An employee of housing organisation, Sandwell Homes, has followed in the footsteps of Hollywood legend George Clooney after raising £740 towards the Disasters Emergency Committee fund to support relief work in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake.

Clerical officer, Elizabeth Need, invited Sandwell Homes employees to a fundraising coffee morning after being inspired by George Clooney’s ‘Hope for Haiti’ telethon last week.

Scores of employees baked cakes and nibbles to sell for the cause, as well as donating gifts to sell in a tombola and raffle. Workers then gave up their lunch-hour to attend the coffee morning, digging deep and raising hundreds of pounds.

The money has been donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee, which brings together a unique alliance of the UK's aid, corporate, public and broadcasting sectors to rally the nation's compassion, and ensure that funds raised go to DEC agencies best placed to deliver effective and timely relief to people most in need.

Speaking after the event Liz said: “I am a little overwhelmed at how much money we managed to raise just from selling coffee and cakes. We obviously have some very generous employees at Sandwell Homes.

“This was just one of a number of fundraising activities going on up and down the country, which shows how well people pull together in a time of crisis. I think George Clooney would be proud of us!”

Residents in the Oldbury Central area of Sandwell are being offered the chance to see proposals for forthcoming improvement works under the low-rise stream of the Decent Homes Programme.

The event will be a valuable opportunity for tenants to see proposals for the forthcoming works, examples of kitchen units, worktops etc, and to ask questions or raise any concerns that they may have about the programme.

To date the Partnership has spent over £250m since starting in 2005, replacing bathrooms, kitchens, windows, heating systems and roofs – giving tenants modern, warm and energy efficient homes. Over 23,000 homes now meet the Decent Homes standard.

Anyone interested in attending the event should visit Christ Church, Birmingham Street, Oldbury, West Midlands, B69 4DY, between 12.30am and 6.30pm on Thursday 4th February.

Sandwell Homes’ community alarms service has been praised by an elderly resident for making sure she was looked after during some of the worst weather the region has seen for years.

Lillian Gwynne, an 88 year old resident from Oldbury, called the housing organisation’s temporary hotline number when her boiler broke during heavy spells of snowfall and sub-zero temperatures earlier this week.

Sandwell Homes, responsible for managing 29,000 council properties in the borough, promptly sent community alarm officer Neil Bailey to visit and make sure she had plenty of hot drinks, food and clothing to keep her warm whilst without hot water and central heating.

Mrs Gwynne, who lives alone in her council flat, said: “I would like to say thank you to the community alarms team for their assistance over the weekend. They sent somebody around straight away and made sure I was keeping warm and that I had plenty of food and drink.”

Council Leader Cllr Darren Cooper, said: “The recent weather conditions have been particularly treacherous and we just wanted to make sure our most vulnerable, isolated residents were looked after should they experience a serious emergency of any kind.

“The hotline received a number of calls relating to burst water pipes and faulty central heating, and we simply made sure we had officers available to help out whilst the problems were being rectified.”

A Smethwick council tenant accused of racially abusing and being violent towards a Sandwell Homes employee has been handed a court order to curb his behaviour.

Birmingham County Court gave 52-year-old Daniel Alfonso Burke a one-year injunction order following action by Sandwell Council's anti-social behaviour team, supported by Sandwell Homes.

A Sandwell Homes employee claimed that while carrying out his duties in Windmill Lane, Smethwick, on December 3, he was racially abused by Mr Burke, who also pushed a door into him.

The injunction, awarded by the court on December 18, prohibits Mr Burke, who lives in a flat in Birchcroft, Windmill Lane, from:

* Engaging or threatening to engage in conduct likely to cause a nuisance or annoyance to any resident, visitor or any other person within the locality of Birchcroft, Windmill Lane.

* Assaulting, harassing or using or threatening to use violence, intimidating, obstructing or using verbally abusive language to members of staff or any other person residing, visiting or otherwise engaging in lawful activity within the locality of Birchcroft, Windmill Lane.

If he does anything that breaches the terms of the injunction, he can be arrested by the police and taken to court. A breach of the conditions of an injunction can result in up to two years' imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine for contempt of court.

Mr Burke did not attend the hearing.

Councillor Simon Hackett, the council's cabinet member for safer communities, said: "We are stamping out anti-social behaviour for the benefit of all Sandwell people, including those who live here and work here. This case sends a strong message that anyone who thinks that Sandwell Homes or council staff are easy targets for abuse will face tough action.

"Sandwell is a great place with great people and great prospects, with the vast majority of people law-abiding and respectful of others. But we will not hesitate to take action against the small minority of people responsible for criminal and anti-social behaviour."

Brian Oakley, Sandwell Homes' chief executive, said: "We congratulate the council's anti-social behaviour team for the  effective way in which they dealt with the case."

Children in 10 Oldbury based schools have received hundreds of books between them as part of the Sandwell Decent Homes Partnership’s milestone celebrations.

The primary schools, which included Warley infant school, Highfields infant school, Tividale Hall, Grace Mary, Moat Farm, Causeway Green, Rounds Green, Brand Hall and Black Heath school, all created their own unique shopping list for the Partnership. As a result the Partnership donated £2000, which bought much needed text books, new fictional titles, picture books and multi-lingual books to ensure that those children whose first language is not English could enjoy some of the fictional classics.

Tividale Hall Primary head teacher, Pam Willets, said: “These books will be a valuable resource for the school library. On behalf of our school community, I would like to say thank you for the generous donation, which will be enjoyed by all our young readers.”

The Partnership is celebrating the milestone of investing £250 million into Sandwell’s existing housing stock, by undertaking £25,000 worth of community projects in the borough’s six towns. The Partnership, which is tasked with bringing Sandwell’s 29,000 local authority owned homes up to the ‘Decent Homes’ standard, is a joint working agreement between Sandwell Homes, Think Local Construction, Taylor Woodrow, Lovell Partnerships, Wates Living Space, Connaught Partnerships, Sandwell MBC Urban Design, Rider Levett Bucknall and Thomas Vale Construction.

The £250 million has been spent on the borough over the last four years and has helped to significantly improve the quality of life for thousands of Sandwell MBC tenants as well as creating over 1000 employment opportunities for local people.

The Partnership has now refurbished over 23,000 homes, which has included replacing bathrooms, kitchens, windows, heating systems and roofs – giving tenants modern, warm and energy efficient homes.

To celebrate this spend, the Partnership looked into a variety of causes in each of the six towns in Sandwell and drew up a final list of organisations and schools to help. This list includes Wednesbury Club & Youth Centre, Holy Trinity School in West Bromwich, the Britannia Park rooms in Rowley Regis, ten schools in Oldbury, Cape Hill primary school in Smethwick and the Tipton Muslim Centre.