Two Sandwell councillors are taking on a walking challenge to raise awareness of men’s mental health. Councillor Jackie Taylor, Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Health and Wellbeing, and Old Warley Councillor Luke Cotterill are taking on a six-park, three-day walking challenge in June during Men’s Health Week. The challenge involves them walking between six parks across Sandwell over three days, with a one hour community walk at each park, culminating in a community event on Father’s Day (Sunday 15 June) at West Smethwick Park. Councillor Taylor said: “We’re standing shoulder to shoulder and walking for men’s mental health in…

Aeramine, in collaboration with Phoenix Scientific Industries (PSI), the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), and other key partners, has announced the successful completion of the Pure CuRE (Pure Copper Resource Efficiency) project. Funded by Innovate UK, this £1 million, 16-month programme has achieved significant advancements in recycling waste copper into high-purity copper powder feedstock for high-value applications, paving the way for a sustainable UK-based manufacturing supply chain. Key achievements include demonstrating innovative processes to consolidate, refine, and atomise waste copper, followed by oxygen reduction of the powder, yielding remarkable results: Cost-Effective Consolidation: MTC briquetting has emerged as the most economical method…

ABB’s award-winning PixelPaint technology deployed at the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen plant PixelPaint delivers unprecedented precision and eliminates overspray, reducing material use and emissions Mercedes-Maybach SL 680 Monogram Series is the first model to receive exclusive and individual paint finishes enabled by PixelPaint ABB’s innovative PixelPaint technology has been deployed at the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen plant in Germany, where it complements the site’s conventional painting processes by enabling the precise and efficient application of intricate paint designs. The sustainable and resource-saving technology began operation in 2025 as the luxury manufacturer develops new personalized options for its most exclusive models. “PixelPaint uses an award-winning…

Quit with Bella is a free app which has an AI-powered personal stop smoking robo-coach. The coach, Bella, is able to talk in a completely natural way and allows the user to have a human-like conversation. The app supports thousands of people to give up smoking around the world and has already been used across the West Midlands (Birmingham, Dudley and Solihull). Bella uses knowledge from trusted sources, including expert advice and guidance and provides a personalised response to a variety of different situations for users. The app is ready to provide support for up to 12 weeks. Users have…

l-r Contracts Manager, Seddon Construction Ltd, Cllr Hughes, Cllr Smith, Cllr Uppal Eight new family homes have been built on a vacant brownfield site in West Bromwich. Working on behalf of Sandwell Council, Seddon has built eight new two-, three- and four-bedroom council homes at St Vincent Crescent in West Bromwich that received grant funding from Homes England. The site had previously been a small parade of shops, which was demolished 10 years ago. The vacant site provided a great opportunity to build new homes, promote greater social mobility, and significantly improve the life chances for existing residents and for…

Walsall Council is pleased to announce the return of the much-loved Arboretum splash pad in time for summer. Starting from Saturday 24 May until Sunday 31 August 2025, the splash pads at Walsall Arboretum will be open daily for everyone to enjoy. On weekends, school holidays and bank holidays, the attraction will be open between 11am to 5pm. On weekdays, outside of school holidays, opening hours are from 11am to 3pm, These times provide preschool children an opportunity to enjoy the splash pad. “ It’s always a fun time of year to reopen our popular Arboretum splash pad for our…

The project has been funded by Walsall Council and supported by a £60,000 grant from FCC Communities Foundation, a not-for-profit business that awards grants for community, conservation and heritage projects, through the Landfill Communities Fund. A new children’s play area and an outdoor gym have been installed at the park and are now open to the public. The play area features a range of equipment, including toddler and junior swings, a roundabout, a wheelchair accessible roundabout, two castle climbing frames, sensory play panels and more. The project has also seen the old play area repurposed into a dog-friendly user area.…

The new MGS5 EV – which arrived in showrooms this spring – has now secured the highest possible safety rating from Euro NCAP. Euro NCAP awarded the MGS5 EV a 5 Star rating with the vehicle excelling in both adult and child occupant safety tests as well-being commended for the many features designed to protect road users. Notably the vehicle achieved impressive safety ratings, scoring 90% for Adult Occupant Protection, 82% for Child Occupant Protection, 82% in Vulnerable Road Users and 78% in Safety Assist. The MGS5 EV’s top rating maintains MG’s strong performance when it comes to independently verified…

Practitioners working for the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Children’s Services said the authority promotes relationship working, which helps them to support children and families to achieve positive outcomes and to reach their full potential. That’s according to the latest Social Work and Wider Workforce Health Checks, annual surveys which assess the health and wellbeing of social workers and other frontline practitioners within Children’s Services. The surveys found that practitioners feel supported by learning and development opportunities and by good quality, regular supervision which helps them provide the right support to children, young people and families in the city, while also…

Councillor Louise Harrison is Mayor of Walsall for 2025-26 A new Mayor for the borough has been appointed following the annual Mayor Making ceremony in the Council Chamber in Walsall on Monday 19 May 2025. The ceremony is one of the highlights in Walsall’s civic calendar, with the new Mayor receiving the robes and chains of office and naming the charities that will benefit from fundraising activities during their time in office. Councillor Louise Harrison was elected as Mayor of Walsall for 2025-26 and Councillor Chris Bott was elected as Deputy Mayor for 2025-26. The new Mayor takes over…