The successful team, from left, Practice Educator and Development Nurse Practitioner Kelly Boden, Head of Education and Training, Theresa Barker, Head of Clinical Education and Quality Toni Flanagan and Practice Educator Kari Burton
St Giles Hospice claims prestigious award
St Giles Hospice has received prestigious national recognition for the excellence of its education services. The hospice Education and Training department has been awarded a Certificate of Endorsement from Skills for Care, an independent charity supporting workforce development in the adult social care sector and helping organisations across the country to find the best training for their staff.
St Giles, which has a care centre and two shops in Sutton Coldfield, provides training on a wide range of topics, helping people to develop skills and confidence in supporting patients, families and carers who are living with a terminal illness.
It offers clinical and non-clinical education to hospice staff, volunteers and external staff working in all sectors of health and social care. This includes study days, accredited courses, work placements and training towards higher education qualifications.
The hospice also works with schools, colleges and universities to encourage and inspire future generations to consider the needs of people with terminal illnesses, running popular summer schools and enrichment days to encourage young students to learn more about hospice care, build their confidence and consider palliative care as a future career option.
Theresa Barker, Head of Education and Training at St Giles Hospice, said: “We are absolutely thrilled that Skills for Care has recognised the strength of our training services. Our education department has been established for over 25 years now and is well known both locally and nationally for its expertise.
“Education and training have always been a key part of St Giles, and we have a deep commitment to providing excellent support while continuing to learn and build upon our experience as we train our own teams as well as other professionals who want to learn from us.”
Skills for Care endorsement is the bespoke quality mark given to the best learning and development providers in the adult social care sector, awarded by a charity with more than 18 years of experience in workforce development.
To become endorsed by Skills for Care, which works in partnership with the Department of Health, providers have to show that the training they deliver makes a significant difference to the person accessing care and support as well as the learner.
The endorsement was developed following a Government review which revealed that employers wanted a website directory where they could easily find high quality training providers – taking away the uncertainty and the need to trawl through a wide number of existing providers.
New fleet of machines to help keep Sutton Coldfield tidy
The streets of Sutton Coldfield will soon be getting a clean sweep with when a fleet of cleaning machines comes on line.
Ongoing efforts to improve Birmingham’s neighbourhoods have been bolstered by a deal that has seen the city council start to take delivery of 31 new street sweeping vehicles.
The vehicles will be deployed across the city and they replace ageing machines that had reached the end of their operational lives.
The roll-out to the city’s four waste depots is due to be complete by the end of March and the vehicles are replacements as part of an ongoing lease deal.
Cllr John O’Shea, Cabinet Member for Street Scene and Parks at Birmingham City Council, said: “Clean streets are consistently a high priority for people in this city, so it is important that our hardworking crews and teams have the tools available to them to achieve the aspirations that residents have for Birmingham.
“We are always looking at how we can best utilise technology and innovation to improve the cleanliness of our neighbourhoods – and street sweeping vehicles are one of the well-established ways to help do this.
“Our fleet was in need of an upgrade and we will now be able to deliver a more reliable and effective service in the future. Keep a look out for the vehicles on a street near you soon.”
Diggers and bulldozers clearing the ground at the new fenced off Lidl site in Mere Green
Work on the new Lidl store at the former Lucas factory site in Mere Green appears to be making slow progress since work got under way back in November. The store is expected to be completed some time this year.
While the work is progressing, traffic has been affected by the comings and going of construction traffic and temporary traffic lights, while dozens of letters of objection had previously been received from residents raising concerns over traffic levels and pollution fears.
The site has now been fenced off after diggers and bulldozers converged on the former industrial site in Mere Green Road, Sutton Coldfield.
Work does appear to be going at something of a snail’s pace when other Lidl stores, notably the newest one in Lichfield appeared to get built in no time at all. When asked for a progress report on the work or a potential opening date, Lidl had little to offer other than the obvious. A statement said: “We can confirm that construction has started on site and we will be issuing a release with full details of the store for the local community in due course.”
