‘It could be months or years’: Walsall canal faces long road back to health after chemical spill

Charity is considering removing some of the water and there is also concern over the sediment on the canal floor

When sodium cyanide leaked into a Walsall canal this month, leading to major incident being declared and miles of the waterway closed off, the Canal & River Trust was working in uncharted territory.

The charity is used to fighting pollution in the waterways that crisscross the country, but this type of chemical – and the extreme risk to public health that came with it – was not something it had tackled before.

Continue reading...

About 90kg of dead fish removed from Walsall canal after sodium cyanide leak

Environmental charity fears ‘the aquatic ecosystem will have been devastated or lost’ after chemical spill last week

About 90kg (200lbs) of dead fish have been removed from a canal after a sodium cyanide leak in Walsall that experts fear could have “devastated the aquatic ecosystem” in the area.

A 1km stretch of the waterway remains closed to the public after the chemical spill from a metal finishing company, Anochrome. The spill was declared a major incident last week.

Continue reading...

Baker’s version: UK woman creates lifesize Taylor Swift cake for Super Bowl

Cake depicts Swift wearing a sweatshirt of the Kansas City Chiefs – her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s team

A baker who has created a lifesize Taylor Swift cake for Sunday’s Super Bowl said it was the “perfect opportunity” to finally get around to making it.

The cake sculpture by Lara Mason, from Walsall in the West Midlands, has racked up more than 3m views on TikTok.

Continue reading...

‘I want a voice that fits me’: teenager’s quest for communication aid with Walsall accent

Daniel Challis, who has cerebral palsy and is unable to speak, is auditioning people to provide his new voice

Daniel Challis was born and brought up near Walsall, surrounded by family members with distinctive regional accents.

Yet the communication aid he uses to speak with sounds nothing like them, instead vocalising in a robotic version of received pronunciation. The 18-year-old, who has cerebral palsy and is unable to speak, is appealing for people to audition to provide his new voice – providing they have the right accent.

Continue reading...

Boy finds fossil up to 500m years old in his West Midlands garden

Sid Jhamat, six, from Walsall came upon a horn coral while using his fossil-hunting kit to find worms

A six-year-old boy has found a fossil dating back millions of years in his garden after receiving a fossil-hunting kit for Christmas.

Siddak Singh Jhamat, known as Sid, said he was excited to find the fossil in his garden in Walsall after digging for worms.

Continue reading...