LEAMINGTON SPA: Despite many people feeling the pinch this past year, it is reassuring to see that support was still rife for the fundraising efforts of Plumb Center and Parts Center with an outstanding £100 000 raised for Action for Children.

WOLVERHAMPTON: Carvers is sponsoring next weekend's Wolverhampton Marathon when more than 2000 runners are expected to participate.

DUBLIN: The Grafton Group today published its six month interim results which shows that the group has stabilised.

MAIDSTONE: A 27-year-old man has been sentenced for starting a fire in a Homebase store in Kent when it was full of shoppers.

CREWE: Focus DIY has reduced its losses during a year in which it avoided insolvency after agreeing a company voluntary arrangement with creditors.

PORTSMOUTH: A prolific thief who targeted B&Q as well as other stores has been jailed for nine months.

LONDON: Retailers are preparing to slash prices for the Bank Holiday weekend despite a survey revealing that prices on the high street are rising at the fastest rate in decades.

NEWCASTLE: JT Dove reported turnover down £6.1 to £24.6m in the 12 months to the year ending December 2009 and a pre-tax loss of £680 000, down from £385 000 profit the previous year.

SHEFFIELD: Insulation and roofing group SIG said its first-half pre-tax profit slipped 16% and despite sales picking up in the second quarter warned of the adverse effect of government austerity measures.

LIVERPOOL: Builders' merchant Joseph Parr Group recovered from a 20% drop in turnover during the recession and reported increased profits in 2009.

LEICESTER: Leading heating and plumbing merchant PTS is making a name for itself on Sky Sports by lending its support to the England Rugby Super League as it prepares to take on France in May 2011.

LEAMINGTON SPA: Wolseley is selling its Brandon Hire business to private investment company Rutland Partners, it was announced today.

DUBLIN: Kingspan beat earnings forecasts and resumed dividend payments as firm orders defied fears of a slump into recession in the United Kingdom, United States and Europe.

SHEFFIELD: TR Engineering has announced that they have acquired the assets from former heating company Trianco Heating Products.

UK: Family-run plumbing firm, the Walker Group, known for its online bathrooms store Victoria Plumb, has paid £250K for the rights to flat-pack furniture business, MFI.

ABINGDON: DIY and building supplies website Building Supplies Online reports booming sales growth in its first six months trading.

LONDON: The National Federation of Builders attacked the government for enacting "shotgun" policies that are causing severe damage to its 2500 members.

BIRMINGHAM: Stax Trade Centres has added a 2300sqft kitchen and bathroom showroom display area to its site.

HEYWOOD: Police are hunting a robber who threatened staff with a knife at Huws Gray Brick Matching on Bridge Street.

WESTCLIFF: One of south Essex's oldest shops, which was on the verge of shutting down, has reopened.

LONDON: A new company is emerging to challenge UK building material producers. Peter Tom, the ex-chairman and chief executive of Aggregate Industries is using his investment vehicle Marwyn Materials to buy Breedon Holdings, the quarrying and aggregates business.

DARTFORD: Dickies protective clothing and footwear is to be stocked and distributed by Toolbank, the distributor of tools, accessories and hardware products.

ONLINE: eBuildingSupplies has entered into a joint venture agreement with Unimer.

KIDDERMINSTER: In response to a growing demand for its range of roof tiles, Sandtoft has opened a new distribution centre in the West Midlands.

NORTHAMPTON: Wickes is advertising discounts on its own-brand products in a bid to counter the DIY market slowdown.

STAFFORDSHIRE: The names of employees killed during the two world wars who worked for a joinery company in Burton are being sought to add to memorial plaques.

SCOTLAND: Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) has been granted planning permission by the City of Edinburgh Council to build over 100 new homes at Western Harbour, Newhaven.

DERBYSHIRE: After almost 10 years in the pipeline, an ambitious plan to give part of Matlock Town Football Club's Causeway Lane ground a major makeover is about to become a reality.

COVENTRY: Jewson's Express Kitchens range is now available from 223 of the merchant’s nationwide branches.

WEST YORKSHIRE: Graham, the plumbers' merchant, has relocated its Leeds branch from the present site in Kirkstall Road to new premises in Brown Lane to create the latest of the company’s heating and plumbing 'super-branches'.

