Thank you for joining us on the chilly first day of summer. 

The GoGoHares may not be coming to Norwich until 2018, but they have had us rabbiting away today, along with concerns for Great Yarmouth's walk-in centre and the region's in-demand ambulance service. 

Don't forget to tune into Life in '66: Pop, Pirates and Postmen - featuring Norfolk's Allan Smethurst - on BBC1 (East) tonight at 19:30.

Have a good evening.

BBC Weather

Any showers will ease through this evening but it will remain cloudy with another murky and damp night expected. Minimum temperature: 10C (50F).

Tomorrow will be another cloudy start, but less murky than Wednesday. Grey and overcast skies will persist for much of the morning, although some brighter spells are possible later.

You can find the latest forecast for your area via BBC Weather.  

Summer has got off to a grey and miserable start in Norfolk today. 

Unsurprisingly, David Robinson, on holiday from Nottingham, didn't go for a swim in the North Sea at Cromer.

Laura Devlin
BBC News

They are more impressive - and beautiful - than a delivery van.

A parade of heavy horses will be helping artworks make an unusual entrance into Norwich ahead of an exhibition this summer.  

The 10 shire horses will be pulling six wagons carrying British Art Show 8, external's works to three venues in the city.

Image source, Norfolk Museums Service

The procession on 18 June starts at Chapelfield Gardens before heading to Norwich Castle, Norwich University of the Arts and East Gallery on St Andrews Street, where the exhibition opens the following week.

Artist Alan Kane, based in Great Yarmouth and London, said: "The horses and their tack and wagons never fail to draw a gasp from almost everyone when they are on show or working."

Diss Express

Former Diss town mayor Julian Mason said he was delighted to surpass his fundraising goal, external for his two chosen charities.

Image source, Diss Express

A 34-year-old from Great Yarmouth and a 36-year-old from Gorleston have been questioned over 11 burglaries at churches across Norfolk.

Churches in Caister, Martham, Burgh Castle, Winterton (below), South Walsham, Hemsby, Ingham and Norwich were broken into between March and May. 

Both men have been released on bail until July.

Image source, Google

He was an unlikely pop star but in 1966 Allan Smethurst, aka The Singing Postman, briefly outsold The Beatles in his home county of Norfolk.His best-known song Hev Yew Gotta Loight, Boy? was given a new lease of life when it was used in a commercial in the 1990s - but who was the "Nicotine Gal" who inspired it? 

Molly Bayfield was tracked down for a BBC documentary - Life in '66: Pop, Pirates and Postmen - presented by Steve Lamacq - and tells how she unwittingly became the subject of a novelty pop classic.  

You can watch the programme at 19:30 on BBC1.

BBC Travel

If you're travelling to Watton this afternoon you may wish to alter your route. 

There are severe delays on the A1075 Thetford Road, where an overturned van has blocked the road about a mile south of the town, near Wayland Wood. 

The head of the ambulance service in the East of England says it is struggling with "capacity", following a "significant year-on-year rise in demand".

The East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) has released figures showing that 999 calls for the sickest patients - known as red calls - were 22% higher in April this year, compared to April 2015.

More than one million 999 calls were handled by the East of England Ambulance Service Trust's, external control rooms last year, the trust says. This is the first time the number of calls has crossed the one million mark and the highest since the trust was established in 2006.

Robert Morton, EEAST chief executive, described the increase as “concerning” as approximately 40% of patients are not taken to hospital, indicating there is still a significant number of 999 calls being made where an emergency ambulance is not the appropriate response.

The regional ambulance service has its control rooms in Bedford, Chelmsford and Norwich.

Mariam Issimdar
BBC Local Live

Earlier we told you about a petition opposing the closure of the walk-in centre at Greyfriars Medical Centre in Great Yarmouth at the end of September.

Now health commissioners say they will hold two public meetings for people to express their views on its plans to replace the service. An online questionnaire, external will also be available.

However, Great Yarmouth and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group says although the "proposals could be amended" at a future governing body meeting, "the decision to end the contract on 30 September has already been made."

