I’m going to start this week by talking about an exciting new opportunity for new businesses in Solihull. Indespoke has opened up in Mill Lane in Solihull, offering a physical space for retail as well as support for emerging brands and other things to help entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground. They’ve run a similar space in Birmingham and had a lot of success, so I’m delighted they’ve decided to open their second venture here in Solihull. If you’re just getting your business going and think you could benefit from what Indespoke has to offer, take a look here to find out more.
You’ll start seeing food waste caddies arriving from early next week. The new service will launch later in the year, with weekly collections starting in October. If you live in a house you’ll get a smaller caddy for your kitchen and a bigger one for outside which you’ll put out on the kerbside each week, along with a guide to what goes in the new bins. I know some residents are worried about the new system, I sympathise. I wasn’t particularly keen on it when I heard about it either. But I’ve seen how it works in other council areas and I’m confident it’ll be successful. I’m even quite looking forward to seeing how much of what I throw out is food waste and seeing if I can get that amount down once the new system is in place. You can check our website for details of when your new caddies will be delivered to you.
The Mayor of Solihull, Councillor Sardul Marwa MBE made the most of the good weather last week when he joined some care experienced young people for a celebratory barbecue at Hatchford Brook Family Hub. He heard about the valuable support available at the hubs and through Our Voice, Our Services – Solihull’s children in care council. We’re doing a lot of work at the moment to make sure the voices of children and young people are clearly heard in the services we provide for them. Like any good parent/child relationship, communication needs to be a two-way street so I’m pleased our Community Parenting efforts are focusing on putting their voices and experiences at the heart of what we do.
On that subject, I was pleased to welcome care experienced children and young people to the unveiling of their very own artwork display at Gail’s Bakery in Solihull town centre. Their creations are really thought provoking, depicting feelings and positivity about their own personal journey of being in care. A big thank you to Gail’s, who have been so supportive of the project. Thanks also to OVOS and the fostering team for their work on this. When you are next in the town centre, I’d really recommend that you drop in to take a look.
I went along to the Chelmund’s Day celebrations at Three Trees at the weekend, it was great to have an opportunity to speak to residents about what they want to see from Pride in Place, and of course to just enjoy the day.
I won’t do another full roundup of summer activities this week, but I do want to quickly mention the Play Day at Meriden Adventure Playground next Wednesday (5 August). It looks like it’ll be a lot of fun so why not take your children down?
Finally, on the same day I’ll be on BBC WM’s hotseat programme in the morning, so please do tune in if you want to hear me take questions on local issues.
Thanks for reading,
Karen