Nic Rigby
BBC News

Norfolk band the Georgia Shackleton Trio, external are appearing at the Cambridge Folk Festival, external today, on the opening evening of the event.

Image source, Georgia Shackleton Trio

The festival, which has sold out, runs from today to Sunday and is headlined by Irish folk singer Christy Moore.

The Georgia Shackleton Trio combine vocals, fiddle, guitar, mandolin and banjo to play a blend of Americana, folk and self-penned material. 

Georgia told the BBC: "We are very excited to be playing at Cambridge Folk Festival this year. It's always been a favourite of ours to attend, so we were so pleased to be able to include it in our first year of festival dates as a trio.

"There are so many great acts playing at Cambridge this year and we're really happy to be a part of it. We hope to catch some of them again later in the summer at Broadstairs, Towersey and FolkEast."

Nic Rigby
BBC News

The Cambridge Folk Festival, external, which is being headlined by Christy Moore (pictured), Imelda May and Mary Chapin Carpenter, starts today. The festival has sold out for the 23rd year running. 

The 52nd year of the festival brings an eclectic mix of artists from around the world to the Cherry Hinton Hall site.

Each year more than 14,000 people attend. It runs until Sunday.

Dani Bailey
BBC Local Live

We'll be moving away from the crashes on the A1 and A421 for now to tell you what's going on in the rest of the news.

If there are any developments regarding the crashes, we'll bring you the information as soon as we get it.

In the meantime, BBC Travel has the latest diversion information.

We've been talking a lot this morning about two major crashes involving lorries and pedestrians in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

Here's a map to put into context where they happened. The crash sites are about 16 miles (26km) apart.

Dani Bailey
BBC Local Live

If you're struggling to keep up with all the latest on the crashes this morning, here's a round-up.

The A1 crash on the Cambs-Beds border:

• A woman in her 30s has been killed after being hit by a lorry
• The collision happened on the southbound carriageway between the B645 and the A428 near Eaton Socon, Cambridgeshire Police said
• Emergency services were called at about 03:00
• 999 calls reported that a pedestrian had been hit by a lorry
• The woman died at the scene
• The road remains closed southbound 

The A421 crash in Bedfordshire:

• Two pedestrians were hit by a lorry
• The collision happened on a sliproad of the A421 northbound near Marston Moretaine 
• Emergency services were called just before 04:00

• The road remains closed northbound from M1 J13 to the Marsh Leys roundabout

Dani Bailey
BBC Local Live

Cambridgeshire Police has confirmed it was a woman who died in the collision on the A1 on the Cambs-Beds border last night.

Officers were called at about 03:00 to reports of a pedestrian being hit by a lorry between Wyboston and the A428.

The woman in her 30s was hit on the southbound carriageway, which remains closed but is expected to reopen shortly.

Jodie Smith
BBC News

We've contacted the East of England Ambulance Service about two crashes affecting Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire this morning.

The service told us it was called to the southbound A1 near St Neots, Cambridgeshire, just after 03:00. It sent two rapid response vehicles, an ambulance crew, a Magpas critical response car and ambulance officer. A woman died at the scene.

Paramedics were also sent to the A421 at 03:53, the service said, where a lorry and two pedestrians had been involved in a crash on a sliproad near Marston Mortaine, Bedfordshire. There were no details of the conditions of those involved, a spokesman added. 

Elizabeth Rizzini
BBC Look East weather

A dry start to the day with some bright spells and light winds.

Feeling warm in any sunshine, but the cloud will begin to thicken during the day bringing a spell of rain eastwards.

The rain will turn heavy for a time, with scattered heavy showers following on behind for the early evening. 

Maximum temperature: 23C (73F) 

More details from BBC Weather:

Dry with clear spells overnight, but cloudy with outbreaks of rain tomorrow.

It'll turn heavy at times, but will quickly clear eastwards to leave a brighter end to the day but still with the risk of some showers in light winds.

Maximum temperature: 21C (72F)

Get the latest local forecast where you live from BBC Weather.

As you might have seen earlier, ex-England players Terry Butcher and Kieron Dyer are to lead an Ipswich Town, external star squad to raise money for two footballers seriously hurt in a crash.

The team's manager Terry Butcher (pictured above in 1990) was brought up mostly in Lowestoft and first ran out for Ipswich in 1978 against Everton. He helped Town lift the UEFA  Cup before going on to captain the national team, winning 77 caps and playing in three World Cups.

The side will be captained by Kieron Dyer, who featured in ITV's last series of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. Dyer began his career in Town's youth team and later became a first team fan favourite. He signed for Newcastle for what was then a record fee for Ipswich of £6m and represented England 33 times.

Sunday's match against Newmarket Town is being staged in aid of its player Shaun Whiter, who has lost both legs, and Soham Town Rangers Joey Abbs.

Cambridge United say Premier League under-21 participation should have been confirmed before a vote on EFL Trophy changes.

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

An 11-year-old girl from Bedford is preparing to be the British team's dragon boat drummer at the European championships, external in Rome this weekend.

Izzy Gallon caught the eye of the selectors after the GB Premier Team visited her club - the Cambridgeshire Royals Dragon Boat - to train. She will be the youngest member of the GB team. 

As drummer she has to stand at the end of the boat, drumming out the beat of the rowing and shouting instructions - very loudly.

Squad manager Tim Smith said: "You may say 'give a child a drum and ask them to shout' is all you need, but the role of the drummer is crucial and we need the right individual to understand the race, read situations, motivate the team and bring out the best when competitors are under pressure."

Patient care improvements will be the focus of the annual general meeting of the East of England Ambulance Service, external, taking place this afternoon at Great Notley, near Braintree, Essex.

Image source, EEAST

The trust's board members have already met this morning to discuss its performance and working with other agencies - and the service has been live tweeting from the meeting, external.

The latest annual accounts, clinical priorities and future plans are due to be unveiled during the public meeting.

Josef Hall
BBC Look East

As it emerges the number of armed police officers in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire is to rise by 50%, the Police Federation, external has raised concerns the joint firearms unit will focus on Luton and Luton airport.

But Cambridgeshire's Chief Constable Alec Wood has said this will not be the case.

"I am confident that when we do need those resources in any part of the counties that we'll get them as quickly as we possibly can," he said.

"But of course across the three counties we need to make sure that those areas that do have the greatest risk, that carry the greatest threat, get the response as quickly as it possibly can and in this case, more incidents occur in say Luton than in Fenland, Cambridgeshire."

Josef Hall
BBC Look East

The Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire joint firearms unit says an increase of 50% in the number of armed police officers in the three counties is a response to current threat levels.  

Assistant Chief Constable Dan Vasovitch, who runs the joint service, said deploying officers with their weapons already happens on "a daily basis, two or three times a day, every day".

He said: "We felt it was appropriate to put in some additional capability that would be there in the event of something really terrible happening.

"On a routine basis we won't be seeing those officers out and about in an armed capacity, but they are there as a surge of capability to support our colleagues across the country."     

Josef Hall
BBC Look East

The number of armed police officers is to rise by 50% in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, according to figures obtained by BBC Look East.

The joint firearms unit says the increase comes after they "reviewed capability and capacity in the light of current threat levels".

Police have said training for these roles has already started.

The RMT rail union has called a strike ballot of station staff on the troubled Govia Thameslink franchise in a new dispute about ticket office closures.

All the minor injuries units in one of the country's most deprived areas - the Fenlands - could be closed, says a report.