Visitors invited to grand reopening after £250k refit

A brand new gym in Sutton Coldfield is throwing its doors open to visitors after a £250,000 transformation. Built Unique Co, on Birmingham Road, is inviting visitors to their grand opening on Saturday 23 April, following the big refurbishment.

The launch party will offer visitors the opportunity to tour the brand-new facility, to take part in free open gym sessions, 121 no sweat consultations, live demos from fitness professionals and sample a variety of food and drink.

There will also be prizes, promotions, and merchandise to giveaway including a one-month free membership to the gym.

Gary Smith, managing director of Built Unique Co, has over 15 years of experience in the fitness industry and will be present on opening night to share his philosophy on simple fitness.

Built Unique Co is an inclusive gym offering fitness programmes for every experience level and facilities for differently abled patrons.

It puts the emphasis on simplicity, and offers small group classes, sustainable nutrition plans and one to one coaching with a focus on individual goals and building confidence.

The business takes a personalised approach to each individual’s fitness journey, offering new clients a free consultation to discuss their fitness goals, aspirations, health, injuries, diet and lifestyle.

The Built Unique team will then craft a bespoke programme to suit the clients’ specific needs.

Gary says: “I have always been passionate about fitness and in particular functional fitness that can be developed and individualised to work for everyone, whether you are short on time, high on stress or don’t know where to start. 

“At Built Unique Co, Co stands for community rather than company and we intend on embodying this concept by acknowledging everyone’s unique fitness journey and partnering with you to develop a thoughtful programme that is personalised to your individual needs.

“I couldn’t be prouder to welcome everyone to the new gym on the 23^rd of April, the Built Unique team and I will be on hand to answer any questions and to lead demonstrations. See you there.”

Built Unique Co is opening in the former Blockbusters in Birmingham Road, Sutton Coldfield, at the junction with Manor Hill.

Visit www.builtuniqueco.com for more information

A leading Sutton Coldfield-based professional services agency has joined forces with a major national group in a multi-million pound deal.
JE Consulting, based at Mitre Court in the town, has been acquired by K3 Capital Group plc, a multi-national, multi-disciplinary group of professional services businesses, in a deal worth up to £4.57m, depending on company performance.
JE Consulting specialises in PR, marketing, digital and creative services to SMEs operating in the accountancy, legal and healthcare markets. Established in 1998, the business provides services to over 140 clients across the UK.
It now joins other acquisitions by K3 Capital plc that include Knights R&D, RANDD and Quantuma.
Jo Edwards, managing director at JE Consulting said the move provided opportunities for the business to continue to grow and invest in new services and marketing opportunities.
The move complements K3’s growth of its K3 Hub, a centre for accountants which, since its launch in February 2021, has recruited 1000 member firms in the UK.

Welcoming the move, John Rigby, CEO of K3 Capital, said: “I am delighted to announce the acquisition of this highly trusted and established business that will accelerate our strategy of
enhancing our solutions for accountancy firms and their clients.
“The team at JE Consulting are highly complementary to our service portfolio and to the continued development of the K3 Hub, which, since its launch in February 2021, has recruited over 900 member firms in the UK”.
Looking ahead, Jo Edwards said: “We are delighted to be part of the K3 Capital plc journey going forwards. The opportunities this acquisition provides to the business to continue to grow and invest in new services and marketing is now unrivalled in the professional services
sector and we look forward to building relationships with the K3 Hub members.”
John Rigby added: “This acquisition strengthens our presence when the professional services sector is expanding, especially in the accountancy space.
“I look forward to welcoming our new colleagues and continuing the successful execution of our strategy to generate long-term sustainable growth and attractive returns for our shareholders”.

Residents advised to prepare for disruption for triathlon events

Sutton Park will host one of the biggest event in its hisitory when it hosts Commonwealth Games triathlon events s next year.Now, details of traffic arrangements around key Commonwealth Games venues including road closures, one-way systems and controlled parking zones in d around the park have been published.

Maps also showing temporary plans for other locations such as Alexander Stadium are now available to view on the Birmingham 2022 website. 

The event will run from July 28 to August 8 – and is set to bring tens of thousands to the region and the UK in 2022 and subsequent years.”. 

Now the map of roads which will be affected when the triathlon and para triathlon between July 29 and August 31 in Sutton Park has been unveiled.

