Thursday 17 March 2022

A talk on the Hereford Gospels


‘The Hereford Gospels and Origins of Hereford’ by Professor Michelle P.Brown, FSA

Wednesday 13 April, 2.30pm

The Hereford Gospels is one of the great treasures of Hereford Cathedral and a landmark of early book production in Britain. In this lecture a new scenario for its production is suggested – made at or for Hereford Cathedral as a focal point at the shrine of a martyred royal saint, King Ethelbert of East Anglia.

Tickets cost £10 and can be purchased via the cathedral website:

The Nitecrawlers Set To Relaunch "Unlock The Blues"

 Just Two Years Later Than Planned... HERE COME THE NITECRAWLERS


With spectacularly unlucky timing, Wolverhampton-based blues band The Nitecrawlers had scheduled the launch of their debut CD album for March 2020, precisely co-incident with the arrival of BBC - that's Big Bad Covid. 

Over the previous 12 months, The Nitecrawlers had firmly established themselves as one of the most popular bands at Henry's Blueshouse, played a bunch of festivals and clubs honing their music until they felt ready to record, gone into the recording studio ready to rock which is precisely what they did as is evidenced by the end product, the "Unlock The Blues" album.

The obvious place to launch the album was at Henry's Blueshouse, which they planned, with media coverage and promotion plans in place until along came Covid and the whole thing, along with the music business in general, came to a sudden and grinding halt.

Now, exactly two years later, with Covid now pretty much accepted as part of life, The Nitecrawlers are set to pick up where they left off and are set to Re-Launch their debut album on Tuesday 15th March at Henry's Blueshouse, now comfortably settled in to our new home at Velvet Music Rooms at 200 Broad Street on Birmingham's West Side.

For further information, please contact Jim Simpson on jim@bigbearmusic.com / 0121 454 7020



Iconic Knife Angel visits Stoke-on-Trent this April



The Knife Angel, a sculpture made from over 100,000 seized blades, is coming to Stoke-on-Trent this April. 

The iconic statue was the brainchild of British Ironwork Centre’s Clive Knowles and was crafted by artist Alfie Bradley. It aims to raise awareness of knife crime and give people a place where they can hand over knives safely.

The 27ft high sculpture was specifically created to highlight the negative effects of violent behaviour whilst solidifying our critical need for social change.  There are over 1600 knives on the monument collected from Stoke-on-Trent residents.

The National Monument will be located at The Smithfield in Hanley throughout April and will be used to provide anti-violence and anti-aggression youth engagement across the city.

The Knife Angel is a very iconic and memorable monument to visit.  We encourage organisations, community groups and residents to see the Knife Angel and engage with anti-violence activities throughout April.  There are educational resources available for local organisations which will help to deliver the key messages to children and young adults.

If you plan to visit the monument, please let us know as we are keen to capture the number of children and young adults that engage with this project.  Please email knife.angel@stoke.gov.uk regarding site visits, to request educational materials or if you have any questions.

Animals! Events in Coventry



MON 11 APR 2022 TO FRI 22 APR 2022

VARIOUS LOCATIONS
£2 FOR ADULT, £1 FOR CHILD
 

Age guidance: 6+

A wild and empowering performance about animals, humans and nature.

The animals are gathering.

But one species hasn't turned up, and it's the species which has been causing all the trouble.

Something's got to be done, and whatever it is, it's going to be wild!

Fun, interactive and featuring original songs, Animals! is an empowering and uplifting performance about animals, humans and nature. It celebrates the amazing wildlife around us and makes big things feel possible.

Dens & Signals bring people together to create connections, shared moments, and future possibilities.

 

“A deft and imaginative experience” – The Guardian on Treasured – A Secret Journey

“A beautiful swaggering pleasure” – Audience member on The Wake

Book tickets for different locations and dates.

About Animals!

Created by Dens & Signals. Commissioned by Coventry City of Culture Trust for #GreenFutures, supported by funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Photo by Rosie Powell.

Broken Promises - An Evening with Mel Sherratt at City Central Library, Hanley


Friday 25 March ¦ 7pm ¦ City Central Library

Broken Promises: An Evening with Mel Sherratt

This is a free event – but tickets must be booked in advance.

Refreshments will be provided.

Book tickets by contacting City Central Library by phone: 01782 238455 or email: central.library@stoke.gov.uk

Dudley Council Community safety update - March 2022

 


Legendary local variety show



The fantastic A Black Country Night Out variety show is making a welcome return to Dudley Town Hall again on Friday 8 April 2022.

This legendary local variety show is bursting at the seams with top talent!

