Summary

  • Live updates from Monday 23 July to Sunday 29 July

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  1. Rashid helps Yorkshire to T20 victorypublished at 22:09 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    England spinner Adil Rashid takes 1-19 to help Yorkshire win a rain-affected T20 Blast match with Birmingham Bears.

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  2. Illegal tobacco found in potato sackspublished at 19:50 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    HM Revenue and Customs estimates the duty avoided would have been about £2m.

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  3. Widnes sign Canberra prop Gubbpublished at 19:44 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    Widnes Vikings step in to sign prop Charlie Gubb after his move to Leigh Centurions from Canberra Raiders collapses.

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  4. Our live coverage across the weekpublished at 19:00 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    Andy Giddings
    BBC News

    We'll be back with the news, sport, travel and weather from 07:00 on Monday.

  5. Facade to give university building a 'new identity'published at 18:58 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    The architects behind the plans for Hereford's new university building say they hope the timber and steel facade will give it a "new identity".

    The former Job Centre on Bath Street will become known as the Pioneer Centre and offer accommodation for students studying at New Model in Technology and Engineering (NMiTE).

    University designImage source, Architype Architects

    The refurbished building is due to open in September 2019.

    Quote Message

    Our proposal is to wrap the front facade of the building with a new skin that gives the building a completely new identity, provides solar shading and demonstrates the building's function and connection to Hereford with an engineered timber and steel façade, sourced from the county."

    Architype Architects

  6. PCSOs praised for saving mother and toddler from firepublished at 18:51 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    Two PCSOs ran into a burning house they were passing during patrol in Coventry and saved a toddler and his mother.

    The West Midlands Force said Louis Saravanamuttu and Louie Parker-Hall were on patrol on Bosworth Drive at 20:00 yesterday when the mother came running out of the property, shouting for help, before disappearing back into the building.

    The pair ran inside and helped the woman and the two-year-old to safety. PCSO Parker-Hall said: “The flames were over the whole ceiling."

    PCSOsImage source, West Midlands Police

    Neither the mother nor her child were injured.

    Ch Insp Hasson Shigdar said: “It’s pretty clear that they’ve saved two lives last night. It doesn’t bear thinking about what might have happened had they not been passing at the time."

    Burnt kitchenImage source, West Midlands Police
  7. Rowett knows he faces battle to keep goaliepublished at 18:46 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    BBC Sport

    The Stoke City manager Gary Rowett says he'd be helpless if Chelsea or any other top club were to make a lucrative offer for goalkeeper Jack Butland.

    But he says he will do all he can to keep the England player.

    Gary RowettImage source, Getty Images

    Butland was due back in training today, after being given time off following the World Cup.

    Quote Message

    All I can do is say to him that I want to keep our best players if we can. I'm mindful of the fact that both economically and, sometimes, a wish of the player, dictates that it's hard to keep that quality of player."

    Gary Rowett, Stoke City manager

  8. School holiday crackdown on anti-social behaviourpublished at 18:40 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    Police are stepping up patrols in five areas of Stoke-on-Trent to try and stop anti-social behaviour.

    It's being called Operation Asbestos and has been launched to coincide with the start of the school summer holidays.

    Staffordshire Police carImage source, Staffordshire Police
  9. Wasps kick off Sevens campaignpublished at 18:33 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    BBC Sport

    Wasps open their Premiership Sevens campaign tonight - when they play Gloucester and then Northampton at Franklin Gardens.

    Owain James (pictured below), Callum Sirkir and Will Wilson will all feature for Wasps.

    Owain JamesImage source, Getty Images

    The Pool A meetings take place this evening and then the knock-out stages follow tomorrow afternoon.

  10. Baby zebra waiting for a namepublished at 18:28 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    This baby zebra doesn't yet have a name, because keepers at the West Midland Safari Park don't yet know what sex he or she is.

    But we know his or her name will begin with the letter "G", in common with all the new arrivals in 2018.

    baby zebraImage source, West Midland Safari Park

    It is a breed known as a Grévy zebra, which is classified as ‘endangered’ in the wild, with fewer than 3,000 left.

  11. Bid to reduce depth of quarry lakespublished at 18:11 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    The owner of a fishery, neighbouring the quarry pool where a boy's body was found today, said he had been trying to warn of the dangers of people swimming in lakes in the area.

    Both the Blue Pool and Bishop's Bowl Fishery lakes, in Bishop's Itchington, are situated in a former limestone quarry.

