DONCASTER Mayor Peter Davies wants to block payment of the borough’s contribution towards a £15 million bill run up by a fraudster.

He believes it is wrong that Doncaster should have to pay as much as £3 million because of the financial failure of a joint South Yorkshire Trading Standards Unit run alongside Sheffield, Barnsley and Rotherham councils.

The unit was run by Mike Buckley, whose sudden death in 2005 opened up a can of worms which led to three other businessmen being prosecuted for running a fraudulent operation with him.

It emerged that the unit, ostensibly being run at a profit, was making huge losses which Buckley had covered up.

An independent examination of the books showed Sheffield Council auditors should have picked up on the swindle and its staff were criticised.

Negotiations have been going on about how the £15 million bill should be paid but Mr Davies says Sheffield should take responsibility.

He said he could not understand how Buckley had got away with the money but believes the taxpayers of Doncaster should not have to foot the bill.

“It is completely outrageous, this defies logic,” said Mr Davies.

He points out the joint agreement was drawn up by a previous administration before he was elected in 2009.

“It seems to me absolutely ridiculous that we should find ourselves having to pay £3 million because of Sheffield’s inability to control its own employees.

“I have told our officers we shouldn’t be paying anything and they are still negotiating.

“This comes hard on the heels of the Digital Region broadband affair. That is £12 million we have been asked for in the space of a few months, and what it shows is the folly of getting involved in business deals with other authorities.”

It is understood Sheffield has sent invoices for £3 million to Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham councils.

A MAN has been sexually assaulted by another man near Doncaster town centre.

Police have only just released details of the incident in which a 19-year-old man who was walking along Thorne Road was sexually assaulted by an unknown man.

The incident happened at around 2.30am on Saturday, 9 February as the victim made his way towards Town Moor Avenue.

The suspect has been described as white, slim build with dark hair. He was wearing a brown leather jacket with hood and light blue baggy jeans.

Officers are keen to speak to anyone who may hold vital information to assist with the enquiry.

Police would particularly like to trace the man pictured in the CCTV image, who is not a suspect but may hold vital information.

Anyone with any information to assist with the enquiry is urged to call South Yorkshire Police on 101 quoting incident number 151 of Saturday, 9 February or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

A new culvert has been built to help stop persistent flooding in an area of Wath.

Rotherham Council has replaced the Green Ings culvert in Station Road, which had deteriorated over a number of years.

It had been restricting water flow through Brook Dyke causing flooding to nearby streets under heavy rainfall.

Station Road was closed for six weeks while the work took place but it is now complete and the road was re-opened on March 21.

Wath councillor Alan Gosling said: “I am glad the work has been done.

“Hopefully now the flooding will not be as bad because it was affecting quite a number of residents and businesses.”

A spokesman for Rotherham Council said: “A new culvert was designed to replace the existing consisting of a rectangular precast concrete box.

“Information from the Environment Agency on the rainfall catchment area was used to design a culvert which has a significantly larger flow capacity than the original and should help to alleviate flooding in the area.

“The scheme was carried out during a six week road closure and was successfully completed on time.”

ROVERS are faced with a right back crisis as they head into another key weekend in the promotion race.

Brian Flynn confirmed that on-form Andy Griffin was complaining with a sore lower back and upper thigh following the 2-0 defeat to Carlisle on Tuesday night.

The 34-year-old is rated 50-50 for Saturday’s trip to Crewe.

And with Paul Quinn unlikely to play again this season due to injury, Flynn could be forced to field a makeshift full back.

“We’ll have to nurse Andy through the next few days and hope he’s ok for the weekend,” Flynn said.

“Paul is really struggling with a bang he took.”

Quinn revealed on Twitter that he does not expect to play again this term.

Left back James Husband, centre half Liam Wakefield and winger James Coppinger are all options that could be considered should Griffin miss out.

Flynn has urged caution from supporters who are making plans for an early promotion party and reaffirmed that the squad are taking things one game at a time.

