Birmingham Post

Rover Workers

Lotto Millionaire in Office Plan Row

A couple who run a small company are embroiled in a planning wrangle with their neighbour - a pounds 15.5 million lottery winner. Christopher Rawlins and his wife Debbie have applied to use an outbuilding at their Staffordshire farm as another office for their CCTV installation company.

'Golden Mile' to Get Pounds 2m Boost

Business owners in Birmingham's Broad Street are preparing for a radical transformation of the area following the launch of a new scheme that will lever major investment in to the entertainment district. Traders, residents, and businesses in the city's 'golden mile' have given overwhelming support to the Business Improvement District (BID) after 92 per cent voted in favour. The BID will see at least pounds 400,000 being invested into Broad Street in each of the next five years.

Burns Woman in Hospital After Gas Explosion

An elderly woman was airlifted to hospital with severe burns after a gas explosion at her home in Solihull yesterday. She was thought to be suffering from 30 per cent burns after an explosion in the kitchen of her home in Hampton Lane shortly before5.30pm. Paramedics treated her at the scene and she was taken to the specialist burns unit at Selly Oak Hospital by air ambulance.

Hospital Hunts for Donors

A West Midlands hospital today pilots a scheme to increase ten- fold the number of live kidney donors. New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton will push for a greater awareness of organ donation across the West Midlands.

Fun in the Sun at Lord Mayor's Show

Thousands of people made the most of their bank holiday weekend in Birmingham with a visit to the annual Lord Mayor's Show. The free festivities on offer at the show, which took place at Cannon Hill Park in Edgbaston yesterday and Sunday, included live music, a funfair, an inflatable army assault course, cookery demonstrations, sports arena, children's entertainment, an arts and crafts marquee, dog and falconry displays and dance exhibitions.

Skate Park's Grand Opening

Bulldozers to Move in On Tower Ballroom

One of Birmingham's most popular nightspots is to close next year and be replaced by a housing development. The Tower Ballroom in Edgbaston is due to be bulldozed as part of a massive regeneration of the Edgbaston Reservoir area as revealed in The Birmingham Post last year.

Former Rover Staff Enjoy Seaside Jaunt

After nearly two months of shock, worry and stress, nobody would have thought sacked Longbridge workers and their families would have found some relief on the normally fraught UK railways. But former MG Rover workers, their wives, husbands and children - thrown into uncertainty when the car giant collapsed in April - were welcomed aboard the first of five free train services to the seaside yesterday.

Retired Priest's Sudden Death

A priest who served a West Midlands diocese for 43 years has died suddenly at the age of 68. The Rev Horace Harper, who served parishes across Staffordshire and the Black Country, died at home.

Blitz Project Wins Award

A project recreating the Blitz has won a prestigious national award. The Coventry performance company Triangle won the Curiosity and Imagination Roots and Wings Award for Coventry Kids in the Blitz, an innovative museum-theatre and film project for primary school children.

Now 200 Jobs Lost As Supply Firm Closes

Nearly 200 jobs will be lost when a Cambridgeshire-based company which made components for MG Rover closes. Triplex, in Walton, Peterborough, had already announced plans for 30 redundancies before the collapse of Rover last month.

Tributes to 'Decent' Labour Man Harold Who Loses Cancer Battle

A Midland council Labour stalwart and former Birmingham teacher has lost a battle against cancer just over a week after stepping down as his political group's leader. Harold Withnall, leader of the Labour group on Walsall Council, died at the Manor Hospital in the town at 4.15pm on Sunday.

Rural Matters : Plenty of Chances to Get Arty at Popular Staffordshire Show

The Staffordshire County Show will open tomorrow with a string of new arts-based attractions to run alongside its staple rural parades and exhibitions. This year sees the introduction of the creative village where skills such as writing, sculpting and guitar playing will be demonstrated and followed up with workshops.

Rural Matters : Falling Milk Prices End Family Farming Dynasty ; They Have Lived Through Foot-and-Mouth, the Bse Crisis and Tb, but After More Than 100 Years of Dairy Farming the Teece Family Are Giving Up, Sarah Probert Discovers

It was a sad day for Andrew Teece. He watched his entire dairy herd being driven away from his Shropshire farm after generations of milk production. Every Friesian had been born at his farm near Shrewsbury, run by his family since 1896.

Rural Matters : Investigation Into New Bse Scare

Scientists are investigating a 'cluster' of three BSE cases found in young cows, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has confirmed. Experts are trying to discover if the cows, from a farm in the Dyfed area of Wales, were infected by the same route, possibly through feed imported from abroad.

Rural Matters : Film Star Pete Puts Food Fayre On Map

International film star Pete Postlethwaite will kick off a popular Shropshire food fayre this summer. The actor, who has starred in a string of critically acclaimed box office hits, will officially open the third annual Church Stretton food fayre.

Rural Matters : Workers' Rights Hero Honoured

A labourer who fought for the rights of impoverished agricultural workers is to be remembered in a rally in his honour. Joseph Arch, from Barford, Warwickshire, is regarded as the father of the National Union of Agricultural workers for campaigning on their behalf during the 19th century.

Rural Matters : Rural Uprising Over 'Unfair' Council Tax Bills

England's most rural communities are calling on the Government to end 'injustice' in the council tax system. A coalition of more than 50 local authorities makes the demand in a new rural manifesto published today.

Green Group Backs Blackett's Call for City Congestion Charging

Environmentalists have praised business leaders for taking more of a lead in the looming debate over congestion charging in Birmingham. The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) said it was pleased that Jerry Blackett, policy director for the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, had given qualified support to road pricing to tackle crippling congestion in the city.