A telephone survey carried out by Northfield MP Richard Burden has shown that residents are opposed to proposed cuts to police budgets.

Richard Burden carried out a telephone survey of 202 Weoley residents in March.

Following the survey, a public meeting was held at Elim Pentecostal Church on March 19th to address how the local community would deal with 20% cuts to police funding. The meeting was attended by a police commander from Bournville station, Richard Burden and local residents.

Local residents were asked their opinion on cuts to the police budget. Of those that responded:

13% thought a 20% cut to the police budget was achievable without cutting frontline police numbers;
19% said that there are others way to cut the deficit;
68% said that police budgets should not be cut.
Mr Burden said, “Local residents are really concerned about the Conservative-led government’s plans to cut the West Midlands Police budget by 20%.

‘It’s now clear that this will mean a reduction in the number of frontline policemen and women here in Birmingham – and, unfortunately, it looks like the officers we are going to lose will be our most experienced ones.

‘What’s more, the impact on police officers, police civilian staff and services in our region will be disproportionate – compared to areas like Surrey, the West Midlands will be hit hard.

‘I will continue to work with local residents and my Labour colleagues across Birmingham to fight the cuts to our local police. We should be cutting crime, not the police.’

If you’ve subscribed to our RSS feed, please ensure you resubscribe to our new feed

And if you’ve been lovely and generous enough to provide a link to us on your blog or website, please ensure you’re linking to the dedicated b31.org.uk address rather than the wordpress address. If we haven’t linked back to you and you would like us to tweet us or email us and we’ll sort it for you!

Thanks for reading!

University of Birmingham students Eleanor Bower, Laura Bass and Vicki Holmes join Sharon Lea (Birmingham City Council's Strategic Director of Environment and Culture) to promote the council's Olympic-inspired bra recycling challenge. (Image courtesy of BCC News Room)

Yes, you read that right! (I’m going to try very hard to avoid any distasteful punnery here!)

Birmingham City Council launched bra recycling bins last month, and they have already been stuffed with over a thousand unwanted bras. The innovative bra recycling scheme raises funds for Breast Friends, a Sutton Coldfield based group offering support to women with breast cancer. The bras are sold to traders in developing countries via a local recycling company, meaning women in these countries gain access to garments they might not normally be able to afford.

BCC are asking the women of Birmingham for a marathon effort in collecting and recycling even more bras. Literally. They want to try and collect enough bras to stretch the length of an olympic marathon, 26 miles and 385 yards, before the start of the games in London in 2012. This would mean a donation of 46,145 unwanted bras in the next 22 months!

So if you have any such garments that you no longer need, you can take them to the Bra Bank at Sainsburys on Frankley Beeches Road in Northfield.

Strategic Director for Environment and Culture at Birmingham City Council, Sharon Lea, said “I urge everyone to take up our challenge and enable Birmingham to go for gold with our marathon challenge between now and 2012.”

————————————-

via birminghamnewsroom.com

Full list of citywide bra recycling points – tell your friends!

- Sainsbury’s, Castle Vale Retail Park, Chester Road, Castle Vale, Birmingham, B35 6HB
- Sainsbury’s, 1059-1061 Alcester Road South, Maypole, Birmingham, B14 5TN
- Sainsbury’s, Frankley Beeches Road, Northfield, Birmingham, B31 5AA
- Tesco, Ridgeacre Road, Quinton, Birmingham, B32 1EG
- Cocks Moors Woods Leisure Centre, Alcester Road South, Kings Heath, B14 6ER
- Tesco, Coleshill Road, Hodge Hill, Birmingham, B36 8DT
- Sainsbury’s, 1 Chapel Lane, Selly Oak, Birmingham, B29 6SJ
- Lidl, 33 Kings Road, Sutton Coldfield, B73 5AB
- Silver Street Pay & Display car park, Kings Heath, Birmingham, B14 7QU
- Four Oaks railway station car park, Off Lichfield Road, (A5127), Four Oaks, Birmingham, B74 2TD
- Tesco, 278-299 Aston Lane, Witton, Birmingham, B5 5QR.

Do you have issues you want to raise about your local area? Want to know what your local councillors and police officers are doing?

West Midlands Police hold regular “Meet and Greet” sessions where you can go along and meet your local officers and discuss any issues with them. If you feel a councillor may be better suited to help, then all of Northfield & Longbridge wards’ councillors are available to talk to you at frequent advice bureaux.

In addition, police & councillors get together at least once a month for neighbourhood tasking meetings which are open to the public.

We’ve detailed sessions to be held through until the end of  November and will aim to keep you up to date monthly. If you’d like to check details and see what issues have already been raised, please take a look at the links provided at the end of this article.

