Cyclists have taken part in a special event in memory of a rider who died in a horrific rush-hour smash after a collision with a lorry.

Louise Wright, 29, had been cycling along Lower Parliament Street, at its junction with Pennyfoot Street and Fisher Gate, when she was in collision with a Green King lorry at around 8.30am on Thursday, July 3.

The driver of the HGV was treated at the scene, while Louise was rushed to the Queen's Medical Centre with critical injuries.

She was pronounced dead later that day.

On Friday, dozens of cyclists gathered in the Old Market Square for the monthly Notts Critical Mass event - where they went on a bike ride through the city centre.

But after recent events, they decided to take a pit-stop at the site where Louise died to pay their respects.

Cyclist Greg Hewitt, 25, of Sherwood, has been attending the monthly ride for the past year and a half.

He said: "The event seems to be growing in popularity, with more people coming each month.

"We are not there to annoy car drivers, we are there to give more of a presence to cyclists and its a nice social event where like-minded cyclists can ride together.

"It is also about increasing people's awareness of the rights that cyclists have on the road.

"Today's ride has been a little bit different. We will stop at the site where Louise died and pay our respects.

"I think the incident definitely points out that in an ideal world HGVs should not be sharing the same road as cyclists. But it's not like that so we need to raise awareness about safety. It's about cyclists being aware of the road themselves and drivers of HGVs being aware of cyclists. We need to be respectful about each other."

Louise, who lived in Mapperley and worked at iconic Nottingham clothing firm Paul Smith, was also a member of the Nottingham Roller Girls.

Since her death, dozens of tributes have been left at the site, including a 'ghost bike' to act as a reminder to drivers to beware of cyclists on the road.

Ghost bikes are usually junk bicycles painted white, sometimes with a placard attached, and locked to a suitable object close to the site of an incident.

Greg added: "The ghost bike makes people stop and think. Hopefully now people will take more care at that junction."

Julian Bentley, 43, of Ruddington , has been going to the Notts Critical Mass event for the past two-and-a-half years.

He added: "The event is about having some fun but it is also about raising awareness of safety and making our presence felt in a nice, friendly way.

"I think the ghost bike was a very good idea and I hope it won't be removed. But there's still a lot more to do in Nottingham, and nationally, to make our urban roads safer for non motorised users."

CHRIS Adcock insists Glasgow 2014 presents him with a glorious opportunity to at least double his Commonwealth Games medal tally after another solid performance in the badminton mixed team event.

The 25-year-old from Ravenshead, a bronze medallist from Delhi 2010, was victorious with wife Gabby Adcock on day one against Northern Ireland and teamed up with men's doubles partner Andrew Ellis for a convincing win a day later.

Jersey's Mark Constable and Alexander Hutchings provided little resistance as Adcock and Ellis won 21-7 21-12 (pictured) to help England seal a second successive 5-0 mixed team win.

The duo are ranked number one in the men's doubles, which gets underway early next week, and Adcock believes their opening foray at the Games was a roaring success.

"It was a solid game for us and a comfortable win which is good to kick off our campaign with, obviously it was our first game here as a pair so it was good to get going," he said.

"The crowd were brilliant and there were so many people here, which is great to come out in front of and it was really enjoyable.

"This is a great opportunity for us to represent England and bring back a medal.

"We want to get to the medal games and then go from there."

Commonwealth Games England (CGE) leads and manages the participation of the Team England at the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Youth Games. They work with sports, sponsors and Sport England to support the development of athletes and their sports, and to achieve success at Games-time.

Police are appealing for information on the whereabouts of a Nottingham University student.

Tom Nixon, 20, who is an undergraduate at the university, was last seen in the Elmsthorpe Avenue area of Lenton at about 1am on Thursday. 

He is white, around 6ft tall and has dark hair, which is possibly shaved. He also wears glasses. It is not known what he was wearing.

If you have seen Tom or know where he is contact police on 101.

