Summary

Live Reporting

Written by Alex McIntyre, edited by Allen Cook & Trystan Jones

  1. King aware of celebrations - lord-lieutenant

    Tim Wedgwood
    BBC Radio Stoke news editor

    A man with short grey hair, glasses, a white shirt and black jacket, smiles at the camera.

    In a message to Stoke-on-Trent in its centenary year, the lord-lieutenant of Staffordshire, Sir Ian Dudson, said he had spoken to King Charles III about the centenary celebrations and he was hopeful a member of the royal family would visit the city during the year.

    “I had a chat with him just a few months ago and I will later today read out a message from him to pass on his congratulations for this milestone in our history,” he added.

    “I know he will look forward, as we all do, to what the next 100 years will bring.”

  2. Promoter 'privileged and humbled' with freedom honour

    Lee Blakeman
    BBC Radio Stoke

    A person holds up a phone with both hands as they take a picture of the statue of Lemmy Kilmister in Burslem, which is placed on a plinth that says "Lemmy".Reuters

    Music promoter Mike Lloyd, who was instrumental in bringing the Lemmy Kilmister statue to Burslem, is among those being awarded the freedom of Stoke-on-Trent today.

    He told BBC Radio Stoke he was “very privileged and humbled” to receive the honour.

    “I’m not sure what it allows me to do but I was very pleased to accept it,” he added.

    Mr Lloyd is one of the people behind the plans to transform the vacant Queen’s Theatre in Burslem into a concert venue in memory of Lemmy, called Kilmister Halls.

    As well as an 800-seat theatre, the venue would include a cafe, museum and music studio.

  3. 'Community will remain treasure in our jars of clay'

    Tim Wedgwood
    BBC Radio Stoke news editor

    Concluding his address, Robert Mountford said he hoped people would continue to play their part in improving the city’s life and “lay a foundation” for future generations that will take Stoke-on-Trent into the next century.

    “It’s impossible for us to imagine what life in the city will be like 100 years from now,” he added.

    Mr Mountford said residents in 1925 “could not have dreamed” of the advances that have been made in medicine, transport, technology and media.

    “In whatever ways, life will continue to be transformed by the internet, artificial intelligence or even things as not yet dreamed,” he said.

    “I suggest that community, creativity and faith will remain treasure in our own particular jars of clay.”

  4. 'Family ties strong in the Potteries'

    Tim Wedgwood
    BBC Radio Stoke news editor

    Continuing his address at the civic prayer breakfast, ecumenical officer Robert Mountford spoke about the “treasure” of the community in Stoke-on-Trent.

    “Family ties have always been really strong here in the Potteries. None more so than the mother-daughter relationship,” he said.

    “In previous generations, extended families often lived in the same street or neighbouring street. They worked at the same pit or pot bank, they worshipped at the same chapel, they played in the same local park, they bought their oatcakes and pikelets from the same corner shop.”

    He said the result was a series of “very tight-knit local communities” in the city.

  5. Community tributes in speech

    Tim Wedgwood
    BBC Radio Stoke news editor

    A large number of people sitting around circular white tables in a hall.

    Addressing this morning's civic prayer breakfast for the 100th birthday, Robert Mountford, West Midlands churches ecumenical officer, said it was a “wonderful way” to start Stoke-on-Trent Day.

    He referred to the city’s “illustrious ceramic heritage” and how it has experienced “more than it’s fair share” of hardship and challenges.

    “I’m aware that some of you here address those challenges daily in your working lives,” he added.

    Mr Mountford thanked people for their ongoing commitment to address the “causes and effects of deprivation” to improve residents’ lives and the future prospects of the city.

  6. 'They accept me as I am'

    Listen on BBC Sounds: Harji Kaur shares her experiences

    BBC Radio Stoke has been gathering the stories of people in Stoke-on-Trent about their city.

    In this one, Harji Kaur talks about her experience of living in the city.

  7. Port Vale FC co-owner 'genuinely touched' by honour

    A woman with long white hair, glasses, a black jacket, white top and black skirt, raises both her fists in the air in celebration while standing on a football pitch.PA Media

    Port Vale FC's co-owner Carol Shanahan will be one of nine people receiving the Freedom of the City of Stoke-on-Trent later today, as part of the centenary commemorations.

    The city council selected Ms Shanahan for her "exceptional philanthropy and leadership" demonstrated through an "unwavering commitment" to improving residents' lives.

    "I'm genuinely touched and a little bit overwhelmed to be receiving this honour, both for myself and on behalf of everyone at the football club," she said.

    Port Vale FC itself, which is currently celebrating its 150th anniversary, will also be named among the recipients.

  8. Map shows route of People's Parade

    The centrepiece of the centenary celebrations will be the People's Parade on Saturday, set to feature hundreds of participants,

    It will include giant puppets, including one called the Spirit of Stoke, which will lead the parade, along with 100 dancing cupcakes and a marching band.

    The parade will set off from Stoke-on-Trent College at 13:00 BST and make its way through Hanley before finishing at Hanley Park, where the Party in the Park event will be taking place into the evening.

