Graeme Mac
BBC Radio Suffolk sport

Just a few days ahead of their meeting with Norwich City, Lowestoft Town play Waveney tonight, external in a pre-season friendly.

The match is the first of what will be an annual fixture between the two clubs competing for the Brian Gallagher Memorial Trophy - named in honour of the man who set up Waveney Youth FC, external in 1978.

Image source, Lowestoft Town

Chris Henderson (right) will not be involved in either match after completing his move from Lowestoft to Leiston at the end of last week. , external

The 26-year-old will train with his new teammates for the first time tonight, and says he is looking forward to working with manager Glenn Driver.

"Me and Glenn have spoken about where he wants me to play, and I've told him where I would like to play in an ideal world," Henderson told us.

"I can play on either wing or up top, but I would like to take on a more central role.

"In the other positions you can drift in and out of matches, and without wishing to sound arrogant I think I've got a bit more to offer than that. I'd like to be involved in the game a lot more."

He's having trouble with social media right now (scroll down) but thing are looking up for beleaguered star Ed Sheeran.

Shape Of You has overtaken Drake’s One Dance to become the UK’s most streamed song of all time.

It's been streamed 184 million times in the 179 days since its release - that's more than 700 times every minute.

It’s also the best-selling song of the year too with more than 717,000 downloads.

And he think's people don't like him any more....

Two men in their 20s have been charged after a police pursuit in Needham Market.

Image source, Google

Officers began the chase after a Fiat 500 failed to stop for them on Sunday lunchtime.

Two knives were later found, which were thought to have been thrown from the car.

The pair fled on foot from the B1113 Stowmarket Road (pictured), before officers, a dog unit and police helicopter conducted a sweep of the area.

The men, from Ipswich and Colchester, appeared at Ipswich Magistrates' Court on Monday and have been remanded in custody ahead of a crown court hearing.

Laurence Cawley
BBC News

Our final Independence Day look at the US community surrounding RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath airbases in north west Suffolk....

Earlier we heard from car dealership owner Terry James.

He's not always who the American service personnel come to see.

The real star of the show is a velvety grey three-year-old Weimaraner called Charlie.

Most service personnel have to leave their pets at home and so for many Charlie has become a much-loved surrogate.

Co-owner Sylvia James said their dog offered a little slice of home.

"We listen to them, we're here for them, even if it's just for a chat," she said.

"We push the boat out and make an effort.

"You have to remember nothing is familiar to them here - even mince pies at Christmas time. They didn't know what they were."

Janet Harnden
BBC Radio Norfolk

Fifteen cases of female genital mutilation, external (FGM) have been identified in Norfolk.

Image source, Getty Images

Across the eastern region*, 90 cases were identified by the NHS and nationally the study reveals nearly 5,500 new cases in the past year.

FGM is the removal of external female genitalia, including the clitoris, and was made illegal in the UK in 1985 with the law strengthened in 2003 to prevent girls travelling from the UK to undergo operations abroad.

Most of the cases are to be found among people of African origin.

The condition was identified by midwives and medical staff.

In all bar 57 cases, the women and children had their operations abroad.

*Eastern region in this instance is Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex.

Laurence Cawley
BBC News

Josh Ivie, 24, is the Suffolk-born-and-raised son of a US serviceman. He has just completed a graphic design degree at Lincoln University and is currently helping out in the family's car rental business.

With a curious hybrid Suffolk-US accent, Mr Ivie tells how his "classic happy American dad" Doug fell for a local girl and settled here.

When he retired from the USAF, he worked at Air Force Car Rentals before buying the business outright seven years ago.

The company, based in Mildenhall, rents out about 250 automatic-gearbox cars each week, almost exclusively to American families.

Rentals often come with a free course in UK driving. "We often walk through the roundabouts with them and the rural roads," he says.

"Their single carriageways are the same width as our normal main roads.

"With their left hand drive and the dimensions they're used to, we lose wing mirrors all the time."

But while his father and others have visited and settled in the UK, Mr Ivie has different hopes.

He wants to head the other way across the Atlantic break into the US music industry and live his own American dream.

And yes, he knows he resembles fellow Suffolk-resident Ed Sheeran.

Laurence Cawley
BBC News

Steve Snazell is a second generation barber whose shop sits directly opposite the wired fence of RAF Mildenhall.

