Community News

Following the terrible crash following the Leicester City game last night, the thoughts and prayers of The Phoenix are with everyone affected by this news.

Students at Walsall College found out how they could keep themselves safe during a fair organised by the College’s Deputy Safeguarding Lead and Student Engagement Team, as part of Stay Safe Week from 16 – 18 October.

The event, which took place at the College’s Wisemore Campus, saw a wide range of organisations hand out information to students about personal safety, including The Beacon, West Midlands Police, Crisis Point and Bikers Against Child Abuse.

The bikers brought in a wide range of their motor vehicles to the event, including cruisers and retro models. Founded in 1995, Bikers Against Child Abuse empowers abused children and offers support to young people who have been affected by abuse.

The Beacon were also at the event to hand out information about drug and alcohol misuse, and YOTI had a stall that enabled students to apply for a citizen card, so they can prove their identity online and in person. The West Midlands Police brought in a metal detector to raise awareness of knife crime, and information was available on stalking and harassment, positive mental health, as well as early help.

Carol Egan, Director of Student Journey, said: “Our Stay Safe event was an opportunity for us to demonstrate to students how important it is for them to keep themselves safe, both physically and emotionally.

As a college, safeguarding remains our highest priority and it’s vital that our students are aware of the variety of services available in Walsall should they – or someone they know – needs help.”

A major project to re-connect Birmingham’s communities with the city’s Shakespearean heritage, re-establish the West Midlands as the world’s ‘go-to Shakespeare centre’, and recover Birmingham’s once proud reputation as the most democratic and progressive cultural centre in the world has won National Lottery support.

The University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council are collaborating on a £1 million plan to revive the city’s almost-forgotten Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library (BSML) - the first, oldest and largest Shakespeare collection in any public library in the world and one of the UK’s most important cultural assets.

The ‘Everything to Everybody’ project unites the Shakespeare archive with the George Dawson Collection (GDC) - a wealth of documents relating to the nonconformist preacher, lecturer and activist, who founded the Library as part of a pioneering ‘Civic Gospel’ which helped make 19th-century Birmingham the world’s most progressive modern city.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has given the partners £32,700 of development funding to help progress plans to apply for a full National Lottery grant. The fullfour-year project aims to revitalise Dawson’s dream of creating a culture actively involving everyone in Birmingham.

A comprehensive programme of working with the Birmingham Commonwealth Association, Culture Central, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and other organisations and communities across the city will culminate in a major exhibition and festival celebrating Birmingham’s cultural ambition and innovation in the year of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Birmingham City Council cabinet member for education, skills and culture Cllr Jayne Francis commented: “Thanks to this great opportunity from the Heritage Lottery Fund, we’re developing an extensive programme of community-led activities which will help people of all ages and backgrounds rediscover Birmingham’s Shakespeare Library and reinvent it for the future.

“The project will transform the relationship between Shakespeare and the wider region in which he was born, confirming the West Midlands as a world-class Shakespeare centre, with Birmingham’s rich heritage and cultural diversity right at its heart.”

The project is led by Professor Ewan Fernie, from the University’s Shakespeare Institute, in Stratford-upon-Avon, who said:  “The vast majority of the Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library‘s publicly-owned treasures are unknown, their potential to excite new audiences untapped.

“Using modern digital technologies will allow us to realise Dawson’s radically democratic programme for sharing the Library, and working with Birmingham’s diverse communities will breathe new life into traditional English heritage and culture.”

A West Midlands healthcare charity will go head-to-head with the X-Factor winner – by releasing a debut Christmas single.

Your Trust Charity’s first ever musical offering O Holy Night will be recorded in conjunction with Bristnall Hall Academy, in an effort to raise vital funds – and budding singers from the region are being sought to feature on the single.

The money will go towards enhancing the experience of patients, visitors and staff at Sandwell, City and Rowley Regis Hospitals, which are all run by the Trust.

