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Amateur racers will compete in an annual high-speed soapbox race this weekend.

The Humber Bridge Soapbox Derby will take place at the Humber Bridge car park in Hessle, Hull, on Saturday from 10:00 until 15:00 BST.

Run by Hull 4 Heroes, the event will see teams race in homemade karts, known as "bogeys", in a bid to be crowned Hull's soapbox champion.

Poppy Claybourn, events and fundraising lead at the organisation, said: "It's a great day out for the family while supporting a local veteran charity."

The annual event was first held in 2012 and returned in 2023 after a hiatus during the Covid pandemic.

All funds raised from this event will go to Hull 4 Heroes – a charity that helps veterans of the British Armed Forces return to civilian life.

Organisers said they were expecting 18 teams to enter the competition this year.

"There are some people that have never done one before and it would be their first time entering and we've got some avid soapboxers who go across the country attending these races, so it's a nice variety," Ms Claybourn added.

There will be food stalls, live music and activities for all ages at the event, which is supported by Humber Bridge and Hessle Town Council.

Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Soundslatest episode of Look North here.

A court in Tunisia has sentenced former Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh to 34 years in prison on a raft of terrorism charges.

He is the latest high-profile critic of the president to be jailed as campaigners slam "sham trials" in the country.

The 69-year-old is a prominent opponent of President Kais Saied and leader of Ennadha, a moderate Islamist party that holds the largest number of seats in parliament.

Along with seven other people, Laarayedh was charged with setting up a terrorist cell and helping young Tunisians travel abroad to join Islamist fighters in Iraq and Syria.

"I am not a criminal… I am a victim in this case," he wrote in a letter to the court's prosecutor last month, according to the AFP news agency.

He was sentenced on Friday.

Laarayedh has consistently denied any wrongdoing and said the case was politically motivated.

In recent weeks, at least 40 critics of Tunisia's president have been sent to prison – including diplomats, lawyers and journalists.

Rights groups say these trials have highlighted Saied's authoritarian control over the judiciary, after dissolving parliament in 2021 and ruling by decree.

Since he was first elected six years ago, the former law professor has rewritten the constitution to enhance his powers.

Laarayedh was arrested three years ago and campaigners had called for his release – including Human Rights Watch, who said the affair seemed like "one more example of President Saied's authorities trying to silence leaders of the Ennahda party and other opponents by tarring them as terrorists".

Ennahdha governed the North African nation for a short while after a popular uprising dubbed the Arab Spring.

The protest movement originated in Tunisia – where a vegetable-seller called Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself in despair of government corruption – and mass demonstrations soon spread across the wider region in 2011.

However many Tunisians say the democratic gains made have since been lost, pointing to the current president's authoritarian grip on power.

Yet President Saied has rejected criticism from inside and outside the country, saying he is fighting "traitors" and suffering "blatant foreign interference".

More BBC stories about Tunisia:

• Tunisia's president – saviour or usurper of power?
• Pink flamingos 'seized from smugglers' in Tunisia
• 'My black skin says I don't belong in Tunisia'
• The fisherman who found a dead baby in his net

A South West charity is thinking of ways it can make surfing accessible to more disabled people – after being inspired by a Devon boy who was desperate to hit the surf.

The Wave Project's work was inspired by 10-year-old George Palmer, now 17, who wanted to join other youngsters he saw out surfing at Croyde, in north Devon.

Ian Bennett, the adaptive lead at the charity, said: "We just really want the sea to be accessible to anybody. And if we can make that happen, then that's brilliant."

Ideas from its team of volunteers include putting visual markers on boards to help surfers position themselves, and adding more handles to boards.

Mr Bennett said The Wave Project, which runs surf therapy sessions for children and young people in Devon and Cornwall, did not offer adaptive surfing before it was contacted by George's mum Nicki to ask if staff could help him achieve his dream.

"I told her, 'actually, we don't do that, we are a mental health charity but I'm happy to give it a go'," he said.

A couple of days before they were due to go out, Mr Bennett asked about George's disabilities and discovered he had quadriplegic cerebral palsy, developmental delay, and epilepsy.

"I probably didn't sleep for the next two nights," he said.

Mr Bennett asked Surfing England for advice when he realised there was no-one offering adaptive surfing.

The same year he took on another client, who had been a surfer before becoming disabled later in life. Since then he said demand has grown.

He added that now more than 150 adaptive surfers enjoy the waves at Croyde each year.

The wave project also now has an army of volunteers and an selection of boards for adaptive surfers.

Facilities at Croyde beach have also been developed to include a dedicated accessible changing place by the beach.

Among the surfers is George, who has become a regular at Croyde beach, surfing at least once a month even in winter.

Mr Bennett was the 2024 winner of the BBC South West Unsung Hero award for his work to develop adaptive surfing.

The people behind a new music project say they hope it will help keep memories of loved ones alive after they have died.

Music to Die For was founded by Hazel Harrison and Phillipa Anders and aims to explore music's connection to memories and emotions.

They are asking people to share a piece of music that connects them with "someone you've lost and the story behind it".

Ms Anders said: "Just over four years ago I lost my husband very suddenly, and this project and meeting Hazel has created this incredible way of being able to use music in an incredibly powerful way."

Music to Die For is described as a space for people who have been bereaved "to honour their memory, keep their story alive and explore the role music plays in your connection to them".

There is a guide to help people submit their stories with four parts:

• About the music
• Making connections
• Finding meaning
• Moving forward

These are then shared on the website and via social media.

The project is being supported by a Creative Health Residency by Britten Pears Arts in Suffolk.

Dr Harrison said: "As a clinical psychologist I