News in Kenilworth

Business leaders in Coventry and Warwickshire have joined national calls to keep the furlough scheme running into the summer.

The latest estimates show that nearly four million employees were being supported by the furlough scheme at the end of December 2020.

Youth groups and organisations will be able to bid for grants up to £60,000 after Warwickshire County Council approved a scheme to target vulnerable children and young adults.

Funding has been approved for the next two years but it is hoped that this will be extended if the scheme proves successful.

Plans to develop Warwick district's first Country Park are to be considered by Warwick District Council's Executive later this month.

If approved, the project to create Tachbrook Country Park, a new 56-hectare public space on land between Bishop's Tachbrook, Leamington Spa and Warwick will be taken to the next stage.

Taken by Paul Bagworth, here is a gallery of stunning photographs of snow-covered Abbey Fields, and Kenilworth Castle as the sun rises.

Many thanks to Paul for sending these through!

A five-foot furry lion is the new 'pride' and joy of a young schoolboy who got more than he bargained for following a Christmas shopping trip in Warwick.

Four-year-old Aaron Carlyle, from Alcester, has taken delivery of the supersized Olly The Brave after successfully completing a charity lion hunt with his friend Sophia Esler, aged eight.

Here are all the headlines and news stories from January in Kenilworth.

The month began with an announcement by West Midlands Railway that Kenilworth Station would not receive any passenger service 'until further notice.' Kenilworth Town Council wrote to WMR asking for more information. A reply was received indicating the operator's commitment to reopening service on the line.

South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust's Cardiology Team has implanted their first patients with a LINQ II device to reduce the need for patients to physically visit hospital.

The team carried out the small, minimally invasive, procedure on their first five patients including Emma Spencer, who is a Medical Student working at the Trust, on Wednesday 20 January.

A Kenilworth artist who has drawn her garden every day during the three national lockdowns has been able to capture both the changing of the seasons and the emotional experiences of the past year in her art.

53 year-old Michala Gyetvai has produced nearly 200 emotional landscapes since the end of March 2020, all of which are interpretations of her own garden.

A Kenilworth poet has had two poems featured in a book all about people's experiences of lockdown during 2020.

53 year-old Michala Gyetvai's poems 'Solitude is an Attitude' and 'A Robin Flew into my Garden' have both featured in 'Yesterday's Diary – An Anthology of Coventry in Lockdown.'

A Warwick charity has been given a lift thanks to an innovative festive fundraising initiative.

Members of Knowle & Dorridge Rotary Club collected £2,700 for Molly Olly's Wishes when their virtual balloon race took off on Christmas Day.