Three teenagers from a deprived township in South Africa are travelling to Birmingham this week to open a prestigious international viola competition.

Kwanda Buthelezi (violist, aged 13), Mbali Phato (violinist, aged 12) and Njabulo Nxumalo (violinist, aged 17) from Soweto in Johannesburg will be the focus of the first event in the Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition and Festival, being held at Birmingham City University’s new Royal Birmingham Conservatoire between Saturday 18 and Friday 24 November.

The students journey to the UK has been made possible thanks to a collaborative UK-South Africa project, Cape Gate MIAGI Centre for Music & Royal Birmingham Conservatoire – or ARCO, which is also the name for the technique of playing a stringed instrument with a bow.

ARCO has seen 24 strings students aged between eight and 17 in South Africa selected to participate in weekly instrumental Skype lessons, given by academics, current students and alumni of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

ARCO aims to provide the benefits and life changing inspiration of music to children in the most deprived of circumstances. As well as providing transformative music education activities, Conservatoire staff and students have been acting as role models for vulnerable youngsters living in Soweto, a township deeply affected by poverty and a dearth in cultural activity and opportunity.

For the last two years, the Cape Gate MIAGI Centre for Music has hosted an annual ARCO Festival in Soweto, featuring public concerts by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, intensive individual tuition, instrument-specific classes, quartet lessons and listening classes. However, the upcoming concert in Birmingham will inaugurate the project’s latest initiative, ARCO Exchange, which has funded the trip that is enabling the three students to fly to the UK this week.

The concert at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire on Saturday 18 November marks the beginning of the teenager’s two-week visit and will see them perform works by Dvorak, Händel and Küchler, as well as speak about what ARCO means to them.

Kwanda Buthelezi from Soweto said:“I have learnt so much from the ARCO project so far and there's still so much more to learn. I would really like to thank my family, for their constant support; my Skype teacher Matt; Ma’am Olga at the Cape Gate MIAGI Centre for Music; my role model and viola teacher, Tiisesto Mashishi; and last but not least, God. I will always be thankful until the day after forever for this incredible opportunity.”

The three students have never travelled outside South Africa before; it was only last month that they got a passport for the first time.

Njabulo Nxumalo from White City, Soweto, said: “I can't wait to fly to England for the first time in my life. I am looking forward to seeing all of my teachers from Birmingham once again. I am also really excited to see some of the professional musicians who are coming to Birmingham for the Cecil Aronowitz Competition and Festival.”

Alongside Conservatoire Principal, Professor Julian Lloyd Webber and Professor Philip Plowden, Vice-Chancellor of Birmingham City University, Head of Strings at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Louise Lansdown – who initiated the ARCO project in 2015 – will discuss the success of the UK-South Africa partnership during the inaugural concert.

She said:“The students will be opening our major international viola competition named after one of South Africa’s greatest violists and I know he would be immensely proud of what the youngsters from Soweto have achieved as part of their studies with ARCO. We are delighted that, along with many distinguished guests, Cecil’s wife, Nicola Aronowitz, will be here to enjoy the student’s performance.

“As a University, we are proud of our ambitious widening participation programme, with over forty-five per cent of our students coming from low income households, and with ARCO, we are expanding these efforts on a truly global scale.”

“I would personally like to thank Birmingham City University, the South African Quartet of Peace Trust, the Gwyn Williams Charitable Trust For Young Violist and all the fundraisers who have made the ARCO project, and now this Exchange, possible.”

The second Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition will see 26 young violists aged 21 and under representing 20 nationalities as they compete for the overall Cecil Aronowitz Prize of £5,000, a recording contract with Champs Hill Records and several high profile recitals as part of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s Concert Series.

Performers will be coming to the UK for the semi-finals from as far afield as Austria, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and the USA, ahead of the final on Friday 24 November in The Concert Hall at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Hosted in conjunction with the Arts Council of England, British Viola Society and Birmingham Services for Education, it is the first major competition to take place in the Conservatoire’s new £57 million home.

Organisers have also planned a series of events to run alongside the competition that will immerse hundreds of children from Birmingham schools in workshops, UK conservatoire students in masterclasses, public recitals from jury members and displays from luthiers.

Part of Birmingham City University, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a unique contemporary building, incorporating five public performance spaces including a new 500 seat concert hall for orchestral training and performance, a purpose-built organ studio and private rehearsal and practice rooms.

Furthermore, as the first purpose built conservatoire in the UK since 1987, the new institution which opened in September this year is the only one of its kind in the country designed for the demands of the digital age.

The Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition and Festival runs from Saturday 18 until Friday 24 November at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham City University.

A unique 50th Anniversary celebration of Pink Floyd's legendary performance at the now sadly burnt down Ritz Ballroom next to the Hare and Hounds in King's Heath will be held on Sunday 3 December.