About half of all Mr Snazell's customers are Americans - either those currently serving in the military, or retirees who have settled in the area.

Recent years have ushered in a subtle revolution in the follicular topography of his American clients, he says.

The "high and tight" haircut, so traditional of the US military, has been largely replaced by a simple short-back-and-sides, or the intriguingly named "local".

To have a "local" is to have one's hair cut in the manner of a typical west Suffolk native, one that will prevent its bearer being noticeably American.

It is, says Mr Snazell, one of the more unusual responses to the fear of being targeted in a terror attack.

The cost of a "high and tight" or a "local" is £8 - though Mr Snazell is equally happy to take payment in dollars ($12).

But no, he won't accept Euros.

Laurence Cawley
BBC News

Retiree Rosalind Hamill is one of the thousands of British people to have made a living working on the bases.

Mrs Hamill is turning a derelict corner of a field off Jarman's Lane in West Row into a community garden.

Called the Shed Project, Mrs Hamill's vision will be built upon a microcosm of the "special relationship".

A group of US volunteers will be joining her to clear the broken bricks, remove weeds and renovate the ramshackle outbuildings.

"We've always worked together, the base and the local community," says Mrs Hamill, a West Row councillor who left school aged 15 to work at RAF Mildenhall.

"The young ones are so polite - it's all yes ma'am, no ma'am."

A previous homelessness campaign run in the county has been criticised for being "too shocking".

Your Kindness Could Kill had asked people not to give money to people on the streets due to concerns about how it would be spent.

But it's hoped a new multi-agency campaign called Help Our Homeless, external will instead encourage people to donate to charities which will help the 27 people who are reporting as homeless and sleeping rough in Ipswich.

Sgt Jonathan Driver, from Suffolk Police, said: "[The old campaign] was a little too shocking for people and they didn’t really like the message of 'if you give your one pound to that person they are going to go spend it in a way that they wouldn’t approve of'.

"The support is there - so it’s really just trying to get the money coming directly into that support as opposed to it going in the wrong direction."

Laurence Cawley
BBC News

Returning to our look at life around Suffolk US air bases as Americans celebrate Independence Day....

West Row native Terence Grinling, 76, started work on base as an electrical contractor before being made a permanent member of staff at RAF Mildenhall.

"I enjoyed every minute of it - so much so that when I reached retirement age I did an extra four years there."

As well as a living, the base gave him a son-in-law, Kenneth, from Ohio.

"He did not want to go back to the US and Hayley [Mr Grinling's daughter] did not want to leave," says the retiree.

"So they settled here and live with my grandson William in Red Lodge."

Image source, Getty Images

Well according to reports doing the rounds, yes.

Ed has previous form in this realm and enjoyed a year long break from Twitter and the likes ahead of the release of his latest album ÷.

Now, according to the The Sun, external he's had it up to here with nasty comments from Twitter trolls.

Apparently he said: "I've actually come off Twitter completely. I can't read it.

"I go on it and there's nothing but people saying mean things. Twitter's a platform for that. One comment ruins your day. But that's why I've come off it.

He added he was confused "why people dislike me so much."

Those people seem to be in a minority though as his album is back at number one following his Glasto set.

Also, he did Instagram a boozing session on Sunday... so let's wait and see shall we?

Read more: This is why Ed Sheeran quit Twitter.

Graeme Mac
BBC Radio Suffolk sport

There have been some big moves this summer as far as non-league football in Suffolk is concerned, but perhaps none bigger than Chris Henderson's switch from Lowestoft Town, external to county rivals Leiston., external

Image source, Leiston FC

Henderson spent six seasons with the Trawler Boys, and was a key player as Lowestoft won promotion to the National League North in 2014.

Lowestoft were relegated two seasons later, and finished 11th in the Ryman Premier Division last season, nine points behind the midfielder's new club.

"No disrespect to Lowestoft Town, but I feel like this move was something I needed," the 26-year-old said., external "I loved every minute at Crown Meadow and I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to play there.

"I met with a couple of clubs, but after talking to the Leiston boss Glenn Driver and chairman Andy Crisp, it became clear that Leiston was where I wanted to play my football."

Tonight, Henderson will train with his new club for the first time, as the first team players return from their summer break.

