Summary

  • Risk summit held to ensure hospital's 'patient safety maintained'

  • Man jailed for possessing an offensive weapon in a public place

  • Flood teams on standby for Storm Barbara

  • Facebook campaign for dog missing for a year

  • Updates on Friday 23 December

  1. Police reveal road operation's arrest tallypublished at 15:11 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    Warwickshire and West Mercia Police forces have been targeting "foreign national offenders" on the region's roads.

    Under November's Operation Trivium, officers stopped 353 vehicles, 119 of which were driven by foreign motorists.

    Officers made 21 arrests on suspicion of offences including modern day slavery and money laundering.   

  2. Latest: Foreign 'offenders' arrested; South Pole goal; Beatles book praisedpublished at 15:02 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    Claudia Berry
    Producer, BBC Hereford & Worcester

    Here are some of the stories we are looking at the afternoon:

    - 15 people have been arrested by West Mercia Police during a crack down on "foreign offenders"

    - A group of army reservists, led by a Hereford man, are now less than 90 nautical miles away from the South Pole

    - A book on The Beatles which was published in Leominster has attracted praise from rock legends

  3. Pudleston revolts over poor broadbandpublished at 14:27 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    Media caption,

    Investment plans mean broadband will soon be available to over 90% of the UK

    Spare a thought for the residents of Pudleston, in North Herefordshire, where villagers struggle with broadband speeds of below 2Mbps (megabits per second). That compares with Britain's average download speed of 28.9Mbps.

    These are the people that the government wants to help with its plan to give rural and remote parts of Britain access to decent broadband services, using £440m that it found down the back of the sofa, metaphorically speaking of course. 

    Retired nurse Judy Thompson questioned why Pudleston's residents should pay the same amount for broadband as someone who gets speeds of 28Mps or more.

    She says: "If you went into a restaurant and ordered a cheese sandwich, would you pay the same price as someone who was getting lobster? I don't think so. I think it is completely unreasonable."

  4. Music star donates to singer's cancer fundpublished at 14:09 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    Herefordshire's Ellie Goulding is among the celebrities that have donated towards cancer treatment for Delays frontman Greg Gilbert.

    £54,000 has been raised to help the singer and father-of-two who has been diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer which has spread to his lungs

    Ellie Goulding

    A crowdfunding page set up by his family is hoping to raise £100,000.   

  5. Your pictures: Early morning mist on the racecoursepublished at 13:46 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    Tim Race
    Producer, BBC Hereford & Worcester

    These pictures, taken early in the morning on Pitchcroft in Worcester, are from BBC Hereford & Worcester's Tim Race, shot as he cycled into work (brave man).

    Send your pictures to us by emailtweet us on @bbchw, external or message via Facebook, external.

    Worcester racecourse
    Worcester racecourse
  6. Christmas beak for Luctonians' squadpublished at 13:27 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    Trevor Owens
    Sports Editor, BBC Hereford & Worcester

    Luctonians' director of rugby Alex Davidson says he's giving the squad a 10-day break over the Christmas period so they can recover from what has been a heavy programme of games.

    Lucs have had 16 players missing in recent weeks and Davidson feels it's important they take a break when the chance arises.

  7. Watch: A sunny but windy afternoonpublished at 13:12 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    Sara Blizzard
    BBC Weather

    There will be plenty of sunny spells, but the strength of the wind will mean that it will feel rather chilly when out and about.  Highs of 8C (46F).

    Media caption,

    Weather for the West Midlands.

  8. Your pictures: Mist on the Malvern Hillspublished at 12:57 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    Jerry Chester
    BBC News Online

    There are plenty of people out on the Malvern Hills taking advantage of the good weather before Storm Barbara appears.

    This great shot of the clouds wrapping around the tops of the hills comes from Dave Bright of Bright Skies Videos.

    Malvern HillsImage source, Dave Bright

    I'd love to feature your photos on this page - you can emailtweet us on @bbchw, external or message via Facebook, external.