    A cartoon map showing the route of a parade. There are comedy characters dotted around the map, which says "People's Parade Map" in red letters. A map key legend lists points of interest on the bottom right.Stoke-on-Trent City Council

  9. The six towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent

    Before Stoke-on-Trent existed as a city, the area was made up of six towns - Stoke-upon-Trent, Tunstall, Burslem, Longton, Hanley and Fenton.

    They were first brought together to make one borough in 1910, 15 years before King George V's historic visit in 1925.

    The city council describe the initial coming together as an "extraordinary act of unity", which embodied their motto Vis Unita Fortior – united strength is stronger.

    Each town brought its own rich heritage from Burslem’s mother-town legacy in pottery to Longton’s countless bottle kilns.

    The city council says the united towns give Stoke-on-Trent a unique identity - a city of six towns "built on cooperation and shared purpose".

  10. Centenary logo recreated in Lego

    A Lego display of a white bottle oven with "100 years" created with gold bricks and "Stoke-on-Trent" underneath it with white bricks. The background is made from dark and light blue bricks.Stoke-on-Trent City Council

    Can an event really have happened if it there is no recreation in Lego? Not in our case today, as a man used more than 4,000 pieces to build a model of a city's centenary logo.

    Lego enthusiast Neil Walker took 77 hours to create the display with 4,016 pieces and it is on display at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery until the end of July.

    It was made after Mr Walker issued a call-out in April for people to donate spare Lego bricks.

    Listen on BBC Sounds to more from Neil

  11. Archive images show the six towns' history

    Throughout the day, we will be highlighting the history of Stoke-on-Trent, including the six towns that make up the city - Stoke, Tunstall, Burslem, Longton, Hanley and Fenton.

    In the early 1960s, mining engineer turned local historian Bert Bentley set out to document the entire city, taking photographs of buildings or sites that existed in 1925.

    Reproduced courtesy of Stoke-on-Trent City Archives, the collection of more than 6,000 images provides a visual bridge between 1925 and 2025.

    Below are three of those pictures from the towns of Burslem, Tunstall and Stoke.

    An old black and white image taken from the bottom of a large pit. A man in worker's overalls is leaning against the front of an old truck.Bert Bentley/Stoke-on-Trent City Archives

    Bycars Lane and Sneyd Brickworks fireclay pit in Burslem was used for making firebrick

    An old black and white image of a residential street, with terraced houses on either side. Old cars are parked at the side of the road and a man is walking towards us on the left. A large chimney tower is visible in the distance.Bert Bentley/Stoke-on-Trent City Archives

    Bank Street seen from Hawes Street in Tunstall

    A black and white image showing a high street with people walking and cars driving past. Between two buildings is a gated entrance with a metal sign above it that says "Spode Works".Bert Bentley/Stoke-on-Trent City Archives

    Main Street with Spode Pottery in Stoke

  12. 'Pottery industry could last another 100 years'

    A man with short brown hair, glasses, a pink shirt and black jacket, speaks to someone behind the camera while standing in a pottery factory workshop. Two women are working behind him underneath Union Flag bunting.

    The boss of a Stoke-on-Trent pottery firm has spoken of how the future of the city's ceramics industry could last for another 100 years with the right government support.

    The sector has suffered from setbacks in recent months as it was beset by cost inflation, with firms like Royal Stafford and Moorcroft collapsing earlier this year.

    Calls have since been made for the government to support the industry, particularly with the financial difficulties caused by rising energy prices.

    Mike Raybould, chief executive of Portmeirion, which owns the historic Spode brand, told BBC Radio Stoke it had been a challenging time for the industry but there was a "huge opportunity" to increase its footprint.

    “We would love to see the government start sorting out the energy costs but what we find with our brands – they are loved around the world," he said.

    “People respect the 'made in UK' or 'made in Stoke' and the heritage that goes with that."

  13. Why is Stoke-on-Trent called the Potteries?

    A man wearing an all-white outfit, stands working at a ceramics production line in a factory. More workers can be seen behind him and on the left are shelves full of finished pieces.PA Media

    As many people will know, Stoke-on-Trent has earned the nickname the Potteries.

    This is due to the city being the centre of UK ceramics for more than 300 years, due to the entrepreneurial spirt of pioneers like Josiah Wedgwood, Josiah Spode and Thomas Minton.

    The industry was revolutionised in Stoke-on-Trent and its six towns, leading to the founding of well-known firms like Wedgwood, Moorcroft, Royal Doulton and Emma Bridgewater.

    It was this contribution which led King George V to grant Stoke-on-Trent city status during his visit on 5 June 1925.

  14. 'You can’t find better people than you can in Stoke-on-Trent'

    A woman with long blonde hair, glasses, a black top and a beige apron, stands and smiles in a workshop. There are paints on a table to her right and a long window behind her.

    As part of the centenary, BBC Radio Stoke has been gathering stories from residents across the city.

    Laura Price is from Stoke-on-Trent but briefly moved down to London to study make-up artistry and prosthetics, though she did not exactly enjoy her time in the capital.

    “I absolutely hated it – the people weren’t like Stokies. I missed Stoke, I was terribly homesick,” she said.

