A bright orange hibiscus from a Suffolk seed merchant has won third prize at the Chelsea Flower Show, external in the "plant of the year" category.

Image source, Thompson & Morgan

Paul Hansord, director at Thompson and Morgan in Ipswich, said: "It's very prolific, twice as many flowers as normally you'd get on a hibiscus.

"Also, the flowers normally fade quite quickly on a hibiscus, but the breeders have been able to make the flowers last twice as long."

The Dean of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, the Very Reverend Dr Frances Ward, has issued a statement following last night's bomb attack in Manchester.

She says: "Here at St Edmundsbury Cathedral we are praying for the city of Manchester following the atrocity at the Arena on Monday night.

"We are praying for those who are missing, that they may be found safe; those who are injured, that they may come through; for the families, schools, colleges and communities that are facing the horror of loss and pain.

"We pray that those who perpetrate terror may know that they will never succeed in dividing communities; that their evil actions will never win against the power of love and forgiveness.".

Ben Parker completed parkrun despite being told he would never walk again after two strokes.

Norfolk's chief constable says the force's thoughts are with those affected by the Manchester terror attack.

Simon Bailey says policing in Norfolk is constantly under review, whether due to local, national or international issues.

"We are acutely aware of the threat to the UK from international terrorism, demonstrated by the fact officers and staff from Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies are today taking part in a pre-planned terrorist training exercise".

The RSPCA is reminding gardeners of the dangers to wildlife of garden netting, after having to rescue a grass snake in Chillesford near Orford last week.

Image source, RSPCA

RSPCA Insp Natalie Birtle said: "The grass snake was not a happy chap when I arrived to free him.

"Snakes are naturally shy and reserved, so to be exposed like that and unable to free himself was obviously really stressing him out.

"I swiftly cut him free and he was able to swim off uninjured, and before he became dehydrated.

"At this time of year when the weather gets warmer, snakes like grass snakes and adders will head to damp, cool places like ponds to manage their internal temperature, but of course they can get tangled up as in this case.”

A young woman has died following a collision on the A47 north of Lowestoft yesterday afternoon.

The pedestrian was hit by an HGV on the northbound carriageway near Jay Lane at about 14:50, say police.

The woman, who lived in the town, was taken to the James Paget Hospital with serious injuries, but died last night.

No-one has been arrested in connection with the incident.

Kelly McCormack
BBC Radio Suffolk

The beach at Southwold Pier has been awarded Blue Flag status in the latest round of the awards, external from Keep Britain Tidy.

Lowestoft's South Beach and Kessingland Beach both received a Seaside Award.

The Blue Flag is only given to those resorts that have the highest standards of water quality, facilities and safety.

Rob Butler
BBC Radio Norfolk sport

Fresh from their Norfolk Senior Cup win last night, King's Lynn Town have released Jacek Zielonka.

Polish midfielder Zielonka started in the 2-0 over Fakenham Town at Carrow Road.

He had been at The Walks for two seasons after signing from Lowestoft Town in March 2015.

Image source, kltown.co.uk

The Felixstowe Coast Patrol Service says the current warm weather is having a detrimental effect on a whale carcass floating on the shoreline at Felixstowe.

It's one of three dead cetaceans off the coast - another, a minke whale is on a mudflat near Orford, while a third, believed to be a sperm whale, has reportedly been spotted floating somewhere off the coast.

John Cresswell said of the Felixstowe corpse, believed to be a fin whale: "It's far more bloated today than it was yesterday and the skin is now starting to deteriorate, so the sooner we get it off the beach, the better for everybody."

It was announced on Monday that the carcass will be removed on Wednesday.

A nautical garden, built by Gary Breeze, external with the International Boatbuilding Training College, external at Lowestoft, is another gold award winner at the Chelsea Flower Show, external, this time in the Artisan Garden category.

Gary described the garden saying: "Basically it's like a medieval boat sitting in a medieval boatyard sitting on the Norfolk Broads based on the Chet boat which was found four years ago."