Defeat on Tuesday night ensured Rovers still need three wins to guarantee automatic promotion without relying on results elsewhere.

Flynn said: “People were talking about us being presented with the trophy at Notts County next week but I just can’t see that.

“It’s nice for people to look forward and get excited but we’ve got to do the job first.

“We are still taking it one game at a time. Tuesday night against Crewe proved that is all you can do.

“Obviously we want to wrap things up as quick as we can but if we have to go to Brentford on the last day and do it, so be it.”

A STEPSON with a violent past faces life imprisonment after strangling the man he once called ‘dad’ at a South Yorkshire flat.

Jay Griffiths, 26, pleaded guilty to murdering Andrew Massarella on Christmas Eve, 2011.

His mum Zena Hancock, 45, and great uncle Richard Denby, 62, could also be sent to jail after admitting attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Sheffield Crown Court heard the pair plotted to cover for Griffiths, who previously served a ‘lengthy custodial sentence for violence’, after he killed Mr Massarella at his home on Callender Court, Cantley, Doncaster.

Griffiths, of Highbury Avenue, Doncaster faces a minimum of 15 years in jail. He is due to be sentenced along with Danby, of Dentons Way, Kirk Sandall, and Hancock, of Cantley, today.

Barnsley Hospice has been awarded almost £500, 000 to extend its services.

The hospice applied for £690, 000 from the Department of Health and was awarded £470, 000.

Health chiefs will use the cash windfall to build a new lounge/dining area in the Inpatient Unit, a spiritual room, new treatment rooms, an expanded drug preparation area and an extension to the gardens.

The new lounge/dining area will mean that patients will be able to dine with their relatives or visitors and other patients.

A spiritual room will create an area for peace, prayer and contemplation.

Dr Becky Hirst, medical director at the hospice said: “Additional treatment rooms will enable more patients to be seen by doctors, nurses and therapists in the hospice; reflecting the growing number of outpatients the hospice now sees.

“Patients often visit with their relatives, so the additional space will allow for a much more comfortable environment for examinations and the space to have conversations about future care and support needed.”

Diana Gibson, patient services director, added: “We know from our current patient feedback that the extended provision will be welcomed and will make a considerable difference to their stay here, especially the Inpatient Lounge, which has been requested by patients and relatives.

“Our new facilities will help us to provide an even better service for the people of Barnsley. We are thankful to the Department of Health for this fantastic opportunity to improve the services offered to local patients who deserve to have access to the best possible palliative and end of life care.”

She continued: “Although we are happy to have been awarded the grant, I would like to stress that this doesn’t mean that we need to raise less money this year.

“We are not permitted to use any of this funding towards our running costs so it is important that we do not relax our fundraising activities.

“The support we receive from our local community, for which we are extremely grateful, is now more vital than ever.”

Patients are admitted to the Inpatient Unit for a variety of reasons including help with managing pain and other symptoms as well as care during the last few days of their life.

The hospice has to raise £2m every year in addition to its £1.6m NHS grant to stay open.

Potentially life-saving defibrillators will be placed in two Isle schools, as part of a scheme funded by North Lincolnshire Council.

MP Andrew Percy secured the necessary £10,000 funding that was needed to place the defibrillators in North Lincolnshire secondary schools, after becoming aware of the worrying child mortality rate from cardiac arrest on school sites.

Both South Axholme Academy and the Axholme Academy in Epworth and Crowle will receive one of the machines which re-start the heart.

Six staff at each school will be trained on how to use the equipment.

Mr Percy, is a volunteer community first responder and is also a member of the House of Commons Health Select Committee.

He teamed up with the East Midlands Ambulance Trust to write the bid for the equipment.

North Lincolnshire Council then agreed to carry the scheme forward using cash from the community grants pot.

The MP said: “Survival rates for out of hospital cardiac arrests in this country are too low, with 270 children dying from them on school sites each year.

