Stories to make you smile from across Yorkshire

5 hours ago

Fiona CallowYorkshire

News image — Our round-up of uplifting stories across Yorkshire this week

BBC Three side-by-side images; on the left, a young man with wire-rimmed glasses, shoulder length brown curly hair and a beige hat with a black tie under the chin. In the middle, A woman with blonde hair tied back in a bun wearing a blue puffy coat puts her hand on the shoulder of a young man with Down's syndrome wearing navy blue sportwear with a Great Britain flag on the chest. On the right, a young man with clear rimmed glasses, a black t-shirt and a black cap sits behind a chess board. — Our round-up of uplifting stories across Yorkshire this week

Every week in Yorkshire we cover uplifting and feel-good stories about people, places and animals across our region - and we like to shout about them.

This week we focus on how birdwatching helped a student overcome a gaming addition, the first Team GB squad attending the Down Syndrome World Championship and a chess club encouraging men to talk about mental health.

Chess and chat club encourages men to talk

Simon Thake/BBC A young bearded man with glasses smiles and leans down over a chess board. — Connor Brookes set up Check Mates to give men an opportunity to talk while they play chess

Barnsley resident Connor Brookes has launched Check Mates, a "community initiative" encouraging men to talk about their mental health over a game of chess.

The 30-year-old has been known to take his own chess board into Barnsley town centre and invite strangers to come and play, calling it an "authentic" way to connect.

"Chess is in my DNA. My grandad taught me, he used to tell me about pit workers walking from Barnsley to Penistone for games," he said.

"This is a club, we're not professionals, we're not clinical. I'm here to be an advocate and signpost if I need to."

First Down's syndrome Team GB to compete at games

Grace Wood/BBC Two able bodies women - one blonde and on with brown hair - stand on a athletics track with two men and one woman who have Down Syndrome. They are wearing dark blue Team GB kit — Team GB is made up of five athletes, three of which train in Keighley

A team of athletes are preparing to go to the Down Syndrome World Championships as the first Team GB to compete in the games.

The team of five, based in Keighley, will compete in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 13 to 19 June in a variety of athletics disciplines.

Head coach Janet-Alison Arkwright said they decided to send a team to the championships after athlete Tessa Lightowler was the first Team GB athlete to be selected for the European Championships last year.

"It started because we always want to give disability, every disability, an opportunity," she said.

Boxing club's future secure 'for next 100 years'

RYAN ASHWORTH A boxer (left of pic) stands with his coach. The boxer has a gold medal around his neck, is wearing a white T-shirt and is holding a certificate. The coach has a beard, is wearing a white T-shirt and is holding his left fist to the camera. — Westway coach Ryan Ashworth (right) with boxer Preston Hirstle

A veteran boxing trainer has said a £700,000 funding boost will secure his club's future for the next 100 years.

North Yorkshire Council announced plans to put £350,000 towards Westway Boxing Club's redevelopment in Eastfield, Scarborough.

George Rhodes has coached at the for more than 30 years, and said his "dream all those years ago was to bring boxing back to Eastfield".

"This brings the club into the 21st Century and keeps it secure for years to come," he said.

"This isn't about one person, it's a community project."

Birdwatching helps man overcome gaming addiction

BBC/Simon Thake A man in a beige floppy hat and colourful shirt smiles to the camera. He wears glasses and has a black strap dangling around his neck. — Edward Bartlett used to play computer games 20 hours a day - now he goes birdwatching instead

University of Sheffield zoology student Edward Bartlett used to spend 20 hours a day playing computer games, sometimes only pausing to eat and sleep.

Now the 28-year-old has swapped his gaming headset for a pair of binoculars as he's embraced a new passion - birdwatching, which he says has helped transform his life.

He's part of the University of Sheffield's birdwatching society, which has seen numbers increase from 10 casual members in 2025 to more than 50 this year.

"Now if I've got free time I might think 'oh I could I could log on to that game' and then I think 'well yeah but I could also could also go outside' and I know that I'll feel really good afterwards," Bartlett said.

Walkers finish Liverpool to Leeds MND challenge

Elizabeth Baines/BBC A large group of people in blue and purple T-shirts standing on the side of a rugby pitch — The walkers stopped off at Castleford Tigers on route

Hundreds of people have completed a 350-mile (560km) walk from Liverpool to Leeds to raise money for MND charities.

March of the Day III was a six-day walk around 47 football and rugby league stadiums, starting at Anfield in Liverpool and finishing at the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease in Seacroft.

The charity event was organised by the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation and Leeds Hospital Charity, in memory of Leeds Rhinos player Rob Burrow and in support of footballers Stephen Darby and Marcus Stewart.

Burrow's widow Lindsay said the centre was: "helping so many people and so many families. To see the work that is being done there is incredible."

Windmill's wooden sails restored

Joe Bilton/BBC An aerial picture of two sails placed horizontally on a windmill. The sails are white and they are placed on a white windmill cap. The windmill is in a courtyard surrounded by farm buildings and green fields. — The sails on Skidby Mill, near Cottingham, have been restored

A 19th Century windmill is proudly turning in the breeze once more, after its sails were restored.

Grade II listed Skidby Mill, near Cottingham, had its wooden structures removed in 2019 after wet rot was discovered.

The windmill, built in 1821, is the centerpiece of the Museum of East Riding Rural Life, and was returned to its former glory in May.

Tim Whiting from Suffolk Millwright, the firm that restored the sails, said windmills "are really part of our heritage, so they have to be restored as they were."

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