The idea was conceived by Amanda Winwood, Fundraising Manager at Your Trust Charity and record producer James Callaghan will be working on the single.

Amanda said: “I’m urging as many people as possible to get involved with our charity single, ‘O Holy Night’ as it will be a fantastic way to raise funds for the charity whilst getting into the spirit of Christmas.

“Not only is this a lovely and unique initiative which brings the community together, but it would also be amazing if this record were to beat the X Factor winner or any other leading artist to the number one spot.”

She added: “It’s the first time we have decided to record a Christmas single and we wanted to work with Bristnall Hall Academy as we have been been their chosen charity for three years.

“We are very pleased to have James on board and we believe the final offering will be a real celebration of our community.”

James added: "As a former pupil of Bristnall Hall it was an honour to take on the challenge of composing an arrangement for this classic Christmas song.

“Working with Your Trust Charity and the school is both rewarding and uplifting. I hope the single can raise some funds to help the local community. Making people's lives more comfortable by providing good patient care is a cause I feel passionately about and with the help of the school we can all do our part."

The recording of the single will take place at Bristnall Hall Academy on 6 November.

Vince Green, Principal at the school, said: “The Bristnall Hall Academy community are excited to be working in partnership with Your Trust charity to release a joint Christmas charity single.

“We look forward to raising even more funds and contributing even more to the great work being done by our chosen charity.  This is the first time the academy has done something like this.  We are grateful to James, an ex-student of Bristnall, who has very kindly agreed to offer his guidance and support to make this single possible.”

Work to restore Smethwick's historic Council House is now complete. The Grade II-listed building, which dates from the early 1900s, has had its prominent clock tower refurbished and its stunning terracotta facade restored.

The clock tower's broken timberwork has been fixed, the metalwork on the clock face repainted and the tower itself has been returned to its original colour scheme.

The project also included the replacement of more than 100 damaged terracotta blocks, the pitched roof has been re-slated and flat roofs replaced. The building's ornate roof domes have been redecorated and railings have been repaired.

The building in the town's High Street has been used as council offices for more than a century and is visited by hundreds of people each week to access council services.

Sandwell Council’s cabinet member for core council services and culture Councillor Steve Trow said:  "It's fantastic to see this building restored to its former glory. Over the years, time and weather had caused the facade to deteriorate, lead had been stolen from the roof and the clock tower had been exposed to the elements.

"It's a stunning building used by our staff and residents week in, week out, and it is only right that we've done this work to preserve it for decades to come."

The building's clock is known as a rare “three-train Smith of Derby flat-bed with gravity escapement” and regarded as an important piece of horological history.

Clock enthusiasts have visited it to admire its workings – as most of its kind were converted with electricity many years ago.

HeadStart Wolverhampton and local organisations Gazebo Theatre, WV10 Consortium and YMCA Black Country are hosting free Halloween-themed half-term activities next week.

The activities for young people aged 10-16 are taking place in the four HeadStart Wolverhampton target areas and are designed to build confidence and self-esteem and encourage positive mental health and wellbeing through arts, music, sports and more.

In Bilston East, Gazebo Theatre is organising a ghost-busting Place to Be Me Halloween-themed holiday club at Bilston Town Hall on Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 October from 2pm to 4pm featuring monstrous music, devilish dance sessions and more. For more information, please call 01902 497222.

WV10 Consortium is offering a week of family fun at a range of venues including the Big Venture Centre, Low Hill Community Hub, Bushbury Hill Estate Management Board, Aladdin’s Education Centre and Stratton Street Community Centre.

Sessions take place from Monday 29 October to Friday 2 November, with young people invited to enjoy spooky slime workshops, pumpkin painting, Halloween crafts and more. Activity times vary depending on locations. For more information, including a full timetable, please visit www.headstartonline.co.uk/octoberhalfterm2018.

