We are hoping to contact community groups: Choirs, Orchestra’s, Tea dance groups and any other community group who feel that they could offer something to this exiting day!

With regards to the core cast of older participants: we are recruiting 20 older people aged 50+ to be a part of the core cast, if you would like to be involved in this way please contact me directly

Warm wishes

Kane Husbands

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Community visiting is going really well, we have lots of wonderful stories from the volunteers visiting clients in their homes. We have also dealt with people who have incredibly difficult situations ranging from imprisonment, domestic violence, loss or delay of benefits, housing challenges and much more. These are intense situations that take a lot of time with one to one support from our staff and volunteers, often calling in partners from other agencies to give more experienced and skilled support in certain areas.

• Want to take part in fun activities?

• Like to find out how Creative writing can benefit your life?

If any of the above apply to you come and meet Matt James – creative writer and youth worker – at Kingswinford Library.

First meeting on Wednesday 22nd February @ 4.45pm til 6. 45pm.

www.dudley.gov.uk/libraries

The meetings give people the chance to quiz borough councillors as well as raise their concerns with council officers.

People in Stourbridge can attend a meeting for their region at Redhill School, Junction Road, on Monday February 20, from 7pm while Brierley Hill area committee will meet at the Brier School, Bromley Lane, Kingswinford, on Thursday March 8, from 7pm.

Councillor Tim Wright, cabinet member for human resources, law and governance, said: “The area committees provide people with direct access to council news and information. I would urge people to come along and get involved.”

For more information visit www.dudley.gov.uk and click the link to the meetings and decisions section.

via Area committee dates annouced for residents to have their say (From Stourbridge News).

Exhibition of Photography http://www.dudleyartscouncil.org.uk/whatson/?e=349 14 January to 03 March (Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat) Dudley Museum and Art Gallery

Exhibition of Photography http://www.dudleyartscouncil.org.uk/whatson/?e=350 14 January to 03 March (Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat) Dudley Museum and Art Gallery

THE VIVA MUSICA CHOIR http://www.dudleyartscouncil.org.uk/whatson/?e=347 04 February St. James Chuch, Wollaston DY83PY

Art Fair at the Arts Centre http://www.dudleyartscouncil.org.uk/whatson/?e=351 04 February Netherton Arts Centre

The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan http://www.dudleyartscouncil.org.uk/whatson/?e=346 08 February to 11 February (Thu, Fri, Sat) KSCA, Kinver.

An Audience with Charles Dickens http://www.dudleyartscouncil.org.uk/whatson/?e=334 27 February Netherton Arts Centre

GOTTA SING! GOTTA DANCE! http://www.dudleyartscouncil.org.uk/whatson/?e=313 29 February to 03 March (Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat) The Cornbow Hall, Halesowen

The Glass Menagerie http://www.dudleyartscouncil.org.uk/whatson/?e=316 07 March to 10 March (Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat) Netherton Arts Centre

Worcestershire Theatre Festival of One Act Plays http://www.dudleyartscouncil.org.uk/whatson/?e=343 09 March to 11 March (Fri, Sat, Sun) The Swan Theatre, Worcester

These pictures are the first glimpse of how a multi-million pound light rail network between Brierley Hill and Stourbridge could look under new plans.

They were released today as bosses revealed work could start within the next two years, creating dozens of new jobs.

Three new metro-style stations would be built as part of the £5 million project to run passenger railcars on a four-mile section of an existing freight line. Passengers would be able to catch the railcars from The Waterfront, in Brierley Hill.

Railcars would then stop at a newly reopened Brierley Hill town railway station, off Station Road, which has been shut for more than 60 years.

A new stop would be built near Corbett Hospital, in Amblecote, before railcars travel onto Stourbridge Junction to connect up with main line services to London, Worcester and Birmingham.

Cradley Heath based-firm Parry People Movers has attracted £1m in principle from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund to kick-start the project.

The firm already runs the branch line between Stourbridge Town and Junction stations.

The cash allows the firm to begin research and development into the plans to evaluate the existing infrastructure like the tracks and help develop new vehicles for the line.

Further funding will involve a leasing company putting up around £2.5m for the cost of the buying three new trains.

Executive chairman John Parry today said it was great news for the company and the Black Country.

