Matt Sandoz
Stoke City commentator, BBC Radio Stoke

Stoke City manager Paul Lambert says he has high hopes for young striker Tyrese Campbell.

The 18-year-old has featured in Checkatrade Trophy games for Stoke, but is yet to make a Premier League appearance.

Image source, Getty Images

Lambert said he had spoken to the player about his work-rate and had to earn the right to play in the first team, but at the same time he can score goals has a "big future".

A Shropshire primary school is planning a £6m revamp and has applied for government funding.

Ellesmere Primary Academy says the money will be used to replace temporary classrooms and create a new school hall, as well as build an all-weather sports pitch, an outdoor learning space for the youngest children, and a car park.

Image source, Ellesmere Primary Academy

The school became part of the North West Academies Trust in 2016 and if it gets the necessary funding and planning approval it hopes work can start by the end of the year.

Two teenagers have appeared in court after an armed robbery in Solihul where a man was threatened with a meat cleaver.

Two youths, aged 16 and 17 denied three charges of robbery, possession of a bladed article and possession of an offensive weapon at Birmingham Magistrates Court.

It follows an incident where a 64-year-old man was threatened as he walked in Manor Park Road, Castle Bromwich, just after 8pm on Tuesday. He was unhurt but his attackers made off with cash and a mobile phone.

The teenagers, from Birmingham, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will appear at the same court on 13 April.

Four West Brom players are interviewed by police after allegedly stealing a taxi from outside a fast-food restaurant in Barcelona.

Army explosive experts have been called to a house in Coventry after a chemical was found in a garden shed.

West Midlands Police executed a planned warrant at an address in Grangemouth Road in Radford.

During a search of the house, the chemical was found and experts were called as a precaution, but officers say there is no threat to the public and the specialist unit is in the process of removing the substance for analysis.

A 30-year-old man was arrested at the scene and various items of electronic equipment were seized.

The force said the warrant was part of an on-going investigation and not connected to the shed find or counter terrorism.

This Bansky-style cavemen carrying a glass and a bottle of wine, has appeared in the entrance to a bar in Upton-upon-Severn in Worcestershire.

People in the town aren't convinced the mural on The Old Butcher's Shop wine bar is genuine, but a CCTV camera across the street might provide the answers.

A hernia operation has been cancelled five times.

Simon Poxon Marks should have had the procedure at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital a week before Christmas. His most recent date was 23 February but that was again cancelled on Wednesday.

He previously underwent treatment for cancer at the hospital and his husband, Russell Marks, is full of praise for the treatment he received but says, in this instance, the "NHS health system fails us".

Mr Poxon Marks said he needs the latest procedure because hernias have formed around the wound from surgery he received during his cancer treatment.

A hospital spokesman says it regrets having to cancel any procedures and apologises for upset cause.

He added that increased demand over winter can mean certain procedures are cancelled.

Only £10,000 of an £80,000 grant to a Shropshire football club was repaid before the group set-up to collect the money collapsed.

Shropshire Council gave the money to Oswestry's The New Saints club to pay for ground renovations.

The money was supposed to be repaid through the Oswestry Joint Economic Board, and used for projects in the town. But it was dissolved in 2013 and no further funds have been received.

Money has been taken after thieves caused an explosion at a cash machine in Rugby.

It happened at about 04:20 GMT at a post office on High Street, Hillmorton, where the blast caused extensive damage but no injuries, according to Warwickshire Police, external.

Image source, Google Maps

The force says the building has been assessed and declared as safe.

Forensic, witness and CCTV enquiries are ongoing at the location, but officers have appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

Alton Towers is opening the first wooden rollercoaster to be built in the UK for 21 years.

Riders will hear chanting while they race through flames and special effects on the £16m Wicker Man ride, opening in the spring.

Image source, Merlin Entertainments

The theme park has spent four years developing the ride, moving 40,000 tonnes of soil and laying 2,000 feet (600m) of wooden track.

Image source, Merlin Entertainments

Alton Towers says it has seen visitor numbers recover since the crash on the Smiler in 2015.

A new display has been created at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, to mark the 100th anniversary of the first women being given the vote.

The Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust has set up 37 silhouettes outside the Museum of Iron, external, each with the name and details of the women working in the area who gained the right to vote as a result of the Representation of the People Act 1918 - around 160 didn't.

Image source, Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust

It was another 10 years before women gained equal voting rights to men.

BBC News Travel

The rail line between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International stations has reopened although trains will still not be calling at Marston Green.

Rail companies have taken to social media to inform users that services have resumed, but will likely see some delays.

A Coventry teenager says fellow students got updates from news websites on their phones as they sheltered during a shooting.

Lewis Mizen, 17, now a pupil at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Florida, hid in a cupboard with 20 others during the attack which killed 17 people.

Nikolas Cruz, 19, has appeared in court charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder following the shooting, which is the deadliest to have taken place in the US since 2012.

Aston Villa's owners Recon reduce the club's losses from £80.7m in their relegation season to £14.5m in 2016-17.

The revolver had four bullets in its chamber and the DNA of one of the trio.

A fire at a house in Stoke-on-Trent last night is being treated as arson

A rubbish fire at the back of the property on Leek New Road spread to the house and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service says a man in his 60s was checked over after suffering from the effects of breathing in smoke.

Mike Hawes is a man on a mission.

The 53-year-old collected 36 bags of rubbish found strewn around Aldridge in just one month.

The council provides him with bags and the father-of-two spends goes out litter-picking once or twice a week in his spare time, between his family commitments and full-time job.

He collects about four bags a week, on average, and in January alone he filled 36 bags patrolling areas like Hayhead Wood Local Nature Reserve.

Armed with his trusty litter picker and wearing his high-vis jacket, Mr Hawes says he wants to make sure his town is looking at its best all year-round

Daniel Bebb-Jones loaded a fake bomb vest with screws and nails and armed himself with other weapons.

Mark Lawrenson
BBC football expert

A YouTube sensation from Birmingham has been pitting himself against BBC commentators to predict the results of the next FA cup matches.

Tekkerz Kid is an eight-year-old footballer from Birmingham whose videos include skills tutorials and kit reviews, and whose channel has more than 900,000 subscribers.

Fifth-round ties, Rochdale v Tottenham on Sunday and Wigan v Man City on Monday will both be shown live on the BBC.

Nick Clitheroe
BBC Midlands Today

Gemima Fearon, wife of Coventry-born Winter Olympian Joel, has spoken of her pride ahead of his first appearance in the competition.

Sprinter Joel has moved from summer to winter sport and will be competing for Britain in bobsleigh events.

Gemima says she is "proud, excited and hopeful" ahead of the two-man bobsleigh heats which start on Sunday.

Joel's best chance of a medal is likely to be in the four-man bobsleigh next weekend. His quartet won bronze in one of the World Cup races this season.