The heatwave may be over in Sutton Coldfield, for the time being, but one store in the area really felt the heat.
Tesco Express on Walsall Road in Four Oaks suffered a catastrophe with its stock when the refrigerators failed overnight during the hottest evening on record.
Hundreds of pounds worth of chilled and frozen stock was ruined as the cooling system failed during the intense heat.
Despte some of the food probably being usable, bosses decided it had to be binned.
It was just one of many stores in the area that suffered similar problems as the extreme heat took its toll.
There were reports of similar problems across the country.
One member of staff said:”It’s a tragedy that all this good food is going to waste.”
Colourful elephants to take over Sutton Coldfield in celebration of 40th anniversary
St Giles Hospice is delighted to officially announce the launch of “March of the Elephants”, an exciting public art sculpture trail due to take place in Summer 2023.
The event will celebrate the vibrancy and creativity that our community has to offer as well as showcasing a spectacular variety of talent across Sutton Coldfield, Lichfield and Tamworth.
March of the Elephants will see St Giles Hospice team up with event experts Wild in Art, who have been delivering world class public art events across the globe for over ten years.
More than 60 elephant sculptures will bring colour and joy to the streets, parks and open spaces across the streets for 10 weeks before being auctioned off to raise funds for St Giles Hospice.
Decorated by local and national artists, designers and illustrators, the elephants will form an ‘unforgettable’ trail of colourful sculptures for visitors to discover and enjoy. The free public art event is set to benefit the whole community, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to join in the fun.
Andrew Harkness, Chief Executive at St Giles Hospice, said: “We are so excited to be working with Wild in Art to bring this trail to Lichfield, Tamworth and Sutton Coldfield. The trail will bring tourism and economic benefits to the region, put smiles on people’s faces, promote wellbeing and exploration and raise vital funds for St Giles Hospice.”
St Giles Hospice will soon be announcing some of the partners and sponsors who have already marched on board for 2023, but is now calling out for other businesses to take the opportunity to get involved by sponsoring an elephant sculpture.
There is also an opportunity for schools and community groups to join in the march, with a chance to design and adopt their very own mini elephant sculpture.
If you’re an artist, represent a business, school, college, or local community group and want to be involved, or are interested in finding out more, visit: Insert link here or email elephants@stgileshospice.com
Residents, children, parents and staff enjoy a session at Mercia Grange in Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield residents bridging the age gap
Residents at a Sutton Coldfield care home have made a host of new young friends.
Working in partnership with Kiddibop, Care UK’s Mercia Grange, on Lichfield Road, has been offering weekly intergenerational sessions to residents, the first care home in the region to do so.
Kiddibop is a local organisation which runs music and play classes for children under five. As part of their joint pilot project with Mercia Grange, Kiddibop is hosting its weekly classes at the care home, giving residents an opportunity to join in.
Joyce, a resident at Mercia Grange, said: ”It was the best afternoon ever. It was great to hear the music and see the children.”
Amy Barton, Home Manager at Mercia Grange, said: “We love welcoming the Kiddibop team and children on Thursdays – the sessions are a definite highlight every week and many residents look forward to them.
“Intergenerational relationships are proven to be enriching for both sides, providing older people with a sense of purpose and fulfilment. The sessions also give residents an opportunity to reminisce about raising their own children many years ago – and sometimes even to share their best parenting tips with the parents who attend.
“We’re already looking forward to our next session – and we’d like to invite any parents of young children in Sutton Coldfield to book their space with the Kiddibop team so they can join us for an afternoon of intergenerational fun.”
Mercia Grange is a state-of-the-art care home which provides full-time residential, nursing, dementia, and short-term respite care.
The three-storey care home, which features 67 ensuite bedrooms, has been designed to enable residents to live active and fulfilled lives, while also promoting independence. The care home incorporates space for hobby and leisure activities and includes its own cinema, hair salon and café.
To find out more about Mercia Grange, please call Customer Relations Manager, Rachel Mackay, on 0121 314 3196, or email rachel.mackay@careuk.com
The new German kebab shop has opened in Sutton Coldfield
Chain opens new outlet in Sutton Coldfield
A very different style of fast-food restaurant has opened in a former Sutton Coldfield bank building.
The German Doner Kebab opened in the old Cynergy Bank premises at the corner of Holland Street and the Parade in Sutton Coldfield, on July 5
The German Diner Kebab is part of chain which opened its first store in Berlin in 1989
Meats are imported from Germany ‘to maintain quality and consistency’, while the brand uses locally produced vegetables which are prepared daily along with its ‘special doner kebab bread’. It says it offers a ‘delicious gourmet food experience’.
