Stories to make you smile from across Yorkshire

While the news can often seem full of sad stories there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful too - and we want to share them with you.

This week in Yorkshire we spoke to a couple who fell in love on a Viking battlefield, a publican who has donated his 100th pint of blood and a boxing club helping people with Parkinson's disease.

Take a look at some of our positive news stories from the past seven days below.

Pub landlord Stephen Cotterill has celebrated giving away his 100th pint - of blood that is, not beer.

The 43-year-old, who runs the Kings Arms in Sutton-in-Craven, North Yorkshire, has been donating regularly since he first signed up for the NHS scheme aged 18.

Since then, he has given blood four times a year saying it is his was of giving something back to the community.

Ellie fell for "handsome-looking Viking" Pete in 2019 while they were both attending a re-enactment of the Battle of Stamford Bridge.

The Taylors, who live in York, told the story of their Viking-style wedding, which was based on their shared love of re-enactments and the medieval lifestyle.

The nuptuals, held in the ruins of Whitby Abbey, included a traditional handfasting ceremony.

Pete said: "It's the old fashioned way of getting married, where you bind your hands together and then swear oaths over a sword."

Conservationists hope the planting of a rare wetland species called milk parsley will bode well for the scarce swallowtail butterfly.

Milk parsley, which grows in marshy habitats, was once widespread around Hornsea Mere, but has declined sharply in recent decades.

By planting it around the lake, conservationists hope it could help bring the swallowtail – the UK's largest native butterfly – back to the area for the first time in more than a century.

John Barnard, a wetland specialist, said: "There are historical records of swallowtails right across East Yorkshire. So bringing milk parsley back basically puts things in place for where they originally lived."

Scarborough's railway station clock tower has been "painstakingly" restored to its former glory as part of a major upgrade.

The Grade II-listed station is also getting a new roof, drainage system and an improved waiting room and ticket office as part of the £14m scheme.

The gold clock tower's four faces have been restored thanks to a £203,000 grant from the Railway Heritage Trust.

A spokesperson said the additional funding meant the company had been able to "deliver more benefits than originally planned".

Coaches at a boxing club offering training sessions for people with Parkinson's disease are expanding their offer to other adults with brain injuries.

Sheffield City Boxing, based in Sharrow, were initially given funding by England Boxing to run non-contact sessions for Parkinson's patients only.

But when the three-month funding trial finished, coach Brendan Warburton decided to continue the sessions, and extend the offer to dementia and stroke patients.

Warburton said: "As the late great Brendan Ingle used to say about his club, 'nobody comes in here and gets worse', people come in here and feel better."

A North Yorkshire library is helping residents grow their own produce with the introduction of a free seed hub.

Voluntary group GROW first launched at Scarborough Library in May 2024, where staff encouraged visitors to pick up seeds when they borrowed books.

Last year, seed hubs were also launched in Whitby and Filey libraries, with a new hub set to get under way at Norton Hive Library, near Malton, in the next few weeks.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.