Jennifer Meierhans
BBC News Online

The turnout in Telford broadly followed the national picture, with more than 72% of registered voters taking part. 

Counting officer Richard Partington said of the 124,338 eligible to vote - 89,704 put their cross in the box.

The results of the EU referendum in the West Midlands see the region back the national outcome by voting to leave the European Union.

The weather for the West Midlands.

Tim Wedgwood
BBC Local LIve

Thousands of people are expected to come to Stafford's annual Shakespeare Festival , externalwhich starts tonight. 

Now in its 26th year, the play at Stafford Castle will this year be an adaptation of Othello.  

It sets the story against the backdrop of the 1956 military conflict in Cyprus. 

Running over the next fortnight, the event's now become one of Europe's largest open-air Shakespeare productions.  

League Two side Notts County sign defender Matt Tootle on a two-year contract following his release by Shrewsbury.

League One side Shrewsbury Town sign defender Oliver Lancashire from Rochdale after releasing eight players.

BBC News Education

Poor pupils are still being let down by the English education system, Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw has warned.

In a speech on Thursday, he will highlight the "appalling injustice" of children from poorer homes continuing to fall behind their wealthier peers.

Sir Michael will call for a tougher stance on "feckless parents" who allow children to break school rules.

The Department for Education said every child, no matter what their background, deserved a world-class education.

More beat officers will be given bicycles to "improve police visibility" and enable them to cover a larger area, the West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner has announced, external.

Image source, Police and Crime Commissioner

Andy Giddings
BBC Shropshire

A Telford policeman who went into a burning house in Wellington to save the life of an elderly woman has been nominated for bravery award.

Using his police baton to smash a patio window and two fire extinguishers from his car, Constable Robert Harris was able to put out the fire in her dining room before the fire service arrived.

Firefighters were then able to rip the front door off, to rescue the woman. 

Stephanie Barnard
BBC Local Live

If like me you suffer with hay fever, get your tissues ready - it's another eye-watering, sneezy day ahead as pollen levels are very high.

BBC Politics

Polls have opened in a historic referendum on whether the UK should remain a member of the European Union or leave.

Image source, Reuters

Polling stations opened at 07:00 and will close at 22:00 .  

Latest weather for the West Midlands

Mary Rhodes
Presenter, BBC Midlands Today

After four months of campaigning, the battle buses are heading back home - and our political editor Patrick Burns has had a chance to put his feet up after his EU referendum road trip. 

We will look at his whistle-stop tour. 

And vigils are taking place in memory of MP Jo Cox on what would have been her 42nd birthday.

Join us for more on these stories and more on BBC Midlands Today on BBC One at 18:30.

Weather forecast for the West Midlands

BBC Politics

Tomorrow, voters go to the polls to decide whether the UK will remain in the European Union. 

Polls are open 07:00 to 22:00 and you'll be asked to answer the following question: "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union."

Counting by local authorities begins after 22:00 and the official declaration will be made at Manchester Town Hall when all the votes are in.  

Find out how to vote, what you'll need and what you can and can't do with your ballot paper.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

Workers should be able to self-certify sickness for up to two weeks to help reduce the number of unnecessary GP appointments, doctors say.

People need a doctor's note if they are off for more than a week, but GPs said people should be trusted more and it could reduce the growing burden on GPs.

Image source, Science Photo Library

The call at the British Medical Association's annual conference comes amid rising demand for appointments.

The government said it had no plans to change the existing policy.

Sheila Dillon returns to EAT! Now in its fourth year, it's an ambitious community food festival - creating, sharing and celebrating some of the best food - in Newcastle and Gateshead.

At Cafe 21 Sheila meets chef Terry Laybourne to talk about the festival's ethos and its impact on the North East.

With the festival's director, Simon Preston, she attends an 'artisan house party' for a DIY evening of molecular gastronomy presided over by Noel Jackson from the Life Science Centre. Sukey Firth visits a sausage-making party where Steve Pearce from Stewart & Co shows guests how to make the best bangers.

The children of Bede Primary School have been making food and decorations for a Mad Hatter's Tea Party. Ray Foster, headteacher and mad hatter explains the benefits for pupils and parents.

Sheila talks to cake bakers Nick Hall and Iona Owen who have been preparing for a huge celebration of food and architecture, in which hundreds of the cities' iconic buildings and structures are being made, out of cake. Clare Armstrong, head pastry chef at Cafe 21 created an online social networking group, Cakebook, to encourage participants to exchange advice and baking tips. Sheila chats to Jane Walsh who recreated the Great North Museum, in cake.

Mark Holdstock reports from the Cakebook flash mob picnic, where the cakes were displayed. The Emerson Chambers cake from Nick and Iona was joint winner with the Trinity aka 'Get Carter' Car Park.

Richard Uridge muses on the idea that one tiny fruit - the strawberry - has transformed both the physical and cultural landscape of Herefordshire, with the arrival of pickers from Eastern Europe and the building of polytunnels to grow the fruit all year round.

He meets some of the young people from countries such as Lithuania and Poland who have taken the brave decision to settle in the county, sometimes moving on from fruit picking to start their own businesses, and discovers how new friendships are being made between local people and the migrant workers. On a very snowy hill in woodland overlooking the city of Hereford, he meets one woman who says her life has been enriched by the friendships she's made with some of the workers, and how she, in turn, can take credit for introducing the Hokey Cokey to some of the Baltic States.

Newcastle's secret paladares. Four cooks from four different countries - Cuba, Bosnia, Pakistan and Colombia - open up their homes to serve food to complete strangers.

Organised as part of a food festival in Newcastle, the meals are based on Havana's paladares, family-hosted intimate cafes serving local food. Behind these paladares or 'pop up restaurants' in Newcastle are four volunteer cooks who want to share food from their home countries with people in the north east.

The programme follows them as the evening of the meals unfold. Presented by Sheila Dillon.

Kathryn Stanczyszyn
Political Reporter, BBC WM

The number of voters registered in the West Midlands for the EU referendum stands at 4,116,119. 

This is a rise of 153,842, or 3.9% since December.

Polls are set to open in less than 24 hours and both the Leave and Remain camps are using the dying hours of the campaign to get their messages across.

If you missed the BBC's Great Debate last night, find out how the two sides got on in front of a live audience of 6,000 at Wembley Arena.