The new Sutton restaurant has an extensive dine -n area with booths and other areas with stalls. There is takeaway and click and collect, and the now ubiquitous delivery section with a side window in Holland Street.
A spokesperson for the chain said: “German Doner Kebab has opened its doors in Sutton Coldfield, bringing a new fast-casual dining experience to the West Midlands town. It is revolutionising the kebab in the UK, bringing a fresh, high-quality taste sensation that has made it the number one spot to enjoy a kebab.
What’s on the German Doner Kebab menu
“Freshly prepared in front of customers, the game-changing kebabs are made using premium, lean, succulent meats and fresh local vegetables, served in handmade toasted breads with unique signature sauces. The new restaurant in Sutton Coldfield is the brand’s 106th site in the UK as it continues to bring the GDK experience to more locations throughout the country. It is creating in the region of 40 jobs.”
The rapid expansion of German Doner Kebab will see 79 new restaurants open in the UK in 2022, after 39 opened last year. The chain also has outlets in Bull Street in Birmingham city centre, Coventry, Walsall, West Bromwich, Moseley Road, Balsall Heath, with outlets ‘opening soon’ in Merry Hill and Wolverhampton.
Two of the biggest act in music are being celebrated at tribute shows at Sutton Town Hall in September.
Go Your Own Wayis on stage on September 10 and is a spellbinding show featuring the music from the legendary multiple Grammy Award Winning Fleetwood Mac.
Their rock n roll legacy is beautifully performed by a highly talented and acclaimed ensemble of musicians who will take audiences on a powerful journey through their incredible song book.
Meanwhile, on Thursday 15 September, BILLY JOEL – The Piano Man is the ultimate celebration concert to one of the most iconic and best-selling artists of all time, Billy Joel.
In this brand-new touring theatre show Robert Schmuck (Billy The Kid) and his amazing 7 piece band perform breath-taking musical arrangements of multi-million selling songs such as ‘My Life’, ‘Uptown Girl’, ‘River Of Dreams’, ‘Tell Her About It ‘, ‘Still Rock n Roll To Me’, ‘An Innocent Man’, ‘Movin Out’, ‘Just The Way You Are’, ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’, ‘Piano Man’, ‘The Longest Time’ and many, many more, it’s a non-stop hits show!
The Fleetwood Mac show features hits including “Dreams”, “Don’t Stop”, “Everywhere”, “Rhiannon”, “Gold Dust Woman”, “Little Lies”, “Big Love” and many more.
Paying tribute to their “Rumours” line up of Stevie, Mick, John, Christine & Lindsey, which remains their most commercially successful to date, this show perfectly recreates the live energy and passion of Fleetwood Mac.
Tickets for both shows are now on sale – just click the ticket link box for online ticket sales, or call the box office on: 0121 296 9543, Monday to Friday, 10am – 2pm.
Poundland is to open its first West Midlands ‘Poundland Local’ store in Sutton Coldfield
It is following in the footsteps of the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury’s with their compact local stores. The Boldmere Road store is part of a pilot scheme to bring convenience shopping to neighbourhoods it does not currently serve.
The first Poundland Local store in the West Midlands will open later this summer at the busy Boldmere Road shopping area in Sutton.
Poundland transformation and retail director, Austin Cooke, said: “Each of the new stores will have a range of items tailored to suit the needs of customers in each neighbourhood, whether they live or work locally.
“In the current economic climate, people are carefully watching how much they spend, and we want them to know that convenience shopping does not have to mean they compromise on value for money.”
The Poundland Local format was unveiled in May 2021, with four convenience stores in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. Under the pilot scheme, Poundland is actively looking for other suitable locations particularly inside the M25.
Poundland Local stores typically employ around 12 staff and offer items from the main store’s core range, including groceries, snacks, household products, health and beauty and batteries.
Customers will also find items they would expect in a convenience store including fresh fruit and vegetables, chilled and frozen food, bread and morning goods, hot pies and pastries, nappies and formula milk, beers, wines and spirits.
Walsall-based Poundland has a network of over 850 stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
First holiday since lockdown has a sting in the tail
When it all went pear shaped in the comedy Trains, Planes and Automobiles starring John Candy as Del and Steve Martin as Neil, Del said when they were at their lowest ebb: “You’re in a pretty lousy mood, huh?” Neil: “To say the least.” Del: “You ever travel by bus before? Your mood’s probably not going to improve much…”
We knew what he meant on a journey, if not quite from hell, but close to it.
