The family of a boy born with liver and heart disease is fundraising to buy a life-sized bear sculpture dedicated to him.
Raising money for Leeds Hospitals Charity, the Leeds Bear Hunt is an annual trail around the city that took place over the last ten weeks and had locals and visitors alike seeking out giant bear sculptures.
There were 35 bears dotted around the city, including a very special one named Polar.
Polar shares the story of Freddie Mcdonald, aged 11, who has been cared for at Leeds Teaching Hospitals since being just six months old when he was diagnosed with Alagille syndrome.
Image: Emma Mcdonald (via Facebook)
The Ossett family are now hoping to buy the life-sized sculpture when they go up for auction, with Mrs Mdonald saying "I can't see anyone valuing that bear like we would."
The bear sculptures will be auctioned off on Thursday 28 September and money raised will be used to fund care for critically-ill babies and children at the trust.
The family have already raised a whopping £120,000 for the hospitals' charity but said buying the bear also meant they could help others.
Mrs McDonald said: "I say it all the time but it's so true - the hospital saved Freddie's life numerous times but every time they saved his life they saved ours as well."
The family have put together a fundraising video, featuring supporters shouting 'Get Freddie's Bear'.
Included in the video are ex-Leeds Rhinos player Rob Burrow and family as well as Leeds United goalkeeper Illan Meslier, who are all behind Freddie's campaign.
Paul Watkins, Director of Fundraising at Leeds Hospitals Charity, said the purchase of a bear would help "continue to support the hospital's incredible efforts to provide exceptional treatment and care to hundreds of critically-ill babies and children every year."
You can donate to the 'Get Freddie's Bear' fundraiser here.
The tiramisu hype lives on, and this time it's coming to Leeds.
It really does feel like the traditional Italian dessert has taken the world by storm as of late.
Everything from tiramisu cups and tiramisu coffees have been popping up all over our feed, and now tiramisu in drawer form is popping up in the city centre.
Misu Tiramisu is an independent business that began at Manchester's Christmas Markets and quickly became one of the most popular operators, all thanks to its miniature tiramisu ‘drawers’.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
The individually portioned and colourfully packaged desserts quickly became one of town’s top puddings, and owners Aleem and Aishah went on to launch a stand inside the Manchester Arndale too.
And now they’re branching out again in Leeds inside Trinity shopping centre for a two month residency.
You’ll find all their delicious flavours of handmade tiramisu, including classic, pistachio, chocolate, Biscoff, mango, and lemon - they'll also have some gluten-free tiramisu on offer as well, so no one has to miss out.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Misu Tiramisu owners Aleem and Aishah spent a year refining the recipe for their tiramisus after a trip to Milan, first launching with their first market stall in Sale.
Misu Tiramisu is now open inside Trinity shopping centre opposite Boots Opticians and Pop Specs.
They're open every day of the week for you to get your tiramisu fix, from 9am to 8pm Monday to Saturday and from 11am to 5pm on a Sunday.
And trust us Leeds, they're just as delicious as they are adorable.
Fossilised 320-million-year-old fish found in Leeds’ Roundhay Park
Clementine Hall
A prehistoric fish fossil has been unearthed at Roundhay Park in Leeds.
The fascinating prehistoric skull bone of a coelacanth fish was discovered by a geologist at Roundhay Park earlier this year.
It is thought the creature was frozen in time aeons ago, during an era when the park was submerged under a vast tropical lagoon.
The remarkable discovery has now been kindly donated to Leeds Museums and Galleries and added to the natural sciences collection at Leeds Discovery Centre.
Image: Leeds City Council
The Leeds fossil was found by Ru Smith of the Yorkshire Geological Society during a reconnaissance walk he was carrying out ahead of a planned field excursion in the north Leeds park.
Describing the moment he made the discovery, Ru said: “There’s a layer of rock in the park which dates from around 320 million years ago, from a time before the breakup of the continents, when what is now the park would have been situated close the Equator and under the warm waters of a tropical lagoon. West Central Africa would be a good place to find similar environments in the present.
“There’s a bed of freshwater mussels called Carbonicola at one level in the rock, and opening a piece of shale from this bed in my hands I saw something unusual – a distinctive skull bone of a large fish. I knew straight away this was something different and very rare."
The bone was verified byexperts as belonging to a coelacanth older than those found elsewhere in Yorkshire, making it the oldest fossil coelacanth discovered in the region.
Ru added: “Coelacanths are pretty amazing fish and it’s just very cool to think that at one time, you could have been standing in Leeds and watching them swim around above a bed of mussels in Roundhay Park.
“That’s really the wonder of geology, looking at the rock and time travelling in the imagination to what was a very different world.”
Clementine Hall -
19th September 2023 