The former contaminated site has been an eyesore for many years, following the factory demolition and the time needed to get rid of the contamination at the site
This two-acre site is now being developed despite original plans being sent back to the drawing board during the planning process, before finally being approved. One local councillor described the original Lidl design as looking like a brown and white shed.
Diggers and bulldozers working at the start of the construction of the new store in Mere Green Road
The site will include the store and a number of parking spaces, finally opening up a site that has been blocked off with blue boarding for more than 10 years.
The store will offer a budget alternative to the giant Sainsbury’s store opposite, but is sure to create extra traffic and congestion in the busy Mere Green area. However there will be new jobs and a likely boost to the local economy with increased footfall.
The development could be the final piece in the jigsaw in the renaissance of Mere Green. The area been blighted for years with rows of boarded up shops, but that finally gave way to the Mulberry Walk development. Anchored by the Marks & Spencer food hall, the new shops and a number of smart bars, restaurants, coffee shops and a gym, complement the existing shops on Lichfield Road.
Four Oaks ward councillor Maureen Cornish has broadly welcomed the new store. She previously said: “Lidl will provide versatile shopping giving the public more choice, it will increase the footfall and competition between similar stores provides shoppers.”
Council leaders are calling on supermarkets and businesses in Sutton Coldfield that remain open during this national lockdown to step-up their Covid-19 safety measures to help combat the surge of infections
With cases continuing to rise across the region and the UK entering a new lockdown, people are now required to stay at home except for a handful of permitted reasons – one of which is to shop for basic necessities.
Supermarkets and some other retailers will remain open and council leaders believe the retailers have a major role to play in keeping people safe over the coming weeks and months.
They who wrote to Business Secretary Alok Sharma MP in November expressing concerns at the easing of safety measures in supermarkets, have now called for urgent action to protect staff and shoppers.
They have called for:
The re-introduction of one-way systems to help maintain social distancing in all retail settings.
Improved enforcement of safety measures with Covid marshals on-site throughout opening hours.
Strong Infection Prevention and Control and messaging in-store to maintain the 2m distance between customers.
Strong action to combat spread amongst staff whist on site (both in public areas and in break areas) including encouraging staff to test regularly through the asymptomatic LFD community testing offer,
Mandatory measures to ensure that symptomatic staff stay at home (with adequate financial support), get tested, self-isolate AND that their close contacts also do this.
Clear staff training and tight compliance in store (mask wearing; reduce numbers in store, customer flow (one way aisles as much as possible), sanitising touch points and shared baskets and trolleys).
Birmingham City Council leader Cllr Ian Ward said: “Supermarkets and their staff worked extremely hard during the first lockdown to introduce measures that kept shoppers and workers safe. Now we need a return to the measures and the vigilance we saw last year and that means hand washing and sanitising, enforcement on the rules around face coverings and better social distancing, including the reintroduction on one-way systems.
“These are very worrying times and we all have a role to play to keep people safe. Although people must once again stay at home as much as possible, many of us will still be visiting supermarkets, so it’s essential that stores are as safe as possible.”
Buddy Bag founder wins recognition for helping child victims of domestic abuse
A Sutton Coldfield woman who founded a Midland charity that helps children fleeing domestic violence at home has been awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list. Karen Williams, CEO of the Buddy Bag Foundation, was recognised by the Queen for her services to victims of domestic abuse. The foundation provides buddy bags – back packs filled with home comforts and essential items – to children living in emergency accommodation. That can be refuges, hotels or B&Bs. Since its launch in 2015, the foundation’s volunteers have packaged and delivered over 30,000 bags to children after raising more than £750,000. Karen, 59, who lives in Sutton Coldfield with partner Sean, said: “I am both honoured and humbled to have received an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list.
My dream five years ago was to set up a charity that could and would make a real and meaningful different to children in emergency care. “With the assistance and support of all our volunteers we have realised this dream. “We have packed over 30,000 Buddy Bags, far exceeding our initial target and look to the future with optimism at the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
“Thank you to all our volunteers and supporters – together we have achieved and are continuing to achieve something truly special.” The idea for the foundation came about in 2014 when Karen, a mother of three and grandmother of four, was in Australia visiting her son.
