BBC Radio Stoke

A working men's club has closed for a week after two customers tested positive for coronavirus.

In a post on Facebook, Silverdale Working Men's Club said the people who tested positive had visited the club on 16 August.

Image source, Google

The club, in Newcastle-under-Lyme, said if anyone attended on 16 August, they should self-isolate for 10 days, in line with government guidelines.

Thousands of extra seats are being introduced on West Midland and London Northwestern Railway services from next month.

West Midland Trains says the new timetable, which comes into effect from Sunday 6 September, will see available space increased in time for the return of schools and workplaces.

Image source, West Midlands Rail

Services were reduced in March in response to the coronavirus pandemic, with passenger numbers dropping by about 95% at the height of the lockdown.

The latest news means the capacity "in many places" on the West Midlands Railway network is to be returned "to near pre-Covid levels".

Among the key changes are:

• Train frequency on Birmingham’s Cross-City Line increases from three to four trains an hour on the majority of the route and will be the maximum six carriages in length
• Services on the Birmingham-Hereford and Birmingham-Shrewsbury lines increase to two trains per hour in the peak
• Snow Hill Line services increase to six trains per hour while services to Birmingham International increase to two trains per hour
• Services between Walsall and Rugeley step up to two trains per hour both peak and off-peak. In order to improve reliability, Chase Line trains will remain self-contained in the West Midlands rather than continue through to London Euston

WMR said the "simpler timetable would be more reliable for passengers with longer trains to help social distancing" and people were being reminded wearing a face covering was compulsory on trains and in stations unless exempt for medical reasons.

The woman and her 12-month-old daughter were struck by another car in August 2017.

Average speed cameras will go live this week on a stretch of the A500 in Stoke-on-Trent.

The cameras will be enforced by Staffordshire Police along the five-mile stretch between Hanchurch and Wolstanton.

Funded by Highways England, it is expected to improve road safety on the "busy commuter route".

Since January 2017, there has been one fatal crash, six serious injury crashes and 52 "slight-injury" crashes, the force said, external.

Image source, Staffordshire Police

The digital cameras will detect vehicles through Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and calculate their average speed.

Ch Insp Mat Derrick said: "Average speed check cameras likes these have an important role to play in encouraging people to drive at appropriate speeds on our roads.

"Speed limits are enforced to protect you and other road users, and they should be respected and not used as targets."

Port Vale re-sign striker Theo Robinson on a two-year contract following his release by Southend United.

BBC Weather Watchers

We've been treated to some delightful skies this morning across the West Midlands.

Dave Bayley snapped this picture in Birmingham city centre.

Image source, Dave Bayley

Bobwalking captured this fluffy cloud-sky in Upton upon Severn, Worcestershire.

Image source, Bobwalking

Dawn Treader took this picture in Congleton earlier.

Image source, Dawn Treader

Become a BBC Weather Watcher and send us your photos.

Children and other vulnerable people are being spared the 'trauma' of attending trial from Monday.

The 10-strong team finish the charity ride from John O'Groats to Land's End in just 13 days.

Footage shows the building reduced to rubble in a controlled explosion.

Chris Day, who thinks he is the UK's only black glass blower, has an exhibition in London.

One woman says her car and seven others were damaged overnight in the Italianate resort of Portmeirion.

More than 190 people turned up on Thursday to a temporary coronavirus testing site in Normacot, Stoke-on-Trent, where a coronavirus outbreak has been recorded.

Dr Paul Edmondson-Jones, the area's director of public health, said the authority has been able to link the majority of cases to 15-16 households across 6-8 streets.

The majority of cases are the result of household transmission, he said, and identifying the hotspots has enabled the council to target the area and inform the community about how to stay safe.

"Any outbreak is serious," he said. "We don't want the numbers to rise any further, so what we want to do is contain that.

"The measures we've put in place we feel are sufficient that we will be able to contain this."

In Normacot, the number of people who had tested positive for coronavirus between 5 and 19 August was now 61, with 45 positive cases in the past seven days, Stoke-on-Trent City Council said.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

The Stoke-on-Trent Live website's headlines today include:

• Dozens more residents turn up for Covid-19 tests as local outbreak continues, external
• Five charged after man repeatedly stabbed in Staffordshire, external
• Stoke City to be limited to 25-man squad in EFL rule, external

BBC Weather Watchers

Here's a selection of photos from some of the BBC's Weather Watchers in the West Midlands today.

Image source, Les at Large/ BBC Weather Watchers

Image source, JazzyDee/ BBC Weather Watchers

Image source, Jo/ BBC Weather Watchers

Image source, Suttonwalker/ BBC Weather Watchers

Doncaster Rovers sign Stoke City goalkeeper Josef Bursik on a season-long loan deal.

Crowds of onlookers gathered in Rugeley, in Staffordshire, this morning, for the latest phase in the demolition of the town's former power station.

Image source, Mark Fullwood

The boiler house was brought down in a controlled explosion at 10:00.

Other parts of the site, including the cooling towers, are due to be demolished at a later date.

The site is being cleared for new housing.

BBC Radio Stoke

People in a city borough are being urged to get tested for coronavirus as a temporary testing site is set up today in the area.

Image source, Stoke-on-Trent City Council

Stoke-on-Trent City Council said Covid-19 cases in Normacot were concentrated in about 15 houses in a number of streets.

A total of 57 residents in the area have tested positive since 5 August and people have been asked to stay within their household bubble.

Dr Paul Edmondson-Jones oversees public health in the city and said it was vital more people got tested.

"We are focusing on a small number of streets and we delivered letters last week to houses in those streets urging people there to come and be tested and that was where we got our 11 positives tests from at the weekend," he said.

Express and Star

The Express and Star's headlines today include:

• GCSE results: Black Country students nervous to get grades, external
• Commonwealth Games aquatics centre 'will not suffer same fate as athletes' village', external
• Councillors hoping to find new occupier for Pizza Express' 'prime site' in Stafford, external

Residents in Normacot, Stoke-on-Trent, are urged to stay home as coronavirus cases rise to 57.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

The Stoke-on-Trent Live website's headlines include:

• Covid testing station to reopen in Normacot as number of outbreak cases rises to 45, external
• Stoke-on-Trent Pizza Express to close, external
• Pregnant mum and toddler catapulted into air in horrific collision caused by racing cars, external