Community News

A new knife surrender bin was unveiled in West Bromwich High Street for people to voluntarily give up weapons and help save lives. The launch came as Sandwell's six-week Safer 6 campaign moves its focus to West Bromwich.

A Wolverhampton charity that encourages people with sight loss to take part in activities such as water ski-ing and rock wall climbing has been awarded a £4,000 grant by the West Brom building society. The Beacon Centre is using the funding to further its ActivEyes programme, which facilitates participation in a variety of leisure and social activities.

Severn Trent is backing a WaterSafe campaign urging homeowners to be ‘lead aware’ to ensure their drinking water stays fresh and healthy. The campaign came during Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (October 25-31), a campaign led by the World Health Organisation to raise awareness of the devastating effects of lead worldwide.

More than 80 people joined #teamJTH to take part in the Morrisons Great Birmingham Run in the name of John Taylor Hospice. And with every mile of the 13.1 route, each competitor knew they were supporting the work of the hospice providing specialist care in Birmingham.

While many lament that there is never enough time in the day, after gaining an extra hour yesterday a quarter of Brits said that if they were given an extra hour in every day they would spend it sleeping, according to a new survey conducted by leading charity Breast Cancer Now.

Wolverhampton City Fairtrade Partnership has been commended for its valuable contribution to the Fairtrade movement. It was awarded second place in best outreach and networking category at the annual Fairtrade Campaign Awards which took place at the Fairtrade Foundation’s national supporter conference in London.

People in Friar Park, Wednesbury North and Wednesbury South wards can have their say on neighbourhood issues at a drop-in session on Thursday 29 October. It will offer people the chance to give feedback on how the council and its partner organisations have met 'ward pledges' agreed last year, and the session will also help set new priorities to improve the area for the year ahead.

A long-serving Wolverhampton councillor and the West Midlands' first Police and Crime Commissioner will be honoured when a popular community centre is renamed in his memory. Bob Jones CBE, who passed away suddenly at the aged of 59 last year, was just 25 when he was first elected as a councillor for the Blakenhall ward, and went on to serve the people of Wolverhampton with distinction for more than three decades.

The Safer 6 campaign team are heading to West Bromwich, bringing a host of safety and crime prevention advice for local people. Sandwell Mayor Councillor Barbara Price will be attending the event to be held outside Poundland on the High Street, by Queen's Square shopping centre from 10.30am to 13.30pm.

The BBC Good Food Show team has been scouring the country since June to find Britain's most outstanding artisan food and drink producers. Managed by Katy Truss, and now in its sixth year, the Producers Award serves to reward the most deserving small, independent artisan producers.

Specially invited keynote speakers and honored guests gathered for the Press Conference to highlight The Phoenix Newspapers 5th Anniversary Gala Dinner & Awards Celebration and also pay homage to the woman whose fearless courage and vision created a day that promises to be unique and supportive in its concept. Held at the world class Hotel Indigo at The Cube in Birmingham, they came from near and far to flag-up what is to come.

And the Brits were thinking that American’s love of the British accent was down to the likes of Hugh Grant and Prince William! But according to a new survey it is not the dulcet, shuffling tones of the home counties that makes the Yanks weak at the knees, but rather the gravelly melodies of the Glaswegian tongue.

There is still time for people to have their say about proposed changes to a number of social care services in Wolverhampton. The City of Wolverhampton Council has put forward plans which it says will transform social care services and help older people in the city remain independent for longer. Service users, their families and carers, staff and other stakeholders are urged to take part in the consultation, with a last in a series of events for the public taking place at the Civic Centre, St Peter’s Square, on Tuesday (20 October 2015) at 7pm.

The Culture Secretary today announced the Government’s plans to commemorate the Battle of Jutland, which brought together the two most powerful naval forces of the time in the largest naval battle of the First World War. There will be a series of commemorative events in the Orkney Islands  on 31 May 2016.  This will be an opportunity for people in the UK to come together to honour those on both sides who lost their lives during the Battle of Jutland and to  recognise the pivotal role of the Royal Navy in the First World War.  

City of Wolverhampton Council has been forging links with its European counterparts to produce a best practice booklet for problem solving in city developments. Officers recently completed a European Commission-funded project called ‘Cities of Change’, led by the City of Poznan in Poland. The knowledge exchange involved representatives from 14 cities of 11 EU Member States.

New research by housing charity Shelter has found that over 39,000 private rented homes in the West Midlands equivalent to 1 in 10, have suffered from animal infestations such as mice and cockroaches in the last year alone. The Shelter and YouGov poll of over 3,700 private renters in England revealed that bad living conditions are rife in rented homes, with almost half of renters (46%) in the West Midlands reporting that they had experienced problems with poor conditions or disrepair in the last year.