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From Saturday 24th- Friday 30th
January 2004
(days
in reverse order)
Friday
30th January 2004
Gritter
driver is attacked Police in Stoke-on-Trent are hunting two teenagers who
pulled a gritter driver from his cab and then attacked him as the vehicle travelled
along Lime Kiln Bank on the A52.
Read the full story from BBC News
Winter warmer A heart-warming barley wine named after a retired Royal Navy
submariner has been honoured as Britain's Champion Winter Beer. Judges at the
Campaign for Real Ale's National Winter Ales Festival in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire,
deemed Old Freddy Walker to be the perfect antidote to the current cold
snap gripping the country. The 7.3% ABV tipple is brewed by the Moor Beer Company,
which was set up in 1996 by farmer Arthur Frampton and his wife Annette on their
dairy farm in Ashcott, near Bridgwater, Somerset.
Hundreds of jobs
at new warehouse Screwfix plans to create 550 jobs at its new Stoke-on-Trent
warehouse.
Read the full story from BBC News
Thursday 29th January 2004
Stoke named second-fattest city A study by a men's fitness magazine exposes
Manchester as the fattest city in the UK, with Stoke on Trent in second place.
Midlands cities had the highest percentage of obesity - with Birmingham, Coventry,
Stoke-on-Trent and Wolverhampton all with 22.5% of their population classed as
obese. Stoke-on-Trent had by far the highest amount of heart disease, with 403
men with the condition for every 100,000. Read
the full story from BBC News
Wednesday 28th January
2004
Freeze-up
Despite an early snowfall in the morning, a freak rain shower, which turned
the snow
to ice, caught many motorists by surprise.
In Staffordshire's biggest city,
Stoke on Trent, jams started blocking up roads by 3pm, and police reported that
many roads did not clear until six hours later. Some commuters caught in the gridlock
were involved in minor accidents as cars slipped, while other simply abandoned
their vehicles.
Meanwhile city council engineers refuted claims that gritting
was not adequate. Assistant
city engineer Steve Tams told BBC Radio Stoke it was down to freak weather.. and
that every major city in the area had been caught out too.
Read
the full story from BBC News
See the pictures from the big freeze
£6m grant
for Wedgwood museum A priceless Wedgwood collection will go on permanent display
after a £6m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Read
the full story from BBC News
Robbie's 'Feel' is Europe's biggest Stoke-on-Trent singer Robbie
Williams had the most-played song on European radio in 2003, a survey says. Read
the full story from BBC News
Quad bike track opposed More
than 100 people are objecting to plans by GJ Motor Sports to open a quad bike
track in Crewe.
Read the full story from BBC News
Fugitive
robber avoids capture An escaped prisoner from Stoke-on-Trent, Isaac John
Price, 41, from Stoke-on-Trent, who is behind a series of violent robberies, is
nearly recaptured after a television appeal, police say. Read
the full story from BBC News
Tuesday
27th January 2004
Salt miners beat the freeze Staff
work round the clock at Britain's only salt mine - Winsford Rock Mine in Cheshire
- to help gritters keep the country's roads open. Read
the full story from BBC News
Un-happy times There'll be no
"happy hours" in the pubs in Newcastle-under-Lyme for the foreseeable future.
Happy Hour's been banned in a bid to tackle binge drinking. People also
face being searched when they go into pubs and night clubs. The measures will
be tested out for three months.
Tuition
in rebellion 72 Labour MPs have voted against their Government over higher
tuition fees - the largest rebellion on a piece of legislation under Tony Blair.
They include ten former Ministers who served under him, and three local MPs -
Gwyneth Dunwoody (Crewe & Nantwich), Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme), Mark
Fisher (Stoke-on-Trent Central).
Brian Jenkins (Tamworth) and George Stevenson
(Stoke-on-Trent South) did not vote. Read
the full story from BBC News
Fake speed cameras stolen Two fake speed cameras were stolen
from a Staffordshire village. Campaigners who want a 50 mph speed limit on the
A53 through Whitmore, near Newcastle-under-Lyme, say traffic is going faster as
a result. One of the dummy devices has now been recovered, although the other
is still missing. James Foggart, who runs the Mainwaring Arms in Whitmore, says
the cameras have been good for the village and will return.
TV appeal
over attacks Detectives hunting an escaped prisoner, Isaac John Price, 41,
from Stoke-on-Trent, in connection with a series of violent robberies make a television
appeal. Read
the full story from BBC News
Wedgwood and poet's relationship Letters locked away for more
than
40 years have revealed how Victorian poet Robert Browning
built up a close
relationship with Julia Wedgwood of the Wedgwood pottery family, auction house
Christie's said.
Browning corresponded with Julia Wedgwood, a girl 21 years
his junior, in 1863, a couple of years after the death of his wife and fellow-poet
Elizabeth Barrett. More than 70 letters between them will be
sold at auction
at the beginning of March. The friendship with Julia was in no sense a love affair,
Christie's said, but Browning made no secret of his fondness for the girl.