Both meetings are being held on Monday, 13 June.

Andrew Turner
BBC Radio Norfolk

Now an update on a story we brought you last week.

Patients at the NHS walk-in centre at Greyfriars Medical Centre in Great Yarmouth are being asked to sign a petition to help stave off its closure.

Great Yarmouth and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group (GYWCCG), external said its decision was based on a need to save between 10% and 15% of the current contract costs. 

It says too few people use the centre and that services will be re-organised to make sure the healthcare needs of local residents and visitors are met. 

Jill Bennett
BBC Radio Norfolk

A Norfolk man is back from cycling more than 17,000 miles (27,350km) round the world. 

Joe Henry left Fring, near Hunstanton, a year ago and arrived back this morning on the day he promised in Holt High Street, escorted by a police car and two police cyclists. 

As well as experiencing the trip of a lifetime he's been raising money for the Norfolk charity Nelson's Journey, external which supports bereaved children.

Eastern Daily Press

And here's today's EDP, external back page:

Image source, EDP

Eastern Daily Press

Here's today EDP, external front page: 

Image source, EDP

Rob Butler
BBC Radio Norfolk sport

New Norwich United, external manager Steve Eastaugh (pictured) says replacing his former boss won't be awkward.

Eastaugh has swapped roles with last season's manager John Edridge in a coaching shake-up at Plantation Park.

The club are preparing for the step up to the Ryman North next season. 

Image source, Norwich United

Organisers of the latest GoGo trail will be unveiling cardboard replicas of the hares to be used in the new trail at the Forum from 17:00.

Image source, AP

As in previous years, the plain glassfibre sculptures will each be given their own individual design, theme or character.

Alanrilla, a tribute to "Norwich DJ" Alan Partridge, graced the streets of the city during the GoGoGorillas trail in 2013.

It featured at the world premiere of Alan Partridge's Alpha Papa film in Norwich's Anglia Square in July that year.

Mariam Issimdar
BBC Local Live

The first sculpture trail in Norwich was launched in 2008 with elephants adorning the streets.

The glassfibre structures were "hugely popular", especially among families, and were followed in 2013 with gorillas and in 2015 by dragons.

Money raised by the past two trails has gone to vulnerable children's charity Break. 

Here are some facts about last year's dragon trail:

• 84 large dragon sculptures were on the streets of Norwich for 11 weeks from June

• They sold at auction for £369,500

• Norwich saw an estimated £2.5m boost to the economy
• Visitors spent on average 15 hours visiting the trail with 275,000 trail maps printed

• About 500,000 people followed the trail

Sculptures of hares up to 6ft (1.83m) tall will be dotted around the county from summer 2018.

Mariam Issimdar
BBC Local Live

In 2013 gorillas were the theme of the GoGo sculpture trail in Norwich, but there was controversy when one featuring a caricature of Freddie Mercury was forced to have a facelift after the rock musician's estate objected to its facial features.

Mercury's yellow bolero jacket was also altered.

At the time the artist, Mik Richardson, a fan of Queen, said the new gorilla was lacking "a sense of fun".

Mr Richardson, from Aylsham, said: "Freddie now has the face of a proper gorilla that has taken more than 16 hours to paint by hand using about 15,000 brush strokes."    

But writing on his blog, external, Queen guitarist Brian May said the estate was "quite within their rights" to request "an update to the paint job".

Mariam Issimdar
BBC Local Live

First there were elephants, then came the gorillas and then there were dragons... and now hares will the feature as the choice of sculpture for the GoGo art trail in Norwich.

Image source, Mark Ivan Benfield

The charity Break, external has announced giant sculptures of hares will be on the streets of Norwich from June to September 2018, saying the animal had been chosen as it was a popular iconic subject for artists and could regularly be seen in the countryside of East Anglia. 

However, this time there will not be just one design, but three and as well as 50 city sculptures forming the main trail, the rest of the county will also be involved, with sculptures for rural communities and towns.