The famous Hull Fair, which was cancelled for the first time in decades last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, is to go ahead in October, it's been confirmed.

Hull City Council and the Showman's Guild say the fair will take place between Friday 8 and Saturday 16 October, excluding Sunday 10 October.

One of Europe's biggest and oldest travelling funfairs, the event has been held annually since 1278, but was cancelled last year due to the "risks posed by mass gatherings" in the midst of the pandemic.

Confirming the event will go ahead in October, Daren Hale, leader of Hull City Council, said: "Hull Fair, along with all the city’s major events, was sorely missed last year so we’re delighted it is able to return in 2021.

"I know we will all be looking forward to experiencing the exciting atmosphere and those familiar sights, sounds and smells.

"While the national changes to restrictions have made it possible for the fair to go ahead, we should remember coronavirus is still in circulation and we should take the same precautions we do day-to-day."

Mr Hale said visitors to the fair were advised to consider using alternative entrances into the fairground and visiting the fair mid-week when it was usually quieter.

Additional Covid precautions would be taken "wherever possible", including additional cleansing regimes on rides and equipment, the council added.

Bournemouth loan striker Jake Scrimshaw to Scunthorpe United until the completion of the League Two season.

Notre Dame College in Leeds is criticised for telling pupils by text the night before enrolment.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Lincolnshire councils will look to take in at least 14 Afghan refugee families in response to the crisis in the country, it's been confirmed.

Image source, SAC Samantha Holden RAF/PA Wire

The government, which has agreed to resettle up to 20,000 Afghan refugees, with 5,000 in the first instance, has requested support from all local authorities throughout the country.

It comes after the Taliban tore through the country, taking hold, after troops from the UK and USA and other allied forces withdrew following 20 years there.

South Holland District Council leader Gary Porter has told BBC Radio Lincolnshire that his district was looking to resettle two interpreters and their families in their area.

Councillor Porter said: "Clearly there’s a strong moral obligation why the UK needs to make sure the interpreters' families are kept safe."

Speaking to Local Democracy Reporters afterwards, North Kesteven District Council leader Richard Wright, the county’s lead for the East Midlands’ Regional Migration Partnership, said: "At the moment we’re all [six other districts] looking to definitely match South Holland."

Mr Wright said more could be offered if the housing is available to do so and that he had been pushing for more to be done for a while now.

Councillor Wright, a former member of the armed services, said those who had assisted forces personnel in Afghanistan had fulfilled "vital roles".

A spokesman for North East Lincolnshire Council also confirmed the authority had responded to indicate its support for the government’s efforts, but gave no indication of numbers.

North Lincolnshire Council has been asked for comment.

Police in Scarborough are appealing for witnesses after a car was reversed into a woman before being driven off earlier this month.

Image source, goo

The pedestrian, who is in her 50s, was left with bruising to her hand and arm as a result of the incident, which happened at West End Garage on Seamer Road at about 00:45 on Monday 9 August.

It's thought the car involved was a black Renault Clio, according to North Yorkshire Police.

Anyone who saw what happened, or who saw the car before the collision, is being asked to contact the North Yorkshire force as soon as possible.

A five-year-old Afghan refugee who fell to his death from a Sheffield hotel window has been identified by police.

Image source, PA Media

It is reported Mohammed Munib Majeedi fell from a ninth-floor room where he was staying with his mother.

Emergency services were called to the OYO Metropolitan Hotel in Blonk Street, Sheffield, at about 14:30 on Wednesday.

A fellow Afghan staying in the hotel said Mohammed's family arrived in the UK 15 days ago.

It is understood they were relocated to the UK as part of the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme.

Newby Wiske Hall, formerly owned by North Yorkshire Police, is to become an educational activity centre.

BBC Radio Leeds

Teenagers in Leeds say they have been left without places at a sixth form college, after being told it was full, the night before they were due to enrol.

Image source, Google

They say they only found out by text message that the places they had been offered at Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College were no longer available.

A number of teenagers and their parents gathered at the college gates on Thursday, where a statement was read out by the principal and deputy principal.

Staff say they had warned enrolment would stop once a limit had been reached, and parents are now being encouraged to contact their local authority.

Saima Rashid, whose son had been offered a place, told BBC Radio Leeds: "I'm really devastated. I'm annoyed, I'm upset, because this was my first child going to do his sixth form. The college has let us down."

