Lunar New Year celebrations are returning to Hanley’s cultural quarter this February, as the city celebrates the Chinese year of the horse with a full day of events and activities.

The free-of-charge celebrations take place on Sunday 22 February in the Spitfire Gallery at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery as well as Smithfield, City Central Library and Mitchell Arts Centre.

The event will feature traditional music and dance, including dragon and lion performances, alongside kung fu displays, mask changing, acrobatics and firecrackers.

Visitors will also be able to take part in Chinese craft sessions, circus skills workshops and hands-on activities.

The celebrations come as The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery continues its multi-million-pound transformation, part of a £5m masterplan supported by Arts Council England’s Cultural Development Fund.

“Lunar New Year is always hugely popular in Stoke-on-Trent, so it’s great that we can bring these celebrations back to the city centre this year,” said Cllr Sarah Hill, cabinet member at Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

“We have strong cultural links with China through our ceramics heritage and our partnership with Jingdezhen, China’s porcelain capital.

“This event is a chance to celebrate those connections and share Chinese traditions with residents and visitors.”

She added: “It’s also a celebration of our city’s diversity and creativity.

“Lunar New Year is recognised by UNESCO as part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage and it fits perfectly with our ambition to become a UNESCO creative city.”

The event will run from 11am to 4pm on Sunday 22 February. It is free of charge, although a small charge will apply for the clay activity.

More information is .

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Residents, businesses and community organisations across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent are being encouraged to share their views as the Government launches its statutory consultation on local government reorganisation.

From bins to bridges, safer streets to social care, councils support daily life across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. The way local government works in the area could change in the future as part of national proposals to simplify council structures.

Under local government reorganisation, Staffordshire’s county, city, district and borough councils would be replaced with a smaller number of new unitary councils delivering all councils services in a given area. Exactly what this will look like will be decided by the Government following consideration of five proposals that have been submitted.

Councillor Steve Thornley, Leader of Cannock Chase Council, has encouraged people to take part in the Government consultation.

“We want to ensure any new council will provide excellent services for the people and the businesses of (Cannock Chase) Stafford Borough. So, if you want to have a say on how council services are delivered in the future, then please take the time to read the information that is available through our dedicated website and then share your views through the Government’s consultation.”

No immediate changes will be made to council services.

The Government is expected to make a decision on local government reorganisation in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in Summer 2026.

Existing councils will continue to deliver services as normal, with new unitary councils not expected to be in place until April 2028 at the earliest.

The Government’s consultation is now open until Thursday 26 March. People can find out more about the proposals and how to submit their views at www.staffordshirestokeLGR.org.uk

The increase for Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire is far higher than the national average

Water bills across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire are set to rise by an average of £52 from April - almost twice the national average.

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Average household water bills across the country will increase by £2.75 a month on April 1, taking the typical bill to £639 a year. That’s an increase of 5.4% according to the industry trade association, Water UK.

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However, the size of the annual increase varies across the country with different water companies increasing their bills by different amounts.

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Severn Trent customers will be among the worst hit with a 10 per cent rise. It means the average bill for 2026/7 is expected to be £587 compared to £535 in the current financial year.

At the other end of the scale, Thames Water will only be increasing average bills by £3 a year. That’s the lowest average increase of any company to provide both water and wastewater services.

You can see how much your water company is increasing average bills this year by using our interactive chart:

David Henderson, Water UK Chief Executive, said: “We understand increasing bills is never welcome, but the money is needed to fund vital upgrades to secure our water supplies, support economic growth and end sewage entering our rivers and seas.

“While we urgently need investment in our water and sewage infrastructure, we know that for many this increase will be difficult. That is why we will help around 2.5 million households – more than ever before – with average discounts of around 40% off their water bill.”

