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Weekly News 265

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Spectacular South Staffordshire celebrations for Queen’s Jubilee thanks to £17,600 from Community Lottery

Thousands of people will unite in marking The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this year thanks to grant funding of more than £17,600 generated through South Staffordshire Council’s Community lottery scheme.

From street parties, to mass picnics, to dinner dances, family fun days and more – events will be taking place throughout the district; from Wombourne, to Kinver, to Perton, Swindon, Bobbington, Essington, Featherstone, Coven, Penkridge, Wheaton Aston, Dunston and more.

Among the festivities will be Codsall Parish Council’s Picnic in the Park, taking place on June 5; Huntington’s Family Fun Day on June 4; a Jubilee Street Party on June 5 at Dunston; an open-air live music concert in Wombourne on June 3 – and much more.

See the full press release here

The Hub Café: It’s almost time

The Hub Café will open fully to the public from Tuesday, May 3.

Follow the café’s Facebook page to keep up to date with latest news and information – visit the page here

Waste and Recycling

Blue recycling bags

In May, residents will receive a new blue bag to recycle their paper and card in, and the blue bin will continue to be used for recycling glass, cans and plastics.

Why are you doing this?

The cost of recycling materials together is now more expensive than separating paper and card from other recycling. This is because mixing paper and card with other materials results in contamination.

Paper mills which recycle paper and card need higher quality material to recycle it into new things, as do the recyclers of glass, cans and plastic materials.  Government has recognised the need to change the way we collect recycling, and whilst many councils already collect paper and card in a separate bag, we expect these changes to become the norm across England in the near future.

Will the bag blow away?

The bags have a weight in the base, and are made of a flexible yet sturdy material, and will not blow away in normal weather conditions. A bag full of card and paper will also be weighed down by the material inside, and the bag once emptied will be tucked under the lid of the blue bin.

Won’t paper blow out of the bag?

The bag has a fully closable lid that will stop paper and card from blowing out of the bag.

Where do I store the bag?

The bag is flexible enough to be stored inside the blue bin, so that it doesn’t take up any additional space. Alternatively, some people choose to store them between their other bins, in a garage, shed or inside the house alongside their in-home bins.

For more information and FAQs, please visit www.sstaffs.gov.uk/bluebag

Supporting South Staffordshire’s Ukrainian guests and sponsors

We have launched a new Facebook group to support Ukrainian nationals seeking refuge in South Staffordshire and their sponsors.

The group will provide information from trusted sources, look to link refugees and their sponsors to others in similar situations, and highlight local support groups which may be of use.

Visit the group and join here

Staffordshire Day: May 1

It’s Staffordshire Day this Sunday, with a packed programme of events and activities to celebrate our beautiful, historic, and welcoming county.

Our theme for 2022 is The Great Outdoors, and whether you want to explore Staffordshire on foot or on two wheels, enjoy a picnic in your favourite beauty spot, or browse an award-winning artisan market, there will be something happening for you.

There’s loads on – from a film festival, to a Vintage Fair Weekend, a Plant Hunters’ Fair, walks, opens days and more.

See the full list of events here

Mobile breast screening unit

South Staffordshire Council’s Codsall Community Hub is currently hosting a mobile breast screening unit.

Screening is available for those registered at Bilbrook, Russell’s House, Lakeside, and Tamar. Patients will be invited to attend appointments by their GP surgery.

For more information, please contact your GP surgery.

Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Wellbeing Bus

A Wellbeing Bus has been launched by The Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent wellbeing team as a way of reaching out to the wider community; in particular those who live in rural communities with poor transport links.

The Wellbeing Bus will be at the Community Hub on Tuesday, May 3, and will be open to staff, tenants, and members of the public.

The Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent wellbeing team consists of a team of therapists based in the Codsall Community Hub who specialise in treating common mental health problems, as well as physical health problems, such as low mood, worry and anxiety, panic, obsessions and compulsions, health anxiety, PTSD, chronic fatigue, IBS and chronic pain and more.

The therapies provided are evidence-based treatments in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the team is currently offering telephone, face-to-face or online appointments. Simply call the self-referral telephone on 0300 303 0923 or make an appointment online via the website www.staffsandstokewellbeing.nhs.uk

Leisure latest

Summer Shape-up

South Staffordshire Council’s leisure centres are launching their Summer Shape Up this Sunday (May 1) which will be available for a limited time only. 

As part of the offer, people can join for just £10 with no further payments until July – giving new members May and June for only £10. To find out more, click here

  

Codsall Leisure Centre’s newly-refurbished gym taking on new members

Codsall Leisure Centre’s Gym underwent a full refurbishment last month and re-opened to provide complete and all-new state-of-the-art gym equipment.

The facility is currently welcoming new members who will also receive free access to live and on-demand exercise classes, in addition to complimentary health checks and personal fitness programmes, available on request.

To find out more or to sign up, contact the leisure centre on 01902 844032 or email leisure@sstaffs.gov.uk

Coming soon: Couch to 5k

Couch to 5k programmes will be starting in late May at Cheslyn Hay and Wombourne Leisure Centres – a nine-week course (available to children and adults) which will focus on a gradual build up to a continuous run of up to 5km.

The programme is suitable for all ages and fitness levels and the perfect way of improving your health and wellbeing.  More details will be posted soon.

To stay up to date follow South Staffordshire Council’s leisure centres on Facebook, visit the website at www.sstaffs.gov.uk/leisure or subscribe to receive free e-bulletins providing all the latest news at your local leisure facilities at www.sstaffs.gov.uk/alerts

Partnership updates

Mental Health Awareness Week

Feeling lonely is something that all of us can experience at any point in our lives, which can have negative impacts on our health and wellbeing.

There are lots of simple actions that you can do to help others who may be feeling lonely this Mental Health Awareness Week, including:

  • Giving a friend or family member a call
  • Inviting someone for a walk
  • Reaching out to a friend for a cuppa

You might find that reaching out to someone else could help you to feel less lonely too.

Find out how you can help lift someone out of loneliness here: www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/lifes-challenges/loneliness/ 

Online book chat event with authors this May

Two authors will be taking part in online book chat events with Staffordshire Libraries this May.

Bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep and Three Things About Elsie, Joanna Cannon, will be at the event on May 4 at 7.30pm. Her new novel, A Tidy Ending, explores the sinister side of suburbia and the theme of living life on the periphery. This is hugely autobiographical for Jo and is something that has fine-tuned the observation skills that have earned her a raft of fans.

Sara Paretsky will join the event on May 11 at 7.30pm. The doyen of American crime and winner of the Crime Writer’s Association Diamon Dagger, Sara will be chatting about her prolific career as an author and her new Chicago-set V.I. novel Overboard which showcases that her writing is as urgent and politically engaged as ever.

Find out more about the events here