Tottenham Green has had a New Year make over with the installation of more than 200 solar-powered lanterns made with the help of pupils from local primary schools.

Special jars, which light up at night using solar energy, have been decorated by children from Ferry Lane Primary, Willow Primary School, Holy Trinity CE Primary School and Harris Primary Academy Coleraine Park schools.

The colourful lanterns have been suspended between trees on wire ropes to create a large central multi-layered chandelier which will light up Tottenham Green when it is dark. The art project, which will remain in place throughout January, has been led by light installation specialists Creatmosphere.

Cllr Bernice Vanier, Haringey Council Cabinet Member for Culture said:

“This project is a fantastic way to kick off 2018 and will light up Tottenham Green throughout January which is the darkest time of the year. Tottenham Green is the civic heart of the area so it’s great to have so many school-children involved in such a spectacular community art project.”

A University of Wolverhampton art graduate is creating animal magic by starting a business drawing pet portraits.

Jess Pritchard, 24 from Cookley near Wolverhampton, studied for a degree in Graphic Communication at the Wolverhampton School of Art before pursuing a career as a graphic designer at West Midland Safari Park, followed by some freelance work.

She set up her own business, Pritch Art, and now works full time drawing pet portraits and wildlife commissions.  She works with graphite and coloured pencils from photographs of the animals.

She said: “When I was growing up I spent a lot of time in the Lake District and it inspired me to pick up my pencils and draw from a very young age. I am self- taught and love sitting in my studio every day drawing pet or wildlife commissions.

“After leaving the Safari Park, I knew I wanted to draw full time and I knew my subject was destined to be animals.

“It took a while for my business to get going but the design skills I learned at University have definitely helped me in advertising myself. As I also love drawing other animals as well as pets, I draw more exotic animals between commissions.  I hope one day to combine my art with conservation to help raise money for the beautiful creatures I am so lucky to draw, without them I would have no inspiration!”

Jess has exhibited her work at the Shrewsbury Open Exhibition, Bewdley Open Exhibition, Number 8 Gallery in Pershore, the Kidderminster Horticultural Show and the Wolverhampton Society of Artists Exhibition held at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

Birmingham City University’s new £31 million building has officially opened, offering additional teaching and learning space for 3,000 students and staff within more than 650 rooms.

Facing Gopsal Street, the new building – Curzon B – comprises 100,000 square feet of additional state-of-the-art and experimental facilities for the institution’s existing CityCentre Campus courses. 

Designed by Birmingham-based Associated Architects and constructed by Willmott Dixon, the building will assist in catering for the needs of the institution’s growing student numbers. The canalside development encompasses two sections of six and storeys respectively, with elevated external amenity space.

The structure extends the University’s award-winning £63 million Curzon building, which has been housed on Cardigan Street in Birmingham’s Eastside since 2015 and continues the University’s transformation of this part of the city.

Students and staff gathered earlier today to witness a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Birmingham City University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Philip Plowden, followed by tours of the new building led by members of the institution’s Estates and Facilities team.

Professor Philip Plowden, Vice-Chancellor, Birmingham City University, said: “From individual study pods to meeting rooms, we hope that students will really benefit from these facilities that will help them achieve success in their studies. We are committed to providing the best possible learning experience for all our students and this extension will play a key part for that aim.

“With work now commencing on HS2, we are delighted to be further contributing to the renaissance of Birmingham’s Eastside area with the latest expansion of our City Centre Campus – already a major landmark for hundreds of thousands of people arriving at Birmingham New Street by train every day.”

As well as a new dedicated IT suite for students – with nearly 100 laptops available for loan – Curzon B boasts an innovative lecture theatre called The Hive that features raked, group activity seating, integrated technology and excellent sight lines.

The new space is also now home to the University’s Centre of Academic Success, the New Technology Institute (NTI) and its Students’ Union.

As part of the project, 3,000 students from the University’s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and the Built Environment gained real-life experience of working across the construction industry by putting the theory learned in the classroom into practice. Furthermore, the developers offered 10 paid placements throughout the build, while three graduates are now employed full time by Willmott Dixon in the Birmingham region.

The building forms part of the University’s £260 million investment into new and advanced facilities which was also strengthened with the opening of the new £57 million Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in September last year.

Later this year, Birmingham City University will open its new £41 million Health Sciences and Education building on its City South Campus on Westbourne Road in Edgbaston.

This building will help reinforce Birmingham City University's status as the region’s largest provider of qualified health and social care professionals to the NHS and producer of more teachers than any other institution in the West Midlands.

The space will offer teacher training and specialist facilities for health sciences including provision for research, a new lecture theatre, a multi-purpose hall, speech therapy, physiotherapy and ultrasound suites, art and technology classrooms and IT hubs.

The new building will also enable the relocation of the University’s School of Education, consolidating the Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences on to one site. The School of Education is currently the last of the University’s seminaries situated on its City North Campus in Perry Barr.

However, the University has already sold part of the site to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to help meet the city’s growing housing demands and discussions are underway to transform another part of the City North Campus into an athletes’ village for the 2020 Commonwealth Games. Both will leave a powerful legacy for the Perry Barr community as the University migrates towards its City South and City Centre campuses.

