Allen Cook
BBC Local Live

A 78-year-old woman's suffered what paramedics are calling, external a "potentially serious head injury" after being hit by a car in Tamworth. 

Image source, Google

West Midlands Ambulance Service says it happened yesterday afternoon at the junction of Roman Court and Watling Street in the Wilnecote area. 

She was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham - paramedics say the man driving the car was "shaken but unhurt".

Phil McCann
Cheshire Political Reporter, BBC News

Unions are warning planned cuts to staffing and equipment at Cheshire Fire Service will cost lives. 

Officials are trying to save nearly £4m over the next three years. 

Cutting firefighters and equipment will mean an increase in attendance times and an increase in preventable deaths, according to the Fire Brigades Union (FBU).

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service wants to change shift patterns at stations in Birchwood, Penketh, Wilmslow and Macclesfield , externalas well as cutting the number of aerial platforms from three to two. 

The FBU says that will leave the eastern side of the county under-served, and the shift changes will see part-time firefighters replacing full-time staff. 

Responding to the union's warnings, managers say they'll continue to provide a high quality service on a reduced budget.

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

This afternoon's top stories include:

- A Cheshire MP's urging the government to ensure rural schools in the county aren't left behind under new funding proposals

- Police in Nantwich say they've been called to reports of assault at a high school twice in the last few days

- An owl, a woodpecker and a squirrel are among favourite woodland animals which have been carved from felled trees at a park in Hednesford , external

Matt Sandoz
Stoke City commentator, BBC Radio Stoke

The former Stoke City captain Andy Griffin says he thinks the club should try and sign Jermain Defoe during this transfer window, and not Saido Berahino. 

Image source, Getty Images

Stoke have been repeatedly linked with a move for the West Bromwich Albion striker but Griffin told BBC Radio Stoke that he feels Sunderland's Defoe would be a much better buy.

BBC Politics

A Cheshire MP's urging the government to ensure rural schools in the county aren't left behind under new funding proposals. 

The Conservative MP for Eddisbury Antoinette Sandbach raised the issue at Prime Ministers' Questions in the Commons.   

The government last month launched a new funding formula for England's schools to tackle "unfair" and "inconsistent" funding levels.

Theresa May says the way that schools have been funded in the past has been unfair but the plans are still out for consultation.  

Lee Blakeman
Port Vale commentator, BBC Radio Stoke

Port Vale chairman Norman Smurthwaite says results will dictate whether Michael Brown gets the job as manager of the League One club.  

Image source, Getty Images

Brown, 39, was named caretaker boss in the immediate aftermath of Bruno Ribeiro's resignation following the 1-0 home defeat by Walsall on Boxing Day.

But, with Vale having risen back up to 15th in the table, Smurthwaite will assess things at the end of January.

Liz Ellis
Presenter, BBC Radio Stoke

There's criticism of plans to cut NHS fertility treatments, external across Cheshire. 

The number of IVF cycles funded by the health service could be reduced from three to one, following a consultation which ends next week.  

Image source, Thinkstock

The area's clinical commissioning groups are blaming a "challenging financial position". 

The campaign group and charity Fertility Network UK, external told BBC Radio Stoke the move could have a "devastating" impact on couples trying to conceive. 

Cheshire Police have revealed they've named their new police dog Axel.

The force had been holding a public vote, external to name its latest recruit and narrowed down the choice on Monday to three names.

Lichfield Mercury

A fallen tree on The Friary in Lichfield has forced the closure of the A51 Western Bypass, external while emergency services work to remove it from the road.

John Acres
Journalist, BBC Radio Stoke

Police in Nantwich say they've been called to reports of assaults at a high school twice in the last few days. 

Cheshire Police say one of the attacks happened yesterday afternoon at Malbank School and Sixth Form College on Welsh Row and saw a 14-year-old taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The force says the other was on Friday afternoon, when officers were called to reports of a 14-year-old who'd also suffered minor injuries in an assault 

The force says the two cases aren't thought to be linked.