“The bags go to children who have to flee the family home because of violent situations and often arrive at centres in the middle of the night with nothing.
She read about an Australian charity that helps children who have encountered violence and abuse. “Reading the piece stirred a deep emotional reaction within me and as a mother I just had to do something for children in emergency care back home in the UK,” said Karen. “So I set up the Buddy Bag Foundation in 2015.
“The bags go to children who have to flee the family home because of violent situations and often arrive at centres in the middle of the night with nothing. “Bags cost £25 to fill and contain essential items such as toiletries, pyjamas and underwear and comforting items including books and teddy bears.” Earlier in December, the foundation celebrated its fifth anniversary. Karen added: “What an amazing journey we have found ourselves on.
“The plan to make a difference to children by supplying our bags has totally exceeded by wildest dreams. “With the support of our trustees, ambassadors and volunteers, we have raised over £750,000, with 100 per cent of all donations going towards supplying the buddy bags.
We have managed to pack over 30,000 buddy bags and engaged with over 400 volunteers. “Reading the thank you cards from the children and testimonials from the mums and refuge centres have touched the hearts of so many.” In 2017 Karen was given a Points of Light award by then prime minister Theresa May, and in 2018 she was a finalist in Lorraine Kelly’s Woman of the Year contest.OBE
Funeral director Edward sends Vietnamese lorry death victims back to their homeland
By Bill McCarthy
‘The hardest part was seeing the 16 coffins lined up at the airport ready to be flown home.” Those are the words of Edward Cutler, a Sutton Coldfield funeral director who is well used to dealing with bereavement. He probably thought he had seen it all in his 14 years in the business. But he became a key part of a huge international story when 39 Vietnamese migrants died in Kent, after they were transported across the Channel sealed in an airtight container on the back of a lorry.
It happened on October 23 last year, as it was transported from Zeebrugge inBelgium to Purfleet in Essex. People smugglers subjected the 39 victims to unbearable temperatures for almost 12 hours after loading too many people into one container, starving them of oxygen and exposing them to deadly carbon dioxide fumes. Two men have since been convicted of manslaughter over the tragedy.
The container lorry where the victims died
The migrants, 10 of whom were teenagers, travelled in a refrigerated unit, but the refrigeration was not turned on. For Edward, known as Ed, a young man well used to death, after starting out in the funeral business at the age of 16 before building a successful business, those coffins lined up at Heathrow Airport before being flown back to Vietnam, had a profound effect. After the tragedy, he was contacted by the Vietnamese embassy which had heard of his firm’s expertise in repatriation and wanted the victims to be taken back to their homeland. It all started for Ed back in 2009 when he became possibly the country’s youngest funeral director, starting Cutler Funeral Service, aged 19, and going on to build a successful business that included sites across the Midlands and, most recently, London. Sitting in his newest business in Royal Town Funerals in Sutton Coldfield, the 30- year-old comes across as an assured and confident businessman and someone dedicated to his trade. He has an innovative view on the funeral business, with a brightly but tastefully decorated office a world away from some funeral parlours. He said: “My clients, despite being bereaved, appreciate a more airy, more modern and less gloomy place to arrange funeral for their loved ones.”
Top, Edward Cutler with colleague Alan Webb-Moore at Vinh International Airport, located in Vinh city of Nghệ An Province in northern Vietnam, above, in a group with Slater international colleague Matthew Stevens and their translators and chatting with Van Soderlund
After his first business was acquired by a large corporate firm, he went on to open offices in Cannock, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Kings Heath and Barton under Needwood. After a change in personal circumstances, Ed returned to having one local office situated in Pype Hayes. Ed explained after the initial family business was sold, he could no longer trade as Cutler, so he used his mother’s maiden name of Slater and expanded into the business of international repatriation, opening Slaters International Funeral Directors, in London, near Heathrow Airport.
