Welcome to the 
November/December edition of Citylife magazine.
Here we are again in the run up to the festive season and there’s a lot to see and do for everyone. Children and young people shouldn’t miss the Northern Children’s Book Festival. At the gala day on 22 November they will have the chance to meet some of their favourite authors.
Our Christmas and New Year Special gives you a flavour of what's happening over the festive period, including useful information on our opening times.
As usual we try to keep you up to date with what we are doing to improve your services. This time, you can read about two new customer service centres and some of our new schools. And read our annual report to find what we have spent money on and how we performed over the last year. Whatever you do, don’t miss our cover stars, the Hairy Bikers, switching on the Christmas lights. The ceremony takes place at Grey Street on Thursday, 20 November.
Download the pdf for November/December Citylife (3.01mb) or read the articles below on-line. The pdf also includes advertisements, Council diary and What's on.
Podcast
This months Podcast is available
Meg Woollam and the Citylife team
News
Remember The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress will represent the city at this year’s Remembrance Sunday commemorations on Sunday 9 November.
Happy Birthday Lady Stephenson Library!Lady Stephenson Library in Walker took a trip back in time earlier this week as it celebrated its 100th birthday with an Edwardian tea party.
Ruby celebrations for Civic CentreThis year marks the 40th anniversary of the opening of Newcastle Civic Centre, which took place on Thursday 14 November 1968.
International banking situation – what is the impact on Newcastle?In recent weeks the news has been full of the potential risks facing councils that have money invested in Icelandic banks.
Keeping good customer service in the familyThe Pumphrey’s stall in the Grainger Market has won The Grainger Market Customer Service Award
Citylife on podcastCitylife is delivered free to all Newcastle residents – and, thanks to a band of dedicated volunteers, visually impaired people can hear all the city’s news too, either on tape or online.
Features
You say, we careEarlier this year we carried out three surveys. These were to find out what people who use three particular areas of our services think about the support they get.
Having a learning disability should not stop you voting!Voting in local or general elections is most people’s right, including people with learning disabilities.
Christmas and New Year Special: Get an arty glow this winterThe annual NewcastleGateshead Winter Festival returns this year with events that are guaranteed to light up the dark nights of December.
Christmas and New Year Special: Don’t forget, Neighbourhood Helpline!In April we launched Neighbourhood Helpline – 0300 1000 101 – where you can report a range of problems 24 hours a day, seven days-a-week all year round – including Christmas and New Year!
Remember, remember the third of NovemberTwo brand new customer service centres are opening their doors to the public in November.
Christmas and New Year Special: Multi-storey car parksWhen the council owned multi-storey car parks are open Christmas
Christmas and New Year Special: Christmas to sparkle with kids competition winnersEach year we ask school children across Newcastle to design a festive light. The four winning designs are made into real lights and will take pride of place on Grainger Street beside the rest of the city’s festive lights.
Christmas and New Year Special: Recycle your ChristmasChristmas cards and tree recycling will be available across the city.
Christine finds a future in retailChristine Maylia of Spital Tongues was unemployed and bored with her usual temporary cleaning or catering work.
Newcastle City Council annual reportLast year, we spent £895 million on services (revenue expenditure), and a further £188 million investing in buildings and infrastructure (capital expenditure).
Christmas and New Year Special: Make your Christmas card choice countMany of us buy our Christmas cards and support the charity of our choice at the same time. But it can be a bit of a lottery as you have to read the small print to see exactly how much the charity gets from your good will.
Digital TV - a new way to get services and informationOur digital TV site contains information on local services and organisations in Newcastle. The site is interactive and you can report issues and make comments as well as finding information.
Christmas and New Year Special: Celebration tree continues traditionA Newcastle tradition will continue this month when the Lord Mayor of Newcastle hosts the annual Bergen Christmas Tree ceremony on Thursday, 27 November from 5.30pm.
Carers’ Rights Day 2008Many people may see themselves as a family member or a friend. But if you are providing unpaid help and support to someone who has a disability, illness, is frail or has alcohol or drug related problems, then you are also a carer.
Christmas and New Year Special: Newcastle Christmas marketsOnce again, the streets around Grey’s Monument will be buzzing with life during the weeks leading up until Christmas.