Our first venture abroad since coronavirus struck turned out to be an excellent affair in Cyprus, but it was topped and tailed with something not quite so thrilling and a cautionary tale when preparing to fly from distant airports.
Our flight, from Gatwick meant a lengthy trip from the Midlands and paying for just over a week’s parking at a nearby site. At a cost of £74.
Trouble was, we never made it. Our car broke down on Good Friday and we were due to travel on Easter Monday. No way of getting repaired during the bank holiday.
Fortunately, our son was able to drive us to the airport, but as our return was landing at 2.30 in the morning, we felt we could not ask anyone to make that journey and then drive back.
So we kissed goodbye to the £74 (we should have insured it) and made alternative arrangements to get back.
This entailed booking a coach from Gatwick at 3.50 in the morning. What an adventure when we get back, we thought. A case of panic leading to temporary insanity.
Our journey back after eight glorious days eventually took us 16 hours.
Taxi, plane, coaches, two of them, a train and two buses.
It went like clockwork to start with, except we got there a bit too early by taxi and the airport took their time.
A four hour and 40 minute flight followed in the most uncomfortable airline seats I have ever used, but we arrived on time at around 2am.
As you would expect even at that time of the morning, around four flights came in at the same time, so passport control, as you would now expect did not have the biometric machines working and the queues stretched an stretched . . . and stretched.
Feeling weary now, we eventually got through and boarded our first coach to London Victoria, on time mercifully and after various stop offs arrived at London’s Victoria coach station. From there we changed coaches for our three and a half hour drive to Birmingham, via Coventry.
From there, we thought we would walk to New Street Station. Mistake, dragging a 50lb suitcase, a smaller suitcase, two heavy handbags up the hill was takings its toll. We arrived at New Street Stations, back entrance and were faced with dragging the bags up 50 steps.
New Street Station is spectacular to look at inside and out but sadly I was baffled and really upset by the sight of the huge mountain of concrete stairs limiting access to the main entrance of the station for folks of all ages that are not able bodied. For people who have to hump heavy luggage. How on earth did the designers also expect parents with babies and buggies (plus other small children, not to mention many elders and folks with health problems) to climb the Everest like stairs?
Gasping and sweating at the top, two young blokes asked, if we needed a hand. Cheers pal, but we’ve done the hard work.
Onwards. Our train was next, followed b the first of two buses.
Then it was the final walk to the house, just like Dell and Neil in the film the final scenes from the film.
We felt like we had been on a 14 hour workout, using suitcases for weights.
Tired through lack of sleep, but luckily with enough adrenaline to help us complete an epic journey.
The moral to the story is: make sure your car is ready for the journey; make contingency plans for when something might go wrong; try and insure anything like long term parking and finally, think. Do you really need that much luggage?
Amnesty International Quiz returns after two years
Amnesty International quiz back in town after a two-year pandemic absence.
A popular quiz is returning to Sutton Coldfield after a two year absence caused the the Covid pandemic. The royal town’s Amnesty International group is inviting you to pit your wits some of finest quiz brains when its annual quiz returns to Sutton Coldfield Football Club.
The group has held online events for the past two years due to Covid but is looking forward to being back in person for its blockbuster quiz. Sutton Coldfield Amnesty International chair Andrew Hindle, who is also quizmaster, said: “We are so glad go be back with an in-person quiz and we’re hoping local people will come out in their droves to support us. “We aim for the quiz to cover as many subjects as possible from sport, music and television to current affairs, history and geography. It’s a fun event which also raises money for a great cause.” Taking place on Friday 24 June from 7.30pm, entry is £5 per person which is paid on the door.Teams are a maximum of six people and there is also the chance to buy raffle tickets for a range of prizes. Drinks and bar snacks are available at the bar of the Coles Lane football club. All money raised goes to Amnesty International’s essential work supporting human rights across the world. The Sutton Coldfield Amnesty International group meets at 8pm on the second Tuesday of every month (except August) in the Conference Centre, Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 69 Lichfield Road, Sutton Coldfield, B74 2NU and new members are always welcome.
Many people’s experience of German food may well have been trying the traditional bratwurst at the Birmingham Frankfurt German Market, held every Christmas.
But people in Sutton Coldfield are about to ge a different kind of German food experience.