Ed and his team meet with bereaved families, lay tributes and even hug grieving relatives
Ed explained: “I was at a crossroads,” he said. “Slaters started as a normal funeral home offering repatriation as an ancillary service, but I wanted to do more with repatriation, so we set up a new business called Slaters International, still based at Pype Hayes, but as recommendations escalated, we naturally evolved into a specialist in the field” “The majority of business repatriation clients were in London which drew us to seeking premises in the south. We started by working from another funeral director’s premises in Pinner which we outgrew within a matter of months, at which point we had no choice but to secure our very own premises in London”, he said.
He selected a site at Isleworth, near Heathrow, a strategically placed site for flying the deceased from the UK to their homeland. But for him, a was a bit of a risk. He said: “It was quite a big risk as it was very expensive, five times more expensive than a comparable premises in the Midlands. But it went really well and was important to get our own name above the door on our own premises. The gamble paid off and his reputation grew, and having carried out a previous repatriation to Vietnam, he was contacted by the Vietnamese embassy to undertake the hugely complicated logistical operation of moving the container lorry victims back to their homeland. Ed said: “We got a call in October last year call from Vietnamese embassy who had heard good things and wanted to work with us to get their people home. “I was invited to embassy put a plan together, but as the case was being treated as a murder probe, the bodies were not released until the police and coroner had concluded their investigations. When the call came things moved rapidly. He was called on a Friday to initiate the first stage of the operation, transferring the first 23 victims from Essex, which began on the following Monday. He explained the timeline: “On the Monday we collected 24 of the deceased from Essex. We carried out cremations for seven and repatriated the remaining deceased persons on Tuesday. He added: “Two days later on the Thursday the final group were transferred to be repatriated on Friday together with seven sets of cremated remains. Altogether 32 coffins were returned together with seven sets of cremated remains.”
Praising his team, including Nikki Taylor, Matthew Stevens and Alan Webb-Moore for the operation, which ran like clockwork, he said: “With our experience, we turned it around, but the logistics and dealing with that volume in the space of one week was a big deal, whilst managing to repatriate an additional nine deceased that week around the globe from the UK. Each repatriation client was an individual with their own documentation, and which all have had to be dealt with separately.
Memorials and tributes and sharing meals with some of the 39 victims’ families in their home towns
“Was it harrowing, yes it was. The most difficult part was when we conveyed the first 16 victims to the airport and saw coffins. When you see 16 coffins lined up ready to be loaded onto the aircraft, you pause you realise the enormity of what you are actually doing.” Altogether 39 individual bundles of documents were prepared and sent along with the remains to Vietnam. “We were prepared to turn it round in less than seven days. We had a coffin supplier on hand, ready to provide 39 bespoke coffins, and four members of staff to deal with the whole process, as it was extremely important the procedure was kept under wraps.
“We were successful in keeping all of the arrangements private, limiting the press coverage to after the arrival of the initial 16 Coffins. “Me and my team flew out to Vietnam about this time last year to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. We criss-crossed the whole country with our translator Van Soderlund a Vietnamese woman who had her son repatriated by us a couple of years earlier, and her husband Thomas Soderlund, meeting all of the 39 families. It was a moving experience.” he said.
There they attended funerals, memorial services and socialised with families while at the same time taking in the breathtaking sights of Vietnam. Ed, who lives locally and grew up in the Sutton area, now runs his operation from his new business, Royal Town Funerals in Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, with the repatriation business growing year on year. “We still have our purpose built premises near Heathrow, but I work personally from here Four Oaks, with a team of operatives on the road taking care of the physical repatriation work. Here, I conduct all funerals myself.” Asked who are his main customers for repatriation. “Most often repatriations are to Nigeria,” he said.
Having a drink during their epic criss-crossing of Vietnam, taking in some of the sights and landmarks
“It is a big country with a population of nearly 200 million people, but second is the Philippines, Jamaica and Commonwealth for obvious reasons, but Africa is our busiest destination. He said people from Hong Kong, Eritrea, Greece, Italy, Romania, Iraq and Vietnam were among current clients. “We generally average around 26 clients for repatriation at any one point in time. This became important when the coronavirus pandemic struck. At the time of the first lockdown in March, we had 45 repatriation cases to deal with but no outgoing flights from the UK. Luckily at our funeral home in London , we had the mortuary space to cope.” Like most funeral directors, he has seen noticed an increase in funerals as a result of the the Covid 19 pandemic. But like many other businesses, margins have been hit by lockdown restrictions on funerals. “We have been affected he said. With numbers cut for attending funerals, people are opting for simpler, lower cost funerals,” he said.
