Grassington Buses

I've been in the beautiful North Yorkshire village of Grassington where there are very limited public transport. There are calls for better bus links in rural areas - in the week the Chancellor unveiled her spending plans for the next few years. Although there were promises of bus bus franchising pilots in York and North Yorkshire businesses in Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales say they can only employ people who can drive as public transport is so unreliable. We made the story below for TV and I helped put together this article for the BBC News website.

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Kirkwood Hospice

I've been filming at a hospice which cares for people with a terminal diagnosis in Kirklees and is dramatically cutting back the service it offers due to major funding problems. It's caused by big increases in staffing and energy costs. The Kirkwood looks after 2,000 patients and their loved ones every year but this will nearly halve because they need to save £1.7 million. Only a quarter of the charity’s funding comes from the Government, the rest they have to fundraise.

As well as the TV story below, I wrote this story for the BBC News website.

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Presenting late Look North

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Presenting late Look North

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Presenting Breakfast Bulletins

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Presenting Late Look North

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Presenting Late Look North

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Presenting Late Bulletin

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Look North presenting late bulletin

I produced and presented the Look North midweek late bulletin for the first time last week and was pleased with how it went.

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Look North presenting

It was an absolute privilege to present my first bulletins on BBC Look North this week. I really enjoyed it and am grateful to my colleagues behind-the-scenes who helped make it a pain-free experience!

And here's the late bulletin...

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Sports News Live

I got the chance to do the sports news again on Look North this week. It's only the second time I've done this and it's a very different experience to doing live reporting out on the road which I'm much more used to. Firstly, you have autocue to read, rather than having to come up with something to say when doing a live and also you have to make sure the transition from presenter to you and back is smooth - so it's more of a performance. I enjoyed it again and think the more I do it, the more relaxed I'll feel.

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Sports News Live

I had the opportunity to present the sports news on Monday's Look North for the first time. It meant presenting in the studio with autocue for the first time. It was a really good experience. Monday was a big day of sports news with the appointment of Doncaster Rovers Manager as the new boss at Sheffield Wednesday. I was the only person working on sport on Monday so I had to make all but one of the stories in the sports section of the programme. I very full-on day!

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Man Engine

I've been to Wentworth Woodhouse to report on an intriguing event where the largest mechanical puppet ever built in Britain was on display.



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Pete McKee

I've been filming a really uplifting story in Sheffield. Hundreds of people have been donating to food banks in the city at a pop-up shop. In return for their offering, they were given a limited edition piece of art by the Sheffield artist Pete McKee. The event was called 'This Class Gives' and is linked to his new exhibition which celebrates the working class.



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Triathlon Fundraiser

I've been filming a story about a group of lads taking on a triathlon for the first time to pay tribute to their good friend who died on a stag do. Sean Leonard passed away in Berlin in March last year. It's thought he had an epileptic fit. I filmed the report using my normal JVC camera and a GoPro camera which I attached to the lads as they trained to try to show their efforts from a different angle.


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Beggars

I've been filming a fascinating story in Sheffield. According to the police, if you give money to beggars, you are part of the problem. They say there's a big rise in the number of people begging in Sheffield and that a lot of the money the public hand over is being spent on drugs. Police officers say many of the beggars are not homeless and that if they are, there is support available. I filmed with the police on one day in the city. My story was on Look North...



...and a shorter version of my report was on BBC Breakfast...




...and two different pieces on 5 Live Breakfast...




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QC Gul

Congratulations to Gul Nawaz Hussain, a good friend of mine, who has become the first QC from an ethnic minority to be appointed in Sheffield. Gul is also the first person to 'take silk' in the city for fifteen years. I've been filming him at his Civic Reception at the town hall as well as at his Thai boxing gym!



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The Sanctuary

I've been to the opening of a new centre called The Sanctuary in Sheffield which helps support refugees and asylum seekers. Sheffield became the first place in the UK to be given the status of 'City of Sanctuary' for refugees. That was more than ten years ago - and there are currently around eight hundred people seeking asylum in the city.

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Holdsworth Pro Racing

My cameraman colleague Gareth and I have been out filming with the first professional cycling team from Yorkshire. Rotherham-based Holdsworth Pro Racing were invited to take part in the Tour de Yorkshire and I went to see their recce of one of the four stages.

It's a real challenge to film as you keep having to overtake the riders to get more shots - and I needed a lot of material as I wanted to use music to illustrate the story, not just my words.



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Chesterfield FC

I've been in Chesterfield this week doing a story on the relegation of their football team out of the football league. A very sad time for Spireites fans.



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