Necklaces were snatched from around the neck of a woman at her Ruddington home.

It happened at just after 12.30pm on Thursday July 24 at a house in Camelot Street.

A man knocked at the back door and when the woman answered he pushed past her and demanded money.

When it was not forthcoming he grabbed two gold chains from around her neck and fled.

She was left shaken but uninjured.

The intruder was masked, wearing dark clothing and around 5ft 10ins tall.

If you have any information contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

NOTTS Outlaws will host Hampshire in the NatWest T20 Blast quarter-finals after some late clinical hitting saw them chase down 201 to knock the Yorkshire Vikings out at Headingley.

Skipper James Taylor showed he can match the big hitters with 35 from 14 balls and James Franklin hit 19 off six to give the Outlaws a six-wicket win with four balls to spare – their seventh consecutive victory in the competition.

Yorkshire knew a win would send them through but their defeat combined with victory for Birmingham Bears sent a raucous home crowd home thoroughly unhappy as Notts scored 201 for four, their second highest chase ever in T20 cricket.

It all looked like it would be so different for them after Notts were on the receiving end of a brutal display of hitting from Aaron Finch.

Australian star Finch, the world's top ranked Twenty20 batsman, bludgeoned 89 off 46 balls in his last appearance for Yorkshire, who made 200 for five.

It was remarkable that this was just his second 50 for the Vikings as he smashed seven sixes to give Notts an almighty mountain to climb.

They were up to it though as Alex Hales fired 67 from 40 balls at the top of the order, before Taylor and Franklin smashed 38 off the last 11 balls.

Yorkshire made a brisk start to reach 33 after 3.3 overs when the returning Jake Ball trapped Kane Williamson for just six.

The 50 came up in the sixth over, one run before Ball struck again, removing Adam Lees lbw for 16.

That proved to be the trigger for Finch to adopt a mentality of all out attack. He reached his 50 off 27 balls and then scored 39 off the next 19. Samit Patel went for three sixes in total and Ajamal Shahzad two.

One off Patel landed on the roof of the Rugby Ground end to go to his half century, but the biggest hit was reserved for Ball, who could only look skywards as the ball was launched to the back of the stand behind Wessels at long on.

The removal of Finch kept Notts in the contest and the credit for it goes to Chris Read, who showed he is still among the best in the business behind the stumps with a brilliant leg side diving catch after 13.2 overs, Franklin the wicket taker.

That made it 132 for three. With Finch gone Jonny Bairstow stepped up to the plate to reach his 50 off 27 balls in exactly the same fashion as his Australian team-mate.

Bairstow could not push on to quite the same degree though and he was caught off the last ball of the innings by Steven Mullaney, giving Ball his third wicket of the contest.

Before that Read had taken another excellent catch to remove Andrew Gale for five.

Notts had it all to do at the start of their innings but Mullaney got them off to a good start with consecutive sixes off former Outlaw Ryan Sidebottom as the third over went for 19.

They lost their first wicket at exactly the same stage of the innings with just one run less on the board as Mullaney was caught at mid-on by Lees off Bresnan, who had earlier finished 19 not out.

Notts made good progress thereafter as Hales and Wessels put on 70 to take Notts to 86 for one at halfway and 100 after 11 overs.

Wessels went for 29 off 27 balls with the score on 102. He was caught on the boundary by Lees off Azeem Rafiq.

Just before that a nasty incident saw Hales hit a six that a supporter at the front of the Western Terrace tried to catch, only for the ball to fly into their face. They were lucky to be able to walk away after medical treatment at the scene.

Hales reached his 50 from 30 balls when he was dropped by Williamson. He had also been put down on 26 by Rafiq who spurned a caught and bowled chance.

There were no more heroics from the England opener though as he holed out to Rafeeq off Bresnan – 131 for three.

Much of Notts' hopes were pinned on Samit Patel. He made 26 off 16 balls including two sixes but he was caught on the long on boundary by Finch off Richie Pyrah. Patel and Taylor put on 31 off 18 balls to take Notts to 162 for four.