Meanwhile, YMCA Black Country is launching its new Engage, Grow and Achieve programme at the Bob Jones Community Hub in Blakenhall on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 29-31 October, 9am to 5pm.

By using team-building techniques, young people will develop essential life skills including good communication, problem-solving and decision-making abilities, strong motivation and commitment, and good emotional resilience. For more information and to reserve your place, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

In Heath Town, Park Village, Eastfield, Springfield and Old Heath, YMCA Black Country is also hosting a half-term kids brunch club, drumming workshops, crafts, yoga and boxing. For more information, please visit www.headstartonline.co.uk/octoberhalfterm2018.

Councillor Paul Sweet, the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said “HeadStart Wolverhampton is offering a fantastic selection of free half-term activities for children, young people and their families.

“It is another wonderful example of the work HeadStart Wolverhampton is doing with local organisations, to support young people and encourage positive mental health and emotional wellbeing.”

HeadStart Wolverhampton runs a number of specific programmes in its four target areas of the City where need is known to be greatest, including Low Hill, The Scotlands and Bushbury South; Springfield, Heath Town, Park Village and Eastfield; All Saints, Blakenhall, Parkfields and Ettingshall; and Bilston East.

5.06pm on a Sunday afternoon has been pinpointed as the official time that the nation’s FOMM (Fear of Monday Morning) kicks in, with women feeling it earlier at 4.42pm and men at 5.24pm, according to research by CafePod Coffee Company.

Brits are adopting a range of tactics to help them get through the working week. The poll of 1, 500 UK adults by CafePod identifies the top 25 things that most help us to keep going throughout the day, with the top three being; having something to look forward to after work (26%), thinking about what’s for dinner (21%) and looking at holidays online during work (14%). Not surprisingly, chocolate (28%), coffee (33%), social media (21%) and regular snacks (21%) are our top survival tactics, although Bristol takes pleasure in the small things to get through to the weekend (63%).

The research from CafePod also reveals the top 15 things that we’re most thankful for during our working week:

• Pay day                                                                                                                          48%

  (Respondents from Nottingham were most thankful for pay day during the week)

• Finding a fiver in your purse/pocket                                                                        37%
• People using common sense                                                                                     30%
• Coffee                                                                                                                            29%
• When that child stops screaming, in the shop/ cinema/ plane                          27%
• When it stops raining                                                                                                  22%
• Finding that last spare toilet roll                                                                              18%
• When your phone battery’s about to die & your friend has a charger             18%
• Having an umbrella in your bag when it unexpectedly starts raining               17%
• When the trains are on schedule                                                                             15%
• When a bad film or song ends                                                                                  15%
• Getting a seat on the Tube                                                                                        10%
• When your friend splits up with a partner you didn’t like                                   9%
• Your alarm clock waking you up on time                                                                8%
• When the puddle splashes somebody else                                                            8%

Peter Grainger, Co-founder of CafePod, comments:

“Our research shows the challenges that people are under these days and the creative range of tactics we are using to keep going and survive our fast-paced lives. Today we’re excited to launch our Live Fast. Drink Strong campaign which is centred around our mission to provide coffee lovers with an exciting choice of strength-based coffees to enjoy at home.”

The five most popular productivity boosters at work are listening to your favourite music, having a strong coffee, ticking off your to do list, regular snacks and inspiring colleagues, with the top three things people most dread about the week ahead being feeling skint (42%), stuck in a rut (29%) and the daily grind of the commute and domestic chores (23%). However, come the end of the week 82% of Brits admit to treating themselves to something, whether that be leaving work 10 minutes early, buying a nicer lunch or going for a mini-pamper during lunch break.

The research was commissioned to mark the launch of independent challenger brand CafePod’s “Live Fast. Drink Strong” campaign.

Carers enjoyed VIP treatment courtesy of the City of Wolverhampton Council on Saturday.

The City of Wolverhampton Council's Carer Support Team invited carers to enter a competition to win one of three pairs of tickets for them and the person they care for to see Wolverhampton Wanderers in action from the comfort of an executive box at Molineux Stadium.