Still fronted at that time by the charismatic but increasingly erratic Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd's appearance in December 1967 was one of their first in the Midlands and came shortly after the release of their second single See Emily Play and their first album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. On the same bill that night were The Rare Breed including Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler who would later find fame and fortune as members of Black Sabbath.

Joining Syd Barrett on the tiny Ritz Ballroom stage 50 years ago as part of Pink Floyd were Roger Waters, Rick Wright and drummer Nick Knight who was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Two years afterwards the group would return to Birmingham to record the live album Ummagumma at Mothers Club in Erdington.

50 years later they have become one of the most bestselling and influential groups of all time and were earlier this year the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

From 3 pm to 6 pm a great selection of local musicians including Peters & Dog whose recent single was about Syd Barrett will perform their favourite Pink Floyd songs at Fletchers Bar on York Road

Public Health England (PHE) has announced the projects which have been awarded funding from the HIV Prevention Innovation Fund for 2017/18. The projects have been chosen from across England to receive total funding of £600,000 from the Department of Health through PHE.

PHE received over 70 submissions from different organisations for funding for local HIV prevention initiatives. Projects that provided innovation were welcome, especially those that addressed the following issues:

• acknowledging and addressing the wider determinants of high risk behaviour
• promoting the prompt diagnosis of both HIV and other STIs, especially among MSM
• addressing stigma associated with HIV
• integrating HIV prevention into health promotion and service delivery in other health areas
• supporting increased knowledge, awareness and understanding including of pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV, especially in currently underserved populations

Two examples of local initiatives receiving funding from PHE are the Sex Talk project run by National Prison Radio which will create information designed for prisoners to address issues of stigma around HIV and the Sholay Love project run by NAZ which aims to raise awareness of HIV and STIs and encourage testing amongst south Asian gay men in London, Bradford and Leeds.

Simon Walker, Health Improvement manager and sexual health lead for PHE West Midlands, said: “It’s great news that we have received funding for two projects within the West Midlands region. In Wolverhampton the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) has received funding for Reducing Barriers to Testing, a pilot project to test the effectiveness, acceptability and uptake of online self-testing (ST) as a method to reduce barriers to HIV testing in Black African communities.

“The Morning After Project (MAP), run by Summit House Support in Dudley, is a Black Country project focusing on education and harm reduction in the practice of chemsex – the use of drugs before or during sex to sustain, enhance, disinhibit or facilitiate the experience. Chemsex is a growing trend and the drugs commonly involved are crystal methamphetamine, GHB/GBL and mephedrone; these can be highly addictive and people often start using recreationally, thinking they can remain in control, but this can escalate and have an adverse impact on health and wellbeing.”

Summit House Support Managing Director Katy Baker said: “Summit House Support is delighted to be selected to deliver the Morning After Project through the HIV Innovation fund. We see participation in Chemsex as a real and emerging need effecting groups of men across the Black Country. We hope to address some of the main risks, specifically around contracting HIV, through a unique approach which targets both men at risk and raising the awareness and skills of local front line practitioners.”

Commenting on the Innovation Fund and the winning projects, Public Health Minister Steve Brine said: “Now in its third year the HIV Prevention Fund continues to foster local innovation projects, which aim to tackle HIV in more targeted and impactful ways, especially for those most at risk. The twelve projects announced today will boost local action and spread best practice to further reduce rates of HIV across the whole country.”

Professor John Newton, Director of Health Improvement, Public Health England said: “The HIV Innovation Fund continues to foster new approaches to HIV prevention. The twelve projects receiving funding have been chosen as they offer new and exciting ways to address key issues in HIV prevention, working particularly with groups at high risk. These projects will help share innovation and best practice around the country, helping other areas to replicate progress in London on lowering rates of HIV.”

Beloved local drinking spot, The Bailey Head in Oswestry has won the DogBuddy Dog-friendly Pub Award for the West Midlands.

Leading online dog-sitting platform, DogBuddy.com, has today announced the 12 regional winners of its nationwide Dog-friendly Pub Awards, as voted for by pub-going dog owners across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

Now in their second year, the awards recognise the deserving pubs across the UK that truly embrace ‘paw power’ and welcome not just two, but four legged customers too.

Encouraging hound-lovers and pup parents up and down the UK to show some well-deserved appreciation of existing dog-friendly establishments, the Dog-friendly Pub Awards also promote dog-friendly values across all pubs nationwide, inspiring UK dog owners to discover and visit their local pubs.

The Bailey Head is well-loved within the Oswestry community, with its friendly staff and most importantly, little touches that make the pub the perfect pit-stop for a pint after a dog-walk!

Duncan Borrowman, The Bailey Head’s landlord, is delighted with the results; “We are absolutely delighted for our doggy customers that we’ve won this award! Being dog-friendly is part of our whole ethos of creating a friendly atmosphere for everyone. It’s great because it means we can get more doggy visitors paying us a visit for a drink and a snack”.

