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Next week a new BBC TV documentary called ‘Famous, Rich and Jobless’ in which four celebrities learn about the realities of unemployment will feature the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Parker Bowles’ niece Emma Parker Bowles behind the bar at the Noah’s Ark pub in Wednesfield.

Celebs Larry Lamb, Diarmuid Gavin, Emma Parker Bowles and Meg Matthews go to live with people who are experiencing life without a job, and without much prospect of one. Their aim is to try and encourage their new friends to go out and find work.

Pic: BBC.co.uk

According to the Daily Mail, Camilla’s niece Emma Parker Bowles has a less happy stint behind the bar at the Noah’s Ark.

‘Momentarily, Emma seemed all right, then it was all downhill,’ says the show’s Emma Harrison.

Pub landlord Clinton Hawker says: ‘I advertised for a bar worker in the Jobcentre and had 80 people apply. If I’d known she was only going to stay two nights, I would have given the job to one of the 79 people on the dole.’

Part 1 of ‘Famous, Rich and Jobless’ airs on BBC 1 on Tuesday 9th March with part 2 following on Wednesday 10th March.

Recently we were contacted by Carl Rowntree, a instructor from Lee Matthews Blackbelt Academy who have recently begun Martial Arts classes in Wednesfield. Here’s what Carl had to say:

I am writing to introduce the Lee Matthews Blackbelt Academy and to let WV11 readers know that we have just opened a new satellite school in Wednesfield at Edward The Elder Primary School on Moat House Lane East. We teach Martial Arts to everyone from the age of 4 years old and currently have 3 different classes running from this school every Tuesday and Friday.

For more information on our classes and to book a free lesson at Wednesfield, please call 0800 3893987 or visit us online at www.leematthews.co.uk and follow the link at the bottom of the home page.

Wednesfield resident and former Mayor of Wolverhampton Phil Bateman finally got what was coming to him this week when National Express staff unveiled a 22ft Happy Birthday advert on a bus.

The advert included the free bus pass which Phil, who has worked in the public transport sector for the past 20 years will be entitled to on his 60th Birthday.

Read more at the Express & Star.

Local resident Adam recently contact WV11 about the possibility of putting on live music events somewhere in Wednesfield.

Adam is keen to try and build a local music scene in Wednesfield that caters to both young and old musicians alike; his idea is to stage a local ‘battle of the bands’ type event with contestants from the local area.

The event(s) would take place in a pub or club in Wednesfield and Adam would like bands/musicians to get in touch if they’d be interested in performing.

If you’re a musician interested in taking part, or think  that you’re the next Simon Cowell and would make a great ‘battle of the bands’ judge, email Adam on foxboro@live.nl for more information.

UPDATE: According to the Demolish and Dismantle blog, the Armac Group will be carrying out the demolition once the garages are free of tenants at the end of March. WV11 will be covering the demolition, so expect photos and/or video.

WV11 recently reported on the fate of a set of derelict garages which border Ashmore Park and Wednesfield Aces Cycle Speedway Club after reporting the problem on Fix My Street.

After being contacted by Wv11, Wolverhampton Homes Communications Manager, Kate Hughes told us: “The Garages are set to be demolished soon and we are currently negotiating with the 2 remaining tenants, but until alternative locations are found we can’t demolish them”.

Since our original article, the story has been picked up by local paper the Express & Star and today we were contacted by Wolverhampton Homes who told us that vacation notices have been served to the two remaining tenants. These orders are due to expire on the 25th March and once this has happened a demolition order will follow.

We have asked Wolverhampton Homes for more information on what will happen to the land the garages currently stand on as they form part of the perimeter fence of the park and will report on any news we receive.

If after a couple of months of 2010 you’re still struggling to shed those extra Christmas pounds and are looking for a way of losing weight, why not try the local Weight Watchers club?

Local Weight Watchers meetings:

Wednesfield
Every Monday 5.45pm
Community Centre, Alfred Squire Road, WV11 1XU

Ashmore Park
Every Wednesday 5.30pm & 6.45pm
St Albans Church Hall, Griffiths Drive, WV11 2LJ

For more information contact Beverley on 07739 968 678 or bev_ww@yahoo.co.uk or visit the Facebook page.

UPDATE: You can view/download the 549 bus timetable here.

As reported in the Express and Star today, a new bus route is set to begin running next week that links two of the regions main hospitals.

The 549 bus service will take passengers between Walsall Manor Hospital and New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.

The half-hourly service which begins on Monday will start from St Paul’s Street in Walsall, calling at both hospitals and travel via Bentley and Wednesfield, then on to Wolverhampton city centre.

The service will be run by commercial operator Midland and extra buses will be introduced to cover the route, which will operate Mondays to Saturdays between 8am and 6pm.

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