Image source, International Boatbuilding Training College

Speaking from Chelsea, Gary added: "I didn't really sleep very much last night - I was here at six o'clock did some watering and tidying up then stood around and waited until 8 o'clock when the cameras came along and awarded me a certificate.

"I think I did a sort of football kind of style cheer and jumped up and down a bit I think.

"The people at the boatbuilding college did all the hard landscaping with me and built the boat as well for it - everybody's worked really really hard."

There's daily coverage from the flower show on BBC television, and the BBC iPlayer, all this week.

Potash Nursery at Bacton, external near Stowmarket has received a gold award at this year's Chelsea Flower Show, external - their second gold "on the trot".

Mike Clare, pictured yesterday before he knew the good news, said he was "very happy".

"It's early in the season for the fuchsias, it's early for them to be flowering, but we've got our award so I'll have a smile on my face all day now," he said.

I wonder if the assiduous watering of the plants before the judging helped that gold award?

Image source, Getty Images

There's daily coverage from the flower show on BBC television and the BBC iPlayer this week.

Brenner Woolley
BBC Radio Suffolk sport

The Ipswich Witches', external Rory Schlein has paid his respects to 2006 MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden who died yesterday.

Sara Thornton
BBC Weather

We're set fine for the day, it'll be warm and dry once more, although perhaps a little bit more cloud coming through as we go through the afternoon.

Temperatures across the BBC East region will be slightly back from what we saw yesterday, but still up in the low 20s (68-71F).

Watch my full forecast here:

Philippa Taylor
BBC Local Live

Welcome to Tuesday's live coverage.

It's the first day "proper" of the Chelsea Flower Show, and we'll be catching up with Suffolk's exhibitors to find out how they've fared with the judges. Rumour has it there's at least one gold award on its way back to the county.

Elsewhere if there's anything new to report on the whales that dominated the news on Monday, rest assured we'll let you know.

But being creatures of habit, we'll start with a look at the weather prospects - Sara Thornton's on hand to bring us those next.

Image source, Getty Images

The body of a whale washed up dead at Felixstowe will not be removed from the beach until Wednesday.

Philippa Taylor
BBC Local Live

We're signing off on a day that's been dominated by whale-watching, both in Felixstowe and Orford, after two dead mammals were washed up over the weekend.

We've also been told another dead whale, thought to be a sperm whale, is floating somewhere off the Suffolk coast, but the incidents are not linked, they are a "series of coincidental events".

Scroll down to read more on these and other stories, and don't forget to join us from 08:00 tomorrow.

Have a good evening.

The body of a whale which washed up at Felxstowe will not be removed from the beach until Wednesday, it has emerged.

The whale - thought to be a fin whale - was reported on Saturday. It is one of a number of sightings reported off the Suffolk coast in recent days.

Zoologists earlier took away samples from the Felixstowe whale for study. Permission has now been given for the removal of the carcass by the government's Marine Management Organisation.

A Suffolk Coastal Norse spokesman said: "Now we have authorisation, removal of the whale is being co-ordinated for Wednesday, with specialist equipment being brought in to complete the removal."

Experts will carry out tests on the bodies of the whales that washed up on the Suffolk coast at the weekend.

Veteran space rockers Hawkwind returned to Ipswich for the first time since 1996 when they played at the town's Corn Exchange last night.

About 500 people were there to see the band, led by sole original member Dave Brock.

They opened with an acoustic set followed by a electric set... which did not include their big 1972 hit Silver Machine, but did feature The Watcher, written by the late Lemmy for the album Doremi Fasol Latido - his first with Hawkwind.

The tour is in support of their new album Into The Woods, which debuted at number 34 in the album charts last week, external.

It's a follow-up and continuation of last year's concept album The Machine Stops, which is based around EM Forster's science fiction short story of the same name - you may have seen theatre productions of it in Bury St Edmunds and Colchester earlier this year.

Hawkwind's tour, external continues at the University of East Anglia in Norwich on Thursday and London's Roundhouse on Friday.