A photographer’s passion for rescue dogs has led to donations of food to support Stoke-on-Trent’s City Dogs Home. Cathy Bower pledged to support the rescue kennels by taking portraits of pet owners and their adopted dogs and she’s now appealing for more rescue dog lovers to come forward. All entries will be entered into a competition to win a free …

Cycling clubs are being urged to take on a virtual Tour de France challenge this September to help support impoverished and vulnerable families. UK cycling youth star Josh Marsden is helping to front the fundraising campaign by the Alice Charity based in Newcastle-under-Lyme, the home town of the Lyme Racing Club where Josh is a member. He’s hoping cyclists from …

An iconic landmark on the Stoke-on-Trent skyline is to be preserved, thanks to a grant from Historic England. Kirklands Properties, the owner of the Phoenix Works, Longton, has made a successful bid for 90 per cent of the £100,000 costs of repair and renovation of the former pottery works. 90ft high chimney. The company has been carefully restoring the Phoenix …

A kitchen design company has been so busy since lockdown lifted that the owner has taken on a second designer. Staffordshire Kitchens opened its first showroom in North Walls, Stafford, in mid-March, only to close it again as the UK locked down to fight coronavirus. But owner, Sandra Johnson, an interior designer, continued to provide support to clients during lockdown …

A charity is offering an innovative way to blow off the lockdown cobwebs, get fit this summer and support vulnerable families. The Alice Charity has teamed up with fitness platform Strava and is challenging everyone to ride a virtual Tour de France. Just like “le tour”, the Tour de Alice takes place from 29th August to 20th September 2020. You can …

Photo: Becky Kilday, new Commercial Manager at Beta Commercial Finance  A commercial finance company is defying the gloomy economic forecasts for the UK and planning its second expansion in 2020. Beta Commercial Finance is on course for record turnover levels in 2020 and has already double its team from two to four and Managing Director Tom Wilkinson is set to …