Stories to make you smile from across Yorkshire

Everyone needs a break from some of the world's more dismal news - and we like to tell you about some of the more uplifting stories we cover in Yorkshire each week.

This week, we have a woman with incurable cancer who has summited Mount Everest, news of a £5m fundraising campaign to secure land to support red squirrels and 150 sculptures of lions which make up an art trail in South Yorkshire - among other stories...

Dr Shaunna Burke was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer in 2024 and underwent a double mastectomy, liver surgery and radiotherapy.

She has since completed the Everest Marathon, and has now scaled Mount Everest for the second time.

Burke, who lives in Addingham, near Ilkley, said: "I'm absolutely elated, I'm over the moon and I guess, as you can probably imagine, I'm also physically quite tired."

The Woodland trust has launched a £5m fundraising campaign to buy land which could help support the native red squirrel population.

The land, in Snaizeholme Valley near Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales, has already been secured by an unnamed organisation which has given the charity two years to raise the money.

The charity wants to raise £4.86m to acquire the 348 acres (141 hectares) of land where red squirrels already roam and forage.

The charity said it wanted to "grow a healthy and vibrant new woodland that gives red squirrels the best possible chance to thrive".

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People provides 68 specially-trained dogs to people in Yorkshire - but there are 35 more on the waiting list.

The charity, which trains dogs at the Beatrice Wright Centre in Bielby near York, is currently short on volunteer puppy and dog trainers, meaning it is struggling to keep up with demand.

Diane Thrippleton was paired up with her hearing dog, Merlin, in 2024 to help her around the house and improve her confidence when she goes outside.

She says Merlin is "always her friend" in a "silent world".

In the 1960s, four women - collectively known as the Headscarf Revolutionaries - helped to transform safety in the fishing industry following the sinking of three Hull trawlers.

Last Sunday, memorial benches in the traditional heart of the city's fishing community were covered in flowers in memory of Lillian Bilocca, Yvonne Blenkinsop, Mary Denness and Christine Smallbone.

The event also featured a life-sized sculpture of Bilocca, made from national newspapers, in celebration of what would have been her 97th birthday.

Blenkinsop's daughter, Jonmarie, described the celebration as "amazing" and said the four women were "a credit to Hull and a proud piece of our heritage".

A paddleboarder from Suffolk ventured across more than 160 miles (257km) of canals to travel coast-to-coast across England.

Natasha Sones, 46, paddled for 10 days from Liverpool to Goole, East Yorkshire, via the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and the Aire & Calder Navigation.

The mum-of-three is one of fewer than 20 people to complete the challenge, which was opened in 2019.

Sones, who is also a travel writer, said she was surprised so few people had completed the trail, which she described as a "bucket list paddle".

A charity art trail is to begin which will see sculptures of 150 lions and 150 cubs at various locations around South Yorkshire.

The Pride of Yorkshire event is organised by the Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity in Sheffield, Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham.

The trail celebrates the 150th anniversary of the hospital and all the lion sculptures have been designed by British artists.

The cubs have been designed by schools and community groups and can be seen at landmarks such as Meadowhall, Doncaster Racecourse, Oakwell Stadium and Gulliver's Valley.

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