A well-known British actor, writer and comedian has been named as a patron of a Rotherham-based literary charity.

Image source, BBC/Hartswood Films/Joss Barrett

Mark Gatiss, best known for his roles in Sherlock and League of Gentleman, was appointed as a patron of Grimm and Co.

The charity is based in Rotherham town centre and hopes to help to improve literacy levels across Yorkshire and the Humber.

“When I visited Rotherham during the recent League of Gentlemen tour, I was overwhelmed by the hard work, imagination and sheer joy which Grimm and Co bring to their mission", Mr Gatiss said.

"In these dark times, they are a beacon of light.”

Hull Royal Infirmary says last week was the busiest it has ever recorded in accident and emergency.

Image source, Geograph/Ian S

More than 3,000 people required treatment between 13 May and 19, with staff seeing about 400 patients a day.

The hospital has been described as unseasonably busy, with average figures at this time of year usually at about 340 patients a day.

On a busy day, staff might expect to see in the region of 380 patients, but on 13 May the hospital says it saw about 450 people.

Staff dealt with large numbers of children and older people but also more walking wounded and about a quarter of patients - about 100 a day - could have been seen quicker elsewhere.

It's not known what's behind the increased numbers which are putting pressure on the service with members of the public encouraged to make themselves aware of the different facilities on offer in the area.

Ben Raynor Clinical Director at City Health Care Partnership said: "This actually feels slightly worse than the winter peaks, it's just relentless at the moment."

Nick Smith
BBC News Online

Police are appealing for help to find a man who absconded from prison last week.

Image source, Derbyshire Police

Carlos Treazure was jailed in 2015 for robbing a teenager at knifepoint, police said.

The 34-year-old was allowed to leave the Derbyshire prison on day release to go to his place of work in Rutland Road, Sheffield on 16 May.

However, he did not return by his 20:30 curfew.

Treazure, who has a distinctive scar around his left eye, has links to Sheffield, Manchester and Halifax.

Police are asking the public not to approach him but call 101.

Members of a Facebook group trying to find missing Whitby man Peter Brown say they will carry out searches around Scarborough tonight.

Image source, North Yorkshire Police

Mr Brown went missing from the resort two weeks ago today on the afternoon of Wednesday 8 May.

Friends of the 46-year-old have been carrying out their own searches since he was reported missing.

A search by lifeboat crews and a coastguard helicopter two weeks ago failed to find him.

Up to 200 people are expected to help search Oliver's Mount, the Mere and Burniston and Cloughton this evening.

Mr Brown is described as white, about 6ft 1ins tall and of muscular or athletic build. He is unshaven and his hair is a greying or brown colour, which is slightly thinning.

Police believe he may be sleeping rough and so may appear more dishevelled than in his pictures.

His wife, Natalie Brown, said: "Pete, we miss and love you so much. We are heartbroken and desperate to have you back. Please get in touch and come home to us.”

Police in Hull say they were able to recover a stolen car because it had been fitted with a GPS tracker.

Image source, Humberside Police

Humberside Police shared a picture on Twitter of the vehicle which was recovered in the east of the city after being stolen.

The force's roads policing section said: "It's always worth considering a tracker if you buy a new vehicle. It can assist with speedy recovery."

More than 100 people have attended a meeting to discuss how to stop fires breaking out and spreading on Marsden Moor.

Image source, @YorkshirePudd15

There have been a number fires on the moor near Huddersfield already this year, with the biggest burning for two days destroying hundreds of hectares of land.

One person who lives nearby, Scott Turner-Percy, says residents could be made first-responders to start tackling the fires as soon as they're spotted.

"Where I'm located is equidistant between the two points of the fires that have happened along Marsden Moor this year", he told the BBC.

"Either myself or a neighbour have been one of the first to report it or respond to it."

Police investigating a spate of indecent exposures in York say they're exploring a possible link between incidents.

Image source, Google

Five incidents have been reported near the university in the Heslington area in recent months.

The North Yorkshire force says it believes one man may be behind several of the offences, but says it's exploring the possibility there's more than one offender.

Insp Amy Hunter said: “As a result of ongoing investigations around these incidents, we can now confirm we think these offences are linked.

“I’d also like to reassure the community, including the large number of students who live and study in the area, we're doing everything we can to keep you safe and catch the culprits."

The incidents happened in the last few months during daylight hours, mostly in the early afternoon.

Five fire crews have tackled a large blaze at a Wombwell industrial estate.

Image source, Leonie Jayne Ibbotson

The fire, which started at about 18:10 on Tuesday evening at the Valley Road Industrial Estate, spread from a portable cabin to vehicles and a warehouse.

It took about four hours for firefighters to put the fire out, with smoke seen across Barnsley.

Image source, Leonie Jayne Ibbotson

Nobody was injured in the blaze, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said, with an investigation taking place today.