The lucky winners – Pauline Flynn, who cares for her husband Terence, Colleen Bernard, who looks after her brother Stephen, and June Degg, who cares for son Michael – enjoyed Saturday's Premier League clash between Wolves and Watford… even if the result didn't go the home team's way.

Councillor Sandra Samuels OBE, the City of Wolverhampton Council's Cabinet Member for Adult Services, said: "Our carers are all VIPs and it was great to be able to treat three of them as such at Molineux Stadium on Saturday as guests of the council and Wolves. Although the result might not have been what they would have wanted, I am sure they all had a fantastic day."

Pauline said: "It was absolutely brilliant. Going to the Wolves was one my bucket list and now I have finally had the chance to go! The last time my husband went to a match he was 21 and his ticket cost three shillings and six pence."

Colleen said: "We have both really enjoyed the day and met some lovely people. It's a shame Wolves didn’t win, but there was a great atmosphere."

June added: "It was excellent. The staff from Wolves and the council were very courteous and I couldn’t have wished for a better day – the best I have had all year!"

David Watts, the council's Director of Adult Services, and Lesley Johnson, Carer Support Team manager, were in attendance to support the families and host the box.

The Carer Support Team offers a range of services for people who care for a friend, relative or neighbour in Wolverhampton, ensuring they are supported in their caring role, have access to the help they need and are able to claim the benefits they are entitled to.

They provide practical information, guidance and advice on a range of matters including benefits and short breaks for carers, and offer a range of other services including carer assessments, the Carers Emergency Card and training in skills such as first aid.

Wolverhampton will once more pay its respects to the brigade of Dutch soldiers who were stationed at Wrottesley Park during the Second World War.

The city’s Mayor Councillor Phil Page will lay a wreath at the annual Dutch War Graves Service of Remembrance at Jeffcock Road Cemetery on Saturday 10 November, 2018.

The poignant service, organised by the City of Wolverhampton Central Branch of the Royal British Legion, remembers the 23 soldiers from the Princess Irene Brigade who are buried at the cemetery.

The Princess Irene Brigade was stationed in an encampment at Wrottesley Park from 1941 before they took part in the Normandy D-Day landings which began the liberation of Western Europe. They were also the first Allied troops to enter The Hague.

The Brigade was disbanded in 1945. The service has taken place every year since, with veterans and latterly soldiers from its successor regiment the Guards Regiment Fusiliers Princess Irene making the pilgrimage to Wolverhampton on the weekend before Remembrance Sunday to honour their Dutch comrades.

Councillor Page said: “There’s a very special relationship between the people of Wolverhampton and the veterans of the Princess Irene Brigade and it is an honour to be invited to lay a wreath to commemorate their sacrifices.”

The Remembrance service takes place at 10am and will be preceded by a short parade which will form up at 9.40am. Members of the public are welcome to attend.

Richard Marsh, from the City of Wolverhampton Central Branch of the Royal British Legion, said: "This service has been held every year since 1945, and a contingent of Dutch personnel will join the Mayor, Lord Lieutenant, High Sheriff and other dignitaries to lay wreaths as we pay homage to our brave Dutch Allies from the Second World War.”

Former members of the Princess Irene Brigade were granted Freedom of the City in 2006.

Back in the autumn of 2014, true crime enthusiasts began to listen to a podcast called Serial. An offshoot of the popular US radio documentary This American Life, Serial focused a whole 12-episode season on one case. That case was the 1999 murder of Baltimore high school student Hae Min Lee and the conviction of her former boyfriend, Adnan Syed, for that crime.

Syed had always maintained his innocence and the podcast explored the case against him. Serial became a phenomenal success as the first podcast on iTunes to reach 5 million downloads. People anxiously awaited the next episode, told their friends about it and flocked to online spaces like Reddit to discuss their theories of the case.