The Belgrade Theatre is hoping to spread the festive cheer even further this Christmas by giving away over 600 tickets for its pantomime Cinderella to local families in need as part of its Making Memories campaign.

Building on the success of last year’s campaign, the Theatre will once again partner with Coventry Foodbank to offer families from across Coventry and Warwickshire quality time together and the opportunity for every child to experience the magic of theatre this winter. Families such as Laila’s:

Laila lives in Coventry with her mum and four older brothers and one younger sister. The family have recently returned to the city, after escaping domestic violence, and are living in a two-bedroom flat until a more permanent home can be found. Laila is a bright and friendly little girl, but has found it difficult to cope with her step-father’s suicide last year.  Laila is just 6 years of age and has never been to a pantomime.

(Laila’s name has been changed to protect her identity, but her story is real.)

The Theatre is already a quarter of the way towards reaching its target of raising £7,200 to give 120 families the opportunity to see the Belgrade pantomime and create unforgettable memories, thanks to many generous donations.

After an exceptionally successful campaign last year, the Theatre is setting itself the challenge of raising even more money and needs your help to give as many families as possible an unforgettable experience.

Helen Hotchkiss, Head of Development at the Belgrade Theatre said, “We are committed to making the theatre an accessible and welcoming place to all. For many families facing significantly challenging situations, such as financial hardship, illness or isolation, a trip to the theatre is a luxury they simply cannot afford – some may have never been to a theatre before. Making Memories provides them with a brief escape from the challenges of day-to-day life and the opportunity to spend quality time together as a family. A donation of £15 will help one child and £60 will help one family, so please give what you can. Thank you.”

Iain Lauchlan, who writes, directs and stars in the Belgrade pantomime said, “We want to make sure that everyone across Coventry and Warwickshire is invited to the Royal Ball this Christmas! This year’s show is set to be more magical than ever, with spectacular sets, costumes, colourful characters and plenty of laughter. There’s also double trouble, with not one, but two dastardly dames as the Ugly Sisters! With your generous support, we aim to give a touch of magic and make-believe to as many families as possible during the festive season.”

As a registered charity, all the money given, raised or earned by the Belgrade is reinvested into its work in the community and to produce outstanding productions. Last year, the Belgrade Community & Education Company was able to offer over 11,000 participation opportunities for children, young peo ple and over 50s.

According to Arts Council England, studies show that engagement with arts and culture is associated with a higher level of wellbeing and there is growing evidence to support the benefits it can have on specific health conditions. Participation in the arts can also contribute to community cohesion, reduce social exclusion and isolation, and make communities feel safer and stronger.

Cinderella is the wonderful rags-to-riches tale guaranteed to delight all the family and make a trip to the Belgrade a truly unmissable Christmas treat. Join her quest to win the heart of the dashing Prince Charming, with a little help from her best friend Buttons and the enchanting Fairy Godmother. But with her evil Ugly Sisters determined to ruin her chances and the clock about to strike midnight, will Cinders manage to win the Prince’s love before the spell runs out?

Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice is remembering loved ones lost this Christmas with a touching, alternative light switch on.

For the first time ever, the local Hospice will be hosting its seasonal ‘Light up a Life’ ceremony at Brindleyplace – creating an evening of music, celebration and remembrance.

Taking place on Thursday 30 November from 6pm, Light up a Life will see the charity switch on Christmas tree lights in Oozells Square, with the lights symbolising the lives of those no longer with us.

Alongside the switch on, there will be live musical performances from The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Town Hall Gospel Choir and The Uptone Girls – a student choir from the University of Birmingham that recently competed in BBC One’s ‘Pitch Battle’.

Before the event, there will also be an opportunity to honour loved ones in the Hospice’s ‘Book of Remembrance’, which will be displayed at the Brindleyplace ceremony.

Birmingham St Mary’s is an independent hospice which provides vital care to individuals and families living with terminal illness. Its Light up a Life event is an opportunity to bring local people together to celebrate their loved ones, whether or not they were supported by the Hospice.

Tina Swani, chief executive at Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice, said: “Christmas is a time to be with family and friends, and to remember those loved ones who are sadly no longer with us. The festive season can be a difficult time for anyone who has experienced loss and so our Light up a Life event is an opportunity to come together to remember and honour the life of someone special.

“We are very grateful to Brindleyplace for allowing us to host Light up a Life in Oozells Square this year. By being in the heart of Birmingham’s city centre, we hope that many more people will be inspired to join in with this special event.”

Light up a Life is part of the Hospice’s ‘Care at Christmas’ campaign – a festive appeal that aims to increase support for the charity leading up to and over the Christmas period. It costs £22,000 to run the Hospice on Christmas Day and so all donations will make a big difference to the local families the Hospice supports over the festive season.

In addition to the Light up a Life evening at Brindleyplace, the Hospice will also be hosting two more remembrance events at its home in Selly Park. They will both take place on Thursday 14 December, with an afternoon event at 4.30pm and an evening one at 7pm.