Stories to make you smile from across Yorkshire

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 are featuring an Otley designer whose World Cup scarves are being worn around the world, a volunteer using sign language to make parkrun more inclusive, and an adventurous seaside snake.

An escaped snake took a trip between seaside towns in Yorkshire, after being rescued from a car bonnet in Scarborough.

The corn snake, which has since been claimed by its owner, is thought to have travelled around 17 miles (27km) from its owner's house in Bridlington on 13 June.

Dave Bigsby, from Lilly's Reptile Rescue Centre, was called to retrieve the snake and said he thought it had fancied a bit of "sightseeing", adding it probably "heard how good Scarborough was and fancied a bit of fresh air for the day".

The founder of a West Yorkshire design studio has said it is "incredibly special" his football scarves will be seen by millions of fans at the FIFA World Cup.

Hand Drawn Pixels, launched in Otley by Tom Pitts, has produced almost 200 official World Cup scarf designs after being selected for one of the tournament's biggest merchandise projects.

"It's an absolute pinch-me moment," he said.

"If you'd told me a few years ago that a studio in Otley would be designing official merchandise for the World Cup, I'd never have believed you."

A team that helps rough sleepers with accommodation and drug and alcohol support has won a national award for its "pioneering" work.

Bradford's Homeless Outreach Partnership (HOP), which is a cooperative of housing providers, healthcare organisations and the council, won gold in the housing category at the Local Government Chronicle Awards on Wednesday.

Commissioned by Bradford Council in 2019, the team works directly with people who are rough sleeping, helping them access the right support for their circumstances and needs.

Team coordinator Clare Flannigan, from Horton Housing, said the award recognised a "true partnership effort".

York resident Amanda Cooper has made it her mission to ensure participants at parkrun who are deaf or have hearing loss are included, through sign language.

Amanda travels to parkruns across the country, and signs during pre-race briefings, ensuring deaf participants receive the same information as everyone else.

Amanda has volunteered 40 times so far as a sign language support volunteer, adding that parkrun has "a great atmosphere and everyone should be able to enjoy it on equal terms".

Tom Halloway left school as a "disengaged" autistic teenager with one GCSE, according to him.

Now he's pursuing his joint passion - refereeing and supporting pupils with special educational needs at a school in Rotherham.

The father-of-one started refereeing grassroots football and has since gone on to work as an official in the Northern Premier League, and as an assistant referee in the National League North.

Refereeing has helped him understand his autism better, Tom added, and he can then pass along his learnings to the students he teaches.

"I think because of my neurodiversity, if I can pick that up before they have the struggles, it really does help them," he said.

This week, two men finished their challenge to ride children's scooters for 157 miles (252km) raising money for a baby loss charity.

TikTokers Joel Redhead, 32, from Hull, and Shane Cole, 33, from Coventry, finished their journey in Hull on Wednesday after setting off from West Kirby beach in Wirral on 13 June.

The men, who both have thousands of followers online, completed the challenge for Chasing Rainbows, which helped Joel's family when his nephew Jude died shortly after he was born.

Joel said: "It's been a very tough one, but all our community have come together massively and supported us."

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