Franklin was the last big hitter on paper and the Kiwi was out next with a six off a no ball to get off the mark. He backed that up with another six to leave Notts needing 26 off the last two overs.

Taylor smashed three and a six out the ground off Sidebottom to leave six needed. That arrived with another clubbing blow from Franklin.

A GOAL just before half-time by striker Matt Rhead saw Mansfield Town to a 1-0 away pre-season friendly win against Grimsby Town at Blundell Park.

Stags boss Paul Cox tried a lot of his squad players out during the 90 minutes, making seven changes at the half-time interval to give as many players as possible a run-out.

The starting XI included two unnamed trialists, along with a strike-force of Rhead and Ollie Palmer, with Jamie McGuire, Fergus Bell and Lee Beevers also in the line-up as well as a defensive three of Martin Riley, Ryan Tafazolli and Ritchie Sutton in front of new goalkeeper signing Sascha Studer.

Stags started the brighter and Palmer went close with a lobbed effort after a clever Rhead flick on, while Bell drove a shot into the side-netting.

Studer then produced a fine finger-tip save at the other end to deny the home side the lead as the game became more even as the first half wore on.

McLaughlan then hit the crossbar for Grimsby but two minutes later, on 44 minutes, Stags found the net.

Palmer's initial shot was saved by the keeper but only deflected into the centre of the goal where Rhead was on hand to finish.

A raft of half-time changes saw Chris Clements, Simon Heslop, Alex Fisher, Adam Murray, John Dempster, Amari Bell and Liam Marsden all come on.

Swiss keeper Studer was on hand on a few occasions to punch clear under pressure with aplomb, while Liam Hearn then got a warm reception when coming off the bench to face old club Grimsby just after the hour mark.

After Beevers had been booked in the first half, Murray was then shown a yellow card on 73 minutes for an ill-timed challenge.

But the second half had little in the way of action until ten minutes from time when Studer made a fine save when getting down low to deny Grimsby following a corner, before Amari bell cleared an effort off the goal-line soon after.

But Mansfield held out for the win in front of 871 fans, including 79 Stags supporters.

Rumours that Nottingham Forest's famous City Ground stadium could be renamed to bring in sponsorship cash have been met with mixed reaction from fans.

A report from the Mail Online has suggested that the club are poised to announce a sponsorship deal with the Kuwaiti government which would see the stadium renamed the Kuwait City Ground Stadium or KCG Stadium and that the players will also have a Kuwait logo on their shirts this season.

The rumours have led to much debate with fans very much divided over the issue

Ruairi Cullen from West Bridgford thinks the rumoured deal would make sense for the Reds.

"Football has changed," he said. "Like it or not the game is very commercial now and ou have to be able to make these sorts of deals in order to compete. I would have concerns if the colour of the kit was being changed or the team name, but the City Ground will always be the City Ground."

On twitter, @stu_smith_01 added: "I have absolutely no problem with it. It has no negative impact on the club at all. This will only help make #nffc stronger."

And @Ashleynffc94 said: "Some people need to realise that fawaz is doing the best for the club, renaming the ground will do wonders for the club #nffc."

But not all fans would be comfortable with the reported deal.

Daniel Land, who lives in Stanton on the Wolds, said: "I think football and football fans have lost their way. If this is what the game is about now, I'm not sure if I can still justify calling it the beautiful game."

The 25-year-old added: "Nottingham Forest are a proud club with great traditions and history - I would be sad to see any part of that eroded."

Commenting on the Post's original story, onegreen said he was concerned the history of the club would be lost. He said: "I too would rather stay in the Championship than jump on the destructive, unsustainable money bandwagon. To those who think that our club heritage is worthless, you are talking like those hoards of Manchester United 'fans' who would struggle to point to Manchester on a map and have no conception of where the club came from."

