On Thursday, 13^th July the Birmingham Commonwealth Association met at Birmingham's Council House. The group which is formed up of over thirty companies from various parts of the Commonwealth meets to discuss issues of importance to the companies and the Commonwealth in Birmingham as a whole, and how they can do more to ensure that the Commonwealth is promoted within the city.

Thursday’s meeting was held to discuss the upcoming arrival of the Jamaican Athletic Team on 28^th July and Jamaica In The Square, which is being held to celebrate the 55^th anniversary of Jamaican independence from 4^th to 6^th August, as well as to discuss what can be done to help Birmingham’s bid for the 2022 Commonwealth games.

The first item of discussion was the arrival of the Jamaican Athletic team to Birmingham on 28^th July. Their arrival promises to be just as big if not bigger than the team’s arrival in 2012 before the Olympics. Consequently, the discussion mainly focused on preparing for their arrival, where they would stay and the dinner that would be held in the evening for them, and ensuring that they were properly protected throughout the event. A gala dinner is to be held to celebrate their arrival and their achievements, with tickets currently on sale, so if you want to sit next to a world class athlete be sure to book your tickets as soon as possible!

Next came discussions about the Jamaica In the Square event being held from 4^th to 6^th August in Victoria Square to celebrate Jamaican independence. The discussion centred around how many people were expected, and what sort of things could be expected. If you’re attending this year, expect a lot of high quality music and food, and company.

Finally, on the matter of backing Birmingham’s bid to become the host of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, all those in attendance agreed that they would do what they could to encourage their communities and friends and families to support the bid and speak positively of Birmingham to make the bid as successful as possible.

All in all it was an interesting meeting and one that shows that there is a lot of promise and potential in Birmingham and the wider Commonwealth, just waiting to be tapped into.

A £2.2 million Care and Support Specialist Housing (CASSH) Scheme to deliver ten bespoke council houses for families with an adult wheelchair user has been completed.

The council is eager to ensure people in the City of Wolverhampton live independent lives in their own homes.

Four two-and-three-bedroom homes were finished at Lawnside Green, Stowlawn, in July last year, followed by two three-bedroom bungalows at Fifth Avenue, Low Hill, in September.

The final phase has seen four three-bedroom homes recently completed at Dale Street/Russell Street, Graisley, with the tenants now moving in.

The former Heantun Housing Association (HHA), now part of Accord, has a successful track record of designing and delivering family-sized wheelchair housing in the city, and managed the builds on behalf of the council.

The units are part funded by £450,000 of a £900,000 Government Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) grant.

The remainder of the grant has been used by HHA in addition to its own funding to develop a further ten wheelchair accessible homes, which it owns and manages.

Councillor Peter Bilson, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for City Housing and Assets, said: "This is good news for our residents and is the first house building project of this kind for the city council.

“It is enabling people to lead independent and fulfilling lives at home with their families.

“It is vital we are responsive to the range of needs represented on our housing register, and we are determined to do more.”

The properties are fully wheelchair accessible, have height-adjustable hob and sink sections in the kitchen, shower areas in bathrooms suitable for wheelchair users or adults with other disabilities, and allow for the fitting of a hoist if required, as well as any other adjustments suggested by the client’s Occupation Therapist.

Sara Woodall, Accord’s Executive Director of Communities, said: “We were delighted to be part of bringing these self-contained houses and bungalows to Wolverhampton, and it is heartening to see that they have been situated within established residential communities, and have been supported by local Tenant and Resident Associations.”

The average Brit laughs out loud 5,110 times every year, according to a new study. Researchers took an in-depth look into what makes the nation crack up – and discovered Sheffield is the banter capital of the UK, with people from the steel city chortling 16 times a day on average - that’s 5,840 times a year.

Bristol came second in the laughter stakes, chuckling on average 5,694 times every year and Leeds came third with 5,511 laughs.

In fact, 83 percent of those polled claim Britain has the best sense of humour in the world, with 58 percent saying being able to laugh at ourselves was a valued national trait.

According to the research of 2,000 Brits by Ronseal – which commissioned the study - 90 percent say that when the chips are down, they live by the saying “if you didn’t laugh, you’d cry.”

