BBC Local Live: Herefordshire & Worcestershire on Friday 21 April 2017

Summary

Extra funding for hospitals confirmed
Replacement bridge opening date announced
Sanctuary for sheep with abnormalities
WW1 pilgrimage for grandson
Worcestershire in first innings collapse
Updates on Friday 21 April 2017

Live Reporting

Jerry Chester

Cricket: Worcestershire battingpublished at 11:01 British Summer Time 21 April 2017
Worcestershire are batting first in their four-day Championship match against Northants at New Road.
You can hear full ball-by-ball commentary on the whole match on BBC Hereford & Worcester's 738AM frequency and online.
Image source, Getty Images
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'Difficult' probe into warehouse firepublished at 11:01 British Summer Time 21 April 2017
Access to the building is blocked as the majority of the roof collapsed.
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Two arrested in illegal dumping probepublished at 10:48 British Summer Time 21 April 2017
Two men are arrested after 25,000 tonnes of waste is dumped in sites across the North and the Midlands.
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WW1 pilgrimage in grandfather's footstepspublished at 10:43 British Summer Time 21 April 2017
A man is making a trip to Belgium for the 100th anniversary of one of the bloodiest battles of World War One, following in the footsteps of his grandfather.
Mat Porton, from Barnt Green near Bromsgrove, will join more than 4,000 descendants of WW1 soldiers from across the UK who have been invited to special ceremonies marking 100 years since the Battle of Passchendaele.
His grandfather, Thomas Porton (pictured top right), of the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, won the Military Medal for bravery during the battle.
Image source, Porton family
Mat says his grandfather "never spoke of his time in the war, what he had to endure and how he managed to cope with it all".
Quote Message
My own father had no more knowledge of what his dad had been through than I did. The pursuit of my grandfather’s story and getting to know about his life and war experience has been immensely satisfying and profoundly emotional at times."
Mat Porton
Moeen back for New Road gamepublished at 10:22 British Summer Time 21 April 2017
Worcestershire v Northants (play starts 1100 BST)
Moeen Ali is back from England duty to play for Worcestershire as they take on Northamptonshire in a four-day Championship match starting today.
Director of cricket Steve Rhodes said: "We love having Mo in our side - he's a wonderful character. His attitude is brilliant when he comes back to play for us."
Image source, Getty Images
You can here full ball-by-ball commentary on BBC Hereford & Worcester's 738AM frequency and online.
Quote Message
The Championship game is very important from a Worcestershire point of view. And also from a personal point of view to get some form and bat some time."
Moeen Ali
Blackpole fire: Fire investigators sift through the ruinspublished at 10:03 British Summer Time 21 April 2017
Firefighters are sifting through the wreckage of the warehouse devastated in a massive fire yesterday.
Up to 100 firefighters were involved in fighting the blaze at ArrowXL on the Blackpole East Industrial Estate in Worcester.
Image source, Trim Emma
The fire service says it will keep a presence at the warehouse for the next few days to make sure no hot spots in the building flare up.
Quote Message
The difficulty now is actually getting access to those hot spots... because the walls are unsafe and the roof has collapsed in some parts of the building."
Keith Chance, Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue
Redditch woman sings praises of hospital which saved her lifepublished at 09:42 British Summer Time 21 April 2017
Redditch Standard
A Redditch woman given just 30 minutes to live says it’s thanks to the incredible skill of staff at the Alexandra Hospital, external that she is alive and on the road to recovery today.
Blackpole fire: 'We are committed to staying'published at 09:22 British Summer Time 21 April 2017
ArrowXL, the delivery company which runs the massive warehouse gutted by fire yesterday, says it is "committed to staying in the local area".
The company has been on the Blackpole East Industrial Estate since 1994.
Image source, Trim Emma
Quote Message
We have been in the area for the best part of 25 years and we're committed to staying in the local area and have no plans to move away. We've just got to work through where we are - it's a bit too early to tell but clearly there's a big job in terms of rebuilding the site."
Ian Howell, ArrowXL chief executive
Carpet company bought by Kidderminster firmpublished at 09:02 British Summer Time 21 April 2017
One of the oldest independent carpet manufacturers in Britain has been bought by the Kidderminster-based company Brockway Carpets.
