Bowlers Barred

I've been reporting in Huddersfield at a crown green bowls green where players have broken into their own club after they were locked out by the tenant who says they've no right to be there. Bowls has been played in Newsome for more than a hundred years and campaigners are determined to keep it going - but the leaseholder wants to build houses on the green...



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Fire

I've been to report on a big fire at a waste recycling centre (a place where the contents of skips is sorted) in Rotherham. After asking a few questions I found out that the waste recycling centre where the fire took place place had already been warned about fire risks at the site by Environment Agency. This made it a much stronger story than I thought when I arrived at the scene...



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Sports Day

I've been to the English Institute of Sport for a sports day for children who have cancer has been taking place in Sheffield. The Children's Hospital and the city's two universities organise the 'Do It For You Day' because research shows that childhood cancer survivors have lower levels of fitness than most young people...



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Stop the War Protests

This weekend I've been reporting on a series of protests in Yorkshire against the Government's support of bombing terrorist groups in Syria. Demonstrations took place in six places across West and South Yorkshire including in Sheffield...



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Albino Hedgehog!

This report on a very rare hedgehog is the first video I've made especially for social media using text instead of my voice to illustrate the story. I've purposely kept it short and sweet as online users only tend to watch videos like this on Facebook for a few seconds. They need to be hooked in to watch all the video so it's vital you engage them in the story particularly quickly so I made sure I used my best shots first. As Facebook users scroll through their timeline the video starts but with no sound so it's important the story works without it and therefore includes text...



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Male victims of domestic abuse

I've been in Doncaster hearing the harrowing story of a man who was on the brink of death having been beaten up by his ex-girlfriend. It might surprise you to learn that in Yorkshire one in five people who tell police that they are being physically or emotionally attacked by a partner are men. The numbers are particularly high in South Yorkshire where last year almost 6,000 men told the police they were suffering domestic abuse...



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Schools Protest live

I've been reporting live on a story about parents protesting against proposals to build a big new school in the South West of the city. The plan involves knocking down Holt House infant school and building a new primary and secondary on the same site...



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Murder Investigation

I've been in Maltby on the outskirts of Rotherham reporting on a murder investigation...



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Fracking 'Pilgrimage'

Environmental campaigners have been holding a 'pilgrimage' in Leeds against fracking. Yorkshire has vast reserves of shale gas and companies are hoping to explore its potential by using the controversial method of hydraulic fracturing...



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One Direction live

I've been reporting on One Direction's final gig of their world tour in Sheffield before their break. I met some very excited 'Directioners'...



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Grouse Shooting

Bradford Council has defended its decision to continue allowing grouse shooting on Ilkley Moor. A protest was held recently to coincide with the start of the burning season, when moorlands are set on fire to increase game bird numbers for shooting...



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Steelers Cancelled

This week I've been covering the story of the rescheduled One Direction concert which led to the cancellation of a Sheffield Steelers match - to the frustration of ice hockey fans...



Click here for my full interview with Sheffield Steelers' Head Coach Paul Thompson on the BBC Sport website.

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Police Report

A report's found South Yorkshire Police requires improvement. The HM Inspectorate of Constabulary has also raised concerns about the impact of cuts. It warns the force's reduced budget may mean it's unable to sustain effective policing in the long term...



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Denis Healey

I've been reporting on the death of the former Chancellor Denis Healey. Politicians and friends of the former Leeds MP have been paying tribute to him. I put together a report about his strong connections with Yorkshire...



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Sexual Consent Classes

I've been filming a story at the University of Sheffield as it's one of the first universities in the country to pilot sexual consent classes for new students. It's after National Union of Students' research showed worrying levels of lad culture, sexual harassment and sexual assaults on campuses across the country...



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Kosta Erik Scurfield

The mother of a former Marine from Barnsley who's thought to be the first Briton killed fighting the so-called Islamic State - wants the Government to arm Kurdish groups in Syria. Vasiliki Scurfield says six months on from Kosta's death, not enough is being done to tackle extremists in the Middle East...



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Tour of Britain

Usually when I'm in the Peak District it's to ride my bike but I've been out there to cover the pros in the Tour of Britain who were cycling on the roads I know so well. The race attracts some of the biggest names in the sport. I covered the story for BBC Look North and BBC Radio Sheffield - another example of how we're now doing more multi-media journalism than ever before.

Here's my TV live...



And my report for the programme...



And I did lots of reporting for BBC Radio Sheffield too, including this piece for Rony Robinson's live broadcast from Hathersage...



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Anti-radicalisation Conference

Parents who are worried about their children becoming radicalised are being urged to talk to them openly - rather than sweeping the problem under the carpet. That's the message from a counter-radicalisation campaigner from Bradford who's been speaking at a conference in the city that I went along to...



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Leeds Rhinos

I've been in Headingley to report on Leeds Rhinos Challenge Cup victory celebrations. They held a home-coming parade in Leeds where fans gathered to welcome the team back to Yorkshire. The Rhinos thrashed Hull KR fifty nil at Wembley...



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Doncaster Crash: Multi-Media Reporting

I've been reporting in Doncaster where two people died after the car they were travelling in crashed into a garden wall and burst into flames. As well as doing a live for BBC Look North, I was tweeting the story and reported live for the BBC News Channel...


...and 5 Live...



This is a good example of how BBC journalists are now more than ever called on to report for TV, radio and online and not stuck in a pigeonhole of only providing for their primary medium. Personally, I enjoy the challenge of being a multi-skilled, multi-media journalist and feel it's a good way of making the most of our limited resources as long as our work-load is well managed.

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Women-led Mosque

I've been in Bradford to report on a controversial plan to build the UK's first mosque managed by women. The Muslim Women's Council wants to open a mosque and Centre of Excellence in the city led by women and primarily for women.



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Disruptive Kids Kickboxing

A school in Sheffield with a high proportion of pupils from the Roma Slovak community is using kickboxing classes for the most disruptive children instead of excluding them. More than one in five students at Fir Vale Secondary School in Page Hall are Roma Slovak and some of them struggle to adapt to life in the classroom.



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Bakewell Show Live

I've been to the Bakewell Show this week and had a cracking day - the highlight was holding a massive snake! It's one of the oldest agricultural shows in the country and attracts tens of thousands of visitors. Here's my live report...



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Circuit Race Championships

I've been reporting at the British Cycling National Circuit Race Championships in Barnsley this week and interviewed double Olympic Champion (and Yorkshireman!) Ed Clancy. Here's my story from before the men's race...



And my report for the late news after the Championships had finished...


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Tour de France 2015

I've really loved reporting on the Tour de France for a second year. The highlight for me was doing an interview for 5 Live and the BBC Sport website with the man who bought Lance Armstrong to ride a Tour charity event. I felt it was important that I pushed Geoff Thomas hard to justify his actions and to his credit I think he argued his points well...


I also had the opportunity to speak to some of the ten British riders who competed in this year's Tour. Steve Cummings executed his race brilliantly to win stage 14. I interviewed him earlier in the Tour in Tarbes...


I spoke to the British twin brothers Simon and Adam Yates on the first day in the Pyrenees...


Alex Dowsett pulled out of the Tour de France as he couldn't recover from an elbow injury. I interviewed him a couple of hours before he abandoned...

Internet Jobs

Nowadays being able to use the internet is essential to apply for jobs. So what do you do if you're no good on the computer? According to Age UK, nearly two thirds of over 65 year olds have never used the internet. The Salvation Army in Sheffield has set up a job skills centre after noticing that many people are looking for work who have no idea how to surf the internet.


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River Danger

I went to the beautiful city of York recently to cover a story about the worrying trend of people jumping in rivers after they've drunk alcohol in the sunshine. Two men were arrested after jumping into the Ouse, despite being warned by police about the dangers of swimming in rivers. Last year four people drowned in rivers at various spots in the city...



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Ben Swift

I've been to see Rotherham's Team Sky rider Ben Swift who is back training on the bike, two months after crashing out of the Tour de Yorkshire. Swift broke and dislocated his shoulder when he fell during Stage One of the race and is making a good recovery. He seemed happy and relaxed and in good shape to make a come-back at the Tour of Poland in August...

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EDL

I've been covering today's English Defence League demo in Sheffield. Hundreds turned out and police were drafted in from eight other forces to manage the protest and a counter-protest. It went off peacefully and there were no arrests...



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Tour de France 2014

Covering the Tour de France in Yorkshire and out in the Pyrenees and Paris has to be the highlight of my career so far. This time last year we were on the eve of the Tour arriving here in Yorkshire.
Hope you don't mind indulging me - to reminisce here's 5 minutes of highlights made up of some of my favourite stories on the Tour...

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Domestic Abuse

For the first time a professional male sports fixture has been dedicated to confronting the issue of domestic abuse. Women's Aid launched the Real Man campaign at the Bradford Bulls Championship match against Doncaster. The charity says 1 in 4 women will suffer physical or emotional attacks in the home at some point in their life...



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Dog Attacks

I've been out in the Peak District filming a story about sheep being attacked by dogs - farmers are urging walkers to keep their dogs on a lead. But many walkers go to the countryside so they can let their dog run free. The law says that at this time of year dogs have to be kept under control anywhere near livestock and that farmers can even shoot dogs that go for their sheep. But since the beginning of lambing season, farmers have told me they know of around twenty sheep in the moors above the Hope Valley that have been attacked...


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Sheffield Trees

Trees are a big issue in Sheffield. There are more per person than any other city in Europe. The council has got a contractor checking the 36,000 trees that are by the side of the road to see if they're diseased or create an obstruction.

Nowhere has the plans to chop down and replace trees been more controversial than next to Endcliffe Park where more than 2,000 people have signed a petition against the plan. The eleven lime trees on Rustlings Road date back to the Victorian era but, over time, have made the pavement uneven, making them a trip hazard...

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Asbestos

I've recently been to Doncaster to film a sad story about the dangers of asbestos. The family of a man who died after being exposed to hazardous material at work are calling on former colleagues to come forward to help them gain compensation. Dale Yarrow died of mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs which is caused by exposure to harmful asbestos dust decades earlier...



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Bobby and Christi Shepherd

Thomas Cook has apologised to the parents of two children who died from carbon monoxide poisoning while on holiday in Corfu. But Bobby and Christi Shepherd's parents have told Look North they've not received the letter and are angry it's been released to the media first...


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Page Hall

I'm really interested in doing more stories about immigration in South Yorkshire so have spent time in the Page Hall area of Sheffield where there has been an influx of Roma Slovak migrants. The area made national headlines when the former Home Secretary and Sheffield MP David Blunkett highlighted tensions there. A year ago, Sheffield Council introduced a scheme which asked landlords to stop their houses becoming overcrowded and to prevent their tenants fly-tipping or playing loud music. But residents I met told me it's done nothing to improve the area...



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BBC School Report

I've been mentoring students at Trinity Academy in Thorne near Doncaster for BBC School Report.

I helped Sophie as she reported on Tesco pulling-out of building a superstore in her town. I also gave some tips and direction to our student cameraman Jordan.

Initially Sophie and I worked on a structure for her report with a piece-to-camera where the supermarket was going to be built, an interview with the council leader and a local businesswoman. Sophie took instruction really well and I was very impressed by her enthusiasm for the story and her delivery on screen. Here's Sophie's report...

Legal Highs

I've been to see Trading Standards to find out about their clampdown on 'legal highs' in Sheffield. They recovered the substances - which are thought to contain Class A drugs - from eleven shops in the city...


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Amy Usher

A young woman from South Yorkshire who'd been made mascot by the Sheffield Steelers ice hockey team has lost her battle with a rare form of throat cancer. Amy Usher was 22 years old. Her friends are raising tens of thousands of pounds for the hospital charity where she was treated...

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Asian Wedding Fair

One of the great things about being a reporter is that you get to cover such a range of stories. On a quiet news day recently I went to Yorkshire's biggest Asian wedding fair. Thousands of people from across the country flocked to Magna in Rotherham for the event...



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Abbey School Saved

This is a story I've covered right from the start, when teachers went on strike last year over a restructure of Abbey Special School in Rotherham for children with learning difficulties. It was then announced that the school was going to close after OFSTED rated it inadequate. But the local authority has now done a U-turn, much to the delight of students and parents...



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Police Helicopter

South Yorkshire is going to lose its police helicopter base and a nearby one in Derbyshire will also go. The National Police Air Service says it's to help save a substantial amount of money. This story came in late in the day so we had to work quickly to get the story on air - line up an interview with the Police Federation and dig out archive shots of the police helicopter.



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Council Cuts

More than a thousand Kirklees Council workers are facing redundancy over the next three years and council tax is going up by almost 2 percent. That's after the council agreed a package of cost-cutting measures at a budget meeting in Huddersfield last night. Protests took place outside the town hall over the proposals, which also include closing public toilets and scrapping funding for music tuition. I was there...



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Rotherham Police Death

A solicitor representing victims of child grooming in Rotherham says the conduct of a South Yorkshire police officer should still be investigated despite his death. Forty four year old Hassan Ali died yesterday, just over a week after being struck by a car. He was under scrutiny from the Independent Police Complaints Commission over the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal...



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Rony Robinson, Radio Superstar!

BBC Radio Sheffield's Rony Robinson won three awards at the Gillards. One was for Rony's outstanding contribution to radio - he has been presenting a midweek show on BBC Radio Sheffield for 30 years uninterrupted, that's a record in the BBC!

I had the great pleasure of working with Rony a lot during the Tour de France and his mischievous humour and passion for and knowledge of Sheffield is truly inspiring.

I was asked to film, script and edit a short film about Rony that was played at the awards ceremony before he received his outstanding contribution award. When I was making the video, he thought I was filming him for a BBC training video!

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Bride

This is one of the most moving stories I've covered. A woman from Barnsley who has just months to live preparing for her wedding day.  25-year-old Jamie Jepson has terminal cervical cancer and is so weak she has to use a wheelchair or crutches. But she's determined to walk down the aisle and marry her fiance. Jamie also wants to warn women not to put off going to the doctor - as she did - if they're worried about their health...



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Click here to read a report from Jamie and Gareth's wedding day.

Blind Baking

Can you imagine trying to bake a cake if you were blind? That's what a group of keen cooks in Sheffield do. Volunteers help them use an adapted kitchen with talking microwaves and speaking weighing scales. Now they're desperately in need of new helpers at Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind. I went along to meet the wonderful ladies who are part of the baking club. This story was a real treat to film...

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