Goodbye August 2026 – A Summer to Remember ☀️👋

And just like that, we find ourselves saying goodbye to August.

It seems only five minutes ago that the school gates closed, suitcases were being packed, gardens were bursting into colour and we were looking forward to those long summer evenings.

Now the school holidays are almost over, September is waiting in the wings and there is already the faintest hint that autumn isn’t too far away.

But before we turn the calendar over, August 2026 deserves a proper farewell — because it has certainly given us plenty to remember.

☀️ A Remarkable Summer

If there’s one thing we’ll remember about the summer of 2026, it will surely be the weather.

For weeks we’ve enjoyed long, hot and exceptionally dry spells, with plenty of opportunities to get outside and make the most of our parks, gardens, pub gardens and everything Sutton Coldfield, Lichfield and the surrounding area has to offer.

And August certainly turned up the heat.

During the month’s major heatwave, temperatures provisionally reached an extraordinary 38.1°C at Kew Gardens on 13 August, making it the fifth hottest day recorded in the UK.

Closer to home, Pershore in Worcestershire reached 38°C, while dozens of locations across central and southern England recorded temperatures of 36°C or above.

It came during what the Met Office described as a remarkable summer of repeated heatwaves, unusually high temperatures and prolonged dry weather.

Of course, anyone looking out of the window as August draws to a close might be wondering where all that sunshine has gone! 🌧️😂

After such a long dry spell, the weather has certainly reminded us that we do still live in Britain.

🏃 Birmingham Takes Centre Stage

One of the undoubted highlights of August happened right here in the West Midlands.

From 10–16 August, Birmingham welcomed some of Europe’s finest athletes for the 2026 European Athletics Championships, with Alexander Stadium once again providing the backdrop for a major international sporting occasion.

And what a week it turned out to be.

Great Britain enjoyed a superb championships on home soil, finishing with nine gold, eight silver and two bronze medals and narrowly missing out on the top of the medal table to Italy.

There were outstanding performances throughout the week — but one athlete in particular made history.

🥇🥇🥇🥇 Amy Hunt Makes History

What a championships for Amy Hunt.

The Nottingham-born sprinter became the first athlete in European Athletics Championships history to win four gold medals at a single edition.

She won:

🥇 Women’s 100m
🥇 Women’s 200m
🥇 Women’s 4x100m relay
🥇 Mixed 4x100m relay

And that final gold came with an added bonus.

Hunt joined Dina Asher-Smith, Zharnel Hughes and Jeremiah Azu in the mixed 4x100m relay, with the British quartet winning gold in a European record of 39.97 seconds.

It was an extraordinary achievement from Hunt and a wonderful moment for British athletics — made even more special by happening in front of a home crowd here in Birmingham.

There was another piece of history too, as Dina Asher-Smith became the most decorated athlete in European Championships history.

For those lucky enough to have been inside Alexander Stadium during the week, there will surely be memories that last for many years.

❤️ Summer Around Sutton Coldfield & Lichfield

Of course, August isn’t only about the big national and international events.

For many of us, summer is made up of much smaller moments.

It’s a walk through Sutton Park on a sunny afternoon. An evening spent in the garden. Meeting friends for a drink or a meal. Taking the children or grandchildren somewhere during the school holidays. Discovering a local event, watching some live music or simply enjoying the fact that it doesn’t get dark at four o’clock!

Our local venues have continued to keep us entertained too.

As August draws to a close, Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Hall still has plenty going on, including Nostalgic Music, ELO Encounter and the Bryan Corbett Trio celebrating Blue Note and Cool Jazz.

Across Lichfield and the surrounding area, August has also brought live music, heritage events and plenty of reasons to get out and explore.

These are the things that make summer special — and one of the reasons we love sharing what’s happening across our local communities.

🎒 The Summer Holidays Come to an End

For families, the end of August inevitably means one thing…

Back to school! 🎒✏️

Uniforms are being checked, shoes are being bought, lunch boxes are coming back out of cupboards and alarm clocks are preparing to make their unwelcome return!

For some youngsters, September will mean their very first day at school.

Others will be making the big move to secondary school, starting college or university, or simply moving up another year and wondering where their summer holiday disappeared to.

To every young person beginning a new chapter this September — we wish you the very best of luck. ❤️

And perhaps an equally big good-luck message should go to all the parents trying to get everybody out of the door on time on that first morning! 😂

🍂 September Is Waiting…

There’s always something slightly bittersweet about the end of August.

The evenings are getting a little shorter, the first leaves will soon begin to change colour and those wonderfully long days of midsummer are gradually disappearing.

But we’re certainly not putting our feet up.

September is already shaping up to be another busy month across Sutton Coldfield, Lichfield, Birmingham and the wider area, with theatre, live music, community events, days out and plenty more to look forward to.

