Food bank

Huge rise in foodbank users

The East has seen its biggest ever increase in foodbank users. Over the last year there's been a 230% rise in numbers asking for help.

Houses

House prices "flat"

House prices rose nationally in February according to one analyst - but not in East Anglia.

Live updates

Former Archbishop in trolley dash

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams Credit: ITV Anglia

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, pushed a trolley through the streets of Cambridge today to raise money for local food banks. Dr Williams has become master of Magdalene College since leaving office and taken on the role of patron of Cambridge City Food Bank.

He says: 'Although Cambridge seems like an affluent city more than 3500 people have been given emergency provisions in the last year alone.'

The food banks are run by the Trussell Trust and organised by volunteers from local churches who rely on donations of food from the public.

Advertisement

Stilton in Stilton?

Campaigners trying to reverse a ruling which prevents Stilton cheese being sold in the Cambridgeshire village from which it gets it's name say they're making good progress.

Campaigners want to sell Stilton in Stilton Credit: PA wire

At the moment the blue cheese can only be produced in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire under a European Protected Designation of Origin ruling.

Villagers say DEFRA has now agreed to carry out a public consultation to see if it should be changed.

House prices on the rise

House prices jumped last month Credit: ITV News Anglia

House prices in East Anglia have recorded the biggest month-on-month asking price jump according to the property website Rightmove.

They say prices in the East jumped up by 4.4 per cent. It means the average house here is now selling for over £224,538.

Across England and Wales, London was the only region where asking prices took a dip in April, falling by 0.5%, although at £493,635 on average they are still 6.2% higher than a year ago

Rightmove, whose records go back for more than a decade, tipped next month for a new asking price high, as a combination of confidence returning to the market this spring and a shortage of properties for sale continue their upward pressure on prices.

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said: "With London prices pausing for breath this month but likely to bounce back next, May looks like an odds-on bet to deliver a new asking price record. More estate agents are reporting more activity in more segments of the market."

Letter from Cambridge scientist sold for millions

The letter written by Francis Crick Credit: Christie's

A letter written by one of the Cambridge scientists who discovered the structure of DNA to his young son has sold for more than five million dollars at auction in New York.

Francis Crick penned the letter to his son Michael in 1953.

In it, he describes the breakthrough and even sketches an outline of the famous double helix structure.

It fetched $5.3 million when it went under the hammer at Christie's.

Advertisement

Hospices get funding boost

Hospice sign
Hospices get funding boost Credit: ITV News Anglia

Hospices in this region have been awarded more than five million pounds of government funding. The cash will be used to improve facilities for patients, families and staff.

Nineteen hospices in the East will receive a share of the cash. The Norfolk Hospice in Snettisham says it will use the money to help fund a move to a new home in Hillington.

Peterborough brick workers to strike

Workers at a firm which makes bricks will start a six-week strike tomorrow in a row over holidays.

Members of the GMB union at Hanson Brick in Peterborough will take action amid complaints that the company was trying to cut their holiday entitlement following a reorganisation which came into effect after the closure of brick works at Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire.

The company says staff were compensated for the changes to their terms and conditions.

A company spokesman added: "It is disappointing that, having accepted the compensation payment, a small section of the workforce has now changed their minds and elected to take industrial action."

"We have a contingency plan in place to ensure the factory continues to run and production is not disrupted."

HMV stores in the East saved from closure

HMV went into adminstration in January Credit: PA wire

Around 2,500 jobs at entertainment retailer HMV have been saved nationwide after the restructuring firm Hilco bought 141 stores, 18 of them in the East of England.

Stores have been saved in: Basildon, Basingstoke, Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Cambridge (FOPP), Chelmsford, Colchester, Harlow, Hatfield, Ipswich, Kings Lynn, Milton Keynes, Norwich Gentlemans Walk, Norwich Chapelfield, Peterborough Queensgate, Southend Victoria, Stevenage.

For more on the HMV deal, click here.

Load more updates