The Government College University Lahore, one of the oldest seats of higher learning in Pakistan, Monday completed 154 years of its academic journey. Founded on January 1, 1864 in the Haveli of Raja Dhyan Singh in the Walled City Lahore as liberal arts and Science College, the College (now University) served as a nourishing stream to hundreds of generations of talented men and women.

According to the College’s first history written by former principal Prof. H.L.O. Garrett, the Government College was the first seat of liberal education in North-Western India, later to become Pakistan. One of the major institutional objectives of the GC Lahore was to acknowledge the local intelligence and to instill a widespread academic and scholarly spirit. Among the initial nine enrollments, Mr Sanjhi Mall walked out of the College as the first graduate in 1868.

The College which began with just nine students and three professors now has more than 12,000 students and offering graduate and postgraduate programs in about 37 disciplines. The present gothic-style majestic building of the university was completed in 1877 on 3,700 square feet in the north of then called ‘Soldiers Garden’ with a cost of Rs. 320,000/-.

The College was initially affiliated with the Calcutta University as there was no university in this part of the sub-continent at that time. It was raised to the status of University in 2002 and was renamed as the Government College University Lahore. From first principle Dr. G.W Lietner to fourth Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Hassan Amir Shah, as many as 28 heads have served this great institution.

Talking to media at the Founders’ Day cake-cutting ceremony, Vice Chancellor Prof Hassan Amir Shah expressed gratitude to the long list of illustrious Principals, Professors and students whose hard work and efforts brought this great institution to its present position of eminence. He said GCU had been citadel of higher learning where ideals of tolerance and coexistence had flourished with commitment. He proudly said that GCU in its 154-years academic travel produced hundreds of eminent literary figures, politicians, two Nobel Laureates, four prime ministers, jurists, sportsmen, generals in armed forces and scientists.

Poet of East Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, N.M Rashid, Patras Bukhari, Ashfaq Ahmad, Qudsia Bano; Nobel Laureates Prof Dr Abdus Salam and Prof Dr Hargobind Khorana, Chief Justice M. R. Kyani, Chief Justice Naseem Hassan Shah and incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar are Old Ravains. Punjab Chief Minister Main Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, former Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharifand former Army Chief General Raheel Sharif were also old students of GC(U). Noted Indian actor Dev Anand, Rafi Peer, Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Ali Zafar, Hadiqa Kyani and Jawad Ahmad also studied from Government College Lahore.

Vice Chancellor Prof Shah said that the biggest challenge, which GCU had been facing for last many decades, was of space for initiating new academic programs. “I hope, in 2018, this issue would be resolved to some extent, as the first phase of university’s new campus at Kala Shah Kaku is near completion,” he added.

A large number of Old Ravians also sent felicitation messages through letters, social media and email to their alma mater on its Founders’ Day. In their messages on GCU’s birthday, the GCU senior faculty members and alumni paid the rich tributes to the efforts of Dr Leitner, the first principle of Government College, and pledged that they would put in the best of their efforts maintain wonderful traditions of academic excellence, research, promotion of new ideas and above all, respect for others’ belief and views.

Passionate would-be chefs looking for a career change this year will find it at Edinburgh New Town Cookery School (ENTCS). The school trains aspiring, employable professional cooks with courses ranging between one, three and six months throughout the year.

ENTCS is set in the heart of the Scottish capital, and has gone from strength to strength since opening in 2009. The school offers a One Month Course, Three Month Beginners or Intermediate Certificate and Six Month Practical Cookery Diploma that equips students with the knowledge and skills required for a successful career in the food industry.

The school was founded by published author and former principal of world renowned Leith's School of Food and Wine, Fiona Burrell, who began her career in Edinburgh and has been teaching professional cookery courses for thirty years. Burrell's team is highly qualified, experienced and passionate about teaching life cookery as a life skill.

In August 2017, the award-winning school was announced as Cookery School of the Year at the Food Awards Scotland, held in Glasgow, beating off competition from five other Scottish cookery schools.

ENTCS continues to produce successful diploma graduates who go on to a wide range of careers in food, from chefs in restaurants, private catering companies, food stylists and writers, to simply earning a living during gap years or university breaks.

The University of Wolverhampton held an outreach event during the Royal Society of Chemistry’s ‘Chemistry Week’ to inspire A Level students to consider studying the subject at degree level.

Thirty-six students from St Edmunds Catholic Academy in Wolverhampton, Great Barr Academy in Birmingham, Grove School in Market Drayton and Stourbridge College attended the ‘Chemistry; Tackling Global Challenges’ event held in the University’s £21 million Rosalind Franklin Science Centre at its City Campus in Wolverhampton.

The programme consisted of hands on experiments and short talks which explored how chemistry can be applied to overcome challenges which affect people all over the world. Visitors investigated the use of carbon for water purification and the use of hydrogen as fuel. Members of the chemistry team gave talks on the use of analytical chemistry in tackling bowel diseases, chemical perspectives of environmental challenges and modern drug discovery.

Charlene Butler, Teaching Associate in Chemistry at the University, said:  “Students engaged particularly well with the practical activities which they performed in our state-of-the-art laboratories.

“The feedback compliments our friendly staff and the activities offered. Students were encouraged to consider pursuing chemistry related careers.”

The Faculty of Science and Engineering offers a range of free outreach events for schools and colleges in the region. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.