“As somebody who has had to try to resuscitate people in cardiac arrest myself, I have now become passionate about the need for more defibrillators in our communities and more CPR training.”

“For every minute after someone goes into cardiac arrest that CPR or defibrillation does not take place, the chance of survival drops by 10 per cent. In rural areas this can often mean that by the time an ambulance arrives resuscitation will not be successful.

“If only we had more defibrillators and more people trained in CPR then we could make a huge impact.

“That is why I came up with this scheme for local schools. I want them to use these defibrillators as a way of getting young people thinking about life-saving skills and training them in CPR.”

Coun Liz Redfern added: “Schools are community buildings so these defibrillators will be of real benefit to the community. If tied in with CPR training for pupils, it could mean we will have hundreds of trained lifesavers on the Isle.

“The council wants to go much further than just our rural secondary schools, which is why thanks to Andrew’s application, we are now looking at placing defibrillators in all our secondary schools.”

The defibrillators will be rolled out in the coming weeks.

There is currently no requirement for defibrillators to be kept on school premises.

A Doncaster man has been jailed for 39 months for robbing and stealing from prostitutes in the red-light district.

Marius Dambrauskas, aged 26, of Sandringham Road, Intake, committed the robbery last September when he approached a 32-year-old woman who was working as a prostitute on Thorne Road.

They walked over to Town Fields and he gave her £40 but immediately afterwards he grabbed the woman by her throat, kicked and punched her and took the £40 before running away.

The theft occurred on October 14 at around 1.45am, on Kings Road when he approached a 33-year-old woman who was also working as a prostitute.

He grabbed her by the hair and stole £35 from her.

Both women reported the incidents to the police who acted swiftly on the information and arrested the man.

Dambrauskas pleaded guilty to the offences at Sheffield Crown and afterwards DC Scott Barley said: “Dambrauskas believed he could take what he wanted and there would be no consequences, and I hope this sends out a clear message this is not the case and it will not be tolerated.

“I would always encourage people to report any offence to the police; we are committed to investigating and detecting all crime, to ensure the people of Doncaster are protected and to make the town a safer place for everyone.”

The Dons hope their free-scoring Challenge Cup win in Wales will stand them in good stead for tonight’s screen test at home to Featherstone Rovers (7.30pm).

Doncaster are the second lowest scorers in the Championship, notching 152 points in nine games. Stark contrast to last season.

Tony Miller’s side averaged more than 40 points per game during last year’s Championship One double.

And star man Paul Cooke has admitted that Doncaster have been “found out a bit” at the higher level - and must work harder on the training ground to arrest a six-game losing run in the league.

However, Dons should take confidence from a professional display at South Wales Scorpions on Saturday.

They brushed aside the Championship One side as eight different scorers crossed the whitewash in a nine-try 52-22 Challenge Cup win.

Tonight’s game is live on Premier Sports.

Paul Cooke says more graft on the training ground is the way to reverse the club’s Championship reality check.

The Dons go into tonight’s televised visit of Featherstone Rovers (7.30pm, Keepmoat Stadium) on the back of six straight league defeats - but boosted by the weekend’s Challenge Cup win at South Wales Scorpions.

And star man Cooke is honest and open about the step up in class his side have encountered.

“We’re quickly finding out that everybody’s a bit better than last year,” said Cooke.

“It’s also noticable that the coaches at this level are coaching their teams very well.

“Teams have been finding us out a bit and identifying our weaknesses.

“We’re finding it a bit more difficult to break down other teams.”

Dons have slipped to second bottom in the table with wins over Barrow and Workington now a distant memory.

“We’ve only beaten two teams who came up with us last year so we need to be working a hell of a lot harder on the small aspects of our game,” said Cooke.

“Our preparation off the field has to be spot on to reap the rewards on it.

“We’re not a million miles away,” he added.

“But we’re just getting done by that one play or one lapse in concentration which is costing us dearly.”

