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BBC News
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Ed Sheeran's Suffolk school praises call for music education help
The headteacher of Ed Sheeran's former secondary school has praised the singer's call to improve music backed by other artists including Annie Lennox, Harry Styles and Sir Elton John, has written to the government pushing for funding to offer children from all backgrounds musical opportunities. Philip Hurst, head of Thomas Mills High in Framlingham, Suffolk, said he had seen a "dismantling of county music services" over the past 30 years and believed in Sheeran's push.A government spokesperson said it was "committed to ensuring art, music and drama are no longer the preserve of a privileged few". Sheeran's letter called for a £250 million UK education package this spring "to repair decades of dismantling music".The letter cited a 2019 report from the British Phonographic Industry which found there had been a 21% decrease in music provision over five years in state schools."Music in and out of school should be for all, not a few," the letter added."We understand that there are many pressures. As artists, civil society and industry, we want to be part of the solution."Born in Yorkshire and raised in Suffolk, Sheeran has had 14 UK number one singles and eight UK number one albums, after beginning his career in 2004. "[Through] My career, which has spanned three decades, I've seen the dismantling of county music services - everything has to be about efficiencies," Mr Hurst told BBC Radio Suffolk."Quite frankly, it seems to me that people think spending money on instruments is not efficient."He continued: "All those signatories to it, I think they are very powerful and it's good timing -the government are at a change with education."We've got a national curriculum review going on, Ofsted have come under scrutiny and are looking to adapt their ways and practices."It could just be that it makes people sit up and think, and it really should." A government spokeswoman said its Curriculum and Assessment Review, external would break down barriers to opportunity, while its new National Centre for Music and Arts Education, external would "promote opportunities" for young people to pursue artistic and creative interests in government is set to put a further £2.3bn into schools' budgets, with £1bn for children and young people with high needs. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, external, Instagram, external and X, external.
BBC News
17-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'We will come straight back up'
Former Ipswich captain Mick Mills says his former side's inability to perform over the full 90 minutes will cost them but he remains confident they can bounce back next season."The problem we have had against the level of teams that we are playing against in the Premier League is actually beating them, winning the game, getting the points on the board," he told BBC Radio Suffolk."We've been OK mainly in the first halves of those games and looked as if we can handle it but we don't seem to be able to do that over the 90 minutes and it's going to cost us in the end."I always thought it would be difficult. I always worried that it would be just one season in the Premier League and I think it will be. But from what I've seen we will come straight back up and I'm pretty sure about that."
BBC News
09-02-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Newmarket trainer to leave home of British horseracing for France
A trainer will say au revoir to the historic home of horse racing as she moves to work in France due to difficulties in "making ends meet".Amy Murphy began training in Newmarket, Suffolk, in 2016 and went on to work with 239 she will move her operation to Chantilly, across the English Channel, in a hope the business would be "more successful".She will head off with 25 horses and her team in the coming days "I've adored my time [in Newmarket]," she told BBC Radio Suffolk."It's a great place to train racehorses, we're very lucky that we've got the facilities that we have and it's somewhere that I'll really miss, but we're on to new challenges."Asked why she had decided to make the move, Ms Murphy said France had better prize money levels."I've just found for the business model it's getting harder to makes ends meet," she added."I feel like I'm young and I'm ambitious, we need a new challenge on the business front to be a bit more successful."Prize money levels in France are incredibly good and that would be our biggest draw."Hopefully we can attract people that we wouldn't necessarily be able to attract in England when you're competing with the highest rank of trainers who are here in Newmarket and around the rest of the country." Last October, Gay Kelleway, the former owner of Queen Alexandra Stables in Exning near Newmarket, similarly left due to the expense and lack of prize money in the sport in the Murphy said she still felt British horseracing was the "best racing in the world" and it could work for some people."Everybody has their own ideas on life, like with any business, and it's what works for you," she Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy, previously said the government took the horseracing industry "incredibly seriously" and was aware of the issues it Murphy said she was also aware that the British Racehorse Associations was similarly looking into the issue. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
27-01-2025
- General
- BBC News
Suffolk communities remember millions killed in Holocaust
Attendees of special events marking Holocaust Memorial Day have spoken of the importance of remembering those that memorial day takes place on 27 January each year and remembers the millions of people, mostly Jews, who were murdered during World War have taken place across Suffolk to honour these people, including a service at Abbey Gardens in Bury St Canon Matthew Vernon of St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the town said it was important to "challenge prejudice and prevent genocide". "The Holocaust was such a history changing event," he told BBC Radio Suffolk."That is why we gather each year to remember and to honour those who were killed - the millions of people who were killed in appalling conditions - and to recommit ourselves to saying 'never again'."Silence is not an option, we must remember and do our bit to challenge prejudice and prevent genocide."The event in Bury St Edmunds included readings, poems and music. Local leaders as well as schools were invited to attend. Ben Cohen, a member of the United States Air Force based at RAF Lakenheath, also attended the Bury St Edmunds Cohen, who is Jewish, recently visited the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp and said it had meant the memorial day hit him "more deeply in the heart"."It is more intense and emotional because I've seen it first hand," he said."I feel honoured that I was able to have the opportunity to come out here and remember with the Jewish community here and others in Bury St Edmunds."It's not every day that you get a chance to do something like this in a foreign country and be able to express and remember."This year also marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. 'For future generations' Other memorial events took place elsewhere in the county, including in were laid at Lowestoft Railway Station, which has a connection with the Kindertransport - a British scheme that rescued nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi-occupied hundred of these children came to Lowestoft, and an exhibition called A Thousand Kisses is now in place at the station telling their schools were invited to the memorial day, which Mayor of Lowestoft Nasima Begum said was vital for the future."I think it's really important for young people to learn because history is a reminder of what happens and to make sure it doesn't happen again," she said."It's really important to keep children informed and so that they know and can take it on for future generations to remember." Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
