Scamps Merchandise

Port Vale have officially unveiled their Christmas merchandise range for 2014, a must for all fans of the club.

The highlight is a new range of fragrances for men and women, which include 'Micky Apres Dark' (Pour Homme) and 'Micky Erotique' (Pour Femme), a pair of fragrances by former Scamps manager Micky Adams, and 'Foyle Infinity', which is for both men and women.

Also available will be unofficial Lego figure play sets for all of the Vale's managers, including John Rudge and Brian Horton. The John Rudge set comes with a knife for stabbing Vale fans in the back with, a cement mixer and a spaceship.

Jewellery, clothes and wallpapers designed by famous Scamps fan "Fingers" Phil Taylor are rumoured to be coming in the new year.

City To Honour The Power

Stoke City Council has confirmed plans to honour darts champion Phil "The Power" Taylor by handing out darts to children and placing dart boards around the city.

"Short of building a statue of the great man, this is as good as it gets," says city councillor Jinky Watkins. "We hope to raise the next generation of champions too."

Enclosed with the darts will be a note asking children not to use them for tom-foolery, crime or stabbing.

North Longton's Rocket Fails

North Longton's much anticipated bottle rocket launch has ended in failure, splintering into pieces over the A50 soon after lift-off. The reclusive Stoke ward admitted today in an announcement on Signal Gold radio that a "satellite of love" launched hours earlier failed to enter into orbit in the skies around Stoke. Fenton and South Longton also declared the launch a failure.

The bottle rocket - seen by many as a banned test of firework technology - was launched from north-west Longton early on Friday.

Fenton, Trentham and South Longton say it flew only for a short time before breaking up and crashing. North Longton said its party planning committee were assessing what had caused the failure. North Longton says the aim of the launch was to put a smile on people’s faces, but Fenton and other Stoke wards say the launch constituted a test of firework technology banned under city council resolutions.

In a statement, city council elders condemned the launch, despite its failure. Darts champion Phil “Fingers” Taylor called the launch deplorable.

The city council is due to meet later at a hog roast and disco to discuss the launch. Chell Heath, North Longton's closest ally, has called for calm and restraint on the Longton peninsula.

“North Longton's attempt at a firework display is a clear breach of the city council resolution,” said council spokesman Mick Miller. “The resolution prohibits any launch using fireworks unless a special license has been granted, like for a birthday party or on bonfire night, for example.”

The bottle rocket's failure is an embarrassment for North Longton’s leaders. It will also come as a relief to other Stoke wards who are worried about North Longton's potential to develop other long range fireworks.

South Longton’s leaders said that North Longton's behaviour was of concern to the whole of Stoke. "Despite the failure of its attempted firework launch, North Longton's provocative action threatens peace and quiet and contravenes its own recent commitments to stop dicking about," spokesman Dave Hill said.

North Longton conducted a similar bottle rocket launch after a dinner party in 2009. On that occasion, South Longton analysts said the rockets failed to go off properly - but North Longton said it was a success and its guests were “well impressed”.

Stoke Are World Champions!

Stoke England have won the 2012 World Cup of Darts! Stokies Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis beat Australia in Hamburg to lift the cup.

L-R: Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/darts/16841012

Local darts fan and racist Tom Freud was overjoyed with the result. "It's not the first time we've gone over to Germany and won when it matters, is it," he laughs. "And beating the filthy Aussies in the final makes it even sweeter."

Temperatures To Fall Further In Stoke?

Stoke's highways officials have insisted they were well prepared for heavy snowfall which has brought the city to a standstill over the last few days.

Thousands of motorists were trapped for up to sixteen hours on routes including the A50 through Stoke on Saturday, with many motorists deciding to abandon their cars and make alternative plans to get to the pub.

John Thrash, spokesman for the Highways Agency in Stoke, which is responsible for roads in the city, said: "The Highways Agency was, in theory, perfectly well prepared for the snowfall this weekend, and is, in theory, perfectly prepared for any possible catastrophe you could imagine, including alien invasions and giant mutant turtles, both of the ninja and non-ninja varieties. The fact that the roads were not gritted and street lights not turned on was neither here nor there. Highways Agency staff worked extremely hard during their normal office hours of 9-5 to get traffic moving again as quickly as possible, although some staff had to leave work early beacuse of the bad conditions. Extra hot dog stands and independent recovery services were on scene to help some stranded vehicles and gave out free face masks of Phil Taylor to keep spirits up."

A Phil Taylor face mask

Problems on the A50 were exacerbated when a lorry, carrying a load of cotton wool, jackknifed on the westbound side of the carriageway at about 6pm. An 8km stretch of the road had to be closed for nearly 18 hours while Police tried to round-up the cotton wool, which was hard as it was difficult to distinguish it from the snow.

Stoke City Council has confirmed its gritters were out on four different roads between noon on Saturday and midday on Sunday. Councillor Daz "Chick" Benks, cabinet member for weather, said: "We've used around 0.35 tonnes of salt so far leaving us with around 3,150 tonnes. People forget that this has to last us all year, including the summer months."