Featherstone, meanwhile, started the season with six straight wins but come into tonight on the back of two league defeats in their last three.

n Dons will travel to Super League side Widnes Vikings in the fourth round of the Challenge Cup.

The tie will be played on April 20 or 21.

Dearne MP John Healey ignored the recall of Parliament yesterday to pay tribute to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who died on Monday aged 87.

Mr Healey was among more than 100 Labour MPs who decided to remain in their constituencies.

Explaining the decision, he said: “I have a large framed poster on the wall of my constituency office in Wath-upon-Dearne.

“It displays the names and badges of each British coalmine closed by the Tories after the miners’ strike up until 1994 when the last pit in our constituency closed at Silverwood. A total of 203; 64 in Yorkshire alone.

“Individual, family and community lives have been broken then blighted for years by Margaret Thatcher’s determination to destroy a proud British industry and its trade union.

“In areas like South Yorkshire, we can’t forget. Or forgive. So many abhorred her government’s actions, and detest her memory.”

Police seized drugs and made a number of arrests as part of a day of action in the Dearne.

During the operation on April 10 officers found cannabis and amphetamine at addresses in Grimethorpe. Two men, aged 44 and 24, and a 19-year-old woman were arrested.

Elsewhere, a 26-year-old Cudworth man, a 28-year-old Grimethorpe man and a 50-year-old man from Brierley were arrested for non-payment of fines.

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue visited 320 households of which they received 30 requests for home fire safety checks.

Acting Police Sergeant Nick Redfearn said: “This operation has been extremely successful and by working alongside Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue and Chevin Homes, we have been able to share intelligence, work together and start to address many of the concerns raised by residents of Grimethorpe, Brierley and Cudworth.

“There will be many more days of action planned for the year and we would like to send out a clear message that we will continue to target criminality within these areas and work together with the community to make these areas a more attractive place to live.”

Crime and police commissioner Shaun Wright said: “These days of action are an excellent way for South Yorkshire Police to work alongside partner agencies to tackle residents’ concerns and issues in their community.

“I’m determined, even in these difficult times, that we meet public expectations, and partnership working is the way to deliver on that ambition. I very much look forward to seeing more joint operations of this nature.”

ALL conquering Doncaster pop sensation Louis Tomlinson is in the money - after securing a spot on the annual Sunday Times Rich List for the very first time.

The Bessacarr star has landed a place on the newspaper’s annual round-up of the country’s wealthiest people and is ranked in 17th equal spot on the Young Music Millionaires list with his One Direction bandmates.
They have an estimated fortune of £5 million each.

The star is still a long 
way behind Adele who tops list with £30 million and Sir Paul McCartney who heads the music list with £680 million.

A DONCASTER man is begininng a 15 year jail sentence today after being found guilty of murder.

Jay Griffiths was sentenced today at Sheffield Crown Court for the murder of Andrew Massarella on Christmas Eve 2011.

Griffiths, 25, from Highbury Avenue, Doncaster, had pleaded guilty to the murder of his 40-year-old stepfather.

It came after a fire was reported to South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue at about 3.20am on Saturday, 24 December 2011.

Firefighters entered the flat on Callender Court, Middleham Road, in Cantley and found Andrew’s body in suspicious circumstances.

Specialists from the Forensic Science Service, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue and South Yorkshire Police jointly investigated the death, which initially looked to be suicide.

But investigations continued and in July 2012, a witness contacted South Yorkshire Police with new evidence.

Robert Danby, 61 and Zena Hancock, 45, pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Robert Danby was sentenced to two years amd Zena Hancock, 19 months. They met with Griffiths later that same Christmas Eve morning and helped him leave the Doncaster area.

Detective Superintendent Terry Mann said: “This has been a long and complex case. The fire damage caused to Andrew’s flat made the assessment of the crime scene very difficult for our forensic teams and other specialists. “The circumstances of that fateful Christmas Eve did not become clear until much later in the investigation.