Following the success of Serial, other podcasts emerged, taking a similar approach in exploring a single case over one season.

As a criminologist, I’m well aware of the fact that most of what people know about crime comes via mainstream media. We are unlikely to have direct experience of homicide ourselves, so our knowledge is often based on portrayals of it on the news, in the papers, in true crime documentaries, crime drama – and now, true crime podcasts.

Media representations of crime are a well-established area of study in criminology – but Serial and its successors represented something new. Alongside my colleagues Emma Kelly and Shona Robinson-Edwards, I embarked upon a study to make better sense of not just what they were, but what they were doing. We explored six serialised true crime podcasts – Serial, In the Dark, Stranglers, Accused, Missing and Murdered and Bowraville – all of which focused upon homicide.

We discovered some interesting findings relating to what criminologists, as Greer says, refer to as hierarchies of victimization. When some people become the victims of crime – for example law-abiding and ‘respectable’ white middle-class women and children - we are more likely to sympathise with them and see them as wholly blameless innocent victims. For others who don’t fit this mould, we are less understanding. True crime, as Christie says, has had a tendency to reproduce this pecking order of ideal victimhood.

The podcasts we listened to did tend to echo this – placing a heavy emphasis on victim innocence, vulnerability and deservingness of sympathy. Serial described Hae Min Lee as smart and beautiful, cheerful and a great athlete. Accused had the following to say about murder victim Elizabeth Andes -

There are some people in your life who, if you’re honest with yourself, you’d have to admit seem a likelier target for something bad, something violent, to happen to than the rest of your friends. It’s not PC to say it, and it certainly doesn’t mean anyone ever deserves being targeted, but there are risk factors: selling drugs, being a hothead, prone to fistfights. Beth was none of those things. (Amber Hunt, Accused, Ep 1)

However, the podcasts also posed some critical questions about the nature of victimhood. They reframed the criminal other, recognising that the same person can be both a victim and an offender within their lifetime. For example, In The Dark raised the possibility that Danny Heinrich – the killer of 11 year-old Jacob Wetterling – may have been abused by a local sex offender when he was a child.

The podcasts also featured the narrative of the accused and convicted – for example Serial considered the possibility that Syed might be a victim of a miscarriage of justice and Accused explored the stigma experienced by Bob Young, who had faced trial for the murder of Elizabeth Andes. As such, the podcasts took a perspective not often seen in the true crime genre – rather than focusing on the victim narrative presenting the role of victim and offender as wholly separate, they drew attention to a blurring of the lines.

The podcasts also evoked questions of harm in transcending the immediate impact of violent crime on victims and offenders to encompass broader social harms inflicted by institutions and ideologies. This included the neoliberal performance management culture within the police and cultures of abuse and neglect in organisations charged with the care of the vulnerable – for instance the clear up rates for violent crime explored by In The Dark and institutional abuse within Indian residential schools covered by Missing and Murdered. As such, the podcasts invited questions about the social and cultural conditions in which violent crime occurs and forced us to look beyond the offender and to the wider social context.

The podcasts were not characterised by the neat endings and conclusions that are traditionally prevalent in the true crime genre. The usual stories end when the police catch the offender, the offender is convicted and we can all sleep safe and sound in our beds. The podcasts we listened to were about the unsolved and the unresolved. In cases where there was a criminal justice resolution, this was presented as being inherently unsatisfactory. They emphasized the uncertain, the unfinished and the untrusted. For example, Stranglers cast doubt on the view that Albert De Salvo was responsible for all 13 of the homicides attributed to the Boston Strangler and Bowraville focused on a case in which the same man had been found not guilty on two occasions. As such, they prompted questions about the general feeling of vertigo, referred to by Young, that characterises late capitalism. The only certainty is uncertainty in contemporary society. We gather around the concept of the precarious and these podcasts were no exception to this phenomenon. This was evident in the online forums that emerged around the podcasts. In these places, dissatisfied listeners sought out answers that the podcasts didn’t provide.