A veteran in his industry at 30, it seems unlikely that a mere pandemic is likely to cause this businessman problems for too long as he plans for a bigger more successful future.
Funeral directors Lee Solomon and Nathan Scully, seated, at their smart Sutton premises
Funeral directors win industry award
An independent Sutton Coldfield funeral business, founded by two lifelong friends, has been named one of the UK’s best.
The firm has achieved the ‘Recommended’ accolade following an assessment visit by the Good Funeral Guide, an independent funeral consumer advocacy organisation.
Lilies Funeral Directors started serving their local community in September 2015 and opened their funeral home in March 2016 on Chester Road, then a second on Kingstanding Road in 2018.
Sutton-born owners Lee Solomon and Nathan Scully, both aged 31, were born on the same street, went to the same playgroups and their mothers were best friends. They went to different schools but remained friends. Straight out of education, Nathan went into the funeral industry and worked his way from the bottom to become a funeral director within one of the country’s largest funeral services. Lee went to university and has a background in marketing and business development.
When the pair were 21, they had the dream of opening a funeral home together and turning a life long friendship into a deep and caring business partnership. Five years later their dream came true with Lilies.
In its review of Lilies Funeral Directors the Good Funeral Guide says: “Their reviews and testimonies on Google are all five-star reviews, with clients constantly referencing how the pair had gone the extra mile, how nothing is too much trouble, and their compassion and professionalism.”
The Good Funeral Guide assesses select funeral homes according to strict criteria which focus on thequality of the experience they offer to bereaved people. Lilies Funeral Directors has been inspected to ensure that clients are treated with courtesy, listened to with empathy, offered a full range of choice, charged fairly and empowered to play whatever part they want in creating a send-off for the person they have lost which accords with their values and wishes. The accreditation process also involved spending time behind the scenes in order to ascertain that those who have died are cared for with the utmost tenderness and respect. Fran Hall, CEO of the Good Funeral Guide said: “Choosing a funeral director can be very difficult because often they all look much the same. But they’re not. Some, a precious few, are truly outstanding, and Lilies Funeral Directors is one of them. “The team at Lilies Funeral Directors are unsung heroes doing a magnificent job, and the people of Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham deserve to know this.
“Bereaved people need to do their very best for their loved one who has died. They deserve the very best funeral director.” Director Lee Solomon was delighted with the recognition and said: “We are extremely proud to receive this accolade. Knowing our hard work and commitment to our families has been recognised and applauded by an organisation who strive to make the funeral industry better, leaves me very emotional.”
For information contact Lee Solomon at lee@liliesfunerals.com, call 0121 321 3446 or visit the website at www.liliesfunerals.com
The Good Funeral Guide is wholly independent of the funeral industry. It offers information and guidance to the bereaved and supports, empowers and represents the interests of dying and bereaved people living in the UK. It is a not-for-profit social enterprise company — Community Interest Company number 7818343.
The offending four-page newsletter and at the Sutton Park unveiling of the electric bike campaign
Sutton Coldfield deserves better than naked electioneering during pandemic
As the coronavirus held us in its deadly grip this year, I have held my tongue as government and local leaders grappled with the horrendous number of fatalities caused by this terrible disease, writes Bill McCarthy.
But with a figure of approaching 70,000 dead, more, depending on which figures you look at, due mostly to government incompetence and the catastrophic consequences for business and jobs, I can hold my tongue no longer.
Why? Well, just the other day we what I can only describe as a propaganda sheet dropped through the letterbox, extolling mainly the virtues and achievements of West Midlands Mayor Andy Street.
My local the Butler’s Arms, on Lichfield Road, being a classic example of keeping customers safe with ingenious and ground-breaking ideas, at some considerable costs, all for nothing it seems.