“Extensive forensic tests and analysis showed the cause of death to be strangulation with a discarded cigarette being the probable cause of a slow burning fire.

“I would like to thank the public for coming forward with key information, which greatly assisted the police investigation. The family have remained determined for those responsible to appear in court and today they have had the satisfaction that justice has now been served.”

The family issued a statement after the case on behalf of Andrew’s parents Nick and Diane Massarella and siblings Louise, Richard and Maria which read: “Andrew was a much loved son, brother and uncle.

“Our family were devastated when Andrew died. He had everything to live for. We will never understand why Jay Griffiths did what he did. He cannot begin to understand the loss that we feel.

“We would like to thank the police and all of the witnesses and other agencies involved in bringing Jay Griffiths to justice.

“We ask that we be left alone to grieve in private.”

BUSINESS leaders have not given up hope that IKEA will open a store in Doncaster, even though they have just announced plans for one in Sheffield.

IKEA has entered into discussions with Sheffield City Council over proposals for a £60 million scheme on a derelict industrial site on Sheffield Road, Tinsley, not far from Meadowhall.

Some years ago there was talk of the Swedish firm opening a store off White Rose Way, but it did not go ahead because of likely congestion on that route, which is now improved.

The new 37,000 sq m store would sell the full IKEA range of 9,500 products, and would create up to 400 jobs.

But the development is by no means guaranteed to go ahead because of fears it could affect the viability of the city centre.

The site in Sheffield is just across the road from where Next was controversially refused planning permission for a home and garden store last year, on the grounds of potential harm to the city centre and the planned Sevenstone retail quarter.

Dan Fell, deputy chief executive of Doncaster Chamber, believes IKEA could have a store in Doncaster as well as Sheffield.

“The leisure and retail sectors are important to the future of Doncaster and the broader City Region and, in these challenging times, any new investment into the region is welcome; in general terms increased development in Sheffield – and other parts of the region – is much more of an opportunity for Doncaster than it is a threat.

“Additionally, Sheffield and Doncaster tend to attract consumers from different parts of the country with Doncaster pulling in a lot of consumers and visitors from eastern parts of Yorkshire.

“It is not, therefore, unimaginable that a large retailer – like IKEA – would open premises in both Sheffield and Doncaster as they provide jumping off points into different markets.

“Both Manchester and Warrington have IKEA stores and those towns, like Sheffield and Doncaster, are only 20 miles apart.”

Who will be crowned Junior Sports Personality of the Year at this year’s Doncaster Free Press Sports Awards?

This year the choice is yours.

There are ten nominees vying for the prize:

1. Joe Sutherland: The kickboxer was one of the youngest ever England representatives for the WKC World Championships.

2. Aidan Hughes: The Armthorpe kickboxer won bronze in both points and continuous events at the WTKA European Championships.

3. Connor Lill: Last year’s award winner followed up with more Tae Kwon Do success – gold at the British Championships.

4. Jordan Lill: Ensured two British champions in the Lill family with gold alongside younger brother Connor.

5. Brad Rickaby: Hatfield jet ski star won a fifth British championship and reached eighth in the world rankings.

6. Tia Rowe: Thirteen-year-old martial artist who won 21 medals in 2012, becoming a European silver medalist in kickboxing.

7. Aiden Davies: The hurlder won two silvers at the English Schools’ Championships, gold at the Sainsbury School Games and represented England.

8. John Johnstone: The Toll Bar boxing prospect won the 50kg Schoolboys National Championships last month.

9. Niall Gibson: Bessacarr’s rising Tae Kwon Do star is through to phase two of Team GB’s talent identification programme for Rio 2016.

10. Kelly Bramhald: The javelin star won gold at the English Schools’ Championships and reached third in the national U20 rankings.

To vote for the winner of Junior Sports Personality of the Year simply text DFP (space) JSPOTY (space) and then the number of your chosen nominee (shown left) to 61500.

The deadline for entries is April 18.