A spokesperson for the college said: "When enrolment packs were sent out it was explained that we would enrol until we were full, and in the order of enrolment as explained."

The Department for Education says Notre Dame is very popular and is oversubscribed each year, and that a "small number" of students will always miss out on a place at their preferred college.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Music fans in Sheffield could enjoy another multi-day event in the city after promoters were granted a licence for the event.

SJM Concerts – who have worked with big names such as Sheffield's very own Arctic Monkeys as well as Billie Eilish and Stormzy – asked to be licensed for an event covering a maximum of three days between May and September in 2023 or 2024.

The working title of the event at Hillsborough Park is "Cosmic" - or City of Sheffield Music, Interaction and Culture - and specific dates of 2-3 June 2023 have been proposed.

SJM said there would be one stage and up to 39,999 attendees each day plus staff and contractors. Live music would take place between 16:00 and 22:30.

Councillor Joe Otten, chair of the committee considering the application, said: "I’m happy we could grant a licence for another music festival in Sheffield. Music is one of our city’s strengths and the festivals bring us joy."

However, he added he was "sympathetic" to nearby residents who "may not appreciate the nuisance... and potentially lose the normal use of their local park for large parts of the summer".

There were three formal objections to the application from local residents and the Hillsborough Green Party.

One objector, Simon Benton, said: "Hillsborough Park has houses so close to it people have reported windows shaking when Tramlines is on To put the local people through this more than once a year is not acceptable."

Matt Proctor, licensing officer at the council, said in a report that SJM had agreed to a number of conditions.

Steve Walton, of SJM, said: "One thing I think needs to be made clear is once you have got a licence granted, it doesn’t mean the event is 100% happening...it’s never a given."

BBC Weather

Today will be a mostly dry day, but the odd shower may linger in a few places in the morning.

A largely cloudy day, although some areas will see sunny spells break through at times in the afternoon.

Tonight will be cloudy with outbreaks of showery rain, potentially heavy a times, moving in from the west.

PA Media

Bradford and the Wakefield district are now officially in the running to become the next UK City of Culture - hoping to follow in the footsteps of Hull's successful bid for the 2017 title.

Image source, Danny Lawson/PA Wire

More areas than ever before have put in bids to be awarded the coveted status.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said a record 20 places had expressed an interest in hosting a year of cultural festivities in 2025.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said: "This record number of applications from all four corners of the country is testament to the huge success of City of Culture in generating investment, creating jobs and boosting local pride.

"This prestigious prize creates a fantastic opportunity for towns and cities to build back better from the pandemic and I wish all bidders the very best of luck."

The 20 bidders will be reduced to an initial longlist in the coming weeks and then cut down further to a final shortlist in early 2022. The winner will be announced in May 2022.

Those longlisted will be awarded grants of £40,000 to support the next stage of their applications.

Entrants have been tasked by the government with proving they can put culture at the heart of their plans to recover from the impact of the pandemic.

The successful area will take on the baton from Coventry, which is the 2021 UK City of Culture, with Hull having previously enjoyed the status in 2017.

During its 12-month tenure, Hull saw more than 5.3 million visits to more than 2,800 events, cultural activities, installations and exhibitions, while 75% of those who visited the Humber port city in 2017 stated that it changed their perception of the city for the better.

Thousands in Hull saw the R38 airship crash in the Humber on 24 August 1921 killing 44 crew members.

Former player Azeem Rafiq accuses Yorkshire of downplaying racism by calling him the victim of "inappropriate behaviour".

BBC Radio York

An amateur jockey from North Yorkshire is hoping to raise thousands of pounds for charity by combining her passion of horses with a cheeky charity calendar.

Image source, Macmillon Cancer Support

Natasha Nelson, 34, from Sherriff Hutton near York and her fellow stable workers stripped off for the photos, using carefully placed horses and equestrian accessories.

She says: "The calendar is a fun and cheeky way of raising money. We’ve involved our stable stars like Royal Ascot-winner Lord Glitters. Everyone is in on the action".

Natasha is one of 12 amateur jockeys taking part in the Ride of their Lives, external event raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support at York Racecourse next month.

The riders from across the UK have already raised more £60,000 for Macmillan.

All the money will support the charity’s Yorkshire Appeal, providing vital support to people living with cancer in the region.

A man is in a serious condition in hospital after a shooting in South Yorkshire, police have said.