Fans have been debating the issue for weeks after an interview appeared on a Kuwaiti website. However, there is some dispute as to the accuracy of the quotes from Forest Chairman Fawaz Al Hasawi which may have got lost in translation.

The chairman has been back in Kuwait for some time, following the end of last season, and is thought to have been trying to find new sources of income for the club.

He is understood to be flying back into the UK over the weekend and could even be in attendance for this Sunday's pre-season friendly at MK Dons.

But whether the City Ground's famous name is set to be changed ahead of Stuart Pearce's first competitive game as Reds boss on August 9 at home to Blackpool is unclear and remains unsubstantiated.

NOTTINGHAM'S Peter Mills helped England cruise through to the quarter-finals of the badminton mixed team event at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Mauritius were whitewashed 5-0 in the final group game as Team England completed a clean sweep of victories in the opening phase of the competition.

They now face Sri Lanka tonight, 6.30pm, in a battle for a place in tomorrow's semi-finals.

Mills and partner Chris Langridge toppled Sahir Edoo and Aatish Lubah 21-14 21-9, while fellow Nottingham athlete Chris Adcock did not feature, ahead of the last eight clash.

Meanwhile, Mansfield swimmer Molly Renshaw progressed through to the finals of the 200m breaststroke without any problems.

The teenager finished second in her heat, 0.56 seconds behind winner Kierra Smith, from Canada.

Renshaw will swim again, gunning for a medal, at 7.36pm this evening.

Nottingham Forest have refused to be drawn on rumours that the club's famous City Ground stadium could be renamed to bring in sponsorship cash.

A report from the Mail Online has suggested that the club are poised to announce a sponsorship deal with the Kuwaiti government which would see the stadium renamed the Kuwait City Ground Stadium or KCG Stadium and that the players will also have a Kuwait logo on their shirts this season.

But when the Post contacted the club, they did not wish to comment.

The Post understands that Forest chairman and owner Fawaz Al Hasawi is currently out in Kuwait talking to a number of different parties with regard to sponsorship but that no arrangements have been finalised.

The Post also understands that Al Hasawi is not likely to return to England until the first game of the season against Blackpool.

The rumours about the name change have led to much debate - with fans very much divided over the issue

Ruairi Cullen from West Bridgford thinks the rumoured deal would make sense for the Reds.

• 007Red: "Derby fans will be laughing at us Again ! U Redssssss"
• Clint_Poppy: "Kuwait city grounds has a nice ring to it....Forest fans have been waiting(or is that Kuwaiting) years to get into the premier league....so this renaming of the ground might sheik them up into finally going up next season or will it be a mirage on the sand dunes of the Kuwait City ground once more?"
  
• Afropaddy: "Unlike other stadium name changes (e.g. King Power, IPro) if this rumoured name change does happen at least it retains "City Ground" in the title. Everyone will still call it the City Ground anyway. Is it likely that an actual government would sponsor a football team?"
• Short_Legs: "Everybody who's moaning about this must have very short memories. Think back to the state we were in just over 3 years ago before Fawaz took over. If it wasn't for him your beloved City Ground may now have been the Tesco Car Park and Nottingham Forest a fading memory."
• Tbickle: "A step too far?"
• Paperface: Unfortunately, Financial Fair Play has made things like this a requirement in order to spend any money (unless you have Parachute payments). That's why more & more clubs are doing it. Football has changed and we need to keep up if we want to compete. Whilst I would prefer it to remain 'The City Ground', I also understand the need for proof of income, in order to satisfy the FA that we are not maintaining a wage structure, etc...that we cant afford, as a business. If you're not happy about it and want to blame someone, blame the people who created Financial Fair Play!"
• Paul1897: "Heritage? In 1897 we called it the Nottingham city ground in celebration of the city charter and for 100 years we abbreviated it to the City ground. Now we can abbreviate it for another 100 years to the City ground. Money made, heritage saved and we didn't have to call ourselves something to stupid. Works for me."
• Mikkee1: "As long as we stay red and don't do a wimbledon fc. And are called nottingham forest. I trust fawaz to do the right thing for the club. We have a lot of things that are positive for the club. People should be focusing on them.. and in a lot of fans this is a positive so COYR.."

