Summary

  • Pet scammers target lockdown residents

  • Tips could reopen by next week

  • Passenger numbers could be restricted post-lockdown

  • Poetry festival cancels...but will be bigger next year

  • Updates from Wednesday 29 April

Live Reporting

  1. Make A Difference: Drawing to brighten up VE Day

    BBC Make A Difference

    A specially designed drawing for VE Day has been designed.

    The VE Day window decoration is free to download so it can be coloured in to help turn windows "red, white and blue in celebration".

    It has been designed by Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, which hopes people will share their colourful creations on social media.

    For more information and to download the design, visit the gallery's Facebook page.

    The design to colour inRugby Art Gallery and Museum

    VE Day, which stands for Victory in Europe, is 8 May and marks 75 years since fighting against Nazi Germany came to an end in Europe.

  2. Queen to lead 75th VE Day anniversary events

    The Queen will address the nation as part of a series of events to mark the end of World War Two in Europe.

    Read More

  3. Trentham Estate puts its blooms online

    John Bray
    BBC News

    Flower lovers locked out of a huge garden due to the coronavirus pandemic can see the colourful blooms online instead.

    The Trentham Estate puts its blooms online after Covid-19 lockdown

    Each April, the Trentham Estate, in Stoke-on-Trent, normally receives about 80,000 visitors to its gardens.

    Annually, visitor numbers top three million, but for now the garden gates are locked.

    That also meant the 12 members of staff who planted 200,000 bulbs for the Spring Bulb Festival were unable to see the end result.

    So the Trentham Estate commissioned a series of videos and photographs to post on its website.

    The 725-acre estate was owned for more than 400 years by the Dukes of Sutherland, and has undergone a major regeneration programme since 2003.

  4. Why the standstill will speed everything up

    Significant changes to our lives are coming, and coming at us fast.

    Read More

  5. Weather: Rain expected mixed with sunny skies

    BBC Weather

    Mainly cloudy to start today with bands of rain expected later this morning.

    They should clear by the middle of the afternoon with sunny skies afterwards. High: 12C (54F).

    KinverKinverSteve

    Then turning cloudy again this evening with further bands of rain due to appear after sunset before turning drier towards dawn. Low: 6C (43F).

    Get a latest forecast for your area at any other time from the BBC Weather website.

  6. Live updates for the West Midlands

    Allen Cook
    BBC News

    Welcome to our live service for Wednesday.

    We'll be bringing you all the latest on the impact of the coronavirus today in West Midlands as well as covering other news stories today.

    You can get let us know how it’s affecting you via email, Twitter and Facebook.