Monday 26th January 2004
Chinese choir members refused US visas Chinese choir members from the School
of St Mary and St Anne in Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire were refused visas to
take part in a tour of the United States. Read
the full story from BBC News
Cameras to prevent rail graffiti Motion-sensitive cameras that emit
audible warnings are being used to try to keep graffiti vandals away from the
Central Railways' stock. Read
the full story from BBC News
Jobs
created at new JCB plant The Staffordshire digger firm JCB is creating a
hundred jobs by building its own engine factory over the county border in South
Derbyshire. The company announced last year that it was planning to start building
diesel engines for its diggers. Read
the full story from BBC News
Man
charged over street assault A man has been charged with malicious wounding
after an assault that left a married father-of-two with serious head injuries.
The 40-year-old was discovered lying in Bore Street in Lichfield in the early
hours of Saturday, Staffordshire Police said. Read
the full story from BBC News
University opens new institutes
Three new institutes have been opened at Keele University's medical school including
the Institute of Primary Care and Health Sciences, the Institute of Ageing and
the Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine. Read
the full story from BBC News
Sunday 25th January 2004
Pensioner forced to hand over £5,000 An 86-year-old Staffordshire man was
forced to hand over £5,000 to workmen who resurfaced his drive, police said. The
offenders drove their victim to the bank to get the money before abandoning him
a quarter of a mile from his Alrewas home while they went back there and stole
another £200. The police say they are looking for five men in connection with
Friday's incident. Inspector Mike Kozam from Staffordshire Police says it is vital
they are caught.
Pollution hits poor If you're poor you're more
likely to suffer the ill effects of pollution, according to new research from
Staffordshire University. Scientists at the Institute for Environment and Sustainability
Research at the university found deprived communities have just under one-and
a half times as much nitrogen dioxide in their environment as average areas. In
England, the most deprived areas experienced the highest concentrations of other
chemicals including fine particulates, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and benzene.
Rail investigation Rail chiefs are investigating evidence of
unauthorised and faulty engineering work on the West Coast main line in the Midlands.
It prevented controllers from knowing precisely where trains where. A technician
working for a sub-contractor is accused of wrongly wiring trackside circuits in
Staffordshire, preventing signalling staff from identifying the location of trains
within 200 yards. Its also alleged that he did so despite being refused permission
because the signalman wasn't authorised to switch off part of the safety system.
Network Rail says it's looking into the incident which happened over the New Year.
Breathing for charity! A team of four Staffordshire medics, including
a father and son duo, have smashed a world record for resuscitation and raised
more than £11,000 for charity. Geoff Brookes and his son Mark, both paramedics,
teamed up with 23-year-old technician Emma Parker and paramedic Ray Edensor for
the 151-hour session continuous cardio pulmonary resuscitation session. Shoppers
cheered as the challenge, which started at 3am last Monday, came to an end in
Asda's Stafford store at 10am.
The Staffordshire Ambulance Service team will
now enter the Guinness Book of Records after smashing the 144-hour record held
since 1998 by its West Midlands colleagues. Iraqi
stabbed An Iraqi teenager's been stabbed in the neck in Stoke on Trent. The
incident happend at five o'clock this morning in Lowther Street in Burslem. The
seventeen year old is in a stable condition in hospital. Police want to speak
to another Iraqi youth who was in also in the area.
Crush warning
to city drivers A warning has been issued that cars found in Stoke-on-Trent
in a dangerous condition or without tax could be crushed. It is hoped that Operation
Crush will help cut the number of vehicles being driven illegally in the city.
Two specialist teams from the DVLA, helped by police, expect to clamp more than
200 cars over the next two weeks. Inspector Jim Wood said many people without
tax or with badly-kept vehicles also have no insurance.
Hospital
car park plans revealed Plans for a £750,000 car park have been unveiled by
managers at Staffordshire General Hospital. The facility would be built at the
Weston Road site and have 75 more car parking spaces, including 15 disabled bays,
than are currently available. BBC Radio Stoke has discovered that hospital car
parking charges are likely to be increased to help recoup some of the cost of
the project. It is understood that long-stay charges are in line to rise, although
the precise details have not been released.
Saturday
24th January 2004
Disconnection threat for 999 hoaxers People who make hoax 999 calls could
have their phones disconnected as part of a campaign led by Staffordshire Fire
Service. Read
the full story from BBC News
Starry-eyed Rebecca Friends and supporters of a Stoke-on-Trent
singer will be gathered around their TV sets, hoping she could become a big star
of the future. Rebecca Clarke from Meir was selected from three thousand initial
contestants to win through to ITV's Stars In Their Eyes. Rebecca, who's
23, doubles as the singer Louise.
World Line-Dancing champs - from
North Staffordshire Three young dancers from the Potteries have just returned
from the United States where they all scooped world titles. Ricky Fiore picked
up the World Primary Novice Line Dancing Champion title; Fabienne Henshall took
the World Teen Novice Line Dancing Champion title; and Jenny Stephenson was delared
Superstar Grand Champion of the World.
More about Jenny
Stephenson
FULL
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