Officers were called to Bentley Road in Doncaster at about 23:55 on Wednesday after reports a man had been seriously hurt.

On arrival, they found a 24-year-old man who had suffered what appeared to be injuries caused by a firearms discharge, according to South Yorkshire Police.

He was taken to hospital where he remains in a serious but stable condition, officers said.

No arrests have been made as yet and detectives are trying to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident, the South Yorkshire force added.

Det Insp Matt Bolger said: "I would like to reassure the public that we have a significant number of officers progressing this investigation.

"An incident such as this is naturally going to cause concern, but please be assured we are working to identify those involved.

"We are exploring several lines of inquiry and I would urge anyone who has any information about the incident to contact police. Any details you can provide could assist my officers."

Det Insp Bolger added there would be "a large police presence" in the area on Thursday to offer reassurance to local residents.

A Hull hairdresser who lost his own hair due to cancer is now making wigs to help others.

Ex-Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam Jared O'Mara has been charged with seven counts of fraud.

Image source, Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament/PA Wire

The charges relate to a number of allegedly fraudulent expenses claims, South Yorkshire Police said.

Mr O'Mara (pictured in 2019) is charged alongside former aide Gareth Arnold, who faces six counts of fraud and a third man, John Woodliff, who faces a single charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

All three are due to appear before Sheffield Magistrates' on 24 September.

A five-year-old boy who fell to his death from a Sheffield hotel window was an Afghan refugee, police have said.

Image source, Google

Emergency services were called to the OYO Metropolitan Hotel in Blonk Street, Sheffield, at about 14:30 on Wednesday.

It is reported that the child fell from a ninth-floor room where he was staying with his mother.

A fellow Afghan staying in the hotel said the boy's family only arrived in the UK 15 days ago.

The man, who worked as an interpreter for the British Army in Afghanistan, said one of his children alerted him to the boy falling and he went outside to help.

He was later asked to accompany the boy's mother to hospital to translate. He said everybody in the hotel had been left shocked by the incident.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: "This a terrible tragedy and our thoughts are with the family who have gone through so much trauma and suffering to reach the UK."

"It is vital the Home Office carry out an urgent investigation into what has happened so steps can be taken to quickly learn lessons.

South Yorkshire Police said: "We can confirm that the five-year-old boy who sadly lost his life is from Afghanistan."

It said the boy's death was not being treated as suspicious and his family was being supported by specially trained officers.

A formal identification is yet to take place .

Tim Daley
BBC Radio Leeds

A cat which was left paralysed by a road accident in Dubai has been flown thousands of miles to West Yorkshire for treatment.

Image source, Bradford Cat Watch Rescue

Manisha went through a 30-hour 4,000-mile-plus plane journey to Bradford Cat Watch Rescue after being found badly injured in the United Arab Emirates.

The eight-month-old cat is paralysed in her back legs and has a broken spine.

She was flown to the UK as part of the International Pet and Animal Transportation Network:

Katie Lloyd, from Bradford Cat Watch Rescue, has told BBC Radio Leeds she wanted to help because of what she called Dubai’s "terrible" animal welfare record.

“Usually they euthanize cats. They have been known to put disabled, paralysed and ill cats in the desert and leave them to dehydrate and starve to death," she said.

"When I heard that and saw this little cat, I thought we’ve got to get her to Bradford."

But Ms Lloyd says the cat remains severely disabled and a surgery plan is now being drawn up, along with a programme of physiotherapy.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Harrogate will take in "more than our quota" of Afghan refugees fleeing the country following the Taliban takeover, the leader of the borough council has pledged.

Conservative councillor Richard Cooper said the refugees were “in need of and deserve our assistance” and pledged his support for the government's plans to resettle up to 20,000 Afghan refugees in the UK.

Earlier this year, the council offered to resettle 19 Afghans under a similar scheme, which targeted former translators and others who worked for the UK military.

Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Cooper said: “Back in June, Harrogate Borough Council pledged to take its fair share of the quota of Afghan interpreters who were seeking relocation to this country.

“We not only did that – we pledged to take more than our quota and we have done so.

“The government will now be coming forward with a new scheme for relocating Afghan refugees and on behalf of the council I want to make that pledge again: that we will not only take our quota that the government suggests, but we will take more.

“Harrogate is a welcoming, tolerant and diverse place and these people are in need of our assistance and deserve our assistance.”