    Blue PoolImage source, Paul Evans

    Fishery owner Shaun Smart said he'd been working to reduce the depth some of the similar lakes on his land as they had "such dangerous cliffs".

    He said a planning application had recently been submitted to reduce a lake on his land from a depth of 10m (32ft) to 2.4m (8ft).

    "I sometimes get up to 100 people a day trying to trespass on my property," he said.

  12. First look at new university buildingpublished at 18:00 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    Here's our first look at the design for Hereford's new university buildings.

    The first site for students will be the former job centre building in Bath Street, which is set to be wrapped in a timber and steel frame - linking the structure to the county's timber framed buildings from the past.

    University designImage source, Architype Architects

    The university will specialise in engineering and technology, and the Pioneer Centre will be ready by September next year when the first 50 students arrive - it's expected to cost £3.4m to convert.

    This is what it looks like at the moment.

    Bath Street buildingImage source, Google
  13. Cider orchards face uncertain futurepublished at 17:47 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    Some traditional cider orchards in Herefordshire face an uncertain future, farmers say, because they have lost contracts with their biggest customer, Bulmers.

    Faced with an oversupply of apples and drinkers switching to sweeter fruit ciders, the cider-maker is now ending or renegotiating contracts with some of its suppliers.

    Apple orchard in HerefordshireImage source, Getty Images

    Some farmers say they're now facing the prospect of bulldozing some trees if they can't find new customers.

    Bulmers has insisted it remains committed to the county.

  14. A wet and windy weekened expectedpublished at 17:37 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    Rebecca Wood
    BBC Midlands Today

    Finally... this hot spell is coming to an end this weekend, with some wet and windy weather on the way.

    But, temperatures will begin to climb again next week.

    Media caption,

    The latest West Midlands weather forecast

  15. Teen wins place on Tigers roster after impressive trialpublished at 17:26 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    BBC Sport

    A 16-year-old who turned up for open trials with the Telford Tigers last month has been signed to play for the club.

    Liam Bartholomew from Coventry has previously played for Tigers and Coventry Blaze youth teams and impressed Tigers coach Callum Bowley, who praised his high work rate and skill with the puck.

    Liam BartholomewImage source, Bartholomew family

    He's been added to the Tigers 2 roster for this season, but will also be playing juniors ice hockey, so won't be available for all the games.

  16. The artist painting football club woespublished at 17:19 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    Portrait artist Tai Schierenberg has been capturing the look of "the hope that kills you".

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  17. Bypass route agreedpublished at 17:14 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    The route for Hereford's Western Bypass has been agreed by Herefordshire councillors.

    Bypass routeImage source, Herefordshire Council

    The authority's cabinet unanimously backed the red option as its preferred route, which will see the road cross the River Wye and link Belmont to the A49 to Leominster.

    Five homes are set to be demolished to make way for the road.

  18. Seven tonnes of tobacco found in potato sackspublished at 16:58 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    Seven tonnes of tobacco, worth more than £2m in evaded duty, has been found hidden in potato sacks at a Warwickshire farm house.

    Hidden tobaccoImage source, HMRC
    Counterfeit packagingImage source, HMRC

    Counterfeit packaging, a cutting machine and more than 10,000 cigarettes were also seized from the rented agricultural buildings in Bedworth by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers.

    The buildings were lined with black sheet plastic, and were being used to process rolling tobacco without the landlord's knowledge, said HMRC.

  19. Man in custody after firearms callpublished at 16:41 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    A 35-year-old man is in custody after armed police officers were called to a property in Stoke-on-Trent earlier this afternoon.

    Staffordshire Police said officers were responding to reports that a man was seen with a firearm in Millfield Crescent.

    Millfield CrescentImage source, Google
  20. Housing developers' plan to 'fence off' former quarry sitepublished at 16:31 British Summer Time 27 July 2018

    A housing company that has submitted plans to develop land close to a former quarry site where a boy's body was found today, said it would landscape the area in order to restrict access to the pool.

    Blue PoolImage source, Paul Evans

    The 17-year-old boy went missing while swimming at Blue Pool, near the village of Bishops Itchington on Thursday.

    In a letter to housing developers in April, external, Stratford District Councillor Chris Kettle raised concerns about the dangers of the pool due to its depth and "vertical quarry edge sides". He also said there had been fatalities at the site.

    Speaking on Friday, he said any future planning decisions would take "full account of today's tragedy".

    A spokesperson for David Wilson Homes said as part of the application for future homes, it had "proposed fencing, dense landscaping and strategic placing of roads to restrict access to the pool from our development.”