Christmas and New Year Special: Hairy Bikers to switch on Christmas lightsThis year’s festive season will get off to a roaring start when the Hairy Bikers come to town to switch on our Christmas lights later this month.
Christmas and New Year Special: Library services opening timesWhen will the libraries be open over the Christmas and New Year period?
Don’t stay silent, speak outYou’d be pretty angry if someone stole money from you, wouldn’t you? But that’s exactly what people who commit benefit fraud are doing.
Holistic health for Chinese communityTaking a holistic approach has turned a simple idea into a successful, large-scale project that helps keep Newcastle’s Chinese community in good health.
News from Your Homes NewcastleNew community housing office for Benwell and Scotswood and more support on rent payments
1 December is World AIDS DayMarch with us on Saturday 6 December from just below Grey’s Monument to The Sage, Gateshead.
Regulars
Everyone's tomorrow: Celebrating older peopleEgyptian dancing, hip-hop, Bollywood dancing, keep fit and Nordic walking were just some of the activities that older people tried at two special celebrations marking the UK’s Older Person Day on 1 October.
Meet Anna Foster Christmas has rolled around again…either the years are getting shorter or time is passing more quickly!
Don’t let bonfires and fireworks ruin your lifeThe region’s emergency services, local authorities and the NHS joined forces in a hard-hitting bonfire and fireworks campaign – for the second year running.
Adult Services transforming livesYou may remember in the last edition of Citylife we told you about one of the seven outcomes our adult services must work hard to achieve. These outcomes are set by the Department of Health. Here we talk about the next two and how these actions are making a real difference to people’s lives.
News from Newcastle Primary Care Trust
News from Bridging NewcastleGatesheadWhat's happening in the Bridging NewcastleGateshead area.
Community News
Cup o’ tea, Gromit?There’s nowt like a nice cup of tea. Now you can enjoy a cuppa and raise money for projects like St Oswald’s Hospice with Wallace and Gromit’s Children’s Foundation.
News from local groupsYMCA European Festival, Kingstone Park Indoor Bowling Club, Caring Hands, C2C for Bobby Robson, Parentline Plus, Community Centres, Community Transport, Spice FM
Every Child Matters
Never too young to voteChildren at Walkergate Early Years Centre had a taste of the democratic process this June.
Giving young people a voiceMost of us want a say in what happens in our home cities and towns and young people are no exception!
Northern Children’s Book FestivalWe're inviting children from across the city to help us celebrate the magical, fantastic and altogether awesome world of children's books.
Our schools are top of the class!In every issue of Citylife we tell you about what school inspectors Ofsted has had to say about one of our schools – but, in this issue it isn’t possible to stop at one!
Schools rise to the challenge with eighth year of improved GCSE resultsGCSE results day figures showed the number of students achieving five or more A*-C grade passes going up by 5% to 66%.
Exciting reading for little onesAs part of the National Year of Reading we're making it easier for nurseries, children's centres and other early years centres to borrow exciting books.
Time capsule fit for a time lord as new City Library progress celebratedThere can be few things more appropriate to put in a time capsule than a Doctor Who DVD!
New school year brings new schoolsPupils at three schools had extra reason to be excited as they returned for a new term in September – they went back to brand new schools!
More pupils than ever make the grade after staying onNewcastle students once again celebrated record A-level results this year
Time for booksFree books will be handed out to every child in reception class in Newcastle later this month.
Information Technology is the future for Newcastle schoolsIt's never been more important for pupils to be able to use and understand modern computer technology
Improving Your Environment
Energy saving top tipsFind out how you can save energy and money
Grant netted for new nettyAllotments in West Denton have benefited from an £8,500 grant from the Local Action on Global Issues Fund at the Community Foundation to install a state of the art compost toilet.
Don’t make our city a tipFly-tipping is selfish, dangerous and expensive!
Christmas refuse collection datesFind out when you can put your bin out over the Christmas period.
“Everybody in the world should care about the world” - Claudia, aged nine, Broadway East First SchoolMany of us adults would probably say we’re too busy to do our bit to tackle climate change or that we’ve got more important things to worry about.