And we’ll be here bringing you as much of it as we possibly can.

So, before September arrives, there’s just one thing left to say…

☀️ Thank You, August

For the sunshine.

For the holidays.

For the long evenings.

For a fantastic European Athletics Championships right here in Birmingham.

For Amy Hunt’s four unforgettable gold medals.

And for all those little summer memories that don’t make the headlines but mean just as much.

Thank you, August. You’ve been rather wonderful. ❤️

Now then, September…

What have you got for us? 🍂

What was YOUR favourite memory of August 2026?

Perhaps it was a holiday, a family day out, the European Athletics, a local event or simply enjoying the sunshine.

We’d love to hear about it.

🏛 Hidden Sutton Histories

The Highwaymen of the Royal Town

Roads, Robbers and the Forgotten Stories Beneath Our Feet

Before Sutton Coldfield became the peaceful Royal Town we know today, its roads told a very different story.

Long before streetlights illuminated the highways, one of England’s busiest routes passed close to Sutton, carrying merchants, mail coaches, wealthy travellers… and fortunes in cash.

Where there was wealth, there was opportunity.

And waiting in the shadows were the highwaymen.

This isn’t simply folklore.

Historic records confirm that highway robberies took place on routes close to Sutton Coldfield, making our town part of a dangerous chapter in England’s coaching history.

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🐎 Roads of Opportunity… and Danger

During the 18th century, highwaymen rarely struck in busy towns. Instead, they waited on lonely stretches of road just beyond settlements, where darkness, woodland and open countryside offered the perfect cover.

Sutton Coldfield’s landscape provided exactly those conditions.

Ancient woodland, open heathland and its position close to historic county boundaries created an ideal escape route. Strike quickly… disappear into the darkness… and, in some cases, cross into another county before pursuit could begin.

Local tradition places several of these stories around Slade Road, where Muffin’s Den and the nearby Plough & Harrow have long been associated with tales of highwaymen and travellers.

Whether every tale is true or not, the geography certainly made such locations ideal.

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💰 The Perfect Target

Mail coaches weren’t simply carrying passengers.

They transported:

• Money

• Legal documents

• Valuable goods

• Important correspondence

They travelled to fixed timetables and followed predictable routes.

Even with armed guards carrying blunderbusses, they remained attractive targets.

Any coach travelling between Birmingham and London would have passed close enough to Sutton Coldfield to make these roads attractive hunting grounds.

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🍺 Where Information Was Worth More Than Gold

A successful robbery rarely depended on luck.

It depended on knowledge.

Highwaymen gathered information wherever travellers gathered.

Coaching inns weren’t simply places to eat and sleep—they were the social hubs of the coaching network.

Travellers discussed routes.

Merchants talked about valuable cargo.

Coach drivers mentioned delays.

Servants overheard conversations.

By the time a coach left the inn, someone else may already have known exactly what it was carrying.

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⚔️ “Stand and Deliver!”

Popular films often portray dramatic sword fights and lengthy confrontations.

Reality was usually very different.

A horse blocks the road.

A pistol is raised.

“Stand and deliver.”

Within seconds it was over.

The objective wasn’t violence.

It was speed.

Shock.

Escape.

The longer a highwayman remained at the scene, the greater the chance of capture.

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🏡 A Town Designed to Deter Crime

Sutton Coldfield didn’t simply accept the threat.

Centuries earlier, Bishop Vesey had encouraged the construction of houses and dwellings along important routes into the town.

A landscape filled with occupied buildings created natural surveillance long before the concept had a name.

More people.

More eyes.

Less opportunity for crime.

It was an early example of what today we might call crime prevention by design.

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⚖️ Myth… or Reality?

Over time, highwaymen became romantic figures.

The image of the courteous gentleman robber—well dressed, mounted on a magnificent horse—entered popular folklore.

The truth was often far less glamorous.

Many were violent criminals who preyed on ordinary travellers simply trying to reach their destination.

Yet somewhere between history and legend, their stories continue to fascinate us.

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🏛 Hidden Sutton Histories

Perhaps the real story isn’t about the highwaymen at all.

It’s about Sutton Coldfield itself.

A town whose roads carried opportunity…

whose inns carried information…

and whose landscape shaped history in ways that are still visible today—if you know where to look.

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❓What do you think?

Have you ever heard the stories of Muffin’s Den or the Plough & Harrow?

Do you know of any other local legends connected with Sutton Coldfield’s highways?

We’d love to hear your memories, family stories and local knowledge in the comments below.

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❤️ My thoughts…

This is now editorial quality.

I’d only make one structural change.

Instead of ending with:

Would you have travelled these roads after dark?

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Every street has a story. Every building has a past. Every Sunday we’ll uncover another Hidden Sutton History.

If you have a local story, memory or photograph you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from you.