If you have any interest in athletics at all, or just in the development of sport in general - please take time to read. The facts are amazing. This is the most successful athletics programme in the country. It has won five National awards, three governing body awards, it has a 100% attendance to the summer programme and the most successful indoor athletics league in the country. This programme has enabled thousands of young people, no matter what their ability, to participate and compete in an atmosphere of excitement, challenge, fun and fulfilment, alongside 100s of volunteers many of whom were former competitors and GCSE or A level students, who gained valuable leadership skills and qualifications. Several internationals began their career in these programmes. Many many other, high level county and club athletes also started their careers in these programmes. Leader, Howard Court, took up his role after his England athletics role 13 years ago. His wife, Clova Court, is a former Great Britain International Heptathlete. She has supported him and his team in doing an amazing job in developing athletics in the Sandwell Area. There are many other current and past international athletes who are great role models and have contributed or still contribute to the development of sport in Sandwell. PLEASE SAVE THE SANDWELL SPORTS DEVELOPMENT TEAM.

The Kimberley Fencing Club has provided the East Midlands and Great Britain with hundreds of regional champions and a number of national champions over it's 23 years of service to Kimberley, not to mention the Olympians that have trained there. My name is Alex Johnson, I am thirteen years old and have been attending the Kimberley Fencing Club on Saturday mornings since I was eight. The training I have received there has enabled me to qualify twice to compete at the British Youth Championships. Liberty Leisure Limited are now responsible for running the leisure centre that occupys the same site as my school and they have increased the cost of hiring the gym hall. This is the cause of the Kimberley Fencing Club being closed at the end of March 2018. As Liberty Leisure Limited is owned by Broxtowe Borough Council surely it is their responsibility to ensure that local young people can access other sports aside from football and cricket.I think it is important that the council promotes activity and excellence in sport out of school, and this should surely be a priority as part of our Olympic legacy. The gym hall in question is part of my school, The Kimberley School, but is controlled by Liberty Leisure Limited at the weekend. I personally don't know what I would do without my Saturday sessions with my friends, who otherwise would not get another source of exercise as their aren't many other opportunities for sport, aside from the previously mentioned football and cricket clubs. My coach, Rob Fensom, has spent years in the military as a Royal Marine Commando and is a member of the Fire Service and while trying to give even more to his community and country has been shunned in his effort to do so. Now that Liberty Leisure Limited have doubled the cost of hiring the gym hall it is no longer financially viable for Rob Fensom to sustain the club. I feel as if the council has let us down and to change that please sign this petition.

Natural Foundations is a not for profit organisation giving families a unique place to play imaginately together in all weathers. Come rain or shine, from mud stomping to sand castle building we open! We welcome families from all over Essex and beyond and are accessible to most at £4 for the day-we never turn a family away. Unfortunately Chelmsford City Council do not see the same benefits for children as our parents do and completely out of the blue they have given us 12 weeks notice to leave the land with no offer of other land or possible extension. Despite the outrage from the 8,000 families who visit us, the council have refused to give us any flexibility. This doesn't give us enough time to find another site and this doesn't give us enough time to raise the funds we need to move. We need the summer. Publicly the council have said we have until the end of May, yet our notice states the 10th. Publicly, they have also stated they will give us every bit of help they can, yet this is not happening. We ask the council to be more clear with the public and to give us some flexibility and allow us to stay longer. Please help us by signing this petition to ask the council to either rethink the notice or at least give us more time before we have to leave. Here are some comments from the families who visit us: 'So disgusted by Chelmsford council. Natural foundations has been such a big part of my son's little life. There is no sense to this. The ideas hub in town was priced out of their premises and now another invaluable place for families is under threat. Makes me so sad.' 'If we can do anything to help, please let us know. Us mums are powerful and passionate people, especially where our children are concerned' 'Me and my boys love this place. I always feel so lucky when we go that we have this wonderful resource on our doorstep. It’s so much nicer and more educational than the soft play indoors.' 'I love taking my son here, yet again the council pulls the plug on something that's non profit and great for children's development. I thought they were meant to be supporting children being outside and doing outside activities?' 'I am really, really angry to hear this. I love coming to Sandford mill for your natural foundations. It's educational and a beautiful natural environment for the children to learn and develop their skills with facilities for parking and toilets aswell as plenty of land for picnics. This is just ridiculous everything nice seems to be moved or taken away this is one of the best assets which doesn't cost a fortune in Chelmsford for children.' 'This is really sad. Natural Foundations is absolutely fantastic - the children simply love it as do us parents so I'm keeping everything crossed that you find somewhere suitable - good luck' 'Would be absolutely devastated if we lost Natural Foundations! What you’ve created is just magical! xx' 'You are amazing - we moved home to London and still try to get to you as often as we can. Really hope this situation is either resolved or that you find somewhere even better' 'You make so many children so happy and what you do is wonderful. I cannot believe the council have done this it’s outrageous'