    Ms Price, a keen snowboarder who does pottery as a hobby, spoke of how you cannot walk into a shop in Stoke-on-Trent "without knowing the cashier's life story".

    “You can’t find better people than you can in Stoke-on-Trent," she added.

  15. Stokie stories and a giant oatcake card

    A woman wearing a red patterned jacket and black jeans is stood in an ornamental garden next to a card which is the same height as her. The card resembles a traditional Staffordshire oatcake.

    For anyone born in Stoke-on-Trent or who has lived in the city - or spoken to anyone from the city - you will almost certainly have talked or heard about oatcakes (the Staffordshire kind, like a savoury pancake for the uninitiated).

    BBC Radio Stoke has therefore, naturally, been marking the city's hundredth anniversary by gathering local stories - and asking residents to sign a giant oatcake birthday card!

    The team have been out and about across Stoke-on-Trent in recent weeks, collecting both messages and "Stokie stories".

    The tales from the six towns will be gathered into an exhibition of photos and audio recordings to go on display later this year at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Hanley.

  16. Famous people from Stoke-on-Trent

    A man with short grey hair and a large green shirt, sings into a microphone in a studio while leaning on the mic stand. A brass band can be seen playing behind him.

    The city and its six towns have also been home to a number of famous and influential people over the years, including well-known musicians.

    Singer Robbie Williams (pictured above) was born in the city and is a lifelong Port Vale supporter, while Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister was born in Burslem.

    A statue to the latter was recently unveiled in Market Place and there are plans to transform the vacant Queen's Theatre into a concert venue in his memory.

    Guns 'n' Roses guitarist Slash, real name Saul Hudson, was born in London but spent the early years of his childhood living in Blurton.

    A crowd, some of them holding up phones, gathers around a beige-coloured plinth which has a black statue on top of Lemmy - a man with long hair holding a bass guitar and singing upwards into a microphone. A large building can be seen in the background.Reuters

    In the sporting world, Sir Stanley Matthews, regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, was born in Hanley and spent much of his career playing for Stoke City.

    There are also well-known people from the pottery industry, including Clarice Cliff - one of the most influential ceramics artists of the 20th century - and Emma Bridgewater.

    While she doesn't live in the city, Denise Coates, believed to be the richest woman in Britain, founded betting giant Bet365 in Stoke-on-Trent, with its headquarters located in Etruria.

  17. People gather for civic prayer breakfast

    The first major event of Stoke-on-Trent Day is the civic prayer breakfast, which started at the Kings Hall at about 07:30 BST.

    As well as honouring 100 years of the city being, well, a city, it also reaffirms Stoke-on-Trent's commitment to "unity, collaboration and public service", the city council said.

    Hosted by charity Saltbox, it is featuring a keynote address by Robert Mountford, West Midlands Churches ecumenical officer and a live interview with Dr Fiona Hibberts, deputy chief nurse at University Hospitals North Midlands.

    The lord mayor of Stoke-on-Trent, councillor Steve Watkins, said it was a chance to "pause and reflect on what matters most".

    A large number of people sitting at round tables with white table clothes, in a big hall with hanging lights from the ceiling.
    A large number of people sitting at round tables with white table clothes in a big hall. A stage is in the background with red curtains at the back and a large screen at the front which says "Civic Prayer Breakfast 2025".

  18. Presenter hit by by tree branch during bus tour

    As part of the centenary as we have been telling you, BBC Radio Stoke's Stuart George has toured Stoke-on-Trent in an open-top red bus to speak to people about the occasion.

    It has not all gone to plan for the presenter though - while the vehicle was trundling past Tunstall Park, Stuart was whacked in the face by a low-hanging tree branch.

    You can see what happened here on the BBC Stoke & Staffordshire Facebook page.

    Speaking to breakfast presenter Lee Blakeman after the assault, the injured Stuart said: "The trees take no prisoners, clearly."

  19. BBC Radio Stoke centenary bus tour

    A man wearing a purple BBC Radio Stoke T-shirt, stands with his hands in his pocket on a market square, in front of the statue of Lemmy Kilmister

    If you've spied a handsome fellow (did we agree this? Editor) travelling around the city in an open-top red bus this week, chances are it was BBC Radio Stoke's Stuart George.

    The presenter has been touring the six towns, visiting some of Stoke-on-Trent's famous landmarks and speaking to people about the occasion (when he's not being hit by rogue tree branches).

    Among those he has spoken to are boxer Nathan "The Hitman" Heaney and former Stoke City players like Denis Smith, Terry Lees and John Ruggiero.

    A man wearing a black hoody and black trousers, with white trainers, smiles while sitting aboard a red bus.
    Four elderly men stand in a line in front of a red bus.

  20. Key events today in Stoke-on-Trent

    There will be a number of events throughout today to mark 100 years of Stoke-on-Trent.

    They include:

    • Civic prayer breakfast
    • Opening of a time capsule buried by King George V in 1925
    • A civic meeting of Stoke-on-Trent City Council to mark the centenary
    • Ringing of bells across the six towns

    You will be able to hear from many of them across the day here on our live page.

    These events will be followed by the People's Parade and Party in the Park in Hanley on Saturday, which will round off the centenary celebrations.