The Grosvenor Wilton Company Limited started in 1790 and has worked on projects for Buckingham Palace and the White House.
Image source, Google
The company will continue under the same name and will operate independently within the Brockway group of companies.
Blackpole fire: Cause not known yetpublished at 08:41 British Summer Time 21 April 2017
Fire investigators are waiting to get access to the inside of a warehouse so they can find out the cause of the fire that gutted the building yesterday.
The intense heat damaged the walls and caused parts of the roof to collapse, the fire service say.
Staff who were working in the building when the fire broke out at about 08:30 have been telling investigators what they saw.
Image source, Trim Emma
Quote Message
We've got some good eye witness accounts from people who were in the building, but our investigators are now working to try and identify exactly what caused it."
Keith Chance, Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service
Video: Your 50-second weather updatepublished at 08:25 British Summer Time 21 April 2017
Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather
A mostly dry day is in store with some sunny spells, but also the chance of light rain later with highs of 16C (61F).
You can find a detailed forecast for your area on the BBC Weather site., external
Media caption,
Latest weather for the West Midlands
Good morning from today's Herefordshire and Worcestershire live pagepublished at 08:01 British Summer Time 21 April 2017
Jerry Chester
BBC News Online
Welcome to the Local Live service for Herefordshire and Worcestershire on Friday morning. There's a cloudy start to the day, as you can see from this picture taken by BBC Weather Watcher, Morning Amble.
Image source, Morning Amble
I'll be bringing you all the news, sport, travel and weather as it happens.
If you'd like to get in touch you can email, tweet us on @bbchw, external or message via Facebook, external.
One-Day Cup: Worcestershire v Nottinghamshirepublished at 18:53 British Summer Time 20 April 2017
Listen to live BBC Hereford and Worcester commentary as Worcestershire face Nottinghamshire in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
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Our live coverage across the daypublished at 18:00 British Summer Time 20 April 2017
Live updates for Herefordshire and Worcestershire have finished for the day but local stories will be added automatically through the night.
Unite suspends McCluskey challengerpublished at 17:59 British Summer Time 20 April 2017
Gerard Coyne is suspended as a Unite official - as counting is set to begin in leadership ballot.
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Former mayor of Worcester diespublished at 17:55 British Summer Time 20 April 2017
Mike Layland, the former mayor of Worcester, has died at the age of 81, the city council says.
He was first elected to Worcester City Council as a Labour councillor at a by-election in October 1966, representing the old Holy Trinity Ward until 1992, then went on to represent Nunnery Ward as an Independent from 1994 to 2012, when he retired.
He served on the city council for a total of 44 years.
Image source, Worcester City Council
Watch: Shop owner's half century honouredpublished at 17:50 British Summer Time 20 April 2017
Trevor Owens
Sports Editor, BBC Hereford & Worcester
Shops come and shops go - but not the independent shoe shop run by Audrey Cole.
She's been trading in Presteigne for 50 years - and I went along to watch as her local Chamber of Trade marked the landmark.
Media caption,
Shop owner's half century in business honoured
Watch: Latest weather forecastpublished at 17:45 British Summer Time 20 April 2017
Shefali Oza
BBC Midlands Today
Some cooler weather ahead - find out what the next few days have in store.
Media caption,
West Midlands weather
Worcester department store facing uncertain future following announcementpublished at 17:36 British Summer Time 20 April 2017
Worcester News
The Worcester city centre store of Debenhams could face an uncertain future, external after the new boss unveiled plans to review the future of 10 stores nationally.
Cricket: Moeen back for Northants gamepublished at 17:28 British Summer Time 20 April 2017
BBC Sport
Worcestershire are expected to name a 13-man squad for their first County Championship home game of the season – which starts tomorrow against Northamptonshire (11:00).
England all-rounder Moeen Ali (pictured), who has been made available for one appearance by the ECB, is added to the 12 players picked for last weekend’s eight-wicket win in Cardiff against Glamorgan.
Image source, Rex Features
In Joe Leach’s first home game since being made county captain, overseas signing John Hastings will also make his home debut.
You can here full commentary on the game on BBC Hereford & Worcester's on 738 AM frequency and online.