Graeme Mac
BBC Radio Suffolk sport

Centuries from Suffolk's Martyn Cull and Ben Shepperson have set up a potentially exciting final day in their Unicorns Championship, external fixture at Copdock.

Cull scored 100 and Shepperson 129 - his maiden ton for the county - as Suffolk made 373-8 off 90 overs, in reply to Hertfordshire's 328-9 on day one.

The visitors reached 73-1 in their second innings, and lead by 28 going into the third and final day.

25-year-old Mildenhall skipper Shepperson, who made his full county debut in 2012, said it was a special moment to reach three figures for the first time.

"It's something that at one time I didn't think was going to come," he told us. "My mum and dad came and watched today as well, along with one of my old school umpires, Gordon."

"It was fantastic to play like that in front of people who have supported me and watched me play through the age groups and all the way up to senior level."

A 16-year-old boy was one of 11 people charged with drug dealing after a string of police raids in Ipswich yesterday.

Image source, Suffolk Police

Eight men and and two women, aged between 18 and 42, will also appear before magistrates in Ipswich this morning.

Image source, Suffolk Police

Every defendant faces charges relating to the supply and dealing of class A drugs including heroin and crack cocaine.

Suffolk Police's Assistant Chief Constable Rachel Kearton told the BBC that drugs had been affecting Ipswich "for some time" - with a total of 20 people arrested as officers carried out warrants.

Image source, Suffolk Police

Graeme Mac
BBC Radio Suffolk sport

Mildenhall cricket captain Ben Shepperson says his maiden century for Suffolk yesterday was something he thought might never happen a few years ago.

Image source, Mildenhall Cricket Club

The 25-year-old hit 129 as Andy Northcote's side made 373-8 on the second day of their Minor Counties Championship match with Hertfordshire at Copdock. , external

When Shepperson arrived at the crease, Suffolk were precariously placed on 92-4, but that didn't stop him from taking the game to the opposition.

"It's not really my style to grind it out, so I went out there with my game in mind as opposed to the game situation," Shepperson told us.

"There were a couple of spin bowlers on and I like to attack spin whether it's early in my innings or later on."

Suffolk will look for quick wickets on the final day of the match, with Hertfordshire set to resume on 73-1 in their second innings - a lead of 28.

Laurence Cawley
BBC News

The American community was established during World War Two and the years immediately afterwards when the US military coagulated into a crescent of RAF bases that stretched across southern England from RAF Bentwaters on the Suffolk coast to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.

The United States Air Force left RAF Bentwaters in the 1990s, but west Suffolk is still home to American forces at both RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, with RAF Feltwell perched just over the Norfolk border to the north.

In the past seven decades, tens of thousands of US military personnel, their spouses and their children have set up home in this East Anglian enclave for postings lasting between two and four years.

The USAF claims RAF Lakenheath and Mildenhall are worth a combined £700m ($910m) to the local economy per year.

The influence of the US dollar stretches far and wide - from the local property rental market to the pubs and restaurants, where US patrons are noted for eating out earlier than their British counterparts.

A petition seeks to get the event in southern Scotland scrapped after success at a similar race in England.

Laurence Cawley
BBC News

One of the current batch of US citizens living in the north west Suffolk area is Jolene Jeffers, an aspiring photographer currently working for a car rental company.

She and husband Caleb, originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, are almost three years into his four-year posting. He works on the Lockheed C-130 Hercules at RAF Mildenhall.

"It is a different experience, but still a really cool one," she says of life in East Anglia.

"Sometimes I just want to go to Walmart at 03:00 for ice cream and socks, and you can't do that here.

"I miss home, but it's amazing to be so close to London and to Paris.

"It's very small compared to what I'm used to, but Suffolk is so cosy and the people are so nice."

Oh, and she is very polite about the weather differences between New Mexico and Suffolk...

There are delays on trains heading to Ipswich, Greater Anglia, external has tweeted:

Laurence Cawley
BBC News

For those who do return to America, the pull of Suffolk can remain strong in the years after leaving.

Retired USAF major Steve Balkan runs a pizzeria in Rothsay in Minnesota, but 13 years ago he was stationed at RAF Mildenhall.

"This was by far the best assignment in my whole air force career," he said.

"We love the Brits, the sense of humour. And the countryside around here is so beautiful.

"I've always wanted to come back and show the kids where they came from."