Merry Christmas Have A
Pupils at Kingsbury School will be wearing Christmas sweaters for charity this Friday, 13th December.
They will pay 50 pence for charity to be allowed to wear a sweater of their choice, in place of their normal school uniform sweater.
“The more festive the better” says the School.
Firefighters will be on strike on two successive days this week.
Members of the Fire Brigades Union will be on strike from 6pm till 10pm this Friday 13th and for the same period on Saturday 14th December.
Fridays and Saturdays are two of the busiest evenings of the week for firefighters.
The dispute with employers is about pensions.
A Bristol B2 – these biplanes were flown from the Castle Vale aerodrome in its early years by the RFC (Royal Flying Corps) – which changed its name to the Royal Air Force in April 1918
Posted in Arts and Leisure, History
A 34 year-old Castle Vale man has been charged with attempted murder following a serious assault in Shard End at the weekend.
Neville Duke, a labourer, of Kenrick Croft, Castle Vale, was arrested on Monday (9 December) in connection with the stabbing, which happened on Kendrick Avenue at around 6:30pm on Sunday night (8 December).
He has been remanded in custody to appear at Birmingham Magistrates Court this morning (11 December).
His 36-year-old victim remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital after suffering multiple stab wounds.
Two other men were arrested on the day of the attack; a 21-year-old who has since been released on police bail pending further enquiries and a 39-year-old who has been released without charge.
Detective Inspector Michaela Kerr, from Force CID, said: “The victim in this case is lucky to be alive after suffering very serious injuries. We’ve spoken to several people who were at the scene on Sunday but if you were there and have not yet spoken to us, I would urge you to come forward.”
Posted in Crime, Police and Emergency Services
Happy Crimbo, criminals
West Midlands Police are hand delivering Christmas cards to known criminals.
The cards are aimed at repeat offenders, also known by the police as ‘prolific and priority offenders’ (PPOs).
One of the cards reminds the receiver that they are on the police watch list; the other urges them not to consider repeat offending.
Police say they are encouraging the recipients to break the pattern of offending at a time of year when repeat offences might be tempting.
Posted in Crime, Police and Emergency Services
Birmingham Council Leader Sir Albert Bore blames Central Government for the latest round of cuts that will see over 1,000 more jobs cut from the City’s services.
His white paper document on the future budget directly blames the Government on over a dozen occasions. The Birmingham cuts have been “caused by the most dramatic cut ever in government funding for local councils.” The theme continues throughout the report.
79% of people trust local government (The Council), but only 11% of people trust National Government, says the report, quoting the Rewiring Public Services report of 2013.
Birmingham’s Council Tax could be increased by 2% each year, suggests the White Paper discussion document published today.
The hints come in a discussion document that outlines the financial crisis Birmingham faces now and in the future. The Council is considering how it can raise more money to pay for the services that it keeps.
Sir Albert Bore suggests that the rise in Council Tax is better than the alternative – a grant from the Government which would not be worth as much money, and is not guaranteed for future years.
His White Paper gives a strong hint that the Council Tax rise is his preferred option.
“For planning purposes, we have been assuming a Council Tax increase of 2% each year….. Each 1% in Council Tax makes a difference of just over £2.5m Lower Council Tax increases will mean that more savings will need to be found.
“Central government has offered a grant to those councils who freeze their tax at current levels. But if we take this grant, rather than increase Council Tax, we would end up with about £1.7 million less per year each time we accept the grant. …. In addition, we don’t know whether the grant will continue into later years and this risk amounts to nearly another £7m per year if we accepted the grant in both of the next two years. So accepting this grant rather than increasing Council Tax by 2% each year would make our financial problems worse.”
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