A strong emotional thread ran throughout the podcasts. A whole host of emotions were expressed by a range of different people – which was not limited to victims, their families and offenders. Presenters were compassionate participants rather than just objective messengers of the ‘facts’, subjective, immersed and affected. Julie Snyder’s shame at having door stepped a witness was evident in Serial. Bowraville’s Dan Box expressed fear, anticipation and a distinct sense of unease whilst waiting in his car outside the home of a suspect.  It wasn’t just that these emotions were there for us to hear – for us, it was what they did that was interesting.

Emotion appeared alongside the cold hard ‘objective’ facts, presenters didn’t just tell the story but they appeared to feel it too. This served to both blur and sharpen our focus on the broader social structures that formed the backdrop to violent crime. It can be argued that emotion on the part of the presenter reinforces control over the narrative and – as one scholar, Ahmed, notes -

…to be moved by the suffering of some others (the ‘deserving’ poor, the innocent child, the injured hero), is also to be elevated to a place that remains untouched by other others (whose suffering cannot be converted in my sympathy or admiration).

Serialised true crime podcasts appear to embody changing sensibilities towards crime. The critical voices and new perspectives presented within these podcasts are symbolic of the wider context and point in history in which they have emerged. A time when our faith in the state to control crime is at an all time low. A time of uncertainty and precariousness.  But are serialised true crime podcasts the vehicles for change and justice that they are sometimes made out to be?

We would argue no – sadly not. They pay lip service to the idea of action and change by revealing inequalities and injustices to their listeners. They offer glimpses of traumatic social realities, they expose us to the misery of others and encourage us to feel their pain. However, serialised podcasts end unfinished and incomplete, leaving listeners in a state of vertigo. The void is soon filled with another podcast, a new trauma to become temporarily obsessed with.

Seltzer argued that we now inhabit a wound culture in which we feed off the trauma of others. The consumption of harm, violence and the pathological is one the few things that brings people together in late capitalist society – where instant gratification, selfish individualism and success via the demise of others have permeated our value systems. Serialised true crime podcasts are the very embodiment of wound culture. It doesn’t matter whose trauma it is – the people whose stories we consume become interchangeable and blur into a homogenous mass. As one podcast ends without a satisfactory conclusion, we find another one to fill the void. Our desire for more signifies the lack and absence that characterizes consumer capitalism – we are never really satisfied but as long as we have a ready supply of trauma to consume we will never linger on one case long enough to call for any action about the broader harms that serialised true crime podcasts allow us to glimpse.

One of Britain’s most influential journalists and editor of the New Statesman magazine is to be a guest speaker at the University of Wolverhampton.

Jason Cowley will be in conversation with George Kassimeris, Professor in Security Studies at the University, on Thursday, 1 November 2018.

The free event is open to all and will take place in MC001, Millennium City Building at 5.30pm.

Professor Kassimeris, who also comments regularly on current affairs for a wide range of publications including the Guardian, the Independent and the Huffington Post, said: “I’m very excited at the prospect of having a one-to-one conversation about everyone and everything with arguably one of the most brilliant editors in Britain today.

“We will discuss the remarkable political and cultural transformations of the last decade – from the fall of Gordon Brown and the rise of Jeremy Corbyn and the radical left, to the financial crisis and Brexit.

“But our conversation will not be limited to politics. Jason has previously edited the Granta literary magazine and the Observer Sports Monthly so he has met and interviewed leading authors such as John le Carré, Kazuo Ishiguro and Ian McEwan and had access  to sports personalities such as Gareth Southgate, Tiger Woods and Arsene Wenger.”

Jason Cowley has met and interviewed nearly all the major political players of the day, from Tony Blair, Jeremy Corbyn, and Nigel Farage to David Cameron, George Osborne, Boris Johnson and Theresa May.

