Local Democracy Reporting Service

Volunteers have transformed an overgrown area of land in Solihull into a community garden, with similar projects under way elsewhere in the West Midlands.

A tractor and plough and five tonnes of compost were brought in to work on the Jubilee Gardens site.

The work was carried out by allotment plot-holders, litter-picking groups, local charities and the borough council, among others.

Image source, Active Wellbeing Society

Image source, Active Wellbeing Society

The land, on a housing estate, was also covered in rubbish and had been earmarked for action as part of a wider plan to reclaim run-down sites in built-up areas of Birmingham and Solihull.

Similar projects are under way at Green Hill Way, in Shirley, and at Hobs Moat, near Lyndon.

Billy Twelvetrees kicks a late penalty as Gloucester steal victory at Wasps, having played with 14 men for 53 minutes.

The family of one of the first people to have died of coronavirus in the UK have marked the anniversary of her death.

Image source, Family handout

Carol Barclay, 73, died on 8 March last year at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.

The mother of two from Wednesfield was the fourth person in the UK to die of the coronavirus, said The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.

A retired catering supervisor at the trust, Mrs Barclay worked for the organisation for 30 years.

Daughter Katherine Westbury, who also works for the trust said: “She was lovely – she was caring and funny and she idolised her grandchildren and her great grandchildren, and they idolised her in return,”

"She is greatly missed by all who knew her.”

Drivers licensed in Wolverhampton but not living there cannot get a £2,000 payment, a union says.

Shropshire Star

From the Shropshire Star:

• Man arrested for drug offences after speeding past police at 100mph near Ludlow, external
• Funding has been secured to ensure the county's coronavirus testing service can continue for the next year, health bosses have revealed, external
• Free parking initiative welcomed by Shropshire business leaders, external

Richard Avery appears in court over the deaths of Will Henry and Brian McIntosh.

BBC Weather Watchers

It looks like many of you are out enjoying the clear blue skies across the West Midlands today.

Free Spirit took this first one in Studley, Warwickshire.

Image source, Free Spirit

Step counter shared this picture taken in Bodenham, Herefordshire.

Image source, Step counter

And Reynard shared this snap taken on the Clent Hills.

Share your weather pics with us here.

Image source, Reynard

Stoke-on-Trent Live

Here are some of the stories featured by Stoke-on-Trent Live today:

• Groping Stoke-on-Trent taxi driver jailed after grabbing mum's breast, external
• Man, 24, arrested after three-car collision on Stoke-on-Trent street, external
• 'Nuisance' banned from Stoke-on-Trent is jailed after visiting dad, external

A nurse at Queen's Hospital in Burton was one of a number of motorists to have their catalytic converters stolen in a spate of thefts last Thursday.

She told police she was briefly visiting the site at 18:00 when she saw three men she thought were acting suspiciously in the car park.

Image source, Google

There were also thefts and attempted thefts in Stoke-on-Trent, Tamworth, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Uttoxeter on the same evening.

Staffordshire Police warned people not to approach the thieves because they usually carried tools which could be used as weapons.

Coventry United's Hayley Crackle scores a stunning strike to help her side beat London City Lionesses 1-0 in the FA Women's Championship.

A man has been arrested for drug and driving offences after police saw the vehicle being driven in excess of 100mph.

West Mercia Police said officers, external were on patrol on Saturday at the A49 in Ludlow when they saw the car speeding towards the direction of Clee Hill.

Image source, West Mercia Police

They followed the driver and stopped him where he was issued with a warning for careless driving.

A search of the car reealed cannabis, cocaine, further drug paraphernalia and cash.

The man, aged 20 and from Herefordshire, was arrested on suspicion of possession of Class B drugs with intent to supply and possession of Class A drugs.

He has since been released under investigation.

A driver, who was stopped on the A500 in Stoke-on-Trent, had no insurance or driving licence, police said.

Staffordshire Police Response tweeted, external the driver then "couldn’t explain" why there was "55,000 cigarettes in his vehicle", which have now been seized for proceeds of crime.

Image source, Staffordshire Police

BBC Radio Shropshire Sport

Scott Ruscoe has said being sacked as The New Saints manager came as a surprise.

He said he thought the chairman, Mike Harris, was maybe looking for a change of direction and "may see something and obviously not been too happy with how we've been doing".

And he added: "It's his decision and he'll stand by that."

Image source, TNS

Ruscoe guided them to the Welsh Premier League title in 2018 and 2019 and missed out last year when the season was ended early due to coronavirus.

Despite the 0-0 draw against Bala at the weekend they remain top of the league this season and Ruscoe said he felt he'd left the club in a good position.

A picture showing Basil and Thelma Barnett holding hands is described as a "proper look of love".

Activist Malala Yousafzai has signed a multi-year deal with Apple TV+, to produce programming including documentaries, dramas, comedies and films.

The Nobel Prize laureate, who says Birmingham has become her second home, said she wanted to inspire women and girls to "make the change that they want to see happen".

The 23-year-old arrived at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham more than eight years ago, after being shot by Taliban gunmen while on the bus to school in Pakistan's Swat valley, for saying that girls should be educated.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

More than a third of coronavirus related deaths in Herefordshire have been among residents of care homes, according to official figures.

Most county care homes had at least one outbreak of Covid-19 and a disproportionate number of deaths have been among their residents, according to a report by the county's acting director of public health Rebecca Howell-Jones.

The report says 36% of all coronavirus related deaths in the county have been among care home residents, all aged 69 or above.

Image source, Getty Images

Nine out of ten died in care homes. Of all care home residents who have died of Covid-19 to date, two-thirds did so in April and May.

Ms Howell-Jones said most deaths in the first wave happened in care homes while there has been a shift towards more hospital deaths in the most recent wave.

The report says that while data on cases are distorted by testing policies throughout the pandemic, 70% of people with Covid-19 in Herefordshire hospitals have been aged over 65.

BBC News Health

The network of emergency Nightingale hospitals set up to cope with a surge of Covid-19 cases is to close from April, the NHS has said.

Established last spring amid fears that the NHS might be overwhelmed, the temporary hospitals in England were largely not needed.

Birmingham's NEC centre was opened by the Duke of Cambridge last April, but has been mostly unused.

Some were used as rehab centres and the sites in London and Sunderland will stay open for vaccinations.

Express and Star

The Express and Star is reporting on the following stories:

• West Midlands Ambulance Service takes hundreds of calls from Scotland to aid Covid fight, external
• Free offer for cyclists as new city bike hire scheme launched, external
• Mobile testing unit sets up at Wolverhampton community centre, external

Eloise Parry, 21, from Shrewsbury, died in 2015 after taking dinitrophenol (DNP) capsules.

Vanessa Pearce
BBC News

A family of otters - one of the UK's most elusive mammals - has been pictured in a Worcestershire river.

Image source, Matthew Lissimore

Image source, Matthew Lissimore

Wildlife photographer Matthew Lissimore tweeted us, external the pictures he took whilst out walking near the River Arrow.

Image source, Matthew Lissamore

"[I] couldn't believe my luck", he said.

We love to hear from you so share your news, thoughts and photos of the area with us via email, Twitter, external and Facebook., external