Summary

  • Updates from Monday 9 March to Sunday 15 March

  1. Hilltop Historiespublished at 11:43 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    Seren Griffiths uses a walk along a sandstone ridge in northern Cheshire to explore the way a landscape can hold multiple histories, and in doing so make it easier for us to contemplate distant futures.

    The landscape in question is bordered on the north by the M56 motorway. Commuters making their way into Manchester see it to their right for all of about a minute. But up on the ridge you can see that it stretches south towards Whitchurch in Shropshire. Seren starts her journey in a quarry used variously by the Romans, Iron Age settlers and latterly the Victorians. She makes her way up to one of the string of hill top forts that can be found along the sandstone escarpment, and then moves along to an old Cold War listening station, and not far away, the Frodsham Anti-Aircraft Operations Room. And all the while the vista shows the canal work of the industrial revolution, the chemical plants of the 20th century and the wind turbines of the last decade. The ancient landscape hums with history and archaeology that bring its past into focus in the present.

    For Seren, and many before her, this is a magical, mysterious place which draws out timelines like a strand, with artefacts from the past projecting forwards, enduring into the present.

    Producer: Tom Alban

  2. Santander to close some branches in the West Midlandspublished at 11:37 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    Santander is going to close five of its branches around the West Midlands by the end of August.

    They're among 111 to go around the country, with the bank saying it's because fewer people are visiting them.

    SantanderImage source, Getty Images

    Santander said the 840 staff affected will be found other jobs.

    These are the affected sites and their expected closure dates:

    • Dudley Merryhill - 24 June
    • Newcastle-under-Lyme - 15 July
    • Halesowen - 22 July
    • Birmingham Erdington - 29 July
    • Harborne High Street - 5 August
  3. Man who murdered daughter, 8, dies in jailpublished at 10:46 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    William Billingham was jailed in 2018 for murdering his eight-year-old daughter in a "revenge" attack.

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  4. Council halts elderly going to troubled care homespublished at 10:22 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    Infection control, evacuation procedures and medicine handling all caused concern in reports.

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  5. Careers and Covid: When the pandemic hit job ambitionspublished at 08:45 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    With young people under pressure for jobs, research shows career choices are shaped at a young age.

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  6. Rapids sign Nepal spinner Lamichhanepublished at 08:14 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    Worcestershire sign Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane for this season's T20 Blast.

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  7. Around the web: Sunshine and a light breezepublished at 08:08 Greenwich Mean Time 25 March 2021

    BBC Weather

    We might get a few showers first thing this morning, but the rest of the day should be dry with some sunshine and a light breeze.

    Temperatures are forecast to rise to about 12C (54F) and we should have a dry night.

    Stratford-upon-AvonImage source, RuggyNo1
  8. Murder arrests after woman found at housepublished at 19:02 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2021

    Detectives say the woman was assaulted hours earlier and the case has been referred to the police watchdog.

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  9. Vet sets off on cross-Atlantic rowpublished at 18:08 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2021

    A Herefordshire vet has set off on a 3000-mile (4,828 km) row across the Atlantic.

    Simon Lyddon, 44, who runs Vine Tree Vets in Ross-on-Wye, will spend more than five weeks among a team of 12 completing the challenge from the Canary Isles to Antigua to raise money for charity.

    He took on the challenge after losing his dad, Peter, to prostate cancer before learning his wife, Mel, had breast cancer.

    Simon LyddonImage source, Gail Chalmers PR

    Mrs Lyddon was treated at the Macmillan Renton Unit at Hereford County Hospital and Mr Lyddon is undertaking the challenge to raise funds for Macmillan.

    The crew set off from Las Galletas marina on Monday.

    “I look forward to sharing our journey with everyone but most of all I’ll be looking forward to a nice rum punch in Falmouth harbour in Antigua,” Mr Lyddon added.

  10. Father 'tortured and killed in front of children'published at 17:57 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2021

    Jurors hear cannabis farmer Brian Waters was beaten, bound and held upside down in a four-hour attack.

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  11. Babysitter guilty of murdering toddlerpublished at 17:45 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2021

    Lilly Hanrahan, 21 months, suffered a "catastrophic" brain injury at the hands of Sean Sadler.

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  12. Boy, 14, dies after derelict building roof fallpublished at 16:11 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2021

    The teenager was taken to hospital and died shortly after arrival, West Midlands Police says.

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  13. Pub bomb families refused classified IRA filepublished at 14:54 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2021

    Twenty six people died when the IRA blew up pubs in Birmingham and Guildford more than 45 years ago.

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  14. Murder accused tells court of 'living hell'published at 13:24 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2021

    Azam Mangori, 24, says he did not sleep for four days after Lorraine Cox died in his flat.

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  15. MI6 accused of 'protecting Nazi war criminals'published at 13:08 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2021

    A BBC investigation into one suspect discovers he may also have worked for British secret services.

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  16. Man thanks medics who saved him in Covid fightpublished at 11:49 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2021

    A consultant says Simon Foley had one of the "most horrific critical illnesses" he has seen.

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  17. Teen moped rider dies after suspected hit-and-runpublished at 10:23 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2021

    The moped the teenager was on is believed to have been involved in a collision with a car.

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  18. Tomlinson would face jail again 'in a heartbeat'published at 10:07 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2021

    Royle Family actor Ricky Tomlinson, who was jailed for his union activism, says he has no regrets.

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