NORTHAMPTON: A credit controller from Travis Perkins lied about having breast cancer and then kept the charity donations she collected.

BANBURY: John Nicholls is to close its Stratford branch on 1 September.

UK: A pioneering £3m project is under way to design a supply chain solution to improve the energy-efficiency of the vast majority of the 26 million UK homes that will still be in use by 2050.

RAMSGATE: Eurocell Building Plastics has opened a new branch in Thanet which has the additional benefit of back-up from the company’s nearby Sittingbourne branch.

LONDON: Government figures show four out of 10 homes in the private rental sector are 'non-decent', with problems such as damp, inadequate bathrooms and kitchens and broken windows.

CAERPHILLY: Steel lintels and building components company, Catnic, has signed an exclusive deal to supply its plasterers' beads and expanded metal products to the National Buying Group.

EAST YORKSHIRE: Travis Perkins and Falkingham Hardware have teamed with local police to offer residents a discounted home security devices.

LONDON: The construction industry is still in a 'very precarious position', despite Office of National Statistics figures showing second quarter construction output up 9% said the Construction Products Association.

SUFFOLK: A swan which repeatedly attacked canoeists and walkers along the River Chelmer has been evicted to a Lafarge quarry site.

HAVERHILL: Wickes has signed a tenancy agreement with HPG Developments, making it the first business to agree terms to reside on the former Project site.

BERKSHIRE: Swindon Borough Council granted Gazeley planning approval for the proposed 74 000m2 B&Q distribution centre at G Park Swindon. 

INVERNESS: David Sutherland, chief executive of Tulloch Homes warned that fears over public sector cuts have hit the Highlands' recovery from recession.

MOUNTSORREL: It may be millions of miles from Mars, but rocks from the Lafarge granite quarry in Mountsorrel have been masquerading as the Red Planet's landscape.

PENRITH: JT Atkinson has closed the Penrith branch of its home and garden centre in Ullswater Road after a decline in its customer numbers and an increase in competition.

BOOTLE: GDC Group , the UK heating division of Glen Dimplex, has acquired the fixed assets, inventory and intellectual property including the brand of Robinson Willey – in administration. 

NORTHAMPTON: National merchant Travis Perkins said it would offset any fall in public sector newbuild business with growth in other customer groups.

FIFE: Timber specialist, James Donaldson & Sons has announced its end of year results, with the company remaining in profit,  despite the economic difficulties affecting the construction industry.

NORTHAMPTON: Travis Perkins has started to stockpile heating and ventilation units, as well as radiators, ahead of expected price increases from its European suppliers.

NORTHAMPTON: Jewson is backing Northampton Town by becoming an official club partner in a three-year deal with the club.

BOOTLE: Gas fire manufacturer Robinson Willey has ceased trading after more than 65 years.

LLANGEFNI: Huws Gray has steadily expanded its business through acquisitions and today announced that it has purchased Ainscough Building Supplies based in Wigan, Lancashire.

LONDON: Councils in England are to be offered extra money for every newly-built home, as part of a government programme aimed at easing housing shortages.

NORTHAMPTON: Travis Perkins plans to buy some of the £2.7bn of assets that Wolseley is selling.

LONDON: The dry summer is reckoned to have boosted sales of fake grass with sales up by one-third on this time last year.

WARRINGTON: Travis Perkins has leased a warehouse in Warrington for its North West distribution base.

LONDON: Shares in retailers including DIY outlets lost ground yesterday on warnings of a retail slowdown by Carpetright, Britain's biggest floor coverings chain and Next, the second-largest fashion chain.

COVENTRY: After a first quarter affected by very cold winter weather in Europe, trading rebounded sharply overall in the second quarter of 2010, with the Saint-Gobain Group reporting 3.9% organic growth.

WORCESTER: An impasse between the European Commission and the European heating manufacturers is threatening to leave the UK's heating industry in limbo. The disagreement concerns Commission plans, part of the Energy Using Products (EuP) Directive…

UK: Local construction industry workers are being given a golden opportunity to secure lucrative new contracts thanks to a deal struck by Build Up North Staffordshire.

NORTHAMPTON: Travis Perkins reported a 24% jump in its pre-tax profits to £112m in the first half of the year as the construction sector experienced a slight surge.