This November, world leaders will gather in Glasgow for COP26, and have a high level discussion on climate change and how countries will coordinate and adapt to face it. Yet many feel that our governments are not doing enough and that the result of COP26 will be business as usual.

Mass demonstrations are being planned across the UK by those who want our governments and leaders to start taking climate change seriously and while many will travel to Glasgow, Nottingham has been chosen as a regional hub for a mass demonstration.

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On 11 January 1879 the vanguard of Colonel Richard Glyn’s No.3 Column crossed the Buffalo River into Zululand at Rorke’s Drift, marking the start of the Anglo-Zulu War. The Column was part of Lord Chelmsford’s main invasion force, launched under the pretext of countering Zulu ‘aggression’.

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We’ve created two free PSHE lessons for teachers to use with their Key Stage 4 students

Accredited by the PSHE Association, these lessons support pupils to explore the impact film and media content can have on mental health and the importance of making healthy viewing choices.

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British-Jamaican audio artist and DJ Weyland McKenzie-Witter explores the sometimes uneasy relationship between the Black and the Green, as political movements and ideas.

It's the untold story of their longstanding relationship, first as political movements developing in the United States, a wariness that continues today between new organisations such as Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion – the latter (along with the wider environmental movement) criticised for being overwhelmingly white, idealistic and middle-class.

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1st - 30th Nov

Complete a full marathon at your own time and pace throughout November and help take down blood cancer.

How do I get involved?

Head to our Facebook group to sign up.
Once part of the Facebook group, visit the pinned post to set up your Facebook Fundraiser
Share your Facebook fundraiser with your Facebook friends

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1st - 30th Nov

Join The Big Step Challenge for The Big Issue Foundation this November. Join a supportive community taking on 300,000 steps throughout the month and get moving to support Big Issue vendors to build better futures for themselves.

Get ready in time for November by joining our Big Step Challenge Facebook group.

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A stunning mural of the late Eric Irons, the first black magistrate in Britain, was unveiled today (October 4) on Carrington Street Bridge.

Mr Irons was a “determined” campaigner for equal rights and settled in Nottingham after leaving Jamaica. He passed away in 2007.

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From the first public sculptures of Black Britons to the home of Britain’s first West Indian newspaper, we’re celebrating the Black histories of 31 places in England and the accomplishments of those associated with them.

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We discover the role Black & African troops have played in Britain's wars, from the Napoleonic to World War 1 with special guest Selena Carty, founder of Black Poppy Rose

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must be submitted by midnight on the 15th October 2021

We’re delighted to be launching the Pioneers Film Fund, a special initiative to inspire creative filmmakers to come together and shine a light on one of humanity’s biggest questions: what is the future of our food?

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An apparently African skeleton, unearthed near a medieval English monastery, pushes the team to its limits. Bone analysis offers clues about the where the mysterious skeleton might actually have come from and facial reconstruction painstakingly reveals his face, which has not been seen in centuries. The historical trail points to new evidence about British ancestry and provides insight into how he tragically died.

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Any hopes that pandemic lockdowns dented the build up of greenhouse gases have been dashed as a new report confirmed that global levels reached their highest on record in 2020.

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“A revealing and personal encounter between a famous photographer-author and Muhammad Ali,” wrote Life magazine in 1966, introducing Gordon Parks’ profile of the boxing champion. By then, Parks had been at Life for over a decade – he was the first Black image-maker on the magazine’s staff – and was an established photographer, known for also writing the features alongside his photo stories.

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George Washington Carver (c. 1864 – January 5, 1943) was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was the most prominent black scientist of the early 20th century.

While a professor at Tuskegee Institute, Carver developed techniques to improve soils depleted by repeated plantings of cotton. He wanted poor farmers to grow other crops, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes, as a source of their own food and to improve their quality of life.

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Oswald George Powe, always known as George, died in 2013, aged 87. He served in the RAF during World War II and subsequently settled in the UK. He was a lifelong socialist and a true comrade who fought against colonialism and racism, and strove for equality and respect for the African-Caribbean community.

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Runners World

Eliud Kipchoge’s history-making sub-two-hour marathon in Vienna in October 2019 is justifiably famous. But a new documentary film – Kipchoge: The Last Milestone – shows the inside story of the Olympic champion’s build-up to that extraordinary day. With unprecedented access to the marathon world record holder and his team, the film follows Kipchoge from his training camp in Kenya in the months leading up to the event and takes a personal look at the athlete, including interviews with those closest to him and details of his daily rituals. Here are 10 things we learned from watching it.

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“We can no longer let the people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive. Hope is not blah blah blah. Hope is telling the truth. Hope is taking action”

My speech at #Youth4Climate #PreCOP26 in Milan, Italy.

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Sunderland Shorts Film Festival celebrates short films with big ideas from the North East & around the world! Join us for our 6th annual fest - October 2021 #SSFF2021

At Sunderland Shorts Film Festival (SSFF) we are dedicated to bringing the best across all genres of film to our audiences in the heart of the North East of England.

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Eilish McColgan and Marc Scott showed few signs of the long, gruelling Olympic season as they stormed to victory in the Great Manchester Run on Sunday

With 30:52 McColgan went No.3 on the UK all-time rankings for 10km on the road, whereas Scott ran a PB of 28:03 to out-kick Andy Butchart and Jack Rowe as the popular mass participation event returned for the first time since May 2019.

