HERE’S your evening news round-up for the Black Country and north Worcestershire.

Much-loved Stourbridge motorcyclist Elliott Beddow will be remembered in a charity ride taking place this weekend.

Family, friends and bikers will be turning out in force for a charity ride out from Stourton, where Elliott lived, to Shropshire’s picturesque Carding Mill Valley on Sunday July 30 in memory of the tragic 20-year-old biker who died after crashing his Harley Davidson in Brettell Lane in the early hours of September 3 last year.

The event has been organised to commemorate what would have been a milestone birthday for tragic Elliott, who would have turned 21 on Thursday (July 27).

To read more click here.

A man was “lucky” to be alive this afternoon (Monday) after flipping his car on a busy Stourbridge road.

The red Kia Picanto hit a curb, crashed through a lamppost and uprooted a post box – before coming to rest on its side in Hagley Road just after 2pm.

Emergency services swamped the scene – near the junction with Union Street – and found a man, believed to be in his late 70s, inside the overturned vehicle.

To read more click here.

It’s the summer holidays and Dudley Zoo’s meerkats are already having bucket loads of fun following a delivery of new sand.

Instead of tipping the sand straight in, keepers have mixed in mealworms and filled buckets to make sandcastles around the enclosure.

To see video footage of the meerkats enjoying the sandcastles click here.

A road menace from Oldbury who tore along a Birmingham dual carriageway at speeds of more than 130mph has narrowly avoided being jailed for street racing.

Zafar Iqbal, of Victoria Road, reached breakneck speeds on the A38 during an illegal road race with Amar Paul and Tejinder Bhuee on the night of March 5.

However, the trio were unaware they were being tailed by an unmarked police car deployed as part of Operation Hercules – a regional police campaign targeting reckless road users that’s seen hundreds of motorists handed heavy fines and driving bans.

To read more click here.

A man in his 30s was taken to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital with multiple serious injuries -  having fallen from a bridge on the A448 Bromsgrove to Redditch highway this morning (Monday).

West Midlands Ambulance Service received a call to reports of a man lying on the roadway at 8.42am.

A rapid response vehicle was dispatched to the scene along with an ambulance and the Midlands Air Ambulance from Warwickshire.

To read more click here.

Council bosses are seeking a developer to bring forward the first phase of Lion Fields - a new mixed-use scheme at the eastern gateway to Kidderminster.

The appointed developer will purchase 3.56 acres of land at the south east of the development area, known as Lion Fields Parcel One - the former location of the recently demolished Wyre Forest Glades Leisure Centre.

This site has been identified for leisure-led redevelopment.

To read more click here.