BBC Local Live: Herefordshire & Worcestershire

Heavy showers and thunderstorms are expected to break out on Thursday afternoon. These will slowly ease and die away this evening to leave a mostly dry and cloudy night for many. Lows of 9C (48F).

The £250,000 raised in the first week of a share issue by a heritage rail line has come from a "mixture of supporters and local people as well as railway enthusiasts", the group says.

GWSRCopyright: GWSR

The public share offer - called Broadway: The Last Mile - aims to raise funds to buy rail and ballast, complete civil engineering works, and install the infrastructure of a new station in Broadway.

It would enable trains to be run into the town for the "first time in more than half a century".

Quote Message: We've come to the end of the era of the trainspotter image, this is a serious business and a significant contributor to the tourist economy of the Cotswolds." from Ian Crowder Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway

We've come to the end of the era of the trainspotter image, this is a serious business and a significant contributor to the tourist economy of the Cotswolds."

Missed waiting times in A&E departments "indicate a failing NHS which needs more funding, resources and frontline staff," according to the Patients Association.

The target is for 95% of patients at A&E to be seen within four hours - the figure for Herefordshire in February was 79.8% and for Worcestershire just 74.5%.

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Quote Message: We have had many calls from patients and families who have had to wait on trolleys for an excessive amount of time." from Katherine Murphy Chief executive of the Patients Association

We have had many calls from patients and families who have had to wait on trolleys for an excessive amount of time."

I've been allowed to film behind the scenes at Bromsgrove's long-awaited new railway station, which is due to open next month.

Richard Dougdale, Project Sponsor for Network Rail, said workers had encountered a few problems along the way. The station had been due to open in November 2015.  

A man has died after the car he was a passenger in was involved in a head-on collision with a lorry, police say.

West Mercia Police say the fatal crash happened at about 06:35 on the A443 near Lindridge in Worcestershire.

Michael John Healey, 32, from Leominster, was airlifted to hospital where he later died. 

The driver of the car, a woman in her late teens, was taken to hospital by land ambulance where she remains in a serious but stable condition, a spokesman said.

Here are some of the main stories we are looking at in Herefordshire and Worcestershire:

- A former SAS soldier has been jailed for 15 months after war trophies were found at his home in Hereford

- A man has died after a head-on crash between a car and a lorry in Worcestershire

- Plans for the new link road on the west side of the Hereford have been included in a 15-year transport strategy agreed by the council

Hereford could get its long awaited by-pass within the next 11 years, after Herefordshire Council today agreed its transport strategy. 

The 15-year plan includes a western by-pass around the city - it also emphasises the need for more pedestrian and cycle routes and more rural bus services. 

This weather map shows how stormy weather is affecting a swathe of southern England from east to west and heading towards the Midlands.    

Services through Alvechurch and Redditch were being delayed. More from BBC Travel.

A former SAS soldier has been jailed for 15 months after firearms kept as war trophies were found at his home in Hereford. 

Albert Patterson, 66, was sentenced at Hereford Crown Court yesterday after admitting possessing several firearms without a certificate, and possessing prohibited ammunition.

West Mercia PoliceCopyright: West Mercia Police

You can read the full story of the restoration of the 18th Century Mortimer's Cross water mill in Herefordshire, and how the lamprey in the River Lugg were saved during the work, in this blog from the Environment Agency's Brecht Morris.

A model from Worcestershire, who campaigns for positive body images of women is hitting the headlines for standing up to internet trolls.  

Iskra Lawrence from Kidderminster is a size 14, was accused of being "fat" after she posted images on social media. 

Services through Alvechutch and Redditch are affected. More from BBC Travel.

A man has been flown to hospital with serious injuries after his car collided head on with a lorry in Worcestershire this morning. 

West Midlands Ambulance Service say the man and a women, who're both in their 20s, had to be cut free from the wreckage after the crash on the A443 at Lindridge, near Tenbury Wells. 

The man was flown to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham with "significant chest and head injuries", the ambulance service said.

The woman was to taken to the Worcestershire Royal with abdominal, pelvic and facial injuries.  

Here are some of the main stories we are looking at in Herefordshire and Worcestershire:

- A man has been flown to hospital with serious injuries after his car crashed head on into a lorry in Worcestershire this morning

- Plans for a Hereford bypass included in Herefordshire Council's 15-year transport strategy

- The latest A&E waiting times in Herefordshire and Worcestershire are again worse than the national average

Here's how Broadway station looked when it opened in 1906. 

The station will reopen in 2018, if the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway can raise the £1.25m needed.

GWSRCopyright: GWSR

A share issue to pay for the work has raised £250,000 in its first week.

This rubbish was left strewn across the road in Harvington, near Evesham.

The trust running Worcestershire's hospitals has again denied claims by campaigners that it's planning to end A&E services at the Alexandra Hospital. 

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The Save the Alex group has given BBC Hereford & Worcester a leaked document detailing the minutes of a meeting between health bosses, which appears to suggest it's only possible to sustain one A&E unit in the county. 

But Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust says it has no plans to downgrade services at the Redditch hospital and the minutes refer to hypothetical plans, which may be implemented if it became necessary to do so in the future.  

Commuters in Bromsgrove have said they're fed up with continual problems at the train station.    

The BBC has learned that plans for more frequent trains to Birmingham have been pushed back following delays in completing a new station in the town. 

The line is due to close for 13 days in October to allow work on the new facility.