Community News

A search has been launched for organisations that can help support a range of activities being developed by Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Voluntary Service Council (BVSC).

The activities, designed bring people together as a result of the city hosting the Commonwealth Games next year, will form part of the Stronger Communities project - which is utilising an allocation of £500,000 from the council’s £6million Commonwealth Games Community Fund.

A new regional Race Equalities Taskforce is being set up by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and recruitment to the Taskforce is now open. It will be led by an independent Chair, Yetunde Dania, who is Partner and Birmingham Head of Office at international law firm Trowers & Hamlins.

The Taskforce will act to improve equality of opportunity for all communities across the West Midlands: concentrating on race and the extent to which people from different ethnic groups (including White British people) have different experiences and challenges.

The city council has set out how it will support those in need using the remainder of the Household Support Fund allocation. In October 2021 the council was awarded £12.791m and immediately used £1.22m for supermarket vouchers for those eligible for free school meals over half-term.

Vouchers will also be provided for two weeks over the Christmas holidays, using an additional £2.5m from the fund. A report to cabinet sets out how the remainder will be distributed to those in need.

Severn Trent has announced a new focus for its Community Fund to celebrate its partnership with Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Starting in January 2022, the Community Fund will be looking to fund local community projects that specifically aim to take care of nature and the environment.

Grants of £5,000, £10,000 and £20,000 will be available for non-profit organisations and local charities with an income of less than £500,000 averaged over three years.

Wolverhampton’s Yo! Christmas is officially launched, offering lots of fun activities and events for the city’s children and young people and their families over the festive season. 

The activities, many of which are free, start on Saturday 18 December, with a packed programme running throughout the Christmas holidays, including sports, clubs, festive fun days, arts and crafts, and more. 

Christmas has arrived at Bullring & Grand Central with the ultimate free Christmas party, Camp as Christmas, taking place on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 December, 12 – 5pm. A selection box of artists will present two afternoons of family entertainment and last-ditch gift ideas.

With everything from Christmas Jumper competitions to Line Dancing classes, expect Festive Fun throughout the weekend.

Birmingham’s pledge to welcome more than 200 Afghan refugees under two Home Office schemes will be discussed by the council’s Cabinet next week. Earlier this year Birmingham, which is a City of Sanctuary and a Mi-Friendly City, welcomed 80 Afghan interpreters and their families under phase one of the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Programme (ARAP), following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.

A report outlining recommendations to accept 110 refugees per year in 2022/23 and 2023/24, from phase two of ARAP and the new Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, is due to be considered by Cabinet on 14 December.

Annual Safety in Beauty Diamond Awards 2021, took place at The Royal Lancaster Hotel in London, with the glittering Gala Ball and Awards Ceremony being attended by 600 Cosmetic, Aesthetic and Beauty Industry guests who gathered to celebrate the great and good of the industry.

The Safety in Beauty Diamond Awards were created in 2014, and are dedicated to recognizing and paying special tribute to the many outstanding businesses, professionals, brands and service providers in the beauty and aesthetics industry.

People in England are being asked to work from home again if possible and face masks will be compulsory in most public places, as part of new rules to limit the spread of Omicron.

Vaccine passports will also become compulsory for entry to nightclubs and large venues from next week. Boris Johnson announced the government was moving to Plan B - its back-up plan of extra Covid rules.

This weekend (4-5 Dec), the Widows Sons Masonic Bikers Association (West Kent) held its annual ‘Toy Run’, where members dressed-up as Father Christmas and elves to deliver more than 500 gifts to excited children via motorbike.

The children received toys, games and gifts purchased with donations received from local Freemasons throughout the month of November.

Providers have welcomed a package of support from the City of Wolverhampton Council and partners to help the health and social care sector through what promises to be another difficult winter.

Announced last week at the launch of the new Wolverhampton Cares campaign, it includes an increase in the hourly rate paid by the council to homecare providers and reablement providers, the creation of more 'step down' residential beds to support people who need reablement at home but have no care available, and a commitment to work even more closely with care providers to understand how the council and other organisations can support them.

A Royal Sutton Coldfield resident, and Army Reservist, has gone viral on social media after sharing news about receiving a special recognition medal from the military.

Captain Jay Singh-Sohal VR tweeted a photo in uniform holding up the Volunteer Reserve Service Medal (VRSM), and a message:

Severn Trent is encouraging customers to start wrapping… their pipes. With temperatures set to dip again this week, the water and waste company is advising customers to take steps to ensure their pipes don’t freeze this winter.

Cold weather can wreak havoc on water pipes – when water freezes it expands, putting more pressure on pipes and joints, which can cause pipes to split or joints to pull apart. But there are a few easy ways to prepare your home for winter:

Following the success of the Yo! Summer and October half-term events, the City of Wolverhampton Council is planning a festive treat for children and young people. It is lining up a packed programme of events and activities for youngsters and their families throughout the Christmas holidays, many of them free, with something for everyone from sports activities and festive arts and crafts, music and dance workshops.

Local campaigners are celebrating success at the rejection of a planning application to turn the Cross Keys Pub into a 15-bed hostel. The Council received 153 letters of objection including from Erdington Councillor Robert Alden, who led the campaign locally to stop the hostel application.

Residents raised the following objections to the Council about the application: - 

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and local councils across the region have launched a new winter campaign to help rough sleepers and those at risk of becoming homeless.

‘There’s a Better Way’ is the latest campaign for the alternative giving scheme, Change into Action, which is now in its fifth year. It asks West Midlands residents to look out for people in their local areas who might be sleeping rough or at risk of homelessness so that they can be connected to local support services.