Longbridge

Longbridge Neighbourhood Police ‘Meet and Greet’ sessions:

• Monday 1st November 10am – 12 noon at Frankley Community Library, New Street B45 0EU

Longbridge Councillors’ Advice Bureaux:

• Details of advice bureaux with Cllrs Keith Barton (Con), Ian Cruise (Lab) & Ken Wood (Con) can be found here

Longbridge Neighbourhood Tasking Meetings:

• Wednesday 17th November 7.30pm at Colmers Farm School and Sports College, East Hall, Bristol Road South B45 9NY

Northfield

Northfield Neighbourhood Police ‘Meet and Greet’ sessions:

• Friday 22nd October 9-11am at Albert Bradbeer Family Centre, Longbridge Lane, Longbridge
• Friday 26th November 9-11am at Albert Bradbeer Family Centre, Longbridge Lane, Longbridge

Northfield Councillors’ Advice Bureaux:

• Details of advice bureaux with Cllrs Randall Brew (Con), Reg Corns (Con) & Les Lawrence (Con) can be found here

Northfield Neighbourhood Tasking Meetings:

• Thursday 14th October 7pm at Baptist Church, 276 Turves Green, Northfield
• Friday 29th October 7pm at Northfield Fire Station, Bristol Road South
• Thursday 25th November 7pm at Northfield Fire Station, Bristol Road South

Useful Links

WM Police Longbridge Neighbourhood

WM Police Northfield Neighbourhood

Longbridge Councillors

Northfield Councillors

Longbridge Labour Movement Blog

Longbridge Conservatives blog

In September 2008, Frankley CLC started piloting The 14-19 Higher Level Diploma in Engineering, taking its first 32 students from five local schools. The centre is also involved with other exciting and innovative projects, such as F1 in Schools,  E-Missions in partnership with the National Space Centre and the Netbooks Project.

The Year 11 group of 09-10 was the first to complete the Diploma and they graduated with the highest grades in the UK, many wishing to go on to study the Advanced level. The CLC was established with central government funding as part of the Labour government’s Excellence in Cities scheme.

Labour councillor for Longbridge, Ian Cruise told me, “Imagine the shock when at the Diploma presentation, I found that funding has been pulled from March 2011. This will mean there is only enough money to fund the CLC until the end of this academic year. The current year 11 students will be able to complete their diploma, however the year 10 will be left in the lurch.”

Councillor Cruise is hoping to help the centre to secure funding so it may continue to thrive,  ”I have raised the issue with both Richard Burden [Labour MP for Northfield] and the Shadow Ministerial team whist at [Labour party]conference. We will be lobbying hard to get the decision reversed.”

These “Arts Champions” bring new events, advice and activities to their partnered communities.

Northfield has been partnered with Birmingham Repertory Theatre since 2008. The Rep has brought theatre, workshops & education into the local community over the period of the partnership, including the Sparks Toy Theatre Project with local schools.

The Rep also offers specially discounted tickets to some performances as part of their Northfield Nights scheme. Residents of Northfield constituency (including the wards of Northfield, Longbridge, Kings Norton and Weoley) can purchase up to four tickets for Northfield Nights performances at the discounted rates. Visit the site for details or call the box office on 0121 236 4455 for details.

From April 2011,until 2014, Northfield will have new Arts Champion partners: The Ikon Gallery and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

We look forward to finding out what these fantastic arts organisations can bring to Northfield.

Image by sastaylor.co.uk

What does your world look like at 4am?

After going out around Birmingham at 4am to capture life during this magical hour, photographer Karen Strunks posted the resulting images on her blog and wrote about her experiences. After a positive response from blog readers &  twitter followers, she decided to set up the 4am Project.

The project encourages photographers of all abilities to get up, get out (or stay in!) and help document what the world is like at 4am. A flickr group and the 4am Project website pools these images from around the globe.

Karen has since arranged several 4am Project dates, organising and encouraging meet ups of photographers in Birmingham and beyond, including a 4am trip to Birmingham Wholesale Markets and one to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The project has gained support from 4iP, Screen WM and Advantage West Midlands.

The next 4am Project date is 17th October 2010. Karen will be in New York at the time, working on her new photographic project The Big Apple Unpeeled.

We’d love to see your pictures of the Northfield, Rubery, Frankley, Longbridge area at 4am, like this one from a previous project date by local photographer Adrian Burrows.

Frankley Beeches at 4am | Image courtesy of adrian-burrows.co.uk

So get out into your street, or high streeet, or local park, or garden, or even do something artistic in the warmth of your home! You don’t have to have an amazing camera, use any camera you have, even a cameraphone! It’s not just about stunning images, it’s about recording a space in time we don’t normally see. Upload your 4am pictures to flickr (you can set up an account for free, if you don’t already have one) and add them to the 4am Project group & the B31blog group. If you can’t make it on October 17th, you can add pictures from any day, so long as they were taken between 4-5am.

We look forward to seeing your pictures!

Getting ready to go and join thousands of Catholics gathering in the streets of Longbridge to see the Pope on a Sunday morning is something I never thought I’d do. Today, however, I did just that.

