Brenner Woolley
BBC Radio Suffolk sport

Ipswich Witches lost 51-39 at Sheffield Tigers last night in the first leg of their Knockout Cup semi-final.

Image source, Stephen Waller

It was a gutsy performance from the Suffolk side who lost Kyle Newman to a crash in his second ride, making him a doubt for tonight's second leg at Foxhall.

“We have got our three heat leaders to thank for keeping us in it, and the reserves picked up some useful points,” boss Ritchie Hawkins told the club website, external.

“We go into Friday night battered and bruised but in with a chance thanks to our fighting spirit and determination.

"We will keep on fighting, we have done it since March and we will carry on again tonight.”

Plans to create Suffolk's third "super-sized" district council could get the go-ahead later.

Babergh and Mid Suffolk's cabinets will vote today on whether to push ahead with plans to dissolve the two authorities to create one large one.

Four other districts - Waveney and Suffolk Coastal, and Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury - have already started the process.

Elizabeth Rizzini
BBC Look East weather

A generally cloudy and windy day, with some warm or bright spells.

It'll be mostly dry, with the chance of a few spots of light rain or drizzle.

It's very warm for the time of the year, with temperatures peaking at 19C (66F).

BBC Weather has a more localised forecast for you.

A mother has criticised the trust over the treatment of her son in a mental health unit.

Staying fine and dry across the BBC East region with clear spells, but variable cloud arriving from the west.

It'll drop to 9C (48F).

Friday will be rather cloudy at times, but high pressure to south and east will bring sunny spells and highs of 20C (68F).

The spacecraft fell into the sea, washed up in Germany and was returned to the school.

An elderly pedestrian suffered injuries that are believed to be life-changing after she was involved in a collision with a mobility scooter.

The incident happened shortly after 14:20 on Friday, 22 September on the promenade along Undercliff Road East in Felixstowe.

The pedestrian, who's in her 80s, was knocked to the ground, and suffered a laceration to her lower leg which was not initially thought to be serious. Police now say the injuries sustained may be life-changing.

They're appealing for the driver of the mobility scooter, which failed to stop at the scene, to come forward.

The driver is believed to be an elderly woman, who was wearing a cream-coloured hat and dark-coloured coat. The scooter is described as medium-sized, and blue.

It's thought the woman continued driving in the direction of the pier following the incident.

The goverment has pledged an extra £20,000 "golden hello" to newly qualified doctors to encourage them to take up posts at GP surgeries in areas which struggle to attract new recruits.

Dr Tim Morton, of Beccles Medical Centre, said this won't solve the problem of older GPs leaving the profession.

Listen to his interview from BBC Radio Suffolk's Drivetime show.

Greater Anglia passengers are being asked not to pull the emergency cord if there's a medical emergency on board a train.

The rail company and the East of England Ambulance Service have agreed a new process for their control rooms to work together to allow them to get to the aid of sick passengers as quickly as possible.

It asks passengers to either dial 999, or ask a member of staff for help, but not to pull the emergency cord.

The ill passenger would be helped off the train when it arrives at the next station.

If the cord is pulled, the train might stop between stations and may be inaccessible for a conventional ambulance.

This could result in the passenger having to wait longer for medical assistance, as well as causing delays to train services.

Last year it says trains were delayed to the equivalent of seven days due to passengers becoming ill on the Greater Anglia network.

Graeme Mac
BBC Radio Suffolk sport

Ipswich Town striker David McGoldrick (pictured), who had been an injury concern, is in "good shape" according to manager Mick McCarthy, who has been speaking to us today ahead of Saturday's trip to Sheffield United.

McGoldrick was substituted during the 3-1 defeat to Bristol City at the end of last month following a hamstring complaint, and played no part for the Republic of Ireland during their World Cup qualifiers last week.

"He felt his hamstring tighten against Bristol City, and bearing in mind the problems he has had with injuries, it was important he came off," said McCarthy.

"We didn't want him to tear it like last time.

"He's had a scan since then and there was no damage to it. He's trained this week and is in good shape."

The 29-year-old's availability is an undoubted boost for the Blues ahead of both this weekend's game, and the forthcoming East Anglian derby with Norwich City, with McCarthy well aware of the threat his number 10 currently poses.

"I don't know if he's played any better while he's been here," he said.

"He had a spell up front with Daryl Murphy a few years ago when they were both in their pomp, but then they both had injuries and we didn't have that partnership for a while. But he's been very good this season."

Patients should be 'exceptionally worried' about the problems faced by GP surgeries, according to a Suffolk doctor.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced £20,000 "golden hellos" for new GPs if they start their careers in areas that struggle to attract family doctors.

However, Dr Tim Morton from the Beccles Medical Centre says that throwing extra money at trainees will not help the problem - the whole system needs more cash.

He says retaining existing doctors is also important, as he is seeing colleagues leave practices long before they would have been expected to retire.

Bidders fly in from Italy, America and Holland for the auction of the rare wristwatch.

Brenner Woolley
BBC Radio Suffolk sport

Just a fortnight after the two sides met in the first leg of the Championship Grand Final, Ipswich Witches are back at Sheffield Tigers tonight.

Image source, Stephen Waller

This time it's the first leg of their Knockout Cup semi-final, with the return at Foxhall tomorrow.

The Suffolk side has drafted in Ben Barker as a guest, to cover for the injured Rory Schlein, while Connor Mountain returns from his shoulder problem.

"We have got to go with the same philosophy that we have had all year and we will go and try to perform to the best of our ability," boss Ritchie Hawkins told the club website, external.

