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  1. Speedway fundraising after vandal attacks

    Birmingham Speedway is fundraising after it suffered three vandalism attacks in as many weeks.

    A burnt out truck

    The Perry Barr stadium was broken into in the early hours of Monday morning, speedway bosses said, where equipment, including vehicles, were torched.

    "When we received the call it was a big shock and it’s an infuriatingly, massive shame as well," co-owner Peter Mason said.

    "I just don’t understand what people get out of doing things like this – one thing I do know is that they don’t think about the after effects it has on other people, especially so close to the beginning of a brand new season, it can throw a lot of things in the air."

    The club is aiming to raise £15,000 to replace what has been damaged in the attacks ahead of the start of the new season in June.

  2. Yorkshire MasterChef cook's menu aims to beat isolation

    Sarah Wakefield

    BBC Radio Leeds News

    A MasterChef semi-finalist who works at Leeds Cookery School says it's "fantastic" to be back teaching people how to cook face-to-face as Covid restrictions are eased.

    Spaghetti Carbonara

    Anthony O'Shaughnessy, who featured on MasterChef in 2018, now works with men who are over 55 and are often isolated.

    He says: "We call it Men That Munch. The men are from the local area and we get them in to do some cooking and then we sit down and eat together and have a chat. It's all socially distanced.

    "This week, the theme was 'Italian', so we made a spaghetti carbonara (pictured) - an authentic one - and a roasted aubergine and tomato salad. It was the first time a lot of the men had eaten aubergine and they all really enjoyed it."

    Leeds Cookery School works alongside Zest, a community group which recommends the men who would benefit from taking part.