These include part of Jockey Road and Halton Road as well as adjoining roads in the area. The triathlon route has also been laid out – running through Stonehouse Road and Monmouth Drive.

The maps of the course itself has already been unveiled but the central point will be Powells Pool in the park.

Transport for West Midlands executive director Anne Shaw said: “Our plans are designed to make it as easy as possible for spectators to leave the car at home and use public transport to get to events.

“This, along with the traffic management and parking plans announced today ensure that residents and businesses near to venues will be able to access their properties as well as help manage congestion on the wider network for regular commuters, deliveries and emergency services going about their daily business.

There will inevitably be some disruption at some busy times, but these plans have been carefully designed to keep that to a minimum. Ensuring our region can keep moving when a million visitors arrive this summer will be key to a successful Commonwealth Games.

“This is the biggest, most prestigious event ever hosted in the West Midlands and there will be a range of things in our normal daily routines that need to temporarily change. This is the case with all such major multi-sport events, so I would recommend people start planning ahead and check out information as it becomes available through the Get Set website.”

Unveiling the triathlon route last year, Matt Kidson, Director of Sport for Birmingham 2022 said: “We are pleased to be able to publish all of the courses for our road events.

“These routes will help to profile some fantastic landmarks from across the region and showcase the West Midlands and Warwickshire to the world.

“Publishing these details with nine months still to go until the Games begin also means that local residents, businesses and other organisations have plenty of time to make plans for when these one-day events are staged in their local area.”

Sutton Coldfield foursome travel 2,600 miles in mercy mission

An intrepid group of Sutton Coldfield men have braved the Ukraine warzone to deliver humanitarian aid to refugees fleeing the conflict.

The four, two firefighters and their builder friends made the marathon 2,600 mile round trip to Poland to deliver the much-needed supplies after being moved by the human tragedy unfoldling after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The four friends from Sutton Coldfield collected and delivered aid to Ukrainian refugees fleeing their country’s war with Russia. West Midlands firefighters Steven Nott and James Allsop joined Alex Willis and Chris Hanley for the trip across Europe and into Poland at Medyka on March 7.

The group and their partners posted on Facebook, with a huge collection made via the Walmley Residents Association Facebook page. They were also provided with supplies from Walsall children’s charity – Help To Make Tummies Full.

In four to five days as well as supplies, the group raised just over £4,500 and supplies including clothes, baby clothes, water, first aid kits, sanitary wear, baby food, cat and dog food, teddy bears, even a box of crayons.

They loaded up a pick-up truck and a trailer, donated for a week by a Lichfield company, full of supplies and drove from Sutton on Monday night at around 7pm via the Eurotunnel, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany to Poland. They stopped off in the southern city of Krakow on Tuesday.

The group were there for six hours and took 36 hours to drive home without stopping anywhere overnight, arriving in Sutton at 3pm on Thursday.

Alex said he and his friends plan to return to Poland with money they have raised and get more supplies to the refugees. He said they will fly to the country this time, hire a van and buy supplies locally. Once they have done that they will take a look at what else they can do.

St Giles Hospice celebrates lottery £20 MILLION landmark

St Giles Hospice is celebrating a very special anniversary as it marks 25 years since the first draw of its popular weekly lottery.In the quarter of a century since the first winner was announced on 28th February 1997, the lottery has raised an amazing £20 MILLION to support the hospice’s care for patients, and their families, who are living with a terminal illness.

As only around a third of its funding comes from Government, St Giles Hospice relies upon donations and fundraising to raise the £850,000 it needs each month to fund its care services.

Alison Jerram, Individual Giving Manager at St Giles Hospice, said: “The whole team at St Giles would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who takes part in our lottery – whether you have been playing since that very first draw or have signed up more recently. 

“Thank you so much for helping us to raise over £20 million for St Giles!

“Our loyal lottery players have made a huge contribution towards funding the care we offer to local families when they need us the most, and it’s always one of the most delightful parts of our job to be able to ring up a lucky winner and make their day.”

For just £1, players have a chance to win a weekly jackpot of £1,000 and up to £20,000 in the rollover draw.

Over the past 25 years the St Giles Hospice Lottery has held more than 1,300 draws and sold more than 35 million lottery tickets.

There have been more than 250,000 individual prize winners, including 20 lucky players who have won a larger jackpot since the rollover was introduced in 2017. The most recent lottery rollover winner collected a total of £18,000 just last month (February 2022).