I am not a religious person, in fact I would go as far as saying that, in my opinion, religion of all faiths is somewhat responsible for the many wrongs in the world, past and present.  Okay, it would be wrong and unjust of me to blame religion for all the negatives in the world, but it certainly plays its part.  Granted, it also does a lot of good and is deeply important to many people.

Outside Cofton Park, 10am, people started to gather, waiting for that quick glance of the Pope.  Even though he was not in his Pope Mobile, instead he was in a car with darkened windows which made the possibility of seeing him remote.  Regardless, this was history in the making and being there was enough for many people.

People I met had travelled from all over the world to be there, and when I say there, I mean outside on the street hoping for that quick glance.  This surprised me somewhat. If they had tickets for inside the park then I would have understood that to a degree.  Bristol, Manchester, Cambridge, Bournemouth, Preston, Liverpool, Wales, Ireland, Germany, China, India, to name a few of the places people came from for this event.

Amongst the thousands of people who descended to this beautiful park in Birmingham to join and show a solidarity for their Pope, for their beliefs, their religion.  There was also a small gathering of protesters who were there to make their views heard,  modest in numbers but monumental in how they conducted their protest in a peaceful and dignified manner.

Speaking with a few of the protesters it was clear to see the disappointment with the turn out.  Expectations were for a higher number. However, armed with banners and a man with a mic, they stood their ground and made their voices heard.

The protester with the microphone continually reiterated that the protesters were not anti Catholics nor religion, however issues regarding treatment of women, homosexuality, the covering up of known paedophiles, to name a few were what they objected to.

Whilst I was there I had an opportunity to ask Catholics about their thoughts regarding the many controversial issues that surround Catholicism, from the use of contraception, to the more recently in the news the cover up of paedophile priests.  Obviously, this was always going to be a delicate set of topics to discuss, but in my opinion important ones.

Many of the Pilgrims I asked were only too happy to express their sadness and, at times, anger about the protesters presence. However many walked away when I confronted them with the issues that the protesters raised.   I was surprised what I saw when I was there – I witnessed swearing, spitting and even threats of violence towards the protesters from Catholics.  This was only a very few from a vast amount of people mind, the majority of people I met were wonderful people.

Click here for a quick interview with a pilgrim I spoke with as he was leaving.

One Nun was 83 years old, she originated from Birmingham but had lived away for many years.  She made the trip for many  reasons, one being her love and respect for the Pope.  ”Joseph Ratzinger, is a good man” she said.  She also claimed that in all her years she has only ever known of one paedophile priest.  Unfortunately, time was not on our side and she was whisked off by her carer so as not to miss their coach.

A wonderful nun from Ireland also spoke of her pure joy at being able to see this Pope. She said she was fortunate enough to have seen the last Pope too.  When I asked who was her favourite, she gave me a cheeky smile and said both.

The most memorable person I spoke to on the day was fantastic man named Tom.   I spoke with him as he stood on the opposite side of the road directly facing the protesters.   Tom was from Ireland but now lives in Bournemouth, he drove to Birmingham during the night.  As Tom was standing there waiting for the Pope to come passed,  I asked about his thoughts on the protesters.  ”It is their right to believe what they choose and to protest if they wish, I have no problem with them”  he said. And what are your views on contraception? I asked “Simple, if it is available then it should be used” Tom replied.

Homosexuality?, I asked “I am not gay, if that is what your asking” he said with a smile, “Your opinions” I said. “I don’t feel that is right for me, but my nephew is gay and him and his partner pop round often, it’s not an issue”.  He spoke of his childhood in Ireland, how he was raised as a Catholic.  In his mid 60′s now he spoke with a joy and fondness of his upbringing and a genuine love for his Catholicism.

I was with Tom when the Pope passed, I did see the Pope, but for me I saw something far more special than that.  I saw a man, a good man with strong beliefs, have a moment that meant more to him than many could comprehend and it will last his whole life time.

At the end of the day, people are people and with a little bit more respect, understanding and acceptance this beautiful world of ours would be a happier place.

Tom, I thank you.

Plans for multimillion pound youth centre on Longbridge Lane have been submitted to Birmingham City Council
Plans submitted for £5 million Longbridge youth centre | birminghamnewsroom.com

Former Rover workers to sign beam at new Bournville College to maintain historic link:
BBC News – MG Rover link with £66m Bournville College.

And yet more Papal news….!

Around a hundred people treated during Birmingham papal visit:
Birmingham Mail – Almost 100 people treated during the Pope’s visit to Birmingham.

Donato, of Rubery, and his children attended the beatification mass as members of the congregation of the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour in Rednal, the closest church to the park. He tweeted throughout the day , snapped pictures of their experience on his mobile phone and made a short video of the Pope.

Donato says, “It was an amazing experience that will be with us all forever. You could hear the excitement and cheers from my children on the video.”

Click to view slideshow.

The Pope in Cofton Park in his Popemobile