After several concerts exploring the work of various composers from across the centuries, the aptly titled Brilliant Bach (24 Nov 2018, St Philip's Cathedral, B’ham) finds Birmingham Bach Choir returning to their inspiration: Johann Sebastian Bach.

While many are familiar with Bach's B Minor Mass - a grand masterpiece last performed by the choir at Birmingham Town Hall for Conductor Paul Spicer’s 25th anniversary concert in 2017 - Brilliant Bach sees the choir air the lesser known, but nonetheless memorable, Mass in G minor BWV235.

Composed in the late 1730s, Bach called on previously written cantatas in the construction of the Mass, a move which resulted in the work being overshadowed. However, ripe for re-evaluation, BWV235 is now seen as a compelling late masterpiece, unified and filled with beauty.

Joining the choir for the concert are Natalie Clifton-Griffith (soprano), Simon Ponsford (counter-tenor), Daniel Auchincloss (tenor), and Julian Debreuil (bass baritone).

A graduate of both The Birmingham Conservatoire and The Royal College of Music, Natalie has performed at The Barbican and Three Choirs Festival, and recently joined London Voices for the 2018 BBC Proms.

Starting his singing career at Gloucester Cathedral Choir, Simon was later a Choral Scholar at King’s College, Cambridge. He recently took part in Monteverdi Choir’s ground-breaking tour of Bach’s Matthäus-Passion performed from memory. His album of Elizabethan and Jacobean songs, Time Stands Still, was released in 2013 to critical acclaim.

Canadian Daniel has recorded and performed across the world as soloist with the BBC, English National Opera, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Netherlands Bach Society, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, and many more. This year, he made his Glyndebourne debut and will soon return to the Royal Opera House, covering Chekalinsky in Queen Of Spades.

A recipient of many major awards, Julian studied singing, conducting and composition at the Royal College of Music and the Georg Solti Accademia. His many career highlights include Verdi Requiem with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Bach’s St John Passion with the London Handel Players, and Elgar’s The Apostles with the BBC Concert Orchestra, plus Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius and the Brahms’ Requiem with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra.

Performing alongside the choir are The Musical and Amicable Society, a small Baroque orchestra who have accompanied them on a number of occasions, most recently for Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s St Mark Passion, both in 2017. Originally formed in 1762 at St Bartholomew’s Chapel, Birmingham (since demolished), this historic Society was revived in 2003 as a collective of professional period-instrument specialists, recreating the soundscape of an earlier era.

Discussing the Brilliant Bach concert, Conductor Paul Spicer said: “We are very much looking forward to performing Bach’s Mass in G Minor BWV235, which we have never sung before and is full of beautiful music. So too are the two cantatas we will also perform: Wir danken dir, Gott BWV29, famous for its virtuoso organ introduction, which will be played by Martyn Rawles; and Ich hatte viel bekümmernis BWV21, one of the loveliest of Bach’s cantatas.

“This will be a memorable concert for the performers and audience alike, especially as St Philip’s Cathedral is one of our favourite venues.”

The performance launches the choir’s 2018-2019 Season, which includes a selection of sacred music for Passiontide, also at St Philip's Cathedral, and a summer concert of Spirituals, while February 2019 sees the Choir’s annual Come and Sing! workshop, focusing on Elgar’s The Music Makers.

Birmingham Bach Choir: Brilliant Bach is at St Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham, on Saturday 24 November 2018.

On Saturday 13 October, over 500 people flocked to the magnificent setting of Worcester Cathedral for RLSS UK’s most prestigious annual event, the National Presentation of Honours. The event marks the passion, dedication and achievements of the organisation’s members and volunteers.

Amongst the many awards winners and guests, VIP’s included RLSS UK’s new Patron Lord Michael Storey CBE, Mayor of Worcester Jabba Riaz, West Mercia Police Superintendent Stacey Williamson and Hereford & Worcester FRS Deputy Chief Fire Officer John Hodges.

