Erica Brown has supported Acorns Children's Hospice since the loss of her twins in 1973.

A fundraising appeal to keep a cash-strapped children's hospice open has been given £100,000 by a former member of staff.

Acorns announced in June it was going to have to shut its site in Walsall due to financial pressures.

A cash injection from health groups including NHS England meant the hospice was able to stay open until at least March 2020 and a £2m fundraising campaign was launched.

The hospice says former staff member Erica Brown, who left the charity in 2009, has donated the cash from an inheritance.

Jennie Aitken
Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke

Residents living on a street in Stoke-on-Trent have complained about being kept awake by loud singing from an all-night church service.

Image source, Google

Staff at the Christ Apostolic Church on Hamil Road, Burslem, said they were celebrating the formation of their church and the event only happens once a year.

Several residents told BBC Radio Stoke they couldn't sleep because of noise from 23:00 on Friday until early the following day.

The city council said it had since met with the church along with the police and would investigate any further complaints.

Two separate finds, one dating back to Roman times, are declared as treasure by the county's coroner.

Shropshire Star

Here are three stories from the Shropshire Star today:

• Two children airlifted to hospital after seven hurt in crash, external
• Family nearly died breathing in deadly fumes released by coral in their fish tank, external
• Man jailed after cannabis farm uncovered, external

Two children have been airlifted to hospital and five others have also been hurt in a two-car crash near Oswestry this morning.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said it was called to the A483 Llynclys crossroads at 10:28 and said the girl and the boy had suffered "potentially serious injuries".

Image source, WMAS

The two children have been taken to Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool for specialist trauma care.

Another boy, a girl, two men and a women were all taken to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital after being treated at the scene.

Emergency services have left the scene of the former Co-op building collapse, Nuneaton and Bedworth Council has said.

Police, the fire service and ambulances had been called to Abbey Street at 10:52, Warwickshire Police said, although nobody was found to have been injured after a search.

The council said: "Any debris that fell was contained by the safety exclusion zone - this was in place around the building and staffed by employees of the demolition contractor to prevent any public access to it.

"Council senior managers and the building control surveyor were on site almost immediately."

Police said the Health and Safety Executive had been informed.

Police say the 18-year-old woman was attacked by a group who also demanded cash and jewellery.

Police have reacted angrily to what seems a hoax that led to a report of a body on a street in Birmingham.

Officers said they opened a bag resembling a body on Livery Street to find it contained clothing covering bottles and straw.

West Midlands Police said it was impossible to know the motives behind it and those responsible may have been unaware of how it looked.

Nisha Sahdev
BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

Residents in Nuneaton told me children's rides had been set up close to the former Co-op store in Nuneaton for an event just a day earlier.

They had been cleared away by this morning and demolition firm Cawarden says safety barriers surrounded the building before work started today.

At one of the UK's biggest wholesale markets the potential for delays at ports are the biggest concern.

Eyewitness Paul Hancock, who was in a nearby coffee shop at the time, said part of the roof at the rear of the building was being removed by workers when a section at the front "collapsed on to the scaffolding" at the front.

He said he watched as the front of the building came "tumbling down".

The company that was demolishing the former Co-op building in Nuneaton said it appeared there was a failure in the roof, which caused brickwork to fall on scaffolding.

Cawarden's managing director, William Crooks, said the firm would be investigating the cause of this morning's collapse, but explained the roof was "not in that good condition".

Image source, @cfrjeanjeannie

Mr Crooks, who is at the site today, said the company was five weeks into a 10-week demolition of the building and had been hoping to demolish more of the building today, but had stopped to make it safe.

He added there had been safety barriers around the site at the time, to prevent anyone getting too close and confirmed no-one had been hurt.

BBC Sport

Australia have lost both their openers in their tour match against Worcestershire at New Road.

Cameron Bancroft (pictured below) and Marcus Harris are the men out so far.

Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazelwood, who missed the first Ashes test have been included in the Australian team, but Steve Smith is taking a break after two centuries at Edgbaston.

Image source, Getty Images

Staffordshire Live

The Staffordshire Live website's top stories today include:

• Police praise hero who saved six people before camper van exploded, external
• Anger over new Staffordshire potholes policy, external
• Historic county court building transformed beyond recognition, external

Police have ruled out any link between the reported disappearance of five dogs in Staffordshire and the discovery of a dog's remains in East Sussex.

Image source, Becky Parsons

It's claimed at least five of the animals vanished during their walk in woods in the Tamworth area in June.

One owner said the Birmingham-based sitter told her they ran off when startled during a walk in woods, but police became involved when owners contested the explanation.

West Midlands Police had been looking into whether the disappearances were linked to the discovery of the remains about 200 miles away in Hastings but have dismissed that now.

They add that no arrests have been made and one woman has been voluntarily interviewed under caution.

It appears debris has fallen off the top of Nuneaton's former Co-op building, causing scaffolding to collapse, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council has said.

The local authority, which bought the site, confirmed it's had no reports of injuries and said it would be assessing the situation.

Image source, Nuneaton & Bedworth Virtual Neighbourhood Watch

Women's Super League side Birmingham City sign versatile defender Adrienne Jordan from Italian side Atalanta.

Up to 40 Extinction Rebellion campaigners disrupted traffic for an hour on the A38 in Birmingham.

Part of the former Co-op building in Nuneaton town centre has collapsed and the area around it has been cordoned off.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said it was called out just before 11:00 and nobody was hurt when the brickwork came down.

Image source, Nuneaton & Bedworth Virtual Neighbourhood Watch

Warwickshire Police is asking people to avoid Abbey Street and the county's fire service says the building is now unsafe.

The building was bought by the borough council earlier this year and was in the process of being redeveloped.