Stories from across Yorkshire to make you smile

Every week in Yorkshire we cover uplifting and feel-good stories about people, places and animals across our region - and we like to shout about them.

This week we are featuring a long-serving cleaner embracing retirement, a hospice's cuddle bed delivery and an inclusive rugby team bidding to host a world cup.

A hospital cleaner who has retired from her role after 57 years has said she will "miss it a lot".

Pat Russell, 78, has worked across various wards at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield since taking a part-time role in 1969, at the age of 21.

She and her colleague Betty, who had worked at the hospital for 48 years, were given a "lovely send-off" with a buffet, retirement cake and gifts, she said.

Much had changed in the NHS since the 1960s including "more robots" involved in cleaning, but she'd "rather have a mop and bucket," she added.

Two men who helped an elderly couple and their grandson reach safety when a fire broke out outside their home said being hailed as heroes had been "really odd".

Mohsin Qayyum, 22, and Mohammed Yusuf Iqbal, 20, from Bradford, were driving past the house in Leeds when they spotted the blaze, jumping a fence to help out.

"We never really thought it would get this much attention and we didn't really do it for attention - we just did it because like people needed our help," said Iqbal.

Qayyum's mother Tayba Tabeezi Azim said she was "incredibly proud" of the pair - and joked her son "could not wash the dishes, but he went and rescued a couple of people from the fire".

A hospice in York has become the only one in the north of England to have a "cuddle bed" in every room, after successfully raising £75,000.

St Leonard's Hospice now has 14 of the specially adapted beds, allowing partners and family members to lie side-by-side with their loved ones.

Louise Ryan's husband Nick spent his last days in St Leonard's when he had a brain tumour. She said the cuddle beds let the family spend quality time with him.

"I can't believe how much the community has come together to fundraise and we've got this many beds now. To know that it started in Nick's memory is just amazing," she said.

An inclusive rugby club has launched a bid to bring the Bingham Cup - also known as the LGBTQ+ Rugby World Cup - to Leeds.

Leeds Hunters want to host the biennial rugby competition, as well as the Amanda Mark Cup for female players, in 2028.

Attracting up to 4,000 players, the competition is the world's largest amateur rugby tournament, bringing together international LGBTQ+ and inclusive rugby teams.

Hunters player Nathan Martin said the tournament was "about feeling connected, about being with other people that may be like you, may be different, but you're welcome".

A community-run library has become an unlikely temple of love after four couples found romance in the stacks.

One couple, Mandy and Adrian Strickland, met at Anlaby Park Community Library and had been friends for 10 years before a romance started to blossom.

They even hosted a celebration there on their wedding day earlier this month.

Another couple, Chris Mead and Sandra Signoretti, also met at the library while doing a jigsaw together. They have now been together for 10 years.

Chris said: "It's a very welcoming space... It's like walking into somebody's living room here. Perhaps that's it."

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