"We need to cut out the mistakes we made in both legs of the [Championship Grand] final if we are going to make the cup final.

"I have confidence in the team that we can go and win the cup. We will go there looking to do the job and progress.”

Graeme Mac
BBC Radio Suffolk sport

It may come as a surprise to many Ipswich Town fans when they hear that promising midfielder Tristan Nydam (left) actually spent time playing at centre half.

At 5ft 8in, the 17-year-old, who has made nine appearances for the first team this season, is not the tallest.

Nydam can also operate on the left of defence or midfield, but he has been telling us that he has his sights firmly set on establishing himself in the centre of the park at Portman Road.

The England youth international also strives to emulate a player who went on to win more than 100 caps for the senior national team, as well as multiple trophies with Premier League side Liverpool.

"I've watched Steven Gerrard [pictured right] over the years and he was great in terms of the way he went about his game and how professional he was," Nydam said.

"I'd like to be like him.

"He could score a goal or two as well and I would like to add that to my game. That would be a massive part of anyone's game. We need to add goals to our midfield as well, and hopefully I can do that."

Ipswich are away to Sheffield United in The Championship on Saturday.

A 44-year-old man is in a critical condition in hospital after sustaining serious burns during an incident in Ipswich last night.

Police said emergency services were called to an address in Nansen Road at around 23:10 to reports a woman had been assaulted, and a man had then set himself on fire.

The man was initially taken to Ipswich Hospital, but has since been transferred to the specialist burns unit at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford where he remains in a critical condition.

The woman sustained minor injuries during the incident.

It's believed the two people are known to each other.

Andrew Sinclair
BBC Look East political correspondent

New figures from the government show that 90.6% of premises in Suffolk now have access to superfast broadband.

Image source, Science Photo Library

It means they should be able to access download speeds of 24 megabits per second or more.

Matthew Hancock, minister for digital services at the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, said "Getting to 90% of coverage in some of our most rural counties is good progress, but we know there's still more to do"

The government has pledged to make sure 95% of homes and businesses in the UK can access superfast broadband, external by the end of this year.

But Mr Hancock admitted that in rural areas it will take longer.

He's now pledged that high speed broadband (10 megabits or more) will be available everywhere by 2020.

"We've got a plan to get there so that by 2020 everyone will have decent broadband speed," he said

An elderly couple have lost more than £21,000 after falling victim to telephone scammers, Suffolk Police are reporting.

Last Friday, a woman in Haughley near Stowmarket received a call from a man who said he was a police officer investigating a fraud.

He instructed her to withdraw £7,800 from her bank account, which was collected at 16:00.

The following day, the offender telephoned again, and asked the woman to withdraw a further £13,200. The same suspect picked up the money at around 14:00, along with £200 cash that the woman had in her house.

On Monday, bank staff intervened when the victim went to the bank to carry out a demand from the offender that she transfer money between her bank accounts.

She had also been asked to buy two Rolex watches worth £18,000 from a jeweller, but refused to do so.

The man who collected the money is described as mixed race, in his late 20s or early 30s, skinny and wearing smart black trousers and a white shirt.

It's believed he travelled to the victim's home by car.

The project to upgrade the Ely rail junction will see both the Greater Cambridge Greater Anglia LEP and New Anglia LEP fund technical and feasibility work associated with the Ely area.

They will each provide £3.3m, along with £2.2m from the Strategic Freight Network.

This study, carried out by Network Rail, will provide options for funders to increase rail capacity and provide improvements for freight and pasenger services from King's Cross to King's Lynn, Ipswich to Peterborough, and Felixstowe to Nuneaton and beyond.

The following rail lines are served by the Ely area:

• Norwich to Thetford, Brandon and Cambridge, currently an hourly service
• Norwich to Liverpool via Peterborough, hourly
• Ipswich to Peterborough, two hourly
• King's Lynn to London, half hourly at peak times, hourly at other times.
• Wisbech to Cambridge where the track is in place and available to reopen

Gary Barlow is to perform live in Thetford Forest as part of next summer's open air Forest Live concert series organised by the Forestry Commission.

The singer-songwriter and record producer says he's "really looking forward" to the gig, on Friday, 8 June.

Image source, Gary Barlow

Gary found worldwide fame as a member of Take That, who sold more than 45m records and more than 8m concert tickets since they formed in 1989. The group has also won eight BRIT awards.

In June, thousands of fans filled the Carrow Road stadium in Norwich, for two concerts by the act.

Image source, Caroline Willington

Image source, Caroline Willington

Gary's last solo album, Since I Saw You Last (2013) sold more than 600,000 copies.

He has also co-written and produced music for other artists, including Robbie Williams, Sir Elton John and Dame Shirley Bassey.

Tickets for the concert will go on sale, external from 10:00 on Friday, 20 October.

Barlow is playing one other forest gig - at Delamere in Cheshire on Saturday, 9 June.

The transport secretary Chris Grayling says work to upgrade Ely's rail junctions will be done between 2019 and 2024.

The South West Norfolk MP Elizabeth Truss secured the promise from the minister yesterday, when she led a delegation of local MPs, train operators and business organisations to argue the work was vital for the eastern region.

Image source, Elizabeth Truss MP

Ms Truss said the Mr Grayling agreed the Ely programme was a priority.

She said one of the key aspects was ensuring the scheme was property costed by Network Rail and the local enterprise partnerships have agreed to provide every assistance with this.

The work will begin once the costings are finalised.

Ely serves trains heading in five directions, external - to Peterborough, King's Lynn, Norwich, Bury St Edmunds and Cambridge.