• Kapucheen: "If the suggestion had arisen to change the name when we were at the Baseball Ground, with all its history, then I would have been aggravated. Pride Park as a stadium is "home" in a shallow sense so the change of name to generate income for the greater good of the club feels OK. For me it's not just the fact that the City Ground remains akin to the BBG in history terms, that will hurt enough on its own, its the lalleged name and the connotations that go with it, especially given the money the owner is supposed to have. I don't think any fan deep down would disagree with the principle if it ensures the club clearing the forthcoming financial minefield of court and ffp. It just hurts full stop when you see something you love forced to change. I'm sure we all spare a thought for Cardiff and Hull and the ridiculous lengths their foreign owners are going to, fully applying business revenue tactics and screwing with the clubs in the process. In that respect we got off lightly with iPro and Just eat. Juat hate it when it all becomes a "means to an end". Roll on the new season."

AS a sea of colour and tidal wave of whistles and chants rushed past Bill Bond, he reflected on a lifetime where he has seen significant progress toward equality.

The Long Eaton pensioner remembers when it was illegal to be gay and said Nottinghamshire Pride shows how things have changed - for the better.

Mr Bond turned out to support this year's Nottinghamshire Gay Pride with his wife and could have been forgiven for feeling a little emotional as he took on board the colourful theme with a dazzling silver wig and smiled as the procession marched through the Old Market Square.

For Mr Bond, the event is of huge significance. He said: "It's the first time we've been but it seemed the right thing to do. It's really impressive.

"It's a really good show of diversity and we've got to support this kind of thing. The fact that some of the rest of the world is going backwards on gay rights is a terrible thing and it means it's more important that we are not.

"It's just about accepting that people are different and can do what they want as long as they aren't hurting anyone else."

And being able to stand on the street and cheer as groups of people of different sexualities feel they can be open in public is a huge positive for Mr Bond.

"The progress we've seen is fantastic - when I was younger it was illegal to be gay," he said. "It is so nice to see such a number of people here and the fact that it is happening all over the country is pretty heartwarming. I hope this kind of thing can really empower people into feeling comfortable with their sexuality and being able to come out.

"Sexuality is not something we've struggled with in our lives but we're here to support people who have. There's still a long way to go but things do change for the better."

Nottinghamshire Pride saw the city completely taken over for the day with colour splashed around every corner of the Lace Market and a hum of excitement in the air.

Thousands marched through the city guided by a Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service engine chanting "two, four, six, eight, we want to live in a world without hate" as they went.

Passers by and onlookers smiled and were dragged into the parade, which lasted until 12pm when a host of live music and activities kicked off.

One of the thousands who flocked to join in the parade was Methodist minister Andrew Orton, who lives in Masfield and is currently working at a church in the city centre.

"I'm a member of the gay community and also a member of the Christian community and I'm here to celebrate that," he said. "We're all different as people. This is a really powerful thing and it affirms who we are.

The 47-year-old, who was wearing his dog collar and rainbow waistcoat, added: "The reason for dressing as I do is to show that it's ok to be a gay and a Christian. Hopefully me being her helps someone else be able to be who they are.

"It is difficult but the church is moving forwards."

The parade featured people of all shapes, sizes and ages and with a incredibly varied and colourful style of dress.

But among the people who had travelled from far and wide were representatives from local companies and organisations.

Stuart Unit works for the county's mental health trust Nottinghamshire Healthcare and is a diversity champion.

Mr Unit said he was incredibly impressed with the celebratory style of the event and appreciated the event after being discriminated for his sexuality in the past.

He added: "It really does have an impact - it can send a really positive message. People who were just popping out will have got involved.

"There are gay people in every work force and it's a hugely important message that it's ok to come out at work."