Famous Birmingham site, Sarehole Mill, is asking Birmingham’s citizens to grab their trainers and take part in a new 5K challenge, Run of the Mill, to help raise vital funds for Birmingham Museums Trust.

Over the last 11 weeks Sarehole Mill has adapted its offering to keep engaged with the local community and now the team are encouraging us all the explore the area around the 250-year-old watermill and enjoy the benefits of getting active with this new event.  

You can run, walk or jog the 5K distance anytime during July, as long as you start or finish at Sarehole Mill and complete the distance in one go. The £10 entry fee will help to raise money to support the work of Birmingham Museums, a charity with nine extraordinary museum and historic properties across the city, including Sarehole Mill, which is the inspiration for this fun run.

Participants will get an exclusive Run of the Mill medal, which they will collect from the Sarehole Mill Community Shop and can go the extra mile and fundraise further to help Birmingham Museums if they are able to do so.

During this time the team at Sarehole Mill have worked hard to adapt and support the local community. You may have visited the Community Shop, which is stocked with essentials, such as flour and tin goods; enjoyed a freshly baked loaf using the Bake and Take service made by resident baker Sis Kaur; or ordered a recipe kit box, with everything you need to make one of Sarehole Mill’s popular Bakehouse pizzas.  

While Sarehole Mill has been able to adapt, the other eight Birmingham Museums’ sites, including Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Thinktank, and Aston Hall, have had to remain closed because of the Coronavirus pandemic. These initiatives have helped to keep Sarehole Mill to stay connected to local people, but this continues to be a challenging time for Birmingham Museums.  

Alex Nicholson-Evans, Commercial Director at Birmingham Museums Trust, said: “We’ve had such an amazing level of support from the local community at Sarehole Mill during this time, and it’s been fantastic to see people visiting the shop, buying fresh bread and sharing positive feedback about the Bakehouse. But this is still a very challenging time for Birmingham Museums, as the majority of our sites are still closed. Run of the Mill is a great way to help us raise funds, whilst also getting active.

“Many of us are appreciating the outdoors more than ever and we wanted to capture this by launching Run of the Mill throughout July. Whether you walk, jog or run, you’ll get to explore the beautiful surroundings of Sarehole Mill, receive an exclusive medal, and help Birmingham Museums too.”  

For more information about how to enter the run and how to fundraise visit www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/blog/posts/run-of-the-mill-sarehole-mill-fun-run-open-for-entries. This includes a 5K route suggestion.

Former England Women’s Football star, Enio Aluko has said that she has “acknowledged and accepted” former international teammate, Nikita Parris’ apology for a controversial goal celebration in 2017.

The international striker described celebrating with the then-England coach, Mark Sampson, who was accused of using discriminating language to Aluko, as “thoughtless”.

In response, on her social media platform, Eni wrote: ‘Although I’m yet to speak with Nikita, I acknowledge and accept this apology.

‘Thanks.

‘Black women should always strive for unity not division.’

Aluka, now Sporting Director of Aston Villa Women’s football team, added: “During the current climate, Nikita leads the way for the England Women’s football team in acknowledging and addressing past individual and collective actions with regards to racism”.

After scoring a goal against Russia, Parris, 26, pointedly ran to Sampson to celebrate in their 6-0 World Cup qualifying victory in 2017.

The former Manchester City player who now plays in France for Lyon wrote on social media: ‘At the time I focussed more on what I believed was showing unity when really it did nothing of the sort. It showed a lack of empathy, understanding and ignorance by singling out a voice that needed an ear to listen and a support system to help’.

In the aftermath, Eni said that Parris’ celebrations were not respectful considering the number of complaints against the former manager at the time.

The English Football Association apologised to the 102-capped Alluko for racially discriminatory remarks made by Sampson after a third investigation into his behaviour, but cleared him of bullying accusations.

The return of Premier League football last night caused a nationwide spike in data traffic on the O2 network from the week before, as fans streamed the games live.
 
Data traffic started to increase after 4pm and began to peak at 6pm.

The busiest hour was 8pm – just before kick-off for the Manchester City vs Arsenal match – where O2 saw a 13% increase in the amount of data used nationwide.
 
The home cities of the four teams playing last night saw differing patterns. Interestingly, Liverpool saw one of the largest spikes (21% at 7pm) as fans hoped for a potential City loss.

Sheffield – 7pm 24% increase in data traffic
Birmingham – 7pm 13% increase in data traffic
Manchester – 8pm 21% increase in data traffic
London – 8pm 11% increase in data traffic 

Brendan O’Reilly, Chief Technology Officer at O2, said: “Our data shows that the football is bringing Britain together again – whether that’s chatting via text or calls, or online sporting ‘Watch Parties’ – with yesterday’s matches allowing us to return to some sense of normality. During lockdown, O2 has doubled elements of our network capacity to ensure Britain stays connected and it’s great to see we’ve been able to help fans watch football again.”
  
