A man who emigrated to Australia more than 50 years ago has returned to York – and his family threw him a surprise birthday party to celebrate him turning 80.

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• York Residents’ Festival: More unique offers added to discover local delights this weekend

  The excitement is building for this weekend’s return of York Residents' Festival!

• A SIDE road close to a major development in York is closed this week.

  Bar Lane off Micklegate will be closed at its junction close to the Bar Wall this week for water supply works to be carried out.

• A woman originally from Transylvania has turned her York end-terrace home into a Dracula and Addams Family themed hotel.

  Camelia Andrei runs The Gothic Corner in York's Tang Hall - now renamed 'Fang Hall'.

• A woman originally from York who now lives in Los Angeles described the wildfires that engulfed the county as “a beast that could not be tamed”.

  Sian McArdle realised the threat was serious on Tuesday, January 7, after her husband showed her footage of his soccer teammate’s house in Altadena, nine miles away from their home in La Crescenta, on fire.

• A MAJOR road in North Yorkshire is closed after a crash.

  The A64 is closed both ways in Ryedale at Barton Hill near Castle Howard.

• A riverside path in York has closed due to "structural damage".

  City of York Council has announced the closure of the path from Ouse Bridge to North Street gardens.

• TRIBUTES are being paid to war veteran Joseph Thomas who has died aged 99 and will have a memorial funeral service at York Minster tomorrow (Wednesday, January 22).

  Joseph – known as Joe to friends and family – was involved in the liberation of France, for which he received the Légion d’honneur military honour from the French Government.

• Council chiefs have been urged to work on a coordinated strategy for controversial battery energy storage systems (BESS) as three more plants are proposed for North Yorkshire.

  Preliminary details have been submitted to North Yorkshire Council for a BESS plant at Shipton-by-Beningbrough, north of York, another at nearby Wigginton and a third at Scruton, near Northallerton.