Ollie Spencer is back with his bag full of gags as our host for the evening, which also sees the return of the number one Black Country comedy double act Dandy.

A new act on the show is Emma Rollason (of Fizzogs fame), who'll be brining us her wonderful tribute to Dolly Allen - the original queen of Black Country comedy.

And finally our musical accompaniment comes in the form of the impressive Joe Thomas, armed with his ukulele, and the incredibly talented musicians Rumour.

This promises to be a wonderful evening of excellent local entertainment!

Dudley Town Hall
A Black Country Night Out
Friday 8 April 2022

book a ticket

 

Wednesday 16 March 2022

Household Support Fund - Update on 7th March 2022



Applications for Hardship Grants from the Household Support Fund are now being accepted again from trusted partner agencies in partnership with the 10 lead agencies across the city.

We reserve the right to close the fund to new applicants at short notice should the profiling of the applicants in the system indicate the remaining funding will be distributed in full.

What support is available?

Grants may be applied for up to £150 per household. Each household is only eligible for one grant award payment. If you have previously received a hardship grant award from the Household Support Fund, please do not reapply as your application will be rejected.

As part of the application process, individuals will be signposted to other support available to them in the locality such as: money and welfare advice, utility support, food bank/pantry, and connect families with local community resources.

There are 5 categories of support that can be applied for:

1.     Food

2.     Gas, electricity, water

3.     Essentials linked to gas/electricity/water costs

4.     Wider essentials

5.     Housing costs

The focus of this fund is intended to support households experiencing hardship by supporting them to meet costs associated with food and/or gas electricity, and water usage.

Support from this fund does not cover recent Government announcements in February 2022 in relation to £150 Council Tax rebates or the £200 energy utility provider support announced by the HM Treasury.

Who is eligible?

Applicants will need to undergo an assessment process, with a trusted partner agency, to determine eligibility to access the fund.

In order to apply, households with children must be entitled to Free School Meals (or Healthy Start Vouchers for households with pre-school age children).

For households without children, we are accepting applications from households where at least one person is in receipt of one or more of the following means tested benefits:

•           Council Tax Support

•           Housing Benefit

•           Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)

•           Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

•           Income Support

•           Pension Credit

•           Social Funds (Cold Weather Payment, Funeral Payment, Sure Start Maternity Grant)

•           Tax Credits (Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit)

•           Universal Credit

How to apply?

Once eligibility is confirmed, the trusted partner agency will complete your application to receive your hardship grant.

To identify your local trusted partner agency please see the list of lead organisations below.

If you are unable to identify your local lead partner organisation please contact hsf@bvsc.org for further support.

How are grants paid?

Hardship grants are paid directly into the applicant’s bank account. Alternative arrangements can be put in place if you do not have access to your own bank account.

This process can take up to a total of 7 working days in order to complete necessary financial checks, including fraud detection measures.

If you have a query regarding an existing application please contact the trusted partner organisation who submitted the application on your behalf in the first instance.

Please do not contact trusted partners until 7 working days after your application has been submitted as they may not be able to provide an update on the progress before this time.

Lead locality organisations:

Edgbaston            

householdsupport@gatewayfs.org    

0121 456 7821

 

Erdington 

Support for Families    ErdingtonFamilies@compass-support.org.uk

0121 748 8199

Erdington Support for Adults        contactus@compass-support.org.uk 

or

Chantelle.Holmes@wittonlodge.org.uk    0121 748 0891

or 0121 827 6295

 

Hall Green

Household.Support@GreenSquareAccord.co.uk

07855 409 582

 

Hodge Hill        

EarlyHelp-Hodgehill@family-action.org.uk

07816 086 607

 

Ladywood

childrenandfamilies@bsettlement.org.uk

07764 977 636

 

Northfield

info@northfieldcommunity.org

0121 411 2157

 

Perry Bar

PerrybarrEHnetwork@spurgeons.org

0121 752 1900

 

Selly Oak

StaceySeaman@malachict.co.uk

07544 655537

 

Sutton Coldfield -

Support for Adults

info@ageconcernbirmingham.org.uk

0212 362 3650

 

Sutton Coldfield -

Support for Families

SuttonEHnetwork@spurgeons.org

0121 752 1860

 

Yardley

EarlyHelpYardley@barnardos.org.uk

0121 289 4875


Carers of adults in Birmingham 

For carers of adults living anywhere in the city of Birmingham please contact Birmingham Carers Hub on 0333 006 9711. To apply for the HSF through the Carers Hub, the carer must live in the city and be registered with the Carers Hub.