By Leah Cassady and Kieran Jones: Alton Towers opened its gates a day earlier than normal at half-term – just for people who checked in on Facebook!

People from across the UK travelled to the Staffordshire theme park to take advantage of the amazing one-off deal.

By Carlie Martin: Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service launched a competition to find the funniest picture of anyone, or anything, pushing a smoke alarm button.

The team at the Fire and Rescue service want local residents to ‘push their buttons’, and take the most amusing and imaginative photograph that they can think of.

By Lee Kettle: Tickets for a music extravaganza featuring the UK’s top pop acts at Alton Towers will go on sale this Friday.

Alton Towers Live will feature bands like JLS, McFly, The Saturdays and Eliza Doolittle on Sunday June 19.

By Kieran Jones: Alton Towers is offering free entry to anyone who checks in on Facebook this Friday (February 18).

The Staffordshire theme park is opening its gates exclusively for people who check in via Facebook.

By Leah Cassady:Thousands of people will be attending bonfire and firework displays across Staffordshire this weekend.

Here is StaffsLive’s guide to what’s happening around the county:

By Stephanie Carter: A Staffordshire theme park has launched its annual Halloween event.

By Stephanie Carter and Tanya White: Alton Towers has launched a fireworks-themed competition for children in Staffordshire and around the UK.

By Stefanie Keeling: Alton Towers is celebrating it’s 30th birthday with an 80s themed concert on May 23.
Acts from the decade, including Rick Astley, Bananarama, Kim Wilde and Midge Ure, will all perform their classic hits live at the resort.
The birthday celebrations also coincide with the launch of Street View imagery of Alton Towers on the Google Maps site.
Back in 1980, the most popular attraction at the Staffordshire theme park was The Corkscrew – Europe’s first double loop rollercoaster.
Thirty years on and the ride has now made way for new …

By Ellie Marshall: Thousands of visitors were affected by a power cut at Alton Towers today (April 13th).
At 2pm Alton Towers and the surrounding area suffered 40 minutes of power failure, causing major disruptions for the theme park.
Tourists staying at the Splash Landings Hotel were left in darkness and hundreds of people were evacuated off rides.
Liz West, a spokesperson for the resort owned by Merlin Entertainment, said: “The resort has an excellent team of staff trained for these situations. Thanks to them visitors were evacuated from rides safely and calmly, …

By Chris Heath: Thousands of thrillseekers headed down to the opening of Alton Towers brand new ride Th13teen.
The rollercoaster is the first thrill ride that the theme park has built in five years and expectations amongst fans were particularly high.
The ride proved very popular gaining a queue of over an hour when it first opened at 10am on March 20.
One of the ride’s chief designers, John Wardley, told StaffsLive:  “Most coasters are very similar and have no element of surprise. What we wanted to do with Th13teen is introduce that …