This is the mayor who speaks of his contacts with health secretary Matt Hancock, but seems to have little influence. Take the vaccination programme where Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham, our second city let’s not forget, is left off the initial rollout.
He says on a recent Twitter feed: “I expect confirmation this afternoon that vaccinations will begin in Birmingham in the coming days. Disappointing and surprising that the city’s NHS trust wasn’t part of the initial roll-out given its size and record, but I’ve been in contact with Matt Hancock to put that right.”
On an electric bike at Sutton Park and e-scooter in Birmingham
Seems par for the course, just like the cosy phone calls about the tier system and how he was ignored on that score as well.
But back to the four-page sheet called Sutton Coldfield Champion. It goes into great detail about the Conservative mayor’s achievements, together with praising other local Tories, including MP Andrew Mitchell, town council leader Simon Ward and West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner candidate Jay Singh-Sohal.
The fine print tells you it is published on behalf of West Midlands Conservatives. Which is fine except Andy Street is mayor of the West Midlands, not just Sutton Coldfield. So the Sutton Champion angle is a bit disingenuous, don’t you think? Especially when his Twitter feed says he is ‘Conservative Mayor of the best region in the world’.
Looking at ‘achievements’. It’s a bit like Frank Sinatra. He’s had a few, but then again, too few to mention.
It seems to be a case of ‘pressing’ for this, ‘supporting’ that or ‘maintaining’ the other. Hardly a roll of honour is it Andy? Constantly lobbying on our behalf. Well the lobbying is buttering few parsnips as far as Sutton’s hospitality industry is concerned.
I have to admit an interest here as family members work within that sector. Furloughed if they’re lucky, but not sure if they have a job to go back to, or already out of work, with a bleak future ahead of them.
The efforts to keep Birmingham and Sutton Coldfield in tier 2 failed miserably. The lobbying was so low key, it was invisible. Hospitality venues have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep premises Covid-secure. My local, the Butler’s Arms, on Lichfield Road, is a classic example of keeping customers safe with ingenious and ground-breaking ideas, at some considerable costs, all for nothing it seems.
Meanwhile, the mayor is never shy of a picture opportunity, wobbling around on e-scooters, electric bikes or digging yet another hole, while the hospitality sector tanks. Bit like Nero with his fiddle.
He boasts of having the ear of Matt Hancock, well try the organ grinder, the Prime Minister, rather than the monkey, although I doubt he will get much joy there either.
For the record, Sutton Park was the venue for unveiling the new cycle hire scheme which is due to launch across the West Midlands next year.
The operator, Santander Cycles, has been appointed by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) to offer bikes for hire in Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Wolverhampton and Walsall from next Spring.
Contractor Serco will initially provide 1,500 bikes for hire, of which 10 per cent will be ebikes. Serco? Think track and trace. What could possibly go wrong?
You really need fewer picture opportunities and more concrete action Mr Street.
Edward Cutler leads a funeral cortege from his new business, Royal Town Funerals in Belwell Lane
Businessman who started funeral home at 19 is back in town with a new venture
By Bill McCarthy
Opening a new business in the middle of a deadly pandemic is a tough call, but for Edward Cutler, one of the area’s youngest entrepreneurs, it is a return to his Sutton Coldfield roots.
For Edward, a native of Four Oaks, this is nothing new, having opened his first business, aged 19, in the teeth of the economic meltdown of 2009. Cutler Funeral Directors grew before the business was sold to a corporate firm in 2013.
Now he is back and Sutton Coldfield’s newest funeral business has officially opened its doors in Four Oaks.
I have always planned to return to the area to serve the local community in which I grew up in once again – Ed Cutler
He has opened Royal Town Funerals on Belwell Lane, Four Oaks, with a pledge to serve the people of Sutton Coldfield.
Return – Edward Cutler
People in the Four Oaks and Mere Green area may well remember Edward, when just 19, opening his first funeral business on Little Sutton Road, close to the Fox & Dogs pub.
After selling the business, Edward diversified, spending time in London and becoming involved in international retpatriation. This where if a death occurs overseas, repatriation is the process of transporting a deceased person to another country.
