Floral delights return as the Blenheim Palace Flower Show announces dates for 2018. From Friday 22 June – Sunday 24 June, 2018 the unmissable gardening show returns to the Oxfordshire World Heritage Site.

Now in its 5th year the horticultural show houses over 300 exhibitions located around a Grand Floral Pavilion, which is situated on the South Lawn of the picturesque Palace, the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.

Visitors can expect to enjoy Garden Talks with experts and enthusiasts, fabulous food and drink as well as an outdoor Plant Village and live entertainment throughout the weekend.

Show Director Matthew Upson, Managing Director of Aztec Events, said: “Blenheim Palace Flower Show has really established itself as one of the great summer occasions and there couldn’t be a finer setting for a flower show than the beautiful landscape of Blenheim Palace.”

He continues: “Last year’s event was opened by gardening legend Alan Titchmarsh and previous guests have included Sir Ian McKellen and Mary Berry. The show attracts tens of thousands of visitors of all ages and appealing to both experienced and novice gardeners.”

At the heart of the show will be the 20,000 square foot Grand Floral Pavilion featuring more than 30 floral displays and a large selection of flowers and plants from the UK’s finest plantsmen. Admission to the show includes entry to the Palace, Park and Gardens so visitors can also make a day of it exploring the 10 Formal Gardens and 2,000 acres of ‘Capability’ Brown Parkland.

The Wolves in Wolves auction at Molineux raised a massive £35,440 for charity.

More than 150 people attended the auction led by Fielding Auctioneers Ltd’s Will Farmer, who is well known for his appearances on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.

There was also a swathe of online bids as 15 of the wolves from the biggest ever public art exhibition the city has ever seen went under the hammer in the Hayward Suite.

Garden (artist Claire Rollerson) was the wolf that went for the most money – a staggering £3,200, while the most expensive of the 40 mini-wolves proved to be Ralph (artist Meg Gregory) at £1,000.

The proceeds will be shared between Outside Centre and the Mayor of Wolverhampton, Cllr Elias Mattu’s chosen charities.

The Mayor, Paul Darke of Outside Centre and Wolverhampton BID Director, Cherry Shine, all made speeches and entertainment was provided by Dicky Dodd of Signal 107.

Councillor John Reynolds, City of Wolverhampton Cabinet Member for City Economy, said: “The wolves have really captured people’s imaginations and the whole project has been a howling success.

“The auction was a great event. People were eager to get hold of their favourite wolf and raise money for charity at the same time.

“Wolves in Wolves has showcased the city to visitors and the wolves have helped put the city on the map as a cultural centre.

“It has also been a great way for people of all ages to get active and discover the city and what it has to offer.”

The other wolves auctioned off were Wild, Colour, Love, The Sitting, Sunset, Compton, Kiyiya, Rainbow, Meditation, Endless Opportunities, Dynasty, Sacred Grandfathers, Zeus and Beowulf.

The remaining wolves will either be retained by their sponsors for use in projects, such as Hope at Headstart and Aurora at Talentmatch, both being used for activities with young people.

A handful of the wolves are set to remain on display in the city centre, such as Hunter outside the University School of Art, Old Gold in the Wolves Museum, Thomas at Marston’s House, Support Life at the University of Wolverhampton, Mander at Mander House, Beanstalk at the Grand Theatre, and roaming wolf Claude.

With autumn in full flow, City of Wolverhampton Council is in the midst of removing billions of leaves from pavements, streets, parks and open spaces.

Every year the council collects vast amounts of fallen leaves from public land from the thousands of trees which line the city’s highways and green spaces.

Last year the council collected a whopping 420 tonnes – the same weight as 33 double decker buses or 60 African elephants.

While autumn leaves provide an attractive display, if left on the ground they can become a slippery safety hazard when wet and can block drain covers causing flooding.

Keeping on top of the huge accumulations of leaf fall is the job of the council’s City Environment team.

The council keeps records of known hotspot areas which contain the most trees and generate the most customer calls.

The teams work hard to systematically remove leaves and respond to reports of wet leaves causing potential slip hazards.

The City Environment team use a variety of methods to remove the leaves in the most efficient way possible – including the use of machines which suck up the leaves like a very powerful vacuum cleaner.

All leaves collected in the city are sent to a composting plant.

Cllr Steve Evans, City of Wolverhampton Council’s cabinet member for city environment, said: “Autumn leaves undoubtedly look beautiful, but when they fall they make this season a hugely busy time for the council’s street cleansing teams.

“The teams clear literally billions of leaves from public land to keep the city looking tidy and preventing slip hazards.

“This is a huge undertaking which our teams carry out systematically and efficiently and we try and get around everywhere as quickly as we can.

“I would urge the public to please ensure you dispose of leaves from your private property by either composting them or taking them to one of the city’s two household waste and recycling sites. Please don’t sweep them onto the street or pavement as this can cause slip hazards and contribute to blocked drains and flooding.”