Malbank's headteacher Jeanette Walker says such incidents are "thankfully very rare" and a small number of students have now had "significant sanctions" imposed on them.

Allen Cook
BBC Local Live

Here are a couple of the pictures you've shared with me of Staffordshire and Cheshire via Instagram.

Firstly this is from Paul Dawson of a frosty looking Froghall Wharf near Cheadle. Staffordshire.

Image source, Paul Dawson

Then from another part of the canal network, Stuart Mitton took this on the Llangollen Canal at the Hurleston Locks near Nantwich.

You can also share a photo you've taken of Staffordshire or Cheshire on Instagram, external (adding the tag #bbcstoke if you agree to share it) or send them in on email.

Image source, Stuart Mitton

Satnam Rana
BBC Midlands Today

An owl, a woodpecker and a squirrel are among favourite woodland animals which have been carved from felled trees at a park in the West Midlands. 

Sculptor Robot Cossey from Wolverhampton has been commissioned by Cannock Chase District Council to carry out the work as part of a major refurbishment of Hednesford Park. 

What's more, the council wants you to come up with names for the park's new inhabitants.  

Nicola Beckford
Reporter, BBC Midlands Today

On Midlands Today this lunchtime, we'll hear how a paramedic is recovering after being seriously assaulted by a patient he was trying to help.

Image source, WMAS

He was treating an unconscious man who had been found in a stairwell in part of the region, when the attack took place. 

We'll have more from 13:30 on BBC One.  

Stuart George
Presenter, BBC Radio Stoke

Plans have been submitted to erect a statue of the writer Arnold Bennett in Stoke-on-Trent. 

The novelist, famous for writing Anna of the Five Towns and The Card, was born in Hanley and lived in Burslem during the first part of the 20th Century. 

The Arnold Bennett Society has commissioned a statue to be put outside The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent.

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

Let's look at our big stories this lunchtime:

- There's a warning from campaigners that plans to cut NHS fertility treatments across Cheshire , externalcould have a "devastating" impact on couples trying to conceive

- Drivers in Staffordshire are being warned, after the disruption from strong winds this morning, that more high speed winds are forecast for Friday , external

- The Staffordshire-based digger maker JCB wins a deal worth £5.5m to supply a Scottish company, external with 100 new machines

A suspected crack cocaine dealer from the Black Country has been arrested in Cannock.

The 29-year-old man from West Bromwich was pulled over on Hednesford Road and police officers found what was believed to be the class A drug, the Staffordshire force said.

He has now been released on police bail pending further inquiries.

Ros Chimes
Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke

Drivers are being warned, after the disruption from strong winds this morning, that more high speed winds are forecast for Friday. 

Staffordshire Police adds that most of the trees that have fallen down, external and blocked roads today have been in the east of the county or the Moorlands area. 

Crewe Chronicle

Three of Cheshire East’s Tory MPs have travelled to London with headteachers to urge the government to rethink proposed funding changes, external which will see millions slashed off school budgets across the borough.  

BBC Weather Watchers

Image source, Welsh Wizard

In among the strong winds today, our BBC Weather Watchers have also been taking great photos of the sunrise today.

These two are from users Welsh Wizard in Brereton, Cheshire and Christine in Audley, Staffordshire.

Image source, Christine

Alex Homer
BBC Local Live

The funeral for Jill Saward - the first rape victim in the UK to waive her right to anonymity and who became a sexual assault campaigner - will be held on Tuesday at Lichfield Cathedral, it has been announced, external.

Jill Saward, then 21, was sexually assaulted by two men in at her father's vicarage in Ealing, west London, in 1986. Her father Michael, and her boyfriend were severely beaten. She died after suffering a stroke last week. .

Those attending the funeral who wish to make donations in memory of her have been invited to select one of the following three charities with which she worked: Cambrian Coast Evangelical Trust (Nefyn Beach Mission), Ehlers-Danlos Support UK, and the Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (Merseyside).

Image source, Jill Saward