Cadets and Staff from 165 (Castle Bromwich) Squadron, Air Training Corps raised £3,251.90 in their five days collecting, helping the Firs Branch, Royal British Legion, with this year’s Poppy Appeal.

Goals from Simeon Smith, Aaron Smith and Nicky Ellis gave Castle Vale FC a convincing 3-0 victory over league leaders Pilkington in the Les James Memorial Cup at Farnborough Road last night.

The Council is likely to recommend that Vale Stadium should be developed by a private investor, a public meeting at Spitfire House heard last night. Erdington Senior Manager Chris Baker put forward a series of options, including setting up a local trust to manage the stadium, and inviting private companies to get involved.
In summing up the mood and feelings of the meeting, Neighbourhood Manager Steve Clayton concluded that the preferred option was to invite private companies to get involved. 38 people attended the meeting, which at times produced heated comments and responses from individuals who believe that Castle Vale has been short changed.
Some residents continue to believe that a figure of £380,000 available via the Council for spending on the stadium is way short of the amount originally left by the Housing Action Trust when it disbanded in 2005.
The meeting was called to gauge local opinion about how to develop the stadium, following the collapse of the ’soccer village’ project, a public private partnership which has been abandoned after four years of difficulties.

Plans for Vale Stadium following the collapse of the public private partnership deal will be discussed at a public meeting at Spitfire House in the High Street tomorrow (Tuesday 10th November) at 5.30pm.
Steve Clayton, Castle Vale’s Neighbourhood Manager, and Chris Baker, Erdington Constituency’s Senior Manager will be attending.
The meeting is being hosted by the 2005 Group. Ian Bingham, spokesperson for the group, estimates that the meeting should last between 1 -1.5 hours.

A 3-1 victory at Pershore moved Vale FC up into 2nd place in the league today. Aaron Smith, Power and Ellis scored for Vale.

JKS managed a 2-2 draw at home to Knowle, thanks to goals from Cheslyn and Wilson.

photos by Clive Edwards

Thousands of people flocked to Pype Hayes for the annual bonfire and firework display last night. A Council spokesperson said that they hoped for 30,000 people to attend during the evening, though without turnstiles, and with free entry, exact figures are little more than optimistic guesswork. But the many thousands of people of all ages who attended witnessed an impressive, well organised and well managed spectacle.

The Young Foundation( based in London, named after sociologist Michael Young) is asking young people to complete an online questionnaire.
It is aimed at 13-25 year olds around the world to better understand how young people use information and communication technologies (ICTs).
Please click here to access this survey. It should take about 10 minutes to complete.

St Gerards School will be closed on Friday 6th November for the funeral of Katie Shugar, a pupil at the school who died last week following an asthma attack.

The spate of car arson on the Vale stadium car park has stopped in recent weeks, Sergeant Sarah Tambling told the Police Tasking Meeting yesterday afternoon. Three significant arrests have been made and two people are in custody in relation to the incidents.