The poll revealed 73 percent of Brits say they use humour to make someone feel better, 52 percent say they laugh to diffuse an argument, while 46 percent deploy a well-timed wise crack to change the subject.

The data also revealed the majority of those polled (27 percent) say they have the most laughs and banter with their other half, while 15 percent said their children were a constant source of amusement.

When it comes to the people we take the mickey out of most - our best friends are most likely to be the butt of our gags, while 15 percent claimed a work colleague is the person they are most likely to verbally spar with.

A further 18 percent claimed that they are more likely to take the mickey out of themselves rather than anyone else.

According to the poll, we’re most likely to laugh at a friend’s DIY skills (38 percent) – or lack of them – with 16 percent admitting they have botched so many jobs their friends can’t resist a joke at their expense, while 19 percent have the mickey taken out of them because they put DIY jobs off for so long.

A spokesperson for Ronseal, which commissioned the study said: “Banter is a part of British culture and whether we are making fun of situations, our friends or our own predicaments no-one does it quite like we do. DIY featured highly in the research, with us self-deprecating Brits often using our own delays and disasters as fodder for friends looking for a laugh.”

Nearly half of the men polled (48 percent) insist they are funnier that their other half compared to 29 percent of women who think they are more humorous.

Almost four in ten (37 percent) said they joke with a friend or family member about how tight they are with money and 27 percent take the mickey out of friends’ dress sense.

Nearly two in ten (18 percent) joke about a mate’s haircut - while a brave 8 percent admitted they often banter about a friend’s partner.

People send on average four funny text or WhatsApp messages to their mates every day, while 73 percent said the rise of technology and social media platforms have led to more banter and laughs.

And almost nine in ten people felt that our national love of laughs brought us closer together with friends and family.

According to data collected by card seller, Clintons, sales of cards for those in their seventies and above increased by 116% last year. To add onto this, it is expected that more than 100,000 cards will be sold to those celebrating landmark 90^th, 95^th and 100^th birthdays in 2017 as well. This news comes after a family in Norfolk were the first family in the whole of Britain to celebrate the lives of six generations in one year.

With there being half a million people in the UK aged 90 and above, and 14,570 centenarians (a 65% increase in the last decade) these figures should come as no surprise. It is believed that an estimated 1,000 of these 14,570 are aged 105 or over, double the figure in 2005.  It is believed that there are currently 14 million grandparents in the UK, 1.5 million of whom are under 50, with a large proportion of this group believed to become great-grandparents within the next few years.  The increase in the number of people aged over 105, means that the Queen who sends out a card and a letter to each person over this age, has quite the task before her.

Tim Fairs, VP of marketing at Clintons said: “Most people of my generation have no memory of their great-grandparents, yet today many play an active role in family life.  It’s great that younger generations have access to the love, experience and history of their elderly relatives and it’s fascinating that demographics are shifting so rapidly.  The Queen already has quite a task signing all those letters and cards each year.”

With people living longer due to better living standards and improved quality of healthcare, the growing number of people living into their nineties and beyond should not come as a surprise. And with many people living to such ages, the chances for greater family connection and bonding is greater than it has ever been. Clintons plays a huge part in establishing family connection through the sales of their birthday cards, and also helps play a role in showing off some of the societal trends that are beginning to emerge.

Recent data has shown that more cards are bought for senior mums than dads but twice the number of cards are sold to Husband than Wife over the age of 70.  And Clintons continues to lead the way in catering to this trend selling a range of cards for Mums, Dads, same-sex families and one child families.

Teenagers aged between 14 and 19 are invited to a careers event in Oldbury to help them decide what they want to do after school and college.

The Connexions Sandwell Careers Show comes to Sandwell Council House in Freeth Street on Saturday 15 July between 11am and 2pm.

It’s for young people who are thinking about apprenticeships, jobs, Higher Education, alternatives to university or who just want some help to decide on their next steps.

The free event brings together up to 27 organisations including major employers such as BMW, Severn Trent Water, Halfords and Aldi, all offering apprenticeships and training. Local colleges and universities will be on hand to discuss courses.

Connexions Sandwell careers advisers will also be available for impartial careers information, advice and guidance, so young people can discuss their options in details.

Sandwell Council’s cabinet member for children’s services Councillor Simon Hackett said: “These events are really valuable for young people to find out what options are open to them.