In summer of 2017 the new build of St Nicholas Community Primary School ground to a halt as the contractor went into liquidation (https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/education/schools-new-5m-building-wont-411409 ) preventing the school opening on schedule in the summer. The new site opened after a two week half term in October, this delay cost parents and teachers a considerable amount in childcare. Further delays followed as utilities on site were not up to standard. Staff endeavoured to minimise disruption to the children’s education at the cost of their own time and effort. Some of this disruption has been going on since the start of the new build over two years ago. Today the school is still a building site with areas cordoned off, and re-cordoned off when the weather blew those down. Throughout the winter children have had to access a poorly lit school for after school events and clubs. There is no street-lighting on the path leading into the school beside St Nicholas Church. It is not safe and very frightening for pupils. The path has not been widened and does not provide enough space for the footfall accessing the school with prams, bikes, scooters or more than one child. There is no easy or safe access for parents to drop off or collect their children without causing obstructions, trespass or danger to life. Choke points make it dangerous for children using their bikes, scooters and walking into school. Poor traffic control on the corner of Holme Church Lane, Bulcher Lane, and Beaver Road is also putting lives at risk. The extended closure of footpath No12 leading from Holme Church Lane to Grovehill Road continues to cause elderly residents problems, disorienting them or making it impossible for them to navigate. All these matters were raised at the planning consultations. None of them have been resolved. This is not a 21st Century school as one ward councillor hoped for. The school field was lost when the new build began, two years later children still do not have access to a large, suitable by law, play area. Currently 300 children are limited to exercise on a small tennis court. Once again contractors are delayed due to poor drainage and contractors are now damaging original work while repairing other problems. Many minor injuries have been caused on the footpath. Children are scared of attending school clubs, deciding against after school activities because of the dark. Car drivers are not able to see/react to those crossing the roads in the area resulting in a number of close calls. Children have to wear mud soaked clothes when they fall from their bikes or slip in the mud as there simply aren't enough spare uniforms to go around. Play and exercise time is limited because of lack of space. We believe our children should be able to access and use the school safely. This is not the case. The health and well-being of the pupils have been put second for too long.

Many parents do not have cars and feel that it is both too far for young children to walk, especially in bad weather, and is also unsafe because of the busy roads along the route - despite officers stating otherwise. Does gan nifer o rieni ddim ceir, ac er gwaethaf honiadau am ddiogelwch y llwybrau gan swyddogion y Cyngor, credwn fod y daith yn rhy hir, yn enwedig mewn tywydd garw, ac yn rhy beryglus.

This library and its staff provide vital services to one of Somerset's most deprived areas where community assets are already scarce. Not only is this an essential information and communication resource but it also contributes significantly to health, wellbeing and social life, in particular for the considerable number of residents with limited mobility, especially older, disabled, and low-income residents.

We feel that the distance from Blaenllechau to both schools in an unfair distance for a child to walk especially Infants aged children (3-7). This would be considerably worse in the Winter months. Also with some children in full-time and some in part-time this could means numerous trips to and from school in one day. Traffic around the school is already an issue and this could lead to further increase in traffic flow around the school. We feel no consideration has been taking in declaring the route to school as a "safe route". There are being no extra measures introduced to increase the safety of our children. Public transport is not an option as we only have one bus every hour, which would either make you 40 minutes early for school or 20 minutes late.