  9. Fibre broadband: a bit further to gopublished at 12:40 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    Culture Secretary and Redditch MP Karen Bradley has been trumpeting the government's lastest broadband investment announcement. But it's not hard to find complaints from households and businesses that think the roll-out by BT fails to deliver. 

    Ms Bradley tells 5live that 3,000 premises a day are being hooked up to fibre broadband. But she accepts that all too often the final journey into the home is via copper wire, not fibre. "We have never shied away that the gold standard is fibre into the home," she says. 

  10. Kidderminster Shuttle front page: Shuttle Christmas Gift Appeal spreads festive cheerpublished at 12:22 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    Kidderminster Shuttle

    Hundreds of children across Wyre Forest will be waking up on Christmas morning to an unexpected treat, thanks the generous readers of the Shuttle, external.  

    Kidderminster Shuttle front pageImage source, Kidderminster Shuttle
  11. A new way of looking at the Fab Fourpublished at 12:06 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    BBC Hereford and Worcester

    A new book, published in Herefordshire, is encouraging people to take a new look at The Beatles.

    Visualising The Beatles is the work of designers John Pring and Rob Thomas.

    Media caption,

    A new way of looking at the Fab Four

  12. Broadband boost for rural parts of UKpublished at 11:43 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    The government says it will invest another £440m to deliver superfast broadband to rural areas of Britain.

    Up to 600,000 homes and businesses are expected to benefit. 

    The funding is said to have come from efficiency savings and a scheme enabling it to claw back money from the supplier, BT, when demand reaches a certain point.

    Under a 2010 deal, the government paid BT to roll out superfast broadband in hard-to-reach areas where providers had said it was not cost-effective to install broadband infrastructure.  

    Broadband genericImage source, Thinkstock
  13. 'Sinkhole' road to open 'by the end of the day'published at 11:26 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    The county council is hoping to have Woolhope Road in Worcester reopened by the end of today.

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  14. One-off loan game for Warriors' lockpublished at 11:18 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    Worcester Warriors' lock, Tevita Cavubati, has joined London Scottish for a one-game loan. 

    Cavubati has been recovering from a broken bone in his foot and he'll appear for Scottish in their Championship match against London Welsh on Christmas Eve. 

    Tevita CavubatiImage source, Getty Images
  15. Your pictures: Sunrise before Storm Barbarapublished at 11:01 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    BBC Weather Watchers

    Storm Barbara may be heading this way, but BBC Weather Watchers Mikesnapper and Happysnapper71 were up early to catch some great sunrises in Worcester and Eaton Bishop.

    I'd love to feature your photos on this page - you can emailtweet us on @bbchw, external or message via Facebook, external.

    SunriseImage source, Mikesnapper
    SunriseImage source, Happysnapper71
  16. Watch: The Christmas tree made out of blown-up kitchen gloves and other unusual sightspublished at 10:29 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    BBC Hereford and Worcester

    A display of Christmas trees made from unusual objects, including blown-up kitchen gloves, has gone on show to raise funds for a Worcestershire church.

    The Women's Institute of Wyre Piddle are trying to raise £13,000 towards the restoration of a rare 15th Century stained-glass window at St Anne's church in the village.  

    Media caption,

    Christmas trees with a difference raise funds for church

  17. Former nurse's concerns over A&E carepublished at 10:13 Greenwich Mean Time 22 December 2016

    A former nurse says she's concerned about the standard of care received by A&E patients at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

    Mandy Bridgman, who used to work for the trust that runs the hospital, went there with her husband in the summer after he suffered a stroke.

    Worcestershire Royal HospitalImage source, PA

    She said it took at least six hours for him to be seen by doctors and she's not sure what would have happened had she not been there.

    Quote Message

    I was horrified because I had been led to believe that this was a thing of the past."

    Mandy Bridgman, Former nurse

    The trust running the hospital says it is employing additional staff to deal with an increase in demand at A&E during the winter period.