Sandwell Council apprentice Callum Hixon, age 17 has been awarded the very first Darren Cooper Award at the annual Sandwell College Business Awards event.

Callum, a former student at ACE Academy Tipton, started with Sandwell Council a year ago working in the revenues and benefits team. He is also studying towards a Level 2 business administration qualification.

Callum has been singled out by his colleagues as being an outstanding employee. He has learned the skills to do his job very quickly and is always eager to learn more.

Callum was thrilled to win this award and saw off some stiff competition. He said: "I was very surprised to have won this award. I would like to thank everyone who has supported me along the way to help me achieve this. I am very grateful for the opportunities I have been given."

The Darren Cooper Award was set up in memory of the late leader of Sandwell Council who passed away in March 2016.

The award was set up to recognise outstanding apprentices and is judged by Sandwell Council’s apprentices team.

Callum was presented with the award at the Sandwell College Business Awards held at Sandwell College, West Bromwich by Councillor Simon Hackett. He said: “In the short time Callum has been with the council he has shown a real willingness to learn and picked things up quickly.

“I want to congratulate Callum on getting this award and wish him all the best with his qualifications and the rest of his apprenticeship.”

The awards keep flooding in for Salcombe Distilling Co.  On Thursday evening, surrounded by the pinnacle of the county's food and drink producers, this relative newcomer was awarded 'Best Drinks Product' for its Salcombe Gin 'Start Point' at the Devon Life Food & Drink Awards.

Voted by the public, this tremendous accolade was presented at the prestigious ceremony held at Exeter's Sandy Park to Co-Founder Angus Lugsdin and wife and Marketing Manager Andrea. Commenting on the win, Angus says: “Less than a month ago we were celebrating being named the county's 'Best Producer' at the Food & Drink Devon Awards.  To now have won this hugely competitive accolade, again receiving such high recognition in our home county, is a real honour.”

Fellow Co-Founder and Director, Howard Davies continues: “We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have been so supportive during our first year.  A big thank you too to everyone who has visited our gin school and distillery bar in Salcombe and has sought us out at the various festivals and events we have attended throughout the year. We are incredibly grateful to them and to our ever expanding and hardworking team.”

In addition to these impressive local awards Salcombe Distilling Co. was recently awarded 'Three Stars' at the prestigious Great Taste Awards 2017 for Salcombe Gin 'Start Point'. This innovative drinks' company also achieved international success with Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and Gold at the World Drinks Awards.

Refreshing, delicious and super-smooth Salcombe Gin is hand distilled in South Devon using only the finest hand sourced ingredients. The zesty blend of grapefruits, lemons and limes is a nod to the famous Salcombe Fruiters, who imported over 80% of the citrus fruits to England during the 19th century. Harbouring distinct notes of ruby red grapefruit, along with the heady, earthy pine notes of the finest Macedonia juniper, Salcombe Gin is the perfect balance of aromas and flavours with an amazing lingering finish.

Salcombe Gin 'Start Point' 44% 70cl bottle (£37.50) is available to buy nationwide from independent retailers, farm shops, delicatessens, directly at the distillery in Salcombe and online from the Salcombe Gin website www.salcombegin.com.

New research by the Spirit of Christmas Fair, the UK’s leading high-end Christmas shopping event, has found that our friends are by far, the most likely to suffer as a result of our “gift envy”. 7 in 10 people in the UK admitted that they have purchased gifts for their friends, only to decide that they would rather keep it themselves. A small percentage (6%) also admitted that they would even steal from their children.

The full list of those we experience gift envy with, who we purchase gifts for but decide to keep for ourselves:

1. Friends (70%)
2. Acquaintances (8%)
3. Parents (7%)
4. Children (6%)
5. Colleagues (5%)
6. Partner (3%)
7. Parents-in-law (1%)

Most of people also feel that they have great taste when it comes to choosing gifts with 66% stating that they always choose a gift they would like themselves, regardless of whether the recipient would choose it, because “if I like it, they will like it”.

The research has also proved that “retail therapy” is real with 71% of people in the UK admitting that shopping is their most therapeutic experience.

Thi Dinh, Retailer Expert & Show Manager at the Spirit of Christmas Fair says:

“Retailers traditionally see significant uplift in the number of people beginning their festive shopping in late October, early November. This prime shopping period is one of the most important times for both high street retailers and independent boutiques as they showcase their big-ticket items among affluent shoppers who tend to begin their festive shopping earlier than most.

However, our new consumer research found that shoppers tend to use this time to their advantage, by literally shopping for themselves. It’s extremely common for shoppers to act on something we call “gift envy” – that is when people cannot bear to part with a gift they have purchased for others, so much so that they decide to keep it for themselves. Many go so far as to keep gifts back from their parents, and even their children.

And it seems that retail therapy really does exist, with a significant majority of people (71%) stating that they find it to be a therapeutic experience. And if during the experience, they manage to pick up a gift for themselves, I’m sure that also plays a role in contributing to the pleasure of shopping.”