Clare Lissaman
BBC News

Buildings across Leamington Spa will be lit up in yellow later as part of the remembrance events marking the anniversary of the first lockdown.

Image source, Kelly Iles

Kelly Iles from the town said she has worked with Warwick District Council to arrange for buildings including the Royal Priors shopping centre, the Spa House and Royal Pump Rooms to be lit later.

Some business premises in the town will also be lit up yellow, including the windows of Enchanted, in the Royal Priors, which has hearts displaying the names of 700 people lost to Covid-19.

Mrs Iles, whose father died from the virus in January, said: "It's all about coming together and to reflect a year on."

Shots were fired in a Coventry street on Monday night, police say.

Officers were called to reports of the shotgun being discharged in Mansel Street, in the Foleshill area of the city at about 19:10.

Damage to the window of a property and casings were discovered at the scene, said the West Midlands force.

A 19-year-old man later presented at hospital with pellets in his foot.

His injuries are not thought to be serious.

Birmingham Live

Some of the Birmingham Live headlines today include:

• The Queen leads tributes as UK falls silent to mark Covid victims
• Police incident closes major Perry Barr road, external
• RSPCA and firefighters given the runaround by pet hamster stuck in pipe, external

Kazeema Afzal's sister was among the NHS workers who died with Covid at the start of the pandemic.

An ice cream van has been pulled over on the A500 in Stoke-on-Trent by motorway police and seized after the driver was found to have no insurance.

Image source, Central Motorway Police Group

The Central Motorway Police Group tweeted, external: "Sorry kids, Mr Whippy won't be coming to visit you today. He's been a naughty boy and not taken out any insurance, so he's coming for a free ride on the back of a lorry."

The force added: "Hopefully by the time the sun comes out he'll have learnt how to behave properly."

The tweet has prompted many humorous replies, including: "Good job he wasn't doing 99."

Another posted "was he driving on flake insurance," and our personal favourite, "did you CONE off the area."

A man who police suspect was poisoned remains in a critical condition after he was found at a property in north Staffordshire on Saturday.

Officers were called to a property on Rowhurst Crescent in Butt Lane at 16:45, where he was found in cardiac arrest.

A woman in her 40s from Newcastle-under-Lyme, arrested in relation to the case, has been released under investigation, the Staffordshire force said.

Chris and Marianne Fisher were on a round-the-world trip when the pandemic changed their plans.

Strictly Come Dancing star AJ Pritchard's girlfriend has revealed she had seven weeks of "continuous hospital treatment" after burning herself while trying to copy a YouTube stunt.

Image source, Getty Images

Mr Pritchard, originally from Stoke-on-Trent, said he felt "helpless" after Abbie Quinnen's clothes and hair caught on fire.

"As soon as the fire on her body, her hair, obviously her skin was out, we covered her in damp towels, we called 999, we did everything that we thought was the right thing to do and to get her to A&E as soon as possible," he added.

He also thanked people for the "love and support" they have received, adding it keeps him and Quinnen "positive".

Harvey Blount died on the M42 motorway as he travelled back to an RAF base after seeing his family.

BBC Sport

Tributes have been paid to England striker Frank Worthington who has died aged 72 following a long illness.

The former Birmingham City striker, who won eight England caps and scored twice for the national team, began his career at Huddersfield Town.

He went on to make more than 200 appearances for Leicester City and played for other clubs including Bolton, Southampton, Leeds United and Sunderland.

He played in 22 consecutive Football League seasons from 1966 to 1987, scoring 266 goals in 882 appearances in all competitions.

A minute's silence has been observed across the West Midlands in remembrance of those in the country who died as a result of coronavirus.

A day of reflection is being held as the UK marks the anniversary of the first lockdown.

This was the scene at the West Midlands Ambulance Service academy in Brierley Hill.

Across the region there has been 14,623 deaths with 419,635 people testing positive for Covid-19.

The 14 men, including actor Ricky Tomlinson, were among 24 charged following pickets in Shrewsbury.

Vanessa Pearce
BBC News

Dozens of you have been sharing photographs showing your last 'normal' event before a national lockdown was announced 12 months ago.

Image source, Kerry Morgon-Shaw

On the BBC Midlands Facebook page, Kerry Morgon-Shaw shared her memory of going to see Stereophonics in Birmingham on 29 February.

"Awesome gig, miss live music," she said.

Image source, Louise Rotheram

Louise Rotheram posts: "Myself & my partner went to our local church to hear our Banns read.

"A few days after this photo was taken, we ended up postponing our wedding. We’ve now postponed it twice and still not yet married."

Image source, Tina Mendolia

Tina Mendolia writes of a trip to a Stoke-on-Trent attraction: "On 23rd March we knew lockdown was going to be announced that evening so we took one last look at Trentham Gardens that afternoon as we guessed it could be weeks before we could go again.

"Little did we know that these would be the last spring photos."

Image source, Janice Andrews

And Janice Andrews shared this picture of herself and colleagues from Handsworth Wood U3A on their trip to the Mailbox in Birmingham on 14 March 2020.

Keep sharing the photographs via email, Twitter, external and Facebook , externaland we'll highlight as many as we can.

The anniversary of the first coronavirus lockdown will be marked across the West Midlands today.

On 23 March 2020 Boris Johnson outlined measures to stop the spread of Covid-19. Since then, the UK's official death toll , externalhas risen from 364 to 126,172.

Image source, Google

Lichfield Catheral is among landmarks across the region to be lit up later.

The words "reflect", "support" and "hope" will be projected on to the building.

Dean of Lichfield the Very Reverend Adrian Dorber said the country had witnessed "bereavement on a huge scale," which had caused "profound shock".

"Through the next year or two there are occasions of public mourning where we can actually give ourselves permission to do some of the grieving that needs to happen, because it's not just loss of life, it's loss of a way of life too."

BBC News England

From Dracula fans making a detour for a glimpse of a ruined abbey, to bird watchers chasing a rare sighting, thousands of Covid fines have been issued since the pandemic began.

BBC News has been taking a look at some of them.

Among those fined in the West Midlands were 15 people after a call-out to a makeshift club in Birmingham, complete with DJ, bar and VIP area.

The same night, the force raided a workshop transformed into a bar nicknamed "The Covid Arms".

The daughter of the former West Bromwich Albion player Jeff Astle is speaking to MPs today.

His death in 2002 sparked research into the link between heading footballs and dementia.

Dawn Astle is giving evidence to the second session of the Concussion in Sport Inquiry, which is set to consider scientific evidence and hear from players and governing bodies.

The inquiry will not consider material involved in legal proceedings, but will look at potential implications of successful legal action and what impact that could have on sport in the longer term.

BBC local radio

BBC local radio stations across the West Midlands will today mark the anniversary of the Make a Difference campaign.

The scheme was launched to offer help and support to listeners during the coronavirus lockdown.

In the past 12 months more than four million people have either called or messaged their local BBC radio station.

It looks like the viruses that cause colds wins in the battle to infect our cells.

The organising committee says because of the size of the event, a decision could not be delayed.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Keri Trigg

An oak tree believed to be 150 years old has been temporarily saved from being chopped down after a bird was reportedly spotted nesting in it.

The tree, in Featherbed Lane, Shrewsbury, was hours away from chainsaws on Monday to make way for a new access point as part of the expansion of Harlescott Junior School.

Protesters from campaign group Extinction Rebellion demonstrated and one climbed up to stop it being felled.

During the protest, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said a bird's nest and eggs had been discovered in the tree (pictured) meaning removing it would be illegal until after nesting season.

Shropshire Council said the work had been postponed while it investigated if there was any nesting activity.