A Hull MP has called for more effort to be put into regenerating Humber docklands following the announcement that British Steel has been placed in compulsory liquidation.

This morning, Labour MP for Hull North Diana Johnson repeated her claim that the area had received less attention than London's docklands:

An architect who designed some of York's best known buildings will be honoured with a blue plaque later.

Image source, Geograph/Stephen Richards/Peter Bond

James Pigott Pritchett designed the portico at York Assembly Rooms (above left), the city's Grecian style Cemetery Chapel based on the Erechtheion in Athens (centre), and the Savings Bank in St Helen's Square.

Image source, Geograph/George Robinson/Nick Macneil

The plaque will be attached to the exterior of the York Cemetery Chapel, which is being renamed the Pritchett Chapel in honour of the architect.

Pritchett also designed Saltmarshe Hall in East Yorkshire (above left) and Huddersfield’s railway station (above right).

The attack happened in woodland in Sheffield in the early hours of Sunday.

Comedian Jason Manford says playing a pub entertainer in a new BBC comedy being filmed in North Yorkshire has given him a chance to stretch his vocal chords and "have a good laugh".

The series, named after and filmed in Scarborough, will be shown later this year and is written by Derren Litten, who was behind ITV's Benidorm.

Filming's been taking place in and around Scarborough's famous pub, The Newcastle Packet.

Image source, Google

A spokesperson for the BBC said: "Scarborough follows the lives and loves of a handful of residents in the resort, where every week the locals gather in a karaoke bar to swap gossip and belt out 80s classics."

Image source, PA

Manford, who once sang with English tenor Alfie Boe, says: "What's weird about it is you don't want to give it the full Les Miserables.

"But at the same time it's quite a fun thing to do, because the songs we're doing are the ones you'd pick on a karaoke anyway."

A 16-year-old boy arrested in connection with the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Sheffield at the weekend has been released on bail.

The teenager was arrested yesterday on suspicion of raping the girl in Richmond Heights Woods in the Richmond area of the city in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Officers looking at the "complex" inquiry are asking people who have information "no matter how minor you think it might be" to come forward.

Sheffield-based extras are needed for a new film about a hit West End musical which started in the city.

Image source, Alastair Muir

Everybody's Talking About Jamie is about a 16-year-old boy from Sheffield who wants to be a drag queen.

The musical was inspired by BBC Three documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16.

Warp Films, which is behind films including Tyrannosaur - starring Olivia Colman - and the TV series This is England, is to adapt the musical.

The company is now seeking local residents to support the filming later this year, with an open casting being held next month, external.

Doncaster Rovers offer new contracts to captain Tommy Rowe and defenders Andy Butler and Danny Andrew.

One of the Hull women who won a famous campaign to change safety laws for fishermen is to return to Westminster later for the first time in 50 years.

Yvonne Blenkinsop and others known as the "Headscarf Revolutionaries" pushed the government for improvements.

She is retracing her steps and hopes the trip will bring back memories of the fight as she tried to change safety laws.

Their campaign started when 58 fishermen based in the port lost their lives in three separate trawler tragedies in the space of less than a month in 1968.

Among the measures the campaign won were safety checks before vessels left port, radio operators for all ships, improved safety equipment and a "mother ship" with medical facilities for all fleets.

Police cracking down on drug gang activity in West Yorkshire say they've made 11 so-called "county lines" arrests in the past week.

County lines is the name given to gangs and organised crime networks in urban areas exploiting children and vulnerable people to sell drugs in rural areas.

As part of the operation, offices seized cocaine and cash to a value of £120,000 as well as a quantity of crack cocaine.

The force says a vulnerable man and a vulnerable woman were also identified and safeguarded.

More than £15,000 is raised in 24 hours to fund treatment for ex-Hull and Salford forward Jansin Turgut, who is on life support in Ibiza.

Police officers are urgently trying to find a man who's wanted in connection with a series of attacks in Barnsley.

Image source, South Yorkshire Police

Leo Angelo Brown, 31, is known to visit Great Houghton and Rawmarsh.

Police are asking anyone who knows where he may be to call 999 immediately and are warning people not approach him.

Leeds' first ever black Lord Mayor officially takes up her role today.

Image source, Leeds City Council

Eileen Taylor, whose father came to England in the 1960s as part of the Windrush generation, will be the 126th Lord Mayor of the city.

The Windrush generation is the name given to immigrants who were invited to the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries.

They were named after the MV Empire Windrush which arrived at Tilbury Docks on 22 June 1948, bringing workers from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, as a response to post-war labour shortages in the UK.

Ms Taylor joined her father in Leeds in the early 1970s when she was a teenager.

She says: "Being the first black Lord Mayor, and a woman, is a position which I am very proud of and really shows how great and diverse our city is."