Community News

It was announced that Jill Stewart, the wife for 14 years of Adam (Stewart), the Executive Chair of Sandals Resorts in Jamaica, and the Appliance Traders Group, passed away surrounded by love. Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holnes, the Hon. Minister Bartlett , the Sandals Resort Family, and so many in our wonderful global travel and tourism industry community to express our sincere condolences to a friend, leader and mentor of our industry, Mr. Adam Stewart, Executive Chairman Sandals Resorts.

Africa Mobile Networks (AMN) have announced that they have entered into a commercial agreement to use Starlink, SpaceX's constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit, to connect AMN's mobile network base stations with high-speed, low-latency broadband services, to serve even in the most remote and rural communities around the world.

AMN is committed to its vision of a fully connected world, where no community of any significant size is without telecommunication services for the social, educational and economic benefit of the population.

Transport for Wales (TfW) is one of nearly 200 organisations which have been recognised by the UK Government for supporting the Armed Forces community, a record high since the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme launched in 2013. The Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award, the highest badge of honour, recognises the positive role that employers play in supporting the Armed Forces community.

In June, the United Nations approved a landmark treaty to preserve ocean biodiversity, seeming to augur a transformation in how countries and corporations do business on the high seas. But as the U.N.-affiliated International Seabed Authority (ISA) meets in Kingston, Jamaica, this week, it will be writing rules for deep sea mining that threatens the very ecosystems in need of preservation.

A new study has revealed that Derby is the UK's most relaxing place to live. The research by UK CBD Brand BrownsCBD analysed key metrics that contribute towards how relaxing a place may be to live such as:  

Wolverhampton's biggest ever Yo! Wolves summer programme has been officially launched – promising something for everyone. There is a wide range of events and activities for children and young people to choose from throughout the summer holidays, including, for the first time, more than 2,000 hours of free activities at the city's WV Active leisure centres.

The National Environmental Services Survey unveiled a startling statistic: just 11% of environmental services professionals in the UK believe that the Government will meet its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. This concerning finding, among others, sheds light on the urgency for accelerated action and collaborative efforts to combat climate change.

BE OPEN Art, an online art gallery set up by BE OPEN think tank, a humanitarian initiative founded by international businessperson and philanthropist Elena Baturina, is running a new competition for emerging artists, aimed to support those whose art best represents their regional, cultural and ethnic identities – BE OPEN Regional Art.

The West Midlands’ most visited retail and leisure destination, Bullring & Grand Central, is set to enhance its tenant line-up even further with a significantly expanded Goldsmiths boutique and upsized Footasylum store.

Following announcements earlier this year that popular brands including Marks & Spencer, Bershka, Pull&Bear and the world’s most Instagrammable café, EL&N, will all be joining Bullring & Grand Central during 2023, the UK’s largest watch retailer, Watches of Switzerland, has announced that it will be considerably increasing its presence at the centre.

Hickman Park in Bilston, Wolverhampton, will be filled with the uplifting sounds of gospel music, local Christian artistes, inspirational speakers, and tasty cultural foods as the Come-Unity in the Park Christian Festival returns to the Black Country on Sunday 16th July 2023, 1pm – 8pm. The event, organised by the local churches that represent the New Testament Church of God Bilston District, seeks to deliver a fun, family-oriented Christian Festival with the aim of bringing local communities together to experience the gospel in a new and engaging way.

More than 80 leading charities, experts in early childhood development, and UNICEF Ambassadors and high-profile supporters have added their support to UNICEF UK’s call for the UK Government to commit to a National Baby and Toddler Guarantee, which would help families with babies and young children across the UK.

The European multinational aerospace corporation, Airbus, supplied secure and state-of-the-art communication technology to support this year’s Hajj – annual holy pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims.

Airbus deployed its advanced communication solutions to support the security and emergency personnel involved in this monumental event. Its comprehensive portfolio of communication solutions facilitated better coordination and enhanced response times among field officers deployed across various key locations, hence enabling efficient incident management and ensuring the well-being of all participants.

Rail passengers are being advised of changes to journeys over nine days from this weekend while engineers invest millions of pounds improving future journeys on the West Coast main line through Staffordshire. Network Rail is carrying out a programme of upgrades on the Trent Valley line between Saturday 15 and Sunday 23 July.

This involves an £8.5m investment into the railway at Colwich Junction which will see engineers:

• Install 2km of new track
• Replace 3,300 railway sleepers
• Lay 2,500 tonnes of new track foundation stone, called ballast

At the same time work will continue on a major scheme to renew the railway signalling system in the Trent Valley area*. During the closure, engineers will also use the time when no passenger trains are running to safely remove Cross City line platform 3 at Lichfield Trent Valley station.