New jobs including drivers, cleaners and maintenance workers will be needed if the proposals become a reality.

“This is the biggest news for the company for a long time and we are delighted to be working on this project,” he said.

“The Government do not want to hang around.”

Read more: http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2012/01/09/first-glimpse-at-5m-light-rail-network/#ixzz1j8K3fBhL

The Black Country shopping mall, owned by Westfield, was also named the eighth busiest in the country following research carried out by Trevor Wood Associates.

To hang onto the region’s top spot – the centre which is home to more than 220 different stores beat off fierce competition from Westfield Derby and Birmingham’s Bullring – ranked 12th and 14th in the UK respectively.

Kelly Reed, Merry Hill marketing manager, said: “We are delighted to have held on to the top spot as the region’s favourite shopping destination.

“It has been a challenging year for retail, but also an exciting one for Merry Hill. We have seen some exciting new stores open, including well-known brands such as Jones Bootmaker, a flagship Superdry and high-fashion retailers like TWENTY9 offering designer goods “We aim to make Merry Hill an exciting shopping destination for people of all ages.”

She said events including last August’s Big Bear Bash, featuring Little Charley Bear, and the launch of the autumn/winter fashion collection at the Big Wardrobe event, featuring body-scanners with 3D technology, proved a big hit – as did the family-oriented Christmas lights switch-on event with the CBeebies and The Zingzillas and the annual school’s Christmas Choir Competition.

Trade was also strong in the run-up to Christmas, she said – adding: “We saw more shoppers than last year at our week of midnight shopping before Christmas Day and we expect to see this continue as people look to pick up some excellent sales bargains in the New Year.”

Trevor Wood Associates use footfall, size and attractiveness of shops and facilities available to rank the UK’s top shopping centres.

The flight was built during the pioneering days of canal construction to connect the Dudley No 1 Canal with the Stourbridge Canal, and bridge a drop from 441 feet at the top end to 356 feet at the bottom. But when you begin to count the individual locks there appears to be one missing, with only eight on view. That’s because almost the entire flight of locks that were first put in place in 1779 were replaced by new ones less than a hundred years later, and the path of the flight re-routed. The majority of visitors to the ‘Nine Locks’, many aboard narrowboats enjoying the Black Country’s magnificent canal network, are probably completely unaware of the exact position of the original flight, and a few weeks ago the Bugle spent a very interesting hour walking the history of the locks, which revealed remains of the original flight as we plotted the route down the long grassy bank that follows the contours of the slope.

The Stourbridge and Dudley canals were originally proposed as a single canal in 1775 with the primary purpose of carrying coal from Dudley to Stourbridge.

As with all canal constructions in the 18th and 19th centuries they had to be sanctioned by Parliament with an Act, and in this instance, despite the chief promoter being Lord Dudley, the bill was withdrawn following fierce opposition from the Birmingham Canals.

But later that year two separate bills were presented, one for each canal, and both became Acts of Parliament on 2nd April 1776. Construction started almost immediately and was largely completed by late 1779. The Delph Locks in effect connect the Stourbridge canal with the Dudley No 1 canal and must have witnessed a non-stop procession of narrow boats climbing the heights or descending to the Black Delph full to the brim with coal, and then later other manufactured items as well as the black gold. It was a continuous motion that must have compared with a busy motorway on a bank holiday weekend.

But by the middle of the 19th century, extensive mining of the area saw the locks beginning to sink into the shifting ground. This was more than a repair job could rectify, and the whole flight, with the exception of the locks at the top and bottom, was re-routed. The original path was a twisting one; the new locks would descend straight as an arrow, and with one less lock. When work was completed in 1858, the redundant stretch was filled in.

Today little evidence is left of the original flight, but on closer inspection bricks can still be seen protruding through the grass at various intervals, marking the position of the lock walls, and with the help of several subtle dips in the earth, you can still visualise the line the canal originally took to join the Dudley No 1 and the Stourbridge canal together.

At the top of the flight, adjacent to the modern Mill Street bridge is a watery cul-de-sac which leaves the main route at an angle and is the only remnant of the 1779 stretch that still holds water.

After the mid-Victorian alterations, this became a wharf for the nearby sawmill and lime kilns, but now lies forgotten – a silent reminder of the days when the Delph did indeed have nine locks.