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Despite delays owing to the pandemic, Midlands Movies will again be recognising the movie-making talent in the area in 2021. Even with the challenges experienced during the year, over 130 completed films were submitted and the awards again brought attention to the many amazing local films completed in difficult circumstances. The 5th annual Midlands Movies Awards took place at The Y Theatre in Leicester on 4th September 2021.

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Bristol Half Marathon winner, Omar Ahmed has been disqualified after accidentally running the wrong race. The HOKA-sponsored athlete, who trains with Birchfield Harriers, had originally signed up to run the Bristol 10K – which took place alongside the Bristol Half – in the Great Bristol Run – on Sunday 19 September.

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The government has refused to suspend a free-trade deal with the Faroe Islands over whale and dolphin massacres, in defiance of calls from conservationists.

Hunters caused widespread outrage last week when they wiped out a super-pod of 1,428 dolphins – thought to be the worst bloodbath of the mammals in the islands’ history.

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Many runners end up cycling at one point or another. If you’ve run for a long time, there’s a high probability that you’ve sustained an injury and been forced to spend some time on two wheels. While cycling is a great sport and a great way to stay fit, for many reasons, running remains the superior endurance activity. Here’s why

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Our goal is a more sustainable, just and equal planet. We want forests and biodiversity to thrive, fossil fuels to stay in the ground and corporations to prioritise the interests of people and the planet.

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Mansfield dancer crowned World Champion at Lyrical Grand Prix

Tilly Epton has been dancing from the tender age of two at Expressions Academy of Performing Arts, on Newgate Lane.

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Up to 14,000 tonnes ends up in coral reef areas each year, but scientists are divided on how we can best protect our skin without harming the environment

Autumn Blum was 5 metres underwater, scuba diving off the Pacific island of Palau, when she looked up towards the surface and saw a rainbow.

“I thought maybe it had been raining,” she says. “As I got closer, I saw that it wasn’t a rainbow: it was actually an oily sheen that was coming off a group of snorkellers.”

She realised the iridescent slick must have come from the snorkellers’ sunscreen.

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Fundraiser to buy the RNLI a hovercraft named after Nigel Farage raises tens of thousands of pounds

The organiser, Simon Harris, states on the fundraising page: “I feel that this would be incredibly appropriate due to Mr Farage taking such an active interest in the RNLI’s activities right now. If there is any money left over, we will purchase a pint of real ale to smash against the front of the boat in a naming ceremony.”

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Preparations are being made for the deportation of a number of Jamaican nationals who came to the UK as children, in an apparent reversal of an earlier agreement not to deport people who arrived in this country as minors.

A charter flight to Jamaica is scheduled for 11 August, returning several dozen people whose criminal convictions have triggered deportation orders. However, campaigners have protested that it is unreasonable to remove people who have spent a lifetime in the UK to a country where they have no ties.

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More than two hundred people dead in western Europe, thousands displaced by floods in China and the Middle East, ‘heat domes’ over Canada and the US taking lives and sparking wildfires, videos of hailstones smashing car windows and clattering against rooftops. The summer of 2021 has been laced with sobering examples of the climate crisis facing each and every one of us.

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The Atlantic Ocean’s current system, an engine of the Northern Hemisphere’s climate, could be weakening due to climate change, which could have severe consequences for the world’s weather including “extreme cold” in Europe and parts of North America and rising sea levels in parts of the United States, according to a new scientific study.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is part of a large system of ocean currents, known as the Gulf Stream, that transports warm water from the tropics northwards into the North Atlantic.

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The Tree Council’s Close the Gap Community Hedge Fund can provide up to 100% grants for volunteer Tree Wardens and community groups in England to plant new hedgerows, hedgerow trees and gap up existing hedgerows in winter 2021/22. Planting can be in rural or urban areas on private or public land where the community will benefit.

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Films for Action

Sometimes photographs deceive. Take this one, for example. It represents John Carlos and Tommie Smith’s rebellious gesture the day they won medals for the 200 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and it certainly deceived me for a long time.

I always saw the photo as a powerful image of two barefoot black men, with their heads bowed, their black-gloved fists in the air while the US National Anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” played. It was a strong symbolic gesture – taking a stand for African American civil rights in a year of tragedies that included the death of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.

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BBC

Players from all 20 Premier League clubs say they will continue to take the knee as a symbol of their "unity against all forms of racism".

The Premier League "wholeheartedly support" the decision that has been made.

A 'No Room For Racism' sleeve badge will also be worn by players and match officials on their shirts.

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BBC

Emily Campbell [from Bulwell] became the first British female weightlifter to win an Olympic medal with +87kg silver.

The 27-year-old lifted a total of 283kg as China's Li Wenwen won gold with a new Olympic record of 320kg.

Campbell, making her Olympic debut in Tokyo, was fourth after the snatch but moved on to the podium with successive clean and jerk lifts of 156kg and 161kg.

American Sarah Robles won bronze with a total of 282kg.

"I am speechless, for the first time ever," Campbell told BBC Sport.

"You know you can get in shape coming into these things, you know you want to perform your best, but to actually put it out on the stage, I'm really thrilled."

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A guide for young people in which the footballer shares stories from his own life and reveals how to “dream big” and “find your team”, You Are a Champion was published at the end of May, co-written with journalist Carl Anka. It topped the children’s bestseller charts for four weeks until it was knocked off by David Walliams’ new novel Megamonster.

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The judges at RHS Flower Show Tatton Park, in Cheshire, have awarded a gold medal to a garden full of weeds.

The team behind the plot, named Weed Thriller, wanted to show that native plants are not just beautiful but essential for wildlife.

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