Long-distance trains will use alternative routes, and rail replacement buses will keep passengers on the move between stations on the Trent Valley line itself.** With the work coinciding with ongoing strike action by the RMT and ASLEF unions, people should follow the latest travel advice from their individual train operators websites:

• Avanti West Coast – Click the link for more detail
• West Midlands Railway – Click the link for more detail
• London Northwestern Railway – Click the link for more detail

Passengers are being advised that journeys will take longer, could involve rail replacement bus services and that timetables will be different.

Dave Penney, Network Rail North West and Central region passenger director, said: “These major track and signalling improvements on the Trent Valley line will mean better, smoother and more reliable journeys for passengers and freight in future. However, complex upgrades like these mean we have no choice but to close sections of railway for old sections of track to be ripped up and replaced with new, and for new signalling equipment to be installed and tested.

“Given this work is over the summer holidays I’d urge anyone planning to travel between 15-23 July to please check National Rail Enquiries to plan their journeys. I’d also like to thank passengers in advance for their patience.”

Barry Milsom, executive director of operations and safety at Avanti West Coast, said: “While Network Rail carry out these major works, we’ll be operating an amended timetable and journeys to and from London Euston will take longer. We strongly advise customers making journeys between 15 and 30 July to plan ahead and check the Avanti West Coast website before travelling.”

Jonny Wiseman, customer experience director at West Midlands Railway, said: “Investing in new track and the upkeep of our railways will support a better travel experience, providing passengers with more efficient journeys on our services in the future.

“As a result of these works, I urge passengers to check their journeys between 15-23 July as the major upgrades will result in either longer journey times, bus replacements or alterations to services along the Trent Valley line.” At the same time, HS2 is planning to move a huge new bridge structure into place while no trains are running on this busy section of the West Coast main line.

Scores of workers have been building the 6,500-tonne concrete bridge beside the railway over the last six months. It will be slowly driven into place on the back of a huge transporter vehicle to become a 56m long and 19m wide bridge to carry the existing railway southeast of Lichfield Trent Valley station.

In the space created underneath, HS2 lines will then be built in the coming years and allow Britain’s new high-speed railway to pass beneath the West Coast main line in future. When complete, HS2 which will transform journeys between London, the Midlands and the North, providing zero-carbon journeys from day one and also making space on the existing railway network for more freight and local services. Meanwhile, Saturday 15 July also marks the start of a six-month closure of the interchange with the Cross City line at Lichfield Trent Valley station for platform three to be demolished then entirely rebuilt.

*These upgrades over nine days in July include the next phase of an £85m project to upgrade the signalling system in the Trent Valley area. The equipment installed in this railway closure is in preparation for the new signalling to be in operation in 2024.

**Detail on service provision by train operator between Saturday 15 to Sunday 23 July:

• Avanti West Coast services will divert around the railway closure with an amended timetable in place. It will mean extended journey times for passengers travelling to and from London Euston.
• London Northwestern Railway: Crewe – London Euston services will run between Rugby – London Euston only. Buses replace trains between Rugby and Stafford. Passengers are advised to use alternative services between Stafford and Crewe.
• West Midlands Railway: Buses replace trains between Hednesford and Rugeley Trent Valley, as well as between Bermuda Park and Nuneaton

There will also be changes to services on Sundays throughout July.

Plans to turn changing rooms at a derelict sports pavilion into a Hindu temple have been given the go-ahead. The Oxford Hindu Temple Project is set to transform the football changing rooms at Court Place Farm, Marston.

The plans have been approved by Oxford City Council as part of the project's lease on the building. The revamp will see two halls created in the building, one as a place of worship, and the second as a place for community gatherings. Plans for the internal design are due to be submitted.

New legislation which entitles carers to one week’s unpaid leave to support their loved ones has been welcomed by a leading employment lawyer.

Joanne Stronach, who is Head of Employment Law and HR at Cartmell Shepherd Solicitors, said the new measures introduced as part of the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 were a step in the right direction to support the millions of people who provide unpaid care to dependant family members or friends.

JLS star, Aston Merrygold, has been a longstanding supporter of McDonald’s and its founding and forever partner Ronald McDonald House Charities UK. Recently the singer headed down to the Birmingham House to visit families and hosted a special House party for the children and their families.

This summer, McDonald’s and Ronald McDonald Houses across the UK have been hosting ‘House Parties’, to provide a day of light relief for the little ones and their families. As parents and children staying at the free ‘home away from home’ accommodation often miss out on celebratory occasions and family gatherings.