On Monday I had the pleasure of taking part in the first official walk around Solihull’s new Military History Trail. I talked a little bit about this last week, there is such a strong connection between our town and the armed forces and this trail really brings that into focus, as well as lots of fascinating information about the civilian population during wartime. Did you know that Tudor Grange Park was used as a US Army base in World War 2?
The trail takes in many of our most historic buildings, which also reminded me quite how lucky we are to have such beautiful architecture here in Solihull. The trail was fun and interesting not just because of the military history, but also because of the opportunity to pause, look up, and see the wider heritage and beauty of our town. I want to thank everyone involved for all their hard work putting the trail together and Tracey, from our library service, for sharing her amazing expert knowledge during the walk on Monday. She really is a walking library in her own right when it comes to local history!
The trail has of course been launched to commemorate Armed Forces Week this year. It’s important we recognise this occasion, and I want to make sure we keep celebrating Solihull’s proud military past and the service of our forces personnel at every opportunity. We also raised the Armed Forces Day flag at the Royal British Legion memorial in Shirley Park on Monday. If you want to walk the trail yourself, you can find out more and download the map here.
We often provide an update about our HAF (Holiday Activities and Food) programme as we head towards one of the main school holiday periods. HAF provides a wide range of fun activities and a meal to children whose families are claiming benefits related free school meals.
This summer I’m pleased to highlight a real step change, with a total of seven new providers, marking a major improvement in our SEND and youth (11 to 16 years) activities offer, particularly in North Solihull. School holidays are often a difficult time for parents and carers, needing to juggle work and childcare, therefore this increase in the number and type of activity places will be particularly welcome for eligible families. The HAF programme also provides activities for the whole family, where adults can take part with their children. I’m glad to say we’re doing what we can to get the right support in the right place with HAF. Full details of the programme can be found here.
Whilst I’m talking about kids activities, at the weekend I went along to the Planet Dance show at The Core, I’ll confess now that I do know someone who was in the show, so I might be a little biased, but they were absolutely fantastic and put on an incredible show. It always brightens up my day when I get to see children and young people in Solihull doing amazing creative things and performing like that. We’re lucky to have so much talent in our borough! At the same time, the Solihull Music Festival, organised by Solihull BID was running at venues across the town centre, it really felt like a buzzy weekend to be in Solihull. It was great to see so much happening across our town and people being brought together in so many places to enjoy the music.
After the very successful Planning for Later Life event in Shirley last week, when about 100 people came to get advice on finances, care options and many other things, a quick reminder that we have another event on Saturday in Chelmsley Wood. Hopefully it’ll be just as well attended, it’s completely free so why not come along and see what help and advice you can get? It’s never too early to start planning. All the details here.
We want to hear from you about our new taxi licensing guidelines. You might not think it affects you, but it really does have an impact on things like who we give licenses to, so if you use taxis in Solihull please take a few minutes to fill out the form.
Finally, I prefer to stick to local issues in my column, but I know many of our residents have family members in the Middle East. I don’t want to get into the very complicated politics and history involved, but I will say that, like the vast majority of people, I’m just hoping that we see a peaceful solution as soon as possible.
Thanks for reading, enjoy your weekend.
Councillor Karen Grinsell, Leader of Solihull Council.