Community News

Birmingham mums were told that parenting experts only provide the tools to help with child care issues, and the real magic comes from families themselves, when TV parenting guru Jo Frost crossed the Atlantic to drop in on mums and their children at The St Thomas’s Children’s Centre, Bell Barn Rd, yesterday.

Last Friday a team of insurance professionals from across the Midlands raisied funds for Fisher House by playing a charity football match against Lichfield Wolves at The Molineux. The insurance team, led by Mark Hands (LV= Broker) and John Court-Jones (Arthur J Gallagher), was made up of 17 keen footballers from local companies including LV= Broker, Arthur J Gallagher, Idex, Adler Insurance Brokers and Jelf.

I have just returned to the UK after a short trip to Calais, France - a journey thousands of British families will make this summer as they go on holiday. Yet I went to visit the children living all alone in the refugee camp that's become known as 'the jungle'.  The young boys I met had all made dangerous journeys to escape war and many are trying to reach family members who are waiting for them right here in the UK.

City of Wolverhampton Council is urging the public to have their say on a new masterplan to link up areas of Wolverhampton for walkers and cyclists. A series of ‘Connected Places’ consultations continue on Dudley Street and in the Mander Centre. The council is working with the university, Mander Centre and other city partners Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and Wolverhampton BID to develop the strategy.

The new Mayor of Wolverhampton will be going back to the future in his year in office. Councillor Barry Findlay, who was elected the 158th Mayor of Wolverhampton, says he wants to champion the history of the city – and look towards exciting times head. He said: "It is customary for the Mayor to choose a theme for their year in office, and I wish to continue that tradition by choosing the theme of Preserving the Past, Building the Future.

Anyone wishing to vote in the EU Referendum must be on the electoral register  – and the deadline for registration is 7 June 2016. After this date, people who have not registered will not be able to vote in the EU Referendum. Anyone who has not yet registered to vote can do so online at www.gov.uk/register-to-vote – it only takes a few minutes.

A Beekeeping course tomorrow at Martineau Gardens is aiming to encourage people to find out more about bees and take up the craft of beekeeping. The British Bee Keepers Association (BBKA) claims that ‘one in three mouthfuls of the food we eat is dependent on pollination’. By encouraging people to find out more about bees through this course, Martineau Gardens hopes to raise awareness of bees needs.

Spring has definitely sprung in the UK, and while we might love the longer days and spells of sunshine - the season comes with a list of cautions for looking after our pets. Vets Now, the leading provider of pet emergency care for small animals in the UK, notes a significant increase in the amount of cases brought to its out-of-hours clinics during spring time.

Almost half of parents in the West Midlands see a noticeable improvement in their children’s happiness after they walk to school, new research has found. National charity Living Streets conducted research with parents of primary school children and found that half of those living in the West Midlands see an improvement in their child’s mood and behaviour  after they’ve done physical activity.

An historic Victorian fountain in the centre of Wolverhampton is flowing again following repair work. The Horsman Fountain in St Peter's Gardens was erected in 1894 in memory of local contractor Philip Horsman, who built and funded the adjacent art gallery which had opened 10 years previously. Repairs to the fountain have been carried out over the last fortnight by the City of Wolverhampton Council, with engineers skimming and sealing the bowl to prevent leaks, and refurbishing the electrics and pumping system.

If you have a pampered pet named Bruno then you’d better beware – it’s just been crowned the unluckiest pet name in the UK! Hapless hounds and unfortunate felines named Bruno are nearly SIX times more likely to be the subject of pet insurance claims than pets named Luna – which is the nation’s luckiest name, according to research carried out by PDSA Petsurance.

Britain Has Spirit, a new initiative searching for Britain’s best volunteers has today announced Central England’s shortlist for both individual and group nominations now ready for the public vote. This crucial next stage in the campaign will rely on the public to choose their most deserving volunteer heroes and cast their vote across 10 British regions.

There is nothing quite like getting out and swimming in a pool. However, whether it’s with friends or family, in a pool at home or abroad or enjoying a picnic by a river or swimming in a lake, it’s always important to keep safe. Under the National Curriculum, all children by the age of 11 years should be able to swim 25 metres unaided, ensuring they have some knowledge of safety in the water.

A long-serving Wolverhampton councillor collected her OBE from Prince Charles during a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Councillor Sandra Samuels, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing, was recognised for political service and services to local government in the Queen's New Year's Honours List. And she said: “The Investiture at Buckingham Palace was an incredible experience; I was humbled, honoured and extremely privileged.

The real cost of running the average-sized UK home has been revealed by leading home insurers MORE TH>N.  Owning a three bedroom home in the UK comes with average annual running costs of almost £20,000 (£1,634 per month), with rented three bedroom homes only slightly less expensive at just shy of £19,000 per year (£1,576 per month). For a household with two working adults each earning the average yearly salary that means between 43% (rented) and 45% (owned) of post-tax earnings are being spent purely on household bills and the rent or mortgage.