Since the lockdown began, O2 has offered its customers 388 million free minutes, as well as 3 million GB of data to NHS employees at the forefront of efforts to battle the coronavirus and rebuild Britain.
 
O2 experienced an initial 25% increase in phone calls as Britons checked on their friends and family, with people spending 30% longer on the phone since lockdown.

At eight-years-old, Tanitoluwa Adewumi was already a ‘Champion’ after winning the K-3 New York State Chess Championship after playing the game for only one year.

The Nigerian-born schoolboy, who began playing the game just to pass the time whilst sitting in his father’s shop in Abuja, was beating all before him from the get-go.

It was after his father, Kayode, who ran a print shop in his homeland and accountant mother, Oluwatoyin, took him and his brother, Adesina Austin, immigrated to the United States – having (being Christians) sought religious asylum amid the political turmoil being undertaken back home by the Boko Haram organisation.

Whilst being homeless in a foreign country, his parents making it one of their priorities to maintain the education of their children, Tani was enrolled into an elementary school and, as during his early days there, he was introduced to a chess club by one of the teachers and in 2018 he played in his first tournament.

In 2019 Tani competed in the Annual New York State Scholarship Championships where he was graded eighth out of 74 competitors – with a large number of whom were from well-to-do families and could afford private tuition.

His youthful, aggressive style of play would get learned academics making scientific studies of his application to the game.

Leading YouTube chess stream ‘agadmator’ took time to publish and analyse his game.

Legendary former World Champion, Garry Kasporaov, heaped massive praise on the achievement by a refugee immigrant in America.

And, back in his native Nigeria, Abike Dabiri, the Senior Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora to the president, Muhammad Buhari, called Tani; “a pride of the nation”.

Back in the US, he was getting attention throughout, which includes invites to meet former president Bill Clinton and being interviewed on some of the country’s leading broadcasting organisations – all keen to find out more about the enigma that is Tanitoluwa Adewumi.

Furthermore, he was getting funding support – the likes of which would set him, and his family, up educationally and wellbeing-wise from then on.

A total in excess of $254,000 was raised, with offers of accommodation, for him and his family, on-going education, chess books and even cars were pouring in - in droves.

There is now even a trust called the ‘Tanitoluwa Adewumi Foundation’ which is set up to help other children who are in similar situations to him.

With the ambition to becoming the youngest ever chess Grandmaster, three of Hollywood’s leading film companies are trying to outbid each other for the rights to tell his story.

His autobiography; ‘My Name Is Tani’, is already out in book stores.

Bowler Kemar Roach has declared that “there will be no friendship” when West Indies face England fast-bowler, Jofra Archer during the upcoming Test series.

Barbados-born Archer played three times for the West Indies Under-19s before opting to play for England before playing for his new adopted team against the Windies side in the ICC World Cup in 2019.

This summer will be the first time that will face time that he will come up against them in a Test match.

Fellow Barbadian Roach said: “It is all about playing hard cricket and winning.

“Jofra’s made a decision and I think that he’s doing a fantastic job for his career.

“Obviously there will be no friendship at the start of this series.

“It’s all about winning and playing our cricket. If we come up against Jofra, we will devise a fantastic plan to counter it. I’m looking forward to the battle”.

Archer claimed 20 wickets to help England win the maiden 50-over World Cup in 2019, before making his Test debut in the Ashes series against Australia.

The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will start 24 hours later than the original scheduled time because of the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the sporting calendar.

The move will allow all the athletes who are competing at the World Athletics Championships in Portland, Oregon, in the United States – which finishes on July 24 – an extra day of recovery.

It will also avoid a clash the semi-finals of the UEFA Women’s Football Championships which is due to take place in England from July 6 to 31.

Both Championships were originally scheduled to be held in 2021 but had to be postponed to 2022 after the rescheduling of the Tokyo Olympics following the global outbreak of coronavirus.

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) Executive Board has approved the change for the Games and it will now run from July 28 to August 8.

A joint announcement from the CGF said: “It ensures that Birmingham 2022 will now boast two full weekends of Commonwealth Sport whilst extending the rest and recovery period for those athletes competing in the World Athletics Championships.

“The alternative to the opening ceremony date also avoids a potential clash with the semi-finals of the recently rescheduled UEFA Women’s Football Championships, helping to protect and promote the profile of women’s sport”.

John Crabtree, Chair of Birmingham 2022 said: “As well as this slight change to our dates we are working on a detailed competition schedule for our 19 sports, looking at how we can maximise the recovery time for those athletes who will be looking to participate in more than one major event in two years time”.