Dust devils and train delays
Plus, it's not over for The Welly pub cats!
Good morning readers — here is your Tuesday briefing.
A Worcestershire swimming champion has won a silver medal in the Paris Olympics, coming excruciatingly close to the gold yesterday evening. His comments below.
As well as that, we have notes on 13-week-long train service reductions on CrossCountry lines, a rare weather-event in Warwickshire and a schedule of book talks throughout the autumn. Plus, a new exhibition explores the lives of black Tudors.
Brum in brief
🥈Swimming silver: 21-year-old Matt Richards, an Olympic swimmer from Worcestershire has won a silver medal in the 200m freestyle in Paris. Despite the win, Richards was disappointed not to have finished first, being a hair’s breadth behind David Popovici, 19, from Romania. He told the BBC: “Obviously two one hundredths off gold is excruciatingly frustrating. If anything it has added more fire to my belly.”
🚆CrossCountry cancellations: Train operator CrossCountry will run reduced services between Birmingham and the South West and Wales; Manchester; and the North East and Scotland. Beginning on 10 August, the company wants to address “performance and reliability” issues by dealing with a backlog of critical train driver training days it says has been caused by prolonged industrial action. By reducing services on some routes, they aim to minimise on-the-day cancellations and extra carriages will be added where possible. Georgia Ehrmann, CrossCountry’s Regional Director for the West Midlands and North West, said taking “proactive action” now would ensure a “resilient and dependable service” in the future. Reduced services will end on 9 November.
🌪️Dust devil: A Warwickshire hayfield was visited by a ‘dust devil’ in a spooky occurrence spotted by Richard Turnell, 46, from Tiddington yesterday. “I’d seen the film Twister last week, and thought this was too coincidental,” he told the BBC after catching the mini tornado-like weather phenomenon on camera. Dust devils usually appear when the ground is dry and hot, producing strong updrafts. All the details at the BBC.
😾Pub cats revolt! The fight to save The Wellington’s pub cats, Malt and Hops, from eviction by Black Country Ales continues. A petition has been started, with 5,391 signatures of a 7,500 goal at the time of writing, following the news that the feline pair are set to be rehomed ahead of a refurbishment. “This is their home and has been for the past five years. Malt and Hops are an integral part of life at the Welly,” reads the petition by Phillip Dews. More here.
📖Autumn voices: Voce Books has announced its autumn programme of events, featuring local author (and Dispatch contributor) Charlie Hill and renowned writer and filmmaker Iain Sinclair. Tickets are £3 but free spaces are available to those who can’t afford it. Book here.
🖼️Black Tudors: A new exhibition exploring the lives of black Tudors is open now at Bromwich Hall in west Bromwich. Visit for free every Tuesday between 11am and 3pm and the weekend of 17-18 August during the same hours. More info here.
training drivers? here we are with a cross country railway network 2024 that hasnt got enough drivers? maybe taking it all back into public ownership is the right thing to do. Although british rail gets a lot of stick, my memory was that it was certainly better than what we have today. Simple ticketing, easy timetables, lots of tech innovations, and same overcrowded trains and often not running to time. never heard of a driver shortage though.