United Utilities: £57

Southern Water: £55

Hafren Dyfrdwy: £54

Severn Trent Water: £52

Anglian Water: £44

South West Water: £39

Yorkshire Water: £34

Dŵr Cymru (Welsh Water): £31

Northumbrian Water: £31

Affinity Water (Central region): £31

Bristol Water: £29

Sutton & East Surrey Water: £26

South East Water: £21

Wessex Water: £17

Essex and Suffolk Water: £15

Portsmouth Water: £13

Bournemouth Water: £11

South Staffs Water (Cambridge region): £7

South Staffs Water (South Staffs region): £6

Thames Water: £3

Affinity Water (South east region): £3

Affinity Water (East region): £1

Here's a list of the 44 branch closures

Banking giant Santander is closing a Staffordshire branch. The Stafford branch - on Market Square - is one of 44 to be closed across the country.

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The Santander branch, on Town Road, in Hanley, is unaffected by today's announcement.

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The announcement puts 291 jobs at risk. It has been made 'in response to changing customer behaviour' as more customers move online to do their banking.

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Closing branches will be replaced by a weekly Santander Local service which visits places like libraries or community centres or at Banking Hub counters provided by the Post Office.

A Santander spokesman said: "Approximately 291 colleagues would be placed at risk of redundancy if the proposals proceed after consultation with the unions has been completed, however there will be a number of redeployment opportunities that impacted colleagues can apply for."

Following the changes, the Santander branch network will consist of 305 branches including 244 full-service branches, 19 counter-free branches, 36 reduced-hour branches, and six Work Cafés, alongside 111 Santander Locals.

Santander has seen a rapid increase in customers choosing to do their banking online, with 96% of all transactions now being completed digitally, reports The Mirror.

The business reported a 64% rise in digital transactions since 2019 with financial transactions completed in branches reduced by 66% in the same period. There has been a 13% decrease in the volume of financial transactions happening in bank branches in the last year alone.

The Santander UK spokesman added: "In response to a continuing and sizeable shift towards customers using digital banking, we are making changes to our branches to better support our customers. We will continue to invest in both our branch network - comprising of full-service branches, counter-free branches, reduced-hour branches, Santander Locals, and our increasingly popular Work Cafés – as well as our digital banking services, so we can be there to support our customers however they choose to bank with us."

Full list of branches set to close:

A £150,000 campaign has been launched to buy the treasure and display it at Hanley's Potteries Museum & Art Gallery

Rare 3,000-year-old Bronze Age treasure has been discovered in a field in Staffordshire - and now a £150,000 campaign has been launched to keep it in Stoke-on-Trent.

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The solid gold dress fastener, unearthed by a metal detectorist near Ellastone, between Cheadle and Ashbourne, in 2023, has officially been declared treasure.

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Now Hanley's Potteries Museum & Art Gallery has until spring 2026 to raise the funds needed to keep it in the area and place it in the public collection.

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It is one of the finest examples of its kind ever unearthed and the first to be found in Britain for almost 30 years. Only seven others are recorded across England and Wales. Experts says its exceptional workmanship shows it belonged to someone of very high status.

If acquired it would sit alongside the Staffordshire Hoard and the Leekfrith Torcs as one of the county’s most important archaeological gold finds, adding a new chapter to Staffordshire’s history of exceptional discoveries covering a period of thousands of years.

Councillor Sarah Hill, cabinet member for finance and anti-poverty at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: “This discovery, alongside the Staffordshire Hoard and the Leekfrith Torcs, confirms Staffordshire as home to some of the most important gold treasures ever found in the country.

“Securing this piece would strengthen the museum’s offer as it reopens following its multi-million-pound transformation and give visitors yet more reason to come and explore our area’s history.”

Joe Perry, curator of Local History at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, said: “This is the most significant item of treasure the museum has been offered for nearly 10 years and the first of its kind to be discovered anywhere in Staffordshire.

“Who exactly used this object, and how it came to be buried, may forever be a mystery, but it’s certain that whoever wore it held very high status in their community.

“To find such a rare class of artefact in the county significantly changes our understanding of the region during the Bronze Age. We are hopeful we can acquire this nationally important artefact to keep it within a publicly accessible collection, close to where it was found.”

