BNP Paribas Real Estate signs up for overnight walk

BIRMINGHAM-based property consultancy BNP Paribas Real Estate is competing in Action Medical Research’s overnight PLOD walk to raise money for the charity which helps to improve the quality of life for thousands of sick and vulnerable babies and children.
 
The walk, which takes place on June 6, involves a 40 mile trek on the Cotswold Way.
 
Three teams have entered from the team’s Birmingham office, each hoping to raise in excess of £1,500 for the charity.
 
Other fundraising activities for the charity will include an indoor hockey knock- out tournament, a five-a-side football tournament, a wine tasting evening and a grand charity auction.

College builds international relations

WALSALL College has welcomed a delegation of staff from a South African college as part of an international skills for employability partnership run through the British Council.
 
Eastcape Midlands College, based in the Eastern Cape in South Africa, has been working with Walsall College’s international department to develop a bridging programme that aims to deliver a sustained improvement in success rates for students at the South African college.

The ‘Three A’s’ programme is a four week project starting in February which hopes to increase the success and progression rates of students and overcome current issues with student numeracy and literacy.

Teachers Daniel Kilian and Gerdri Heunis spent a week at Walsall College before the Christmas break as part of the visit.

Manjeet Kumari-Lal, head of international at Walsall College, said: “We are looking forward to the implementation of the Bridging Programme next month and the potential successes this could bring for students.”

Unwanted furniture helps raise thousands for charity

CUSTOMERS of a long-standing Birmingham retailer have helped to raise more than £40,000 for charity during the past 12 months by donating their old furniture.
 
Family firm Cookes Furniture, based in Erdington, has forged links with the British Heart Foundation to donate unwanted furniture from its customers.
 
Hundreds of second-hand sofas, chairs, dining tables and beds have been donated to the charity’s store in Erdington, helping to raise tens of thousands of pounds.
 
The charity makes a collection every Monday from the furniture retailer’s warehouse with items going up for sale in the BHF store in the High Street, which opened in 2006.
 
Martin Byrne, Cookes Furniture warehouse manager, said: “The system works really well and helps a lot of people. It’s a fantastic way to dispose of unwanted furniture and we get hundreds of donations from sofas to dining tables, wardrobes, tables, chairs and beds.”