There were seven main awards with each winner being nominated and ratified by their peers. This year saw three winners hailing from the Midlands:

Stanley Peck Trophy

Gina Doyle, Essex Branch

Brian Morrissey Trophy

Janice Bristow, Kent Branch

Ken White Trophy

Emily Patterson, Scottish Northern Branch

Clive Holland Trophy

Thanet Lifeguard Club

Young Leaders Award

Holly Willing, Devon Branch

RLSS Commonwealth Letter of Commendation

Julie Bostock, Warwickshire Branch

William Henry Reward Programme

1st place, Terry Draycott, Nottinghamshire Branch

2nd place, Hannah Wiggins-Bettles, Wessex Branch

3rd place, Teresa Myatt, Worcestershire & Herefordshire Branch

“It was definitely the right decision, to move the event to our new home city this year,” said RLSS UK Communications & Events Manager, Stuart Haynes.

“The feedback from the attendees has been terrific with people praising everything from the fabulous venue, the atmosphere and even the location, not only in the heart of the city but in the heart of the country too.

“I’d like to thank our event supporters Laerdal, Speedo, Côte Brasserie Worcester, Bills of Worcester and YO! Sushi and look forward to an even bigger and better event next year!”

WORKERS in the West Midlands are playing ‘Russian roulette’ with flu after two thirds (66%) of employees in the region said they would clock on even though they are still ill.

Guilt, fear of being judged and not having enough paid sick days mean 66% of employees in the West Midlands would still turn up for work even if they had the flu.

As a result, 55% of workers say they have caught a cold at work, while 15% say they have caught the flu from colleagues who have turned up sick.

And two thirds (67%) of parents with kids under 16 in the area say their children have not yet been vaccinated, according to a survey for ASDA Pharmacy by Atomik Research.

Dr Hilary Jones said: “Brits need to stop playing Russian roulette with flu – it is an extremely serious illness and, as such needs to be taken extremely seriously.

“Going to work while still ill may seem like the noble thing to do but all it does is delay your recovery and infect those around you.

“And parents should think seriously about getting their children vaccinated – it is easy for kids to pass on flu to their grandparents, who are particularly vulnerable to the disease.”

Nearly half (47%) of Brits surveyed in the West Midlands said they would not have the flu jab this winter – the largest in the country.

A third (37%) of those who will not have the jab said they simply have not considered it, 14% think it does not affect them and nine per cent never have vaccinations.

A third (33%) of workers in the West Midlands say they do not get paid for sick days taken off work, meaning they can lose £62 a day in income for each day they are off.[1]

Thirty-one per cent of workers surveyed in the region say they only get a limited number of paid sick days each year and feel they cannot afford to come in to work.

Nearly two in five (38%) of those say their sick day allowance is just five days a year, meaning many feel they have to come into work before they have fully recovered.

The most common reason for workers in the West Midlands coming in with a cold or the flu was feeling guilty about taking time off (24%).

A quarter (23%) worry about work piling up, 23% say there is no-one else to cover their workload and 15% worried their boss or colleagues would judge them.

Among parents of children aged under 16 in the West Midlands who have not had the flu jab, most (67%) say they will not have the vaccination at all.

This is despite the fact that 43% of under-16s will see grandparents or elderly relatives every week during the winter and 15% will see them every day – putting the vulnerable older generation at increased risk of developing the flu.

Asda pharmacist Maq Din said: “Having a flu jab not only protects you against flu, it protects your whole family and the wider community.

“Flu is contagious and it can be passed through coughing, sneezing or by touching contaminated surfaces.

“Most flu outbreaks usually happen in late autumn or winter so now is the time to take action and book your appointment as Asda as it takes around 14 to 21 days to be protected against flu.

“Over time, protection from the injected flu vaccine gradually decreases and flu strains often change, so new flu vaccines are produced each year, which is why people advised to have the flu vaccine need it every year too.”