A fundraising campaign led by the Friends of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery has already secured a £60,000 pledge from Art Fund subject to the remaining cash being raised. The Friends aim to raise at least £15,000 from public donations, with the museum submitting bids to external funding bodies to make up the remainder.

Peter Wilson, chair of the Friends of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, said: “The Friends have supported the acquisition of a number of local finds, with generous contributions from our members and others.

“We are particularly excited about the dress fastener and welcome the significant offer from Art Fund. We hope that anyone who is able to will help us to keep this very special example of our local history, which will complement the Potteries Museum’s already rich archaeological collections."

If the appeal succeeds, the fastener will be displayed in the museum’s archaeology galleries and be available for research into prehistoric Staffordshire.

The following finds are Treasure under the Treasure Act 1996, if found after 24 September 1997 (or, in the case of category 2, if found after 1 January 2003):

The Treasure Act gives finders a legal obligation to report finds that meet certain criteria, in order to ensure that these are offered to museums for public benefit rather than sold privately.

The law aims to to keep historically important artifacts (especially gold/silver over 300 years old) in the nation, preventing them from being sold privately.

Date of object: 1000 – 800 BCE (Late Bronze Age)

Dress fastener with solid, cast 'bow' or 'handle' ending in two sub-conical terminals. The terminals appear to have been raised from the joining bar or 'bow' (which is circular in cross section and tapers towards the terminal cones) by hammering (planishing) and small hammer marks are visible on the surfaces of both cones. Armbruster (2021, 210) has recently argued that 'handle' or 'bow' of this type of object could have been cast straight until the terminals were hammered/raised before being bent.

There are light scratches (possibly traces of wear) across the body of the object, although these disappear close to the very edge of the terminals, suggesting they were possibly covered during original use (also see Wilde 1862, 60). One side of the bar shows a long burring which appears to be modern in origin. There is no evidence of decoration (some of the largest examples from Ireland are decorated, most notably the Clones, Co. Monaghan dress fastener which weighs 1033g).

Dimensions:

Weight: 108.98g

Maximum length (terminals and bar): 127mm

Diameter of cone/terminal 1: 55.5mm (apex off centre)

Height of cone 1: c.23mm (to joining bar)

Diameter of cone/terminal 2: 55 – 55.5mm

Height of cone 2: c.23mm (to joining bar)

Bar, minimum diameter (at join to terminal): 4mm

Bar, maximum diameter (at mid-point): 8mm

Discussion: This class of artefact can be dated to the Ewart Park phase in Britain and the Ewart/Dowris phase in Ireland through several hoard associations (Davies n.d., 23; Eogan 1994). Eogan (1994, 142-45, fig, 40) records 19 dress fasteners from Britain and 82 from Ireland. I am unaware of any additional British finds made since Eogan published his study in 1994. One additional Irish example has been discovered since 1994, in 2013, in Ballycullen, Co. Dublin (National Museum of Ireland registration number 2013:368) (M. Cahill pers comm.). The Ellastone find is therefore the twentieth of its type and the seventh found in England to date. The geographically closest discoveries were made on the northern side of the Peak District, in North Yorkshire: two found together from ‘near Rippon’ in 1780 and one seemingly found on its own around 1815, near the lodge of Swinton Park (Swinton Estate) which weighed c.164g (Way 1849, 61). There are also single examples from Norfolk, Kent (a terminal/fragment) and Cornwall (Eogan 1994, 142-45). The dimension and weight of the Staffordshire find is very similar to an example from Islay, Scotland, in the collections of the British Museum (registration number 1920,0316.1; https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1920-0316-1)

In terms of function, these objects could have been used to fasten cloth and clothing (Hakwes & Clarke 1963, fig. 52), although in appearance they resemble (and may have been inspired by) contemporary bracelets with expanded terminals.

Other, notable, later Bronze Age finds have been made in close vicinity, including a pair of late style palstaves (Treasure case 2023 T545) of possible Wilburton to Ewart Park date (c.1150-800 BC).

Conclusion: This object is over 300 years old and is made of precious metal (more than 10%). It therefore appears to meet the requirements of the 1996 Treasure Act.