Edward aged 19
Starting out, Edward was backed by the entrepreneurial expertise of his father John, but took his first steps on the road to business success after he left Arthur Terry School, aged 16, to work for two years at Rugeley Co-operative’s funeral parlour.
Cutlers Funeral Directors grew, mainly through word of mouth, to the point where he was able to open additional offices in Lichfield and Kingstanding.
He said at the time of opening the original business: “Death can be taboo with a lot of people but I’ve wanted to be a funeral director from the age of eight or nine. I was always interested in seeing what the job was like behind the scenes.
“My dad backed me financially, which was a great help in a recession. He looks after the business side of things so I can concentrate fully on looking after the funerals.”
Now the young businessman says he is delighted to be back and able to provide a caring personal service.
He said: ” I opened my first funeral home on Little Sutton Road in Four Oaks. We gained an excellent reputation and grew the business on word of mouth, opening additional offices in Lichfield and Kingstanding. In 2013, the family business was sold to a large corporate company, following which I diversified into international repatriation.
The exterior and interior of Royal Town Funerals in Belwell Lane, Four Oaks
“Being born and bred in Four Oaks and attending The Arthur Terry School, I have many connections in the area. I have always planned to return to the area to serve the local community in which I grew up in once again.”
He added: ” I am extremely pleased to announce the opening of my new funeral home at 3 Belwell Lane, Four Oaks. Royal Town Funerals is a family business and is dedicated to serving the families across Four Oaks and Sutton Coldfield, providing a truly caring and personal service.”
Sutton Coldfield shoppers could bring early Christmas cheer for needy families by donating food at their local Tesco store.
This Christmas will be a struggle for many, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic fallout – and families with children are going to be the hardest hit of all.
Foodbank charity the Trussell Trust expects its network of UK food banks to give out an emergency food parcel every nine seconds this winter, while FareShare is supplying food to 11,000 frontline charities helping to feed families and individuals in communities across the country.
The trust has enjoyed working in partnership with Tesco for more than seven years and have supported over a million people in crisis.
With Tesco and food redistribution charity FareShare they are working to make a positive difference in local communities across the UK.
The partnership with Tesco is instrumental in ensuring the network of food banks has enough food to meet the increasing demand. Through permanent collection points, located in over 450 Tesco stores, people can donate food to their local food bank while doing their weekly shop.
Tesco generously tops up its customers’ food donations with a financial donation of 2 0per cent of the value of the items donated.
The top-up is calculated using an average valuation of £1.75/kg for all items donated. This valuation is calculated by looking up the items that make up a standard food parcel and checking the prices of these items in Tesco’s standard own-label range.
Customers unable to contribute food in store can help by donating Tesco Clubcard points to the two organisations.
Last year s Tesco shoppers donated more than three million meals during the collection, and this year the need for food is greater than ever, with every single item gathered making a difference to someone’s life.
“The effects of the pandemic are being felt far and wide,” says FareShare CEO Lindsay Boswell. “More people than ever are turning to charities and community groups because they’re unable to feed themselves and their families.”
The collection launches in Tesco Express stores today and in large stores from Thursday. Customers are being asked to donate food up to November 21.
It’s as simple as buying the items with your usual shopping and dropping them in the dedicated Food Collection trolley at the exit. The food needed includes longer-life items such as rice, tea and tinned goods, all of which can be made into nutritious meals.
Customers unable to contribute food in store can help by donating Tesco Clubcard points to the two organisations.
All the food that goes to FareShare is used to provide meals for vulnerable groups, such as isolated older people and those in homeless shelters. Tesco tops up the value of all these donations with an additional 20 percent in cash.
In addition to the permanent collection points in hundreds of Tesco stores, and ad hoc collections at stores throughout the year, we also work with Tesco and FareShare on the annual Food Collection in the run-up to Christmas.
This provides much-needed food and funds for local food banks at a critical time of year. The Food Collection is great fun for volunteers and Tesco employees alike and, since its inception in 2012, Tesco customers have donated more than 50 million meals.
Sutton Coldfield Life 