German Doner Kebab will open soon in the town, bringing its fast-casual dining experience to the West Midlands town.
The gourmet kebab chain has confirmed that it will open a new restaurant at 123 Parade, Sutton Coldfield.
The restaurant is scheduled to open in July and will create in the region of 40 new jobs, bringing employment to the local area.
The opening has been announced as German Doner Kebab forges ahead with plans to open 78 new restaurants in the UK during 2022, building significantly on the 47 opened during 2021.
German Doner Kebab is revolutionising the kebab in the UK, bringing a fresh, high-quality taste sensation that has made it the number one spot to enjoy a kebab.
Freshly prepared in front of customers, the game-changing kebabs are made using premium, lean, succulent meats and fresh local vegetables, served in handmade toasted breads with unique signature sauces.
The brand now has over 100 restaurants in the UK alone as it continues to bring the GDK experience to more locations across the globe.
Daniel Bunce, GDK Global COO, said: “We’re delighted to officially announce plans to bring the German Doner Kebab experience to Sutton Coldfield.
“Our game-changing kebabs are revolutionising the kebab in the UK and we are excited to be bringing a new fast-casual experience to the area, offering great tasting fresh food in a relaxed and modern setting.”
Once opened, German Doner Kebab will offer a full dine-in experience, as well as Takeaway and Click and Collect. Delivery will soon be available through GDK’s Delivery partners.
ONE of the mainstays of the excellent Volvo range is the XC60, which sits right at the heart of the firm’s electrification strategy and is good enough to challenge anything in its segment of the market.
Revamped last year, it now features three plug-in hybrid and four mild-hybrid powertrain options, with front and, in this case, all-wheel drive options. Safety features have also been upgraded to include rear auto brake to help avoid reversing scrapes and updated Pilot Assist, now with emergency stop assist function.
Although classed as a mid-sized SUV, it is a big car in size, in terms of technological innovation and yes, it has a pretty big price tag as well. But you get what you pay for and with this Volvo you get plenty.
The revamp saw tweaks to the front and rear design of the car together with new alloy wheel designs. Changes include new front grille, new lower front bumper and air intakes, and a refresh of the lower rear bumper. A familiar feature remains and that is the signature ‘Thor’s hammer’ light design, the LEDs built into the front light clusters in the shape of the Norse god’s hammer.
What previously would be a key design feature, exhaust pipes, have now been hidden, in a nod to the firm’s journey to full electrification.
The interior quality is exceptional with soft-touch materials throughout, powered and heated leather seats which are firm and supportive and a large glass areas. There is good leg and headroom all round.
Features include two-zone climate control, cruise control, rear parking sensors, electric windows and door mirrors, parking camera, head-up display in the windscreen and heated steering wheel.
The controls are dominated by the now-familiar tablet-style nine-inch screen which controls major functions like the Android-powered infotainment system, which provides built-in Google apps and services and features include navigation with Google Maps, voice recognition with Google Assistant and access to the Google Play Store for in-car apps. Like a tablet you can pinch and swipe to select various controls and apps.
This plug-in hybrid Recharge version has recently been upgraded and offers blistering pace, but also with the combination of a 254bhp petrol engine and 87bhp electric motor delivering, literally, electric performance.
It powers to 60 mph in just 5.2 seconds. But the revised hybrid combination now extends electric range while lowering CO2 emissions, with a projected electric range of 55 miles.
To achieve anywhere near this takes careful driving, but Volvo says that with the average premium car owner travelling less than 30 miles each weekday, most drivers with home charging will be able do their daily motoring on pure electric power.
It is an engaging drive, Even at high speed, engine and road noise is muted, with just a hint of wind noise on the large, folding door mirrors, while the firmish suspension means tight, twisty lanes are dismissed with ease.
There is negligible body roll and the on-demand all-wheel drive is perfect for rougher terrain or inclement weather condition.
As an SUV it has to be practical and boot space is decent with 468 litres, while the 60/40 split folding rear seats open up to 1,395 litres. It also features power-operated tailgate with a kick action facility.
Like all Volvos it is packed with safety kit including a full complement of airbags and stability and traction controls and a host of other, driver and pedestrian safety technology.
Factfile
Volvo XC60 Inscription T6 Recharge
Price: £56,965
Mechanical: 350bhp via 1,969cc four-cylinder petrol engine and 65kw electric motor driving four wheels via 7-speed automatic gearbox
Sutton Coldfield Life 