Youngsters taking part in the Yo! Active summer programme join, left to right, Lisa Johnson, Service Manager for WV Active, Councillor Obaida Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Community, and Grace Whiston, Community Activation Officer, Wolves Foundation, for one of the activities at WV Active Bilston-Bert Williams Children and young people across Wolverhampton are being encouraged to sign up for a summer packed full of fun, free activities with Yo! Active over the next few weeks. Yo! Active is delivered by WV Active and Wolves Foundation and offers a wide range of free activities all year round to…

Visiting housing tenants and asking them how they are has been the focus of an intensive week of activity by Birmingham City Council. Housing officers have visited around 2,000 council tenants in just one week to check in with people, to get to know them face-to-face and to ensure they are receiving the support they need. Officers visiting properties have been able to refer tenants for financial advice, identify potential savings on energy costs, determine if properties or gardens require any repair work, and identify tenants interested in being involved on local tenant boards. The visits are an opportunity for…

A city landlord who threatened to unlawfully evict a tenant with a young family has given an undertaking to the courts to stop business activities for 3 years following investigations by City of Wolverhampton Council. In the first case of its kind in the city, Aunberin Kawal Saddique, sole trader and director of Emerald Lettings and Developments Limited, gave an undertaking to the courts to cease engaging in the letting and rental management services of private residential properties until 17 July, 2028. The undertaking means that Saddique, who manages 36 properties across the city, has agreed to not let housing…

Encouraging residents to be responsible dog owners are (from left) dachshund Stan with his owner Richard Bracey and Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, cabinet member for resident services at City of Wolverhampton Council Dog owners are being encouraged to follow a simple phrase when taking their pets out in public to help keep the city safe and clean for everyone. ‘Collar, tag, microchip, bag’ is the expression that City of Wolverhampton Council is asking everyone with a dog to keep in mind when they take their pooches out and about. The aim is to remind dog owners of their legal responsibilities…

If you eventually decide to sell the organisation that you have nurtured, parting ways with it and moving on to a new project can be even more difficult, for a number of reasons. To effectively manage this process, you not only need to understand how to sell a business, but also why you might want to take this step and what obstacles lie in your way. From the first discussion to the final negotiations, here Business Trade Centre look’s at what to expect. Why sell up? There are two main categories to consider when thinking about why you might sell…

People are singing the praises of a free yoga session which is held at a Wolverhampton park every weekend. Organised by Park Yoga, a national charity, with the support of the City of Wolverhampton Council and Active Black Country, it takes place at East Park from 9.30am to 10.30am every Sunday from early May to mid-September. It is open to people of all ages and abilities and there’s no need to book. All people need to do is bring a yoga mat if they have one, or a blanket or towel. For more details, please visit Park Yoga Wolverhampton. Group…

This level of sleep deprivation increases the risk of serious injury or fatality in safety critical situations. Published in Science Advances, the biomarker used a combination of markers found in the blood of healthy volunteers. Together, these markers accurately predicted when the study volunteers had been awake for more than 24 hours under controlled laboratory conditions. The biomarker detected whether individuals had been awake for 24 hours with a 99.2 percent probability of being correct, when compared to their own well-rested sample. When a single sample was considered without the well-rested comparison (similar to a diagnostic blood test), it dropped…

Getting too deep in debt before you are even out of your twenties is a very bad. Learning how to plan for your future right now by understanding how not to get too deeply in debt is your key to a much more successful financial future. Understanding how severely debt can damage your adult life is very important because it is real, it is something that can happen when you least expect it, there is no doubt about that. Those credit card payments that are draining you each and every month are going to be the death of you. Not…

Birmingham City Council tenants are enjoying discounts at over 100 national retailers, thanks to a new money-saving app called Housing Perks. Earlier in the year, the council conducted a trial partnership with Housing Perks. This app provides tenants with exclusive offers and discounts at retailers such as Sainsbury’s, ASDA, Morrisons, and Argos. During the trial around 5,000 tenants downloaded the app, which generated savings for these households of £17,722. The trial has been a success, and the council is looking to continue with Housing Perks while implementing a new feature where tenants are able to put their savings towards rent…

Everyone deserves a holiday. Do you feel that taking time off is almost impossible? It might have become unnatural. Do you find it hard to step away from the email inbox, to switch off, to remove yourself from the clutches of your beloved business? Taking time off is possible, whether it’s led by parent guilt, or the need to have a bit of a break to remind yourself who you were before you set up your business, some quality time with your partner or to tackle that bucket list before you get too old for it! We all need time…