pumpkin carving, spooky scavenger hunts and arts and crafts to music workshops and free WV Active swimming sessions.

Unfortunately, one of life’s inevitabilities is that as we grow older our health starts to deteriorate and our reliance on support for our care needs increase. Sadly, every year over 50,000 elderly people are forced to sell their homes to fund their care. There are few options available to the growing number of the older generation, who need to pay care home fees.

So, the German Christmas Market in Birmingham is now officially opened with many of its main attractions back in full-swing.

Better known as Frankfurt Christmas Market Birmingham, there are 56 stallholders on show in the city this year - this smaller than normal because of Brexit and the Covid pandemic - that spread down New Street while ongoing works are carried out in Victoria Square, which means the sausages are back!

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has launched free online learning resources for primary schools, themed around Queen’s Baton Relay.

The Queen’s Baton Relay is a tradition that celebrates, connects and excites communities from across the Commonwealth during the build up to the Games.

A heartbroken family who lost their youngest daughter to deadly meningitis have launched a national charity’s Christmas Ribbon Appeal.

Eilidh Neave, from Kinross in Scotland, was just 8 when she became ill and died from meningitis whilst on a family holiday in France in July 2019. Now her parents Ann Marie and Stuart, and sister Zoë, are supporting charity Meningitis Now’s annual ribbon appeal, which offers everyone the chance to remember their loved ones at Christmas and donate to fight back against the devastating disease.

Thirteen-year-old Olivia Rudge, from Cradley Heath in the West Midlands, has been shortlisted for an award by the national disability charity, Sense. The nomination recognises the challenges she has overcome since the Covid pandemic and the progress she has made with her development.

Olivia, who is non-verbal and has multiple disabilities, has been shortlisted for the ‘Young Person of the Year’ award at the annual Sense Awards.

With forecasters predicting significant snowfall over higher ground by the end of the week, William Hill made Manchester 8-1 favourite for Bonfire Night snowfall.

Forecasters have been warning of snow flurries and an impending arctic plume in November for the last few weeks, but as the sky lights up with colourful fireworks on Saturday and Sunday, there could now be significant snowfall at higher levels and an early taste of wintry conditions in parts of Northern England and Scotland.

With Covid-19 continuing to spread in Wolverhampton, people who are meeting up with friends and family to celebrate Bonfire Night or Diwali this week are being encouraged to do so safely.

Residents are reminded that meeting outdoors is safer, and if they do meet indoors, they should try and let as much fresh air in as possible.

This year Covent Garden will be bringing the Christmas Magic once again to Central London. The central London neighbourhood is one of the best places in the city - and the UK - to experience the Christmas Magic, where families come together to enjoy the best shopping, dining and exciting offers.  

On Friday October 29, London's Covent Garden felled its famous Christmas Tree, London's tallest hand-picked Christmas tree, from Woods Farm in Solihull, in the West Midlands - which also supplies Downing Street and Windsor Castle.

A 3.5m tall puppet of a 9-year-old Syrian refugee named Little Amal was welcomed by hundreds of Erdington residents as part of her 8,000km journey, The Walk produced by Good Chance Theatre in association with Handspring Puppet Company

Hundreds of Erdington residents lined the high-street to welcome Little Amal to Birmingham. The 3.5m tall puppet of a 9-year-old Syrian refugee made a visit to Birmingham as a part of her 8,000km journey titled The Walk that began in Turkey on 27 July and will end in Manchester on 3 November.

A Smethwick man has raised over £4,000 for Parkinson’s UK through sales of his book.

Mark Lanyon, 58, from Bearwood, donated his June and July earnings from the Amazon sales of ‘Who Stole Grandma?’ - the story of his time with his mum Geraldine after learning she had Parkinson’s. 

Archaeologists in Buckinghamshire working on the HS2 project have uncovered a set of incredible rare Roman statues whilst excavating a Norman Church in Stoke Mandeville.

In the final stages of the excavation at the site of the old St Mary’s Norman church in Stoke Mandeville, archaeologists were excavating a circular ditch around what was thought to be the foundations of an Anglo-Saxon tower.

A landowner has been found guilty of breaching a Community Protection Notice over land at Goldthorn Hill, which was left in a completely unacceptable condition.

Mr Primpal Jangra, of Lea Road, Wolverhampton, was served with the Community Protection Notice and a deadline to clear the land after he repeatedly ignored council officers’ requests to clear waste at the former residential property.

A new consumer behaviour change campaign is calling on 13 million UK households not to heat their homes any higher than 21 degrees and consider other ways to get cosy instead.

The ‘Wear Warm’ campaign was launched after research undertaken by Utilita Energy - the only energy company created to help households use less energy - revealed that almost half of the nation’s homes are heated to 24 degrees centigrade for half the year - the same temperature as Barbados.