“It’s a chance to meet potential employers, find out about what training opportunities and apprenticeships are available and to get some careers advice from our experts.”

Parents and carers are also welcome.  For more information call Connexions Sandwell on 0121 569 2955.

The event is funded through Black Country Impact. Black Country Impact is about helping young adults break down the barriers that may be holding them back from finding work, improving their skills or gaining qualifications.

Black Country Impact involves Sandwell, Dudley, Walsall and City of Wolverhampton Councils and Black Country Talent Match, a project led by Wolverhampton Voluntary Sector Council and funded through the Big Lottery Fund.

The money for the project has come from the European Social Fund (£17million), from the government's Youth Employment Initiative  (£17million) plus potential match funding of up to £8million from the Big Lottery Fund and other partners.

School children in Wolverhampton have been caught up in the wolf mania sweeping the city. Pupils from 35 primary schools, community groups and artists have designed 70 mini wolves as a spin-off from the Wolves in Wolves public art project.

The colourful mini wolves will form part of an exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery from Saturday, July 8 to Sunday, September 17.

The Lichfield Street gallery is also the starting point for the Wolves in Wolves trail, which has been organised by the council in partnership with disability arts charity Outside Centre and Enjoy Wolverhampton.

The Mini Wolves project has been funded by the Big Lottery programme ‘#BigCelebration’.

Dr Paul Darke of Outside Centre said: “The Mini Wolves project is about celebrating Wolverhampton, its sculpture, arts, heritage, community and people. Outside Centre is grateful to the Big Lottery for enabling us to stage this exhibition.

“Each mini wolf is unique and reflective of the school or group they are from, or the artistic vision of the individual artist.

“Schools were also able to create their own map trail around their school - some of which will be on display as part of the exhibition.

“We are grateful to all those who have participated from the city’s schools, as well as the groups and artists.”

Councillor John Reynolds, Cabinet Member for City Economy, added: “The Mini Wolves exhibition is a wonderful extension of the Wolves in Wolves project.

“It is brilliant to see so many schools getting involved, as well as the organisations and artists.

“Overall, it is an exciting project that will help put the city on the map as a cultural centre and I would urge families to get along to the art gallery to see the mini wolves pack.

“From there they can take to the Wolves in Wolves trail, get active, discover the city and what it has to offer.”

The schools involved are Berrybrook Primary School, Braybrook Centre, Bushbury Hill Primary School, Christ Church Junior School, Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School, Dunstall Hill Primary School, Edward The Elder Primary School, Elston Hall Primary School, Graiseley Primary School, Green Park School, Hill Avenue Primary School, Lanesfield Primary School, Long Knowle Primary School, Loxdale Primary School, Northern House School, Oak Meadow Primary School, Palmers Cross Primary School, Parkfield Primary Schools, Penn Fields School, Penn Hall School, Perry Hall Primary School, Spring Vale Primary School, St Andrew’s Church of England Primary School, St Anthony's Catholic Primary School, St Luke's Church of England Aided Primary School, St Michael's Catholic Primary School, St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School, St Stephens Church of England Primary School, Uplands Junior School, Villiers Primary School, Warstones Primary School, West Park Primary School, Windsor Nursery School, Woden Primary School, Wodensfield Primary School.

Community groups like the The Way, Beacon Centre, City of Sanctuary, Howling Wolves Choir, Wolverhampton Homes, The Haven and Suicide Prevention Stakeholders Forum have also contributed.

The artists involved have long standing links to the city – they live here, trained here or work here.

They include Jasyn Lucas, Nigel James Kilworth, Bhinder Chopra, Harriet and Wilfred Davies, Alex Vann, Claire Rollerson, Helen Brown, Simone Kilworth, Ann Whitehurst, Aimee Millward, Charlie Kelly, Luke Westward, Laura Hickman, Natalie Hawkins, Roy Grew, Julie Fletcher, Pam Fletcher, Rebecca Broomhall, Marie Sewell, Kesia Pennington-Yates, Jo Burgess, Luke Westward, Katie Keith, Jo Burgess, Jemima Mantle, Danielle Robotham, Ricki Hall, Kate Penman, Jade Secker, Ryan Taylor, Carrick Siddell and Meg Gregory.