Beach Break Live 2010

By Tom Jones: Staffordshire University students joined thousands of sun kissed revellers to marvel at a host of premier acts; as annual student festival – Beach Break Live hit South Wales.
Vampire Weekend, Calvin Harris, and Chase & Status headlined the three nights of music to an emphatic crowd, with appearances from Example, Beardyman, and Ellie Goulding also pleasing the paying mass.
Day one saw memorable main stage performances by Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, The Futureheads and Staffordshire University’s Summer Ball headliner – Plan B.
The sonic proceedings …

StaffsLive will be covering a host of festivals this summer including V-Festival, Beach Break Live and Global Gathering. Beach Break Live student festival offered Staffordshire University students the chance to sell festival tickets in order to earn money and a free pass for the weekend. Tom Jones will be keeping you updated with the happenings at the festival!

By Tom Jones:  Even though World Cup fever has taken most of Staffordshire’s attention this summer, few have forgotten that the festival season is at last upon us. Kicking off the summer proceedings is Beach …

Thieves have taken more than £3,000 worth of roof tiles from Longton Fire Station.
Staff at the station only realised the theft had taken place when it rained overnight on April 27 and they were faced with flooded rooms the next morning.
Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Area Commander for Stoke-on-Trent, Wayne Bowcock said: “We are extremely disappointed that anyone would do this to any building, let alone a building that’s sole purpose is to serve the community. We hope someone will come forward with information to help trace the culprits.”
The theft …

By Jon Gilmore: Three cycling tours are set to return to hold stages in and around Stoke-on-Trent this year.
The Tour of Britain, which held a stage in Stoke last year, will return on September 12. The Halfords Tour series is also coming back on June 17 and Stoke will be the only city in the UK to feature a female race stage as well as the male race.
The final event to take place in Stoke is the Prostate Cancer Charity Tour ride on September 26. Last year the race saw …

By Ben Lowe: One of the country’s oldest club DJs is performing in Stoke-on-Trent.
Back by popular demand, 68-year-old DJ Derek is on the decks tonight (May 14) at The Terrace in Shelton, where he will be spinning his 60s reggae, ska and soul records.
DJ Derek, who has played sets at many major festivals including Glastonbury and The Big Chill, started DJing in Bristol more than 30 years ago and is regarded as a legend in the black music industry.

Click below to watch DJ Derek in a preview of Dizzee Rascal’s …

By Leanne Kirtley: Over 2,000 Staffordshire Brownies will celebrate their centenary at Churnet Valley Railway this weekend (May 15 and 16).
The ten-and-a-half mile stretch of railway will play host to the girls as they take part in a variety of activities.
Railway spokesman Nigel Shaw said: “We have many exciting things going on for the girls as they take a memorable trip down the track.”
Brown Owl Brenda Colclough told StaffsLive more:

By Matt Bowling: Stoke City Council is pumping more than £5 million into the former Spode Works site to stop private developers buying it.
The 18th century site is to under-go a massive re-development as part of a multi-million pound regeneration project paid for by the city council.
The council approved proposals to fight off private investment and buy the land at a secret council meeting on Wednesday night.
Plans are rumoured to include converting the buildings into luxury apartments, business space and opening a Potteries museum.
The nine-acre site on Church Street, Stoke, has …

By James Truswell: A BNP councillor has appeared on an anti-BNP website holding a Union Jack flag – standing next to three men doing a Nazi  salute on a War Memorial in Stone.
Cllr Steve Batkin, who has served the Bentilee ward since 2003, has said he was attending a funeral and he has not had contact with the men since.
Maurice Cousins is the Deputy Editor of ‘Nothing British’, where the image is currently appearing:
“We thought this was disgraceful considering the British National Party dresses itself up in the flag …

By Leanne Kirtley: Items belonging to Reginald Mitchell raised more than five times their estimate at auction.
The 23 pieces belonging to the Stoke-on-Trent-born engineer were originally estimated to raise £15,000, but went for £77,500 when they went under the hammer at Dominic Winters Auctioneers in Gloucestershire.
The biggest surprise came from a miniature of the Schneider Trophy.
Originally priced at £6,000, its finally sold for £27,000.
Interest in the pieces came from buyers in the room as well as phone and internet bidders.
A briefcase bearing Mitchell’s initials and containing his passport went for …

By Joe Bennett: Stoke fighter Scott Lawton believes Amir Khan can beat his American opponent Paul Malignaggi when the pair go head to head at Madison Square Garden.
Lawton lost to Khan in 2007 when challenging for the Commonwealth title after being stopped inside four rounds.
At the time of the bout Khan was being touted as the future of British boxing and Lawton admits it was a fight he couldn’t refuse.
“I’d never turn down any fight and anyone who can beat Amir Khan will be rich, I had to …