There have been a lot of near misses with pedestrians, I witnessed a cyclist being knocked off his bike at school pick up time. I have seen numerous car accidents (all be it minor ones) which could of been a child. I think campaigns to get parents to use their cars less has failed and unfortunately some people are still being selfish and parking in forbidden zones. An area to cross safely away from the chaos will potentially save a child's life. Let's get as many signatures as possible to tell the council that we want and need a crossing!

Carillion was managing support services at the British Museum when they announced bankruptcy on 15 January. Five years ago PCS members campaigned against outsourcing when directly employed staff were privatised and transferred to Carillion. Many have worked at the museum for over 20 years. Now they are being paid by the receivers and face an uncertain future. Under insolvency rules staff have no protection of their terms and conditions if they are transferred to another company. The Museum Director Hartwig Fischer has not even met with staff. This threat is not limited to British Museum: • The Imperial War Museum privatised its gallery services back in 2014. The private contractor Shield went bust in 2016 and was bought up by yet another private firm Noonan leaving staff unsure of the future of their pensions. • The National Gallery privatised 400 workers back in 2015 despite a long-running campaign opposing it, made from striking employees, other culture unions and a number of art campaigners and lovers. Private company Securitas has refused to honour promises and has been less than cooperative with workers represented by PCS. Meanwhile the National Gallery itself has de-recognised the union arguing that most of its members were now working for Securitas. • Some of Tate’s visitor services were provided by privateer Wilson James who used Zero Hours contracts and paid their employees far less than Tate. PCS members won union recognition and parity of pay after their EqualiTate campaign. But in 2017 the contract was passed on to Securitas who immediately de-recognised the PCS union.

At 10 am on Tuesday 13th March a West Lothian Council committee will discuss a proposal to PERMANENTLY STOP all strings and percussion tuition and discontinue Bathgate Academy String Ensemble , Linlithgow Academy String Orchestra and Junior Strings, St Kentigern’s Folk/String Group, West Lothian Sinfonia and West Lothian Folk Group.To axe the strings and percussion instrumental service would be grossly unfair to those pupils who presently receive tuition and would deprive younger children of instrument choice. It would be discriminatory to continue to provide an instrumental service for one group of pupils and not another and we want the council to explore alternative funding sources,which they haven’t done.

These children are already an ethnic minority and, as such, they need extra support to allow them to access education. They and their families are very vulnerable and, therefore, require emotional support to help them to adjust when settling into schools and local communities. They presently receive this care and support from designated specialist teachers of EAL and GYpsy Travellers. I understand that we need to make savings because of austerity. However, it is totally wrong to cut this vital service which is already at crisis level with retired staff not being replaced, budgets cuts annually, and so on. I truly believe that this is a massive mistake by the Welsh Assembly Labour Government and I, as a Labour member myself, urge everybody to sign this petition so that these already marginalised children can continue to receive the support they so desperately need.

The university employer body, Universities UK (UUK), has proposed an end to the defined benefit portion of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), drastically reducing the retirement income and security of affected staff. Independent modelling of what the changes would mean for a typical lecturer found they could lose as much as £10,000 a year in retirement income. USS benefits are already lower than other teaching staff pension schemes. These cuts will only weaken both the position of staff in the scheme and the attraction of working in institutions where USS is offered. That’s why USS members in the University and College Union (UCU) have voted overwhelmingly for sustained strike action to defend their pensions from these damaging changes. Strikes which disrupt students’ learning are always a last resort and we are committed to resolving this dispute by meaningful negotiation if possible, but as no agreement has been reached a wave of national strikes began on 22nd February 2018 and is scheduled to continue until 16th March. We support the UCU members taking strike action and call on UUK to engage meaningfully in negotiation with UCU, submit the USS scheme to independent and transparent valuation and agree to UCU's proposals to maintain the sustainability of the scheme. For more on UCU's proposal see www.ucu.org.uk/article/9364/Further-talks-agreed-in-universities-pensions-dispute?utm_source=lyr-ucu-members&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=members&utm_term=uss-all&utm_content=USS+update