Texts cost £1.50 plus your usual network rate. The Editor’s decision is final.

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Johnston Press (or via its agents) and its business partners may contact you about new promotions, products and services. Please add the word EXIT at the end of your message if you do not wish to receive these.

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He might be a classically-trained actor who’s starred in tFoyle’s War, Torchwood and Chekhov’s The Duel, but only now has Chesterfield actor Rik Makarem achieved a “career high” – dressing up as a tangerine Oompa-Loompa.

“It was intense,” Rik joked about the stag do outfit (from Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory) that his character Nikhil Sharma is made to wear in ITV soap Emmerdale.

“Actually, it was quite liberating and I grew quite attached to that outfit. It was like taking on a different character for a few days. It gave me licence to be more playful, which was brilliant.”

Rik says that the Wonka-themed stag party isn’t his character Nikhil’s idea of fun.

Considering his fiancee Gennie is having problems with her mother Brenda, who refuses to attend her daughter’s wedding following her brain tumour diagnosis, “it’s supposed to be very low-key and relaxed”, says Rik.

Except that his mates Declan and David take charge, force him into the outfit and whisk him off to Holdgate where a sweetie paradise awaits.

But where there’s drink there’s trouble, especially in soap-land, and it’s not long before Nikhil is tipsily asking his brother Jai to be his best man despite having already lined David up. While David and Jai are left fighting over who gets to be the last (best) man standing, Nikhil is trying to ensure the wedding day goes without a hitch. This looks unlikely as Brenda remains adamant she’s not attending her daughter’s wedding in case her illness spoils the day. The question is, will Gennie be able to go through with the ceremony without her mother present? And what of Nikhil, the groom-to-be who’s hoping for the happy ever after?

“He’s stuck between a rock and a hard place, it’s a very difficult situation,” says Rik.

“Guys are sensitive too and think about a wedding day just as much as girls, even if they don’t let on,” he admits. “It’s almost inbred into girls that it’s their day and in a way it is because they’re the princess, but you’re not a princess without a Prince Charming.”

And Rik, who isn’t married, believes Nikhil and Gennie deserve a wonderful wedding.

“The stakes are very high. They’ve been on a wonderful, quirky journey together and you hope there’s a happy ever after. That’s what the audience will be rooting for, but does that ever really happen in soaps?” he teases.

It’s nearly four years since Rik joined the soap.

The wedding of Nikhil and Gennie is due to air tomorrow.

The death of his cat on his 50th birthday was what led Madness lead singer Suggs to talk about his life and work on stage.

He said: “I got to 50 a little while ago. The kids had left home and the cat died on the morning of my 50th birthday. That got me thinking about fate and where I have been, from when I was a kid in what seems like before World War Two and what’s happened to me in those 50 years.

“It was an exercise in trying to work out where the hell I’ve been for the last 50 years. Then the show started to emerge.

“I was trying to think of a really imaginative title. I came up with My Life Story in Words and Music…”

His stage persona may be Cockney cheeky chappie but the frontman of the ska band that had hit after hit in the Two Tone trend of the early 1980s and beyond has a darker side.

He said: “I get as sad and depressed as anybody else. I do try and look at the positives in life. I’ve had a really positive life and for 30-odd years it’s been pretty remarkable.”

Suggs said that the show took months to write and he talks about his dad, who he never knew. William McPherson left when he was three and Suggs doesn’t remember him.

He knew that his dad was a heroin addict but he didn’t keep in contact with Suggs’ mum Edith, so had no idea what happened to him.

The singer, real name Graham McPherson, was finally pointed to the Wikipedia entry about himself.

That told him that his father had died in 1975, aged 40 in Birmingham. He had been treated for severe mental illness and had remarried but had no children.

“These people on Wikipedia know more about me than my whole family put together,” Suggs said.

“There was some feeling of a full stop on the whole thing rather than a question that was unanswerable.”

Suggs said that he never felt deprived growing up without a dad. “If you’ve never had a dad you don’t know what the alternative is. A huge proportion of kids at my school came from what we used to call broken homes. It wasn’t an unusual thing, just the way it was.

“Wondering about him never entered my head. It might have done if he’d left when I could remember him. He just wasn’t there.”

Part of the show tells about Suggs’ unusual upbringing. “My mum was a jazz singer around Soho. We went to some very interesting places indeed and saw some very interesting things.

“You have to remember that homosexuality and gambling were illegal for a long time. Pubs shut at 3pm. There were clubs in Soho where outsiders felt safe.

“It was all very new. You had to go by the values of take as you find. The people were nice to me. They were transvestites, ladies of the night, jazz singers or toffs. It was an experience that informed what I was going to become myself.”

Suggs says that the show is a “piece of theatre rather than just a monologue or an ‘audience with’. Once you learn it you can go off beam. You learn it, then you’ve got the freedom to ad lib. It’s been a real joy.”

He worked with a director who has put together lots of one-man shows.

Obviously Madness are a huge part of his story. He said: “I met the band when I was 13 or 14 and three or four were all from single parents. We became some kind of surrogate family.

“Our greatest achievement is that we are all still friends. That’s very unusual, if you take seven kids and put them together. We did have a few punch-ups along the way and ups and downs.”

He added: “When we started the band got going, we did some gigs in a pub and suddenly we were off.

“I was 18 and on Top of the Pops and it was all happening. We went on the Two Tone tour with The Specials, Dexy’s Midnight Runners all there together in 1979. It was exciting and had a big energy.”

Of course, it’s not all talking.

Suggs said: “I sing a few songs, like Baggy Trousers, and talk about why I wrote it. It’s anbout an important part of my life, going to school. The show is a mixture of laughter, stories, music and rubbish.”

I love Sheffield. got stuck there in the snow last time we played. Suggs – My Life Story in Words and Music is at the Winding Wheel, Chesterfield on Friday, April 26.

Suggs said that performing for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee on top of Buckingham Palace was an unexpected pleasure.

He said: “Yeah, me and the Queen are like that! It was very, very bizarre. Who would have thought?

“Standing on the roof of Buckingham Palace for some reason was most memorable thing we’ve ever done.

“In some peculiar way getting some recognition for the band.”

After Doncaster wine and beer, vodka made in the town has gone on sale at the tourist information centre.

Ten flavours of Brittain’s Vodka are now available including black forest, butterscotch, cherry, chocolate, chilli chocolate, coconut, cranberry, raspberry, strawberry and rhubarb and toffee. The vodka is available in 50ml miniatures at £4 each.

Based in Sprotbrough, Brittains’ initial product concept was to blend raspberries from Eastfield Farm, Tickhill, with British vodka and initial success has persuaded them to add new flavours.

Tourism manager Colin Joy said they were delighted there is a butterscotch flavour because it was invented in Doncaster in 1817.

Jo Atkinson, from Brittains, said: “Our flavoured vodkas are proving very popular with members of the public as well as bars and restaurants. Doncaster vodka can be used as the base for a refreshing cocktail, or even poured over summer berries.”

Motorists speeding near a Doncaster primary school have been targeted after parents alerted police to the problem.

Askern Safer Neighbourhood Team stopped drivers to warn them of the dangers of speeding after carrying out checks near Moss Road Junior School.

The area around Moss Road, Askern, had been highlighted as a priority, during a local Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meeting.

Officers used a speed-checking device to detect the speed of 42 cars that passed the school. Three of these cars were then stopped and warned about the dangers of speeding.

PCSO Vanessa Wagstaff said: “Whilst the officers were conducting the checks we were approached by a number of residents who were pleased at the efforts to raise aware amongst motorists about the impact of their speed. We are committed to continuing to address the issues raised by residents at the PACT meetings.”

Don Valley MP Caroline Flint has been campaigning for 20MPH zones outside schools but Mayor Peter Davies shunned the proposal.