Two Houses Into One

I had a really enjoyable morning filming with Liam and Nici who bought their neighbours house in Barnsley and are DIY'ing them into one big house! I filmed and edited it in a way that would work for our digital channels and website as well as TV (see below). I asked the interviewees, Liam and Nici, to look straight down the camera lens and made it 'self-authored' i.e. without my voice in it - to allow them to tell their story in as much detail as I could fit in.

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Heat

I reported from South Yorkshire this week as temperatures reached more than 30 degrees celsius. We filmed at Wales High School and Byron Lodge care home to see how they're coping in the heat.

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Grimethorpe Trial

A man who’s accused of rigging his Barnsley house with traps to stop people stealing drugs he and his wife grew and stored inside was inspired by the film, ‘Home Alone’. Ian Claughton has gone on trial alongside his wife Lesley Claughton at Doncaster Crown Court. A hundred homes were evacuated in Grimethorpe in May last year when police raided the houses and arrested the pair. 

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Dickie Bird Funeral

Yorkshire's iconic cricket umpire Dickie Bird was laid to rest at his funeral in Barnsley last week. Mourners watched the funeral procession as famous faces from the world of cricket came to pay their respects. He died last month at the age of 92. I had the great pleasure of interviewing Dickie when he turned 90. I always found him such a warm, open and engaging person.

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Cannon Hall Farm

I had a lot of fun filming at Cannon Hall Farm in Barnsley this week. They've had a bumper baby boom, with a flurry of new arrivals, including not one, but two sets of twin calves! It was a quick turnaround as I filmed and edited the story all in the same day.

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Baby Abduction

I headed to Barnsley this week on a very troubling story to do with an attempted abduction of a baby. Police are appealing for information after a man grabbed a baby from her mother's arms on a train in Worksop. Detectives investigating the attempted abduction of the baby have released a CCTV image of a man they say can help with their enquiries.

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Shin pads

A South Yorkshire football club has banned tiny shin pads after a teenage player suffered a double leg break. Penistone Church under 16s striker Alfie broke his tibia and fibular in a tackle during a recent match. The 15-year-old's shin pads, which were no bigger than a credit card, were similar to a size worn by some stars of the professional game.

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A Level Results Barnsley College

I was at Barnsley College this week as hundreds of students collected their A Level, T Level and BTec results...

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Autism Allotment

A couple from South Yorkshire are turning a fly-tipped allotment into an area for children with conditions like autism and epilepsy to enjoy. Paul and Michael Atwal-Brice are part way through converting the disused allotments in Thurnscoe into what they're calling an 'Autism Allotment'. They need to raise forty thousand pounds to be able to finish the project.

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Barnsley Market 775 years old

I had a brilliant day at what must be the best market I've ever been to, in Barnsley. They're marking the 775th anniversary of one of the oldest markets in the country. Barnsley Market dates back to 1249 - thanks to a royal charter from Henry III.

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School Exclusions

Barnsley has the highest school exclusion rate in the country. We've been filming at a school in the centre of the town to find out how they deal with bad behaviour.

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Fly-Tipping

We've been out filming with a team in Barnsley dealing with the constant issue of fly-tipping.

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Amputee Personal Trainer

It was so inspiring to make this story about a former South Yorkshire lorry driver who's qualified as a personal trainer to help other people with life-changing injuries. This is after Craig Walton lost his leg in a horrific crash on the road. The fitness fanatic who's from Mapplewell in Barnsley, had his right lower leg removed after a car smashed head-on into his 14-tonne truck on the A19, near Doncaster.

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Council Tax Debt

I filmed a story about there being a 10% rise in council tax arrears in Yorkshire in the last year according to figures released by the government. Failure to pay council tax can end up with bailiffs at your door and extra charges on top of the debt.

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Dickie Bird's 90th Birthday

I had the great pleasure and privilege of covering Dickie Bird's 90th birthday this week. He's a really lovely man and an entertaining interviewee.

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83 yr old gym goer

I had a lot of run reporting on an 83-year-old man from Barnsley who's become a social media sensation after posting his gym workouts online. George Sagar has had 400,000 views on one of his TikTok videos and he wants to encourage other older people to get active. It was on BBC Look North and on BBC Breakfast...

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Drunk Driver Jailed

A drunk driver from Barnsley who killed one passenger and seriously injured another has been jailed for eight and a half years. Daniel Crawshaw had been on a 7 hour drinking binge before crashing into a wall near Huddersfield.

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Little Amal

A giant puppet of a Syrian refugee child called Little Amal has been walking 8,000km across Europe and arrived in South Yorkshire last week. The aim of 'The Walk by Little Amal' is to highlight the needs of young refugees. I filmed at a group for refugees in Barnsley called Feels Like Home who were preparing for Little Amal's arrival.

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Young Golfer

I had great fun filming with an 8-year-old old boy from Barnsley who's so good at the sport that he's not only beating children double his age, he's getting the better of adults too! What's even more remarkable is that Layton Riches took up the sport less than a year and a half ago. It was a real pleasure to work with Layton, his dad Dale and uncle Ross on the golf course.

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Missing Richard Dyson

A woman from Barnsley is asking for help finding her dad who disappeared in November last year in Hoyland. Bethany Dainty should be celebrating her dad Richard Dyson's birthday with him today but she's not seen him for more than a year. Police believe someone in the Hoyland area knows where Richard's gone.

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