Tito Media-Ltd

11/09/2026

Farewell to“a class act”by Jon Howe.

The death of John Shires in July had a profound effect on the many colleagues he worked with in local newspapers, radio and TV in a long and storied career, but also on the millions of viewers who came to know him as a reliable source of news and entertainment at teatime every day for over 30 years. Coming just four years after the death of Harry Gration, the Yorkshire region has lost two heavyweight legends of local TV, the pillars who navigated us through our daily diet of news and sport in the 1990s and onwards. John Shires died in St James’s Hospital in Leeds on July 1st after a long illness, he was 71 years old and was surrounded by his family. He retired from presenting Yorkshire Television’s flagship ‘Calendar’ programme in 2021 after 32 years of being a reporter and then presenter, forming a long on-screen partnership with Gaynor Barnes. Indeed, the pair retired on the same day, presenting their final show together on March 26th 2021 and declaring that one could not carry on without the other. Upon his death, Gaynor Barnes paid tribute to John, saying: “He was a class act. A gentleman. He was so clever, and my goodness, he was funny. I so appreciate that we worked together for 30 years - it’s a long, long time, but he made it fun. He really did.” Another former colleague, Christine Talbot added: “It’s hard to describe the hole in our lives that John Shires leaves among everyone who knew and loved him...Shiresey was a true gent with the kindest heart hidden beneath his pretend grumpiness and he cared deeply about everyone he worked with.” John Shires started his journalistic career at the Pontefract & Castleford Express, graduating through Radio Aire, before finding a job next door in the YTV studios on Kirkstall Road in Leeds, joining Calendar in 1989. He had the tough task of reporting on the Hillsborough Disaster within months of joining, and viewers also recall his skill and diplomacy when reporting directly from Istanbul in Turkey when two Leeds United supporters were murdered before the club’s UEFA Cup Semi-Final in 2000.In his final programme in 2021, John revealed on air that he was a Huddersfield Town fan and he was regularly seen at games before and after his retirement. John had a genuine love of all sports, playing and watching, and particularly Yorkshire cricket, of which he was extremely knowledgeable. His professionalism shone through in all his work and stands as a benchmark against which all future presenters will be judged.

11/09/2026

FILM REVIEW by Liam Hathaway

New Releases this September.

The Dog Stars(dir. Ridley Scott)Earlier this year, I treated myself to a Ridley Scott marathon to tick off the few remaining films of his that had evaded me over the years. I also used this as an excuse to revisit some of his more recent classics (AMERICAN GANGSTER, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, THE COUNSELOR) purely because no one has continued to make such well-wrought and aesthetically dazzling entertainment into their later career quite like Ridley has. Even at 88-years-old, he’s admirably refusing to slow down and continuing to direct $100 million material like THE DOG STARS, a post-apocalyptic actioner starring Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley and Josh Brolin, in which survivors of a world ravaged by a pandemic hang on for a better existence. In cinemas August 28th (so basically September).

Don’t Look Back in Anger (dir. Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern)Love them or loathe them, Oasis are an era-defining band. In the UK during the 1990s, their music, their style and the often-obnoxious headline-grabbing antics of the Gallaghers shook pop culture in a way that perhaps hadn’t been felt since punk ripped the rulebook up two decades prior. Following their fifteen-year hiatus, it seems the world has gone mad for the Manchester Britpoppers all over again. They’re selling out shows ten times over, and “Wonderwall” essentially became England’s unofficial anthem during the recent World Cup. DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER sort of serves as a follow-up to the earlier Oasis doc (2016’s SUPERSONIC) by charting the historic reunion of Liam and Noel and the band’s massively successful 2025 world tour. In cinemas September 11th.

Cult ClassicTrainspotting(dir. Danny Boyle) – 30th AnniversarySpeaking of the 1990s, it sometimes blows my mind that they were (mostly) thirty years ago – which means that Danny Boyle’s era-defining Irvine Welsh adaptation TRAINSPOTTING from 1996 is that old too! Surfing the wave ushered in by ‘Cool Britannia,’ with its eclectic soundtrack and star-making turn by Ewan McGregor, Boyle’s film was an instant phenomenon back in its day and my recent revisit confirmed its timeless style. Telling a tale of despondent drug addicts stumbling through bad ideas and sobriety attempts, it could have been a didactic bore. But instead, it blends a visceral mixture of euphoria, hilarity, horror, surrealism and sharp insights into ‘90s waster culture that it’s impossible not to come out the other end in some exhilarated daze.

In Case You Missed ItThe Odyssey(dir. Christopher Nolan)Shot entirely on IMAX’s 70mm cameras (an industry first) and featuring enough star power to have a gravitational pull (Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson and Samantha Morton to name a few), it’s hard to imagine any film being more colossal than Nolan’s action fantasy epic based on Homer’s foundational Greek tale. Seeing THE ODYSSEY in a packed cinema and on the biggest screen was nothing short of awe-inspiring, both in terms of sheer spectacle and its visual magnitude. Though filled with the expected immense battles and terrifying Cyclops and witches (I did not expect this to be Nolan’s scariest film), what struck me most is how Nolan has spun the story into a stirring tale about PTSD, the cycle of war and its toll on civilisation. This is the benchmark for massive blockbuster cinema.

Letterboxd: LiamVIII IG: Liam__VIII

11/09/2026

11/09/2026

How Leeds Carnegie became an elitesports facility by Jon Howe.

There was a time in recent years when the words ‘Leeds Carnegie’ were almost everywhere in the city. It is a world class facility that Leeds should be very proud of, and which has heavily impacted on elite sportspeople who have passed through its doors, from Olympians and Paralympians to coaches and managers at an international level. Since the Carnegie College of Physical Training opened in 1933, it has processed 18,000 graduates through its Beckett Park campus and has now become one of the largest providers of sports science study in the UK’s higher education system. The name ‘Carnegie’ originates from the Scottish-American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, whose charitable trust formed a joint committee with the Government to provide the initial funding when the college first opened, at which point it was a college dedicated to developing male physical education teachers (training facilities for female teachers already existed). The Beckett Park site was further developed between 1970-73 to include more football, rugby and hockey pitches and while Carnegie merged with the City of Leeds College in 1968, it didn’t join forces with the then Leeds Polytechnic until 1976. This transitioned to become Leeds Metropolitan University in 1992 and then Leeds Beckett University in 2014, with the college finally becoming the ‘Leeds Carnegie School of Sport’ in 2016. By this time, the college’s operations had spread to a second campus incorporated into the Carnegie Stand built at Leeds Rhinos’ Headingley stadium in 2006. In 2018 work began on transformational changes at Beckett Park, which delivered a £45 million state-of-the-art facility two years later. This is now a focus for undergraduate and postgraduate research and enterprise programmes, while also providing a hub for elite athletes, sports and industry partners. Leeds United always carry out their pre-season conditioning testing at the facility while athletes and coaches such as Alex Yee, Alistair Brownlee, Sam Quek, Brendan Foster, Kevin Sinfield, Stuart Lancaster, Graham Potter and Paul Heckingbottom are amongst the alumni. Many other athletes, such as Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson, studied at Leeds Beckett University and benefited from the Carnegie facilities, but didn’t study at Carnegie itself. Carnegie was prominent in professional sport when it briefly had a majority stake in the Leeds Tykes Rugby Union team, which was renamed Leeds Carnegie, while teams in handball, netball, basketball and football also adopted the Carnegie name. The Headingley cricket and rugby stadium was also renamed ‘Headingley Carnegie’ in a sponsorship deal between 2006 and 2013. Today, the Leeds Carnegie School of Sport is in the Top 100 sports science schools in the world, and the top 13 facilities in the UK.

10/09/2026

The People Who MakeYorkshire Great:
Selina Scottby Jon Howe.

Selina Scott was born, raised and still lives in Yorkshire, but as a semi-retiree has fitted an awful lot into her life in between, and mainly far outside of the Broad Acres. She came to prominence in the 1980s as an anchor in the landmark formation of breakfast television, and developed into one of the biggest celebrities of the era.Born in Scarborough in May 1951, Selina started her journalism career in Scotland. She undertook a training programme at the Sunday Post in Dundee and was briefly the press officer for the Highlands and Islands Tourist Board, living on the Isle of Bute. She made her TV debut presenting ‘North Tonight’, the regional news programme for the Grampian region, based in Aberdeen, and then developed her career south of the border.In 1980 she began presenting the News at Ten on ITV, and was in the role throughout the Falklands War, but in 1983 her big break came when she was asked to front the very first breakfast television programme, the BBC’s ‘Breakfast Time’. Her face became widely known, but her partnership with fellow co-host Frank Bough was fractious and she later commented of a “malevolent” and sexist atmosphere and of being regularly undermined by Bough, both on and off screen. She left in 1986 to host ‘The Clothes Show’.By this time Selina had become public property and attracted unwanted press attention. Her unruffled composure and stylish, understated refinement reminded many of Princess Diana, and she was asked by the Queen’s press secretary to befriend the then Princess of Wales, to support her in dealing with the press. Selina also auditioned for the role of Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond film ‘The Living Daylights’ around this time. In the mid-90s Selina briefly worked in the United States, and made a big impact, producing a CBS documentary on Donald Trump which was one of the first exposes of his complex business and private affairs. She also presented her own prime time current affairs show on the NBC network, before returning to the UK to work on Rupert Murdoch’s emerging BSB/Sky channels.Since this time Selina has taken a lower profile, producing and presenting various independent documentaries on travel, history, animals, nature and the arts. A very popular and successful venture was her BBC4 programme ‘Winter Walks’, in which four presenters led viewers on their favourite treks. This featured Selina walking through Wharfedale in North Yorkshire as her own contribution. She now lives in Coxwold in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park and is a regular campaigner for animal welfare and wildlife conservation.

10/09/2026

‘No Mow Meadows campaign’benefits Yorkshire biodiversity by Ian Rotherham

Increasingly across Yorkshire’s countryside, key stakeholders have taken up the challenge of ‘Plantlife’s’ ‘No Mow May’ campaign to aid threatened wildflowers and associated pollinating insects. For several years now, Plantlife, the national wildflower conservation body, has promoted ‘No Mow May’ to encourage wildflower- and pollinator-friendly meadow management. The mantle has been taken up by many individual gardeners and others like local authorities including National Parks, and for example, the Highways Agency along major roadways. Since the 1940s, even in protected National Parks, over 97% of one-time, unimproved, traditional, species-rich old meadows have gone. This catastrophic loss can in part at least, can be repaired and compensated for. The ‘No Mow’ campaign, followed perhaps by ‘Let Them Bloom’ in June, helps get a message across to call gardeners and others to action to do their bit for Yorkshire’s nature.With support from the county’s local authorities and conservation organisations (Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, and Plantlife), the approach can involve either or both, habitat creation and suitable meadow management. The latter essentially mimics traditional farming when meadows were at the very heart of agriculture. Until the early 1900s, before widespread use of petrol and diesel, alongside fields of oats, they also helped support animals that powered transport in growing towns and cities. Hay-meadow management involved periods without mowing to allow flowers to bloom and set seed. There was a cut once or twice at the correct times, and removal of cut ‘hay’. The latter doesn’t always happen on conservation sites but this taking-off of the grass cuttings or hay is important in lowering levels of available nutrients in the soil. Otherwise, these accumulate leading to coarse grasses and tall herbs becoming dominant and reducing biodiversity.Gardeners can help with their own mini-meadows, maybe a simple wildflower ‘lawn’, perhaps annual ‘arable cornfield’ flowers, or even old-fashioned cottage-garden, herbaceous plants. Indeed, for encouraging pollinators which benefit from wildflowers and meadows, the scope goes beyond just growing native wildflowers. This style of gardening can be far more inclusive and fun too. Whilst essential for longer-term conservation, hay-cutting or mowing can be locally devastating for insect populations, and it is important to leave untidy habitat corners and edges intact and undisturbed. These sanctuary areas support butterflies, moths, bumblebees, honeybees, hoverflies and other creatures needing a little untidiness. Connected to other campaigns to protect and promote flower-rich grasslands and meadows, through nature restoration and recovery, ‘No Mow May’ is increasingly successful. Wildflower areas like roadside verges look better in the countryside than do intensively-managed swards, and so they enhance tourism and recreational use. The key steps mimic traditional meadow management as vital resources important in the farming countryside. The other important step often missing today, unless the site is in agriculture, is that cut meadows should be grazed by farming livestock. This triggers ‘micro-disturbance’ i.e., the breaking-up of the grass sward allowing flowers to seed and germinate and often helped by animal dunging with associated transportation of seeds, ready fertilized, from nearby grazed meadows.Professor Ian D. Rotherham is a researcher, writer and broadcaster on wildlife and environmental issues. He is contactable on [email protected] and you can follow his website and blog: www.ukeconet.org & https://ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/; and he can be followed on X

10/09/2026

Barnsley West Neighbourhood Policing Team.
September Update.
by Inspector Rebecca Richardson.

Tackling Off-Road BikesWe are asking residents in our communities to speak up and support our zero tolerance to off-road bikes. We are continuing to listen and act against off road bikes causing anti-social behaviour and blighting our communities, but we need your help. We cannot be everywhere, so sharing information and reporting crime can help us pinpoint hotspot areas and identify riders who tear up neighbourhoods and put people at risk. We are urging residents and communities to back our efforts and ‘give us the bike, not the rider’- providing information about bikes used in ASB will help us find the rider and take the vehicle off the road. We want to know where vehicles are stored, repaired, refuelled or how they are transported. To report incidents of off-road bikes and ASB, you can get in touch online, via live chat or by calling 101. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can contact independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online Independent UK charity taking crime information anonymously | Crimestoppers Partnership WorkingThe team carried out patrols with BMBC Wardens in around Pen*stone East and West wards, and Dodworth/Stainborough/Tankersley ward.We checked on a problem property, and a 46-year-old male was arrested for breach of bail. He was not allowed to be in the address or in company of people in the address.Operation Close PassPC Hartley & PCSO Whitehouseearn their tea!PC Hartley and PCSO Whitehouse took part in our ‘Operation Close Pass’, a UK road safety initiative aimed at preventing dangerous overtaking of cyclists by educating drivers and enforcing safe passing distances.Supported by colleagues from our Road Policing Group, they rode over 35km on their bikes to identify and target motorists who fail to leave a safe distance when overtaking.We are pleased to say that the majority of motorists were considerate when passing our officers.Unnecessary suffering to animalsWe have received several reports of youths injuring animals and birds around the Worsbrough Mill area.We are investigating all reports to identify the offenders.Our team has been conducting reassurance and preventative patrols and would encourage people to report any incidents.Causing unnecessary suffering to animals is illegal and will not be tolerated.Get in TouchIf you would like to get in touch with your local team and help guide the team’s priorities, contact details and our next Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meetings are available on our website:www.southyorkshire.police.uk/area/your-area/Contact Number: 101 Did you know you can report non-emergency incidents and access other police services quickly and easily online? Visit www.southyorkshire.police.uk to find out more.

10/09/2026

Look out for your HD Magazines dropping through your door this week.
As always, we’ve a packed issue this month, but before we dive in, we want to take a moment to acknowledge someone who has played an incredibly important role in our journey. After 11 years, this edition marks the final tito Explorer Guide from David Herdman. David has been a huge part of our editorial team, sharing his passion, knowledge and enthusiasm for exploring and discovering new places. David will be greatly missed, but we wish him every success and happiness moving forward. Thank you, David, you’ll always be part of the tito family. Looking ahead, we’re delighted to introduce Yorkshire celebrity Sam Nixon, who joins us with an exclusive new recipe feature inspired by his brand-new cookbook, Autumn. We can’t wait for you to try his seasonal recipes. Inside this issue you’ll find even more features and as always two great competitions. Enjoy!

09/09/2026

TITOMEDIA RECIPES with Sam Nixon
Introducing Yorkshire's own Chef Sam Nixon.

Yorkshire's own Sam Nixon has turned his lifelong love of autumn into his debut cookbook, Autumn, a beautifully curated collection of more than 90 comforting, seasonal recipes celebrating crisp days, cosy evenings and home cooking at its best.Best known as one half of the BAFTA Award-winning duo Sam & Mark, Sam has combined his passion for food with his love of the season to create a cookbook filled with hearty family favourites, comforting bakes and recipes perfect for sharing. Autumn is available now from local and national bookshops.In this issue, we catch up with Sam to chat about the inspiration behind the book, his love of seasonal cooking and what autumn means to him. We're also delighted to be featuring one of his delicious recipes, with a new recipe from Autumn appearing in the magazine each month over the coming months.

How did it feel to finally be able to write your own cookbook? I felt re-energized and determined. This book has been in my head for over 4 years now and the fact that I’d made the scary decision to self-publish this book gave me the drive and freedom to make it the way that I’ve always pictured it.

What’s your favourite recipe in the book and why? There really are so many great recipes in this book. I love the Pie chapter and the Beef in Red Wine stew with Cheesy Paprika Dumplings is always a winner, but I love the fact that my Christmas Cake recipe finally has a proper home. It’s become quite a followed recipe over the years so it’s nice to give it the respect it deserves and put it in my debut cookbook.

Each recipe has its own song; how does music contribute to your cooking and recipes? Music has always been a big part of my life, and I think that food and music go hand in hand. They both can change your mood and feed your soul. I often get complimented on what songs I use in my Instagram recipe reels so it felt right to give each recipe a song in the book.

What is it about cooking that made you love it so much and made you want to pursue it as a career when you were younger?Like many young lads of my generation, I was absolutely inspired by Jamie Oliver and his show ‘The Naked Chef’. Jamie made cooking look cool and his recipes seemed easy to follow. After watching that show every week, I knew I wanted to work in food when I left school, so I enrolled in a Catering and Hospitality course at Barnsley College.

What is it about cooking that feels right for you and makes you come back to it years later? It’s always been a passion of mine. I love cooking food for people and hearing them (hopefully) enjoy what I’ve cooked. I think cooking a plate of food for someone is one of life’s pleasures.

How do you think your family have influenced your cooking the most?I love that feeling of warmth and love from my family, that cosy feeling you get when everyone is happy and healthy and all sat laughing together. Bringing us all together at dinnertime is what inspires me in the kitchen. As I said earlier, food can change your mood, so I always love to cook comforting dishes that can’t help but put a smile on your face.

How do you think the book represents you as a person? The book is literally me in cookbook form. I’ve always loved that feeling of being cosy and content and Autumn for me is the ultimate time of year to really lean into that feeling. They don’t call it cosy season for nothing.

09/09/2026

TITOMEDIA EXPLORER GUIDES with David Herdman
Swan Song 'Expolorer, pilgrim, cartographer and fireman'

Hello my TITO hiking friends. TITO magazine have been kind enough to publish this nonsense for the last eleven years. Two years ago I trapped a nerve in my lower back due to age related degeneration and dehydration of the disk which has affected my ability to walk safely and comfortably. I hoped that over time physiotherapy and being extra careful the situation would improve but unfortunately it hasn’t.

Therefore, it is with a heavy heart that I’ve decided to retire from writing the walking articles because I simply can’t safely do what is necessary to continue to walk the routes I love to write about.With the encouragement of the Editor, and with joy in my heart I’ve written my ‘swan song’, an article reflecting on the past 11 years which have at times been challenging, both physically and psychologically but also wonderfully inspiring. Many of the walks we have enjoyed together I wouldn’t have undertaken without the commitment to writing these articles, so that is a large positive in my life.I’ve been lucky enough to travel the world and occasionally with ‘Sub Editor’ explore magical environments and meet extraordinary likeminded people. So, how did I get here? When I was a young teenager I wrote a 10 point bucket list, amongst the usual teenage dreams was walking the Pennine Way, climb Ben Nevis, fire a gun and become a firefighter and to have my ‘nonsense’ published. I’m not a natural writer, as I’m sure you have gathered, however I do love route planning and researching into local and natural history, geology and the people that have formed the landscapes we inhabit. Life has chapters and it’s OK to move on, to turn another page in life’s book. In 2014 I retired from the Fire Service and was looking for a new challenge, again a new chapter emerged. I approached the editorial team at TITO and we came up with a plan. I also decided to section hike around the Historic and Ceremonial Yorkshire Boundary which was a three year odyssey and I would thoroughly recommend it. Then we had Covid and that changed everything for everyone. We all lost friends and loved ones and we appreciated what and who were important to us. It was also a time of deep personal reflection on what we truly thought about life going forward. After the restrictions were lifted and with two of my sons, we backpacked the Coast to Coast long distance trail passing through the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and North Yorkshire national parks. That lead to walking the Cleveland Way and South Downs Way. I also re-hiked the Pennine Way, this time in sections. Later during June and July of 2023 I climbed, in one continuous outing, all the Wainwrights, a list of 214 hills in the Lake District catalogued by hiker, cartographer and artist Alfred Wainwright. WOW what a magnificent journey that was and a dream come true. In September and October of the same year, I completed the 500 mile Camino Frances a pilgrimage across northern Spain. This famous pilgrimage route had only been on my radar for a short time but again what a fantastic journey, not particularly for the walking but for the human interaction and of the openness and warmth of the locals and other pilgrims, what a superb experience. You may recall, in early 2024 ‘sub editor’ and myself visited New Zealand on a road trip of a lifetime. Our only regret was we hadn’t spend more time there exploring this outstanding, diverse country at the other end of our planet. A few weeks after returning from New Zealand I set off again, this time to California to embark on a backpacking adventure through the desert section of the Pacific Crest Trail and in hindsight, I think this is where I became acutely aware of future health problems, because after 350 miles of battling through late winter snow, high sun intensity and washed out trail my aged body told me it was time to get off trail and head home. Later that year I embarked on a backpacking journey through Wales climbing all the mountains over 2,000ft. On an exceptionally wet day, I slipped and damaged a knee, two weeks later whilst asleep, I trapped the femoral nerve in my lower back which sadly, I’ve not recovered from.Your most popular walk according to feedback is ‘Kes’ a 50th anniversary celebration of the 1969 coming of age film. This year we were lucky enough to attend a special showing of the film, hosted by Billy Casper himself. My favourite TITO walk is the Dragons Back in the Peak District a wonderful mini mountain adventure. My most emotional scribble was written during the second lockdown where I was reflecting on the magnificent work of our friends and family who work for the NHS, again, Thank You. If randomly you have reached out to say “hi”, then you have boosted my morale and put a pep in my step, thank you. On a walk to summit Win Hill, a hiker asked my youngest son for help because he was lost. Jon said my dad is a ‘cartographer’ he can help you, my ego took a further boost. Hikers have a saying “listen to your body” and that’s exactly what I’m doing. I appreciate you all for reading my nonsense and for the kind unsolicited comments. I’d like to thank the editorial staff at TITO magazine who have always encouraged my ramblings and given positive advice when needed. A special mention to my long suffering wife Gill, aka ‘sub editor’ for the editorial advice and encouragement. So that’s it, one chapter ends and a new one begins. Everything always turns out alright in the end, no matter what happens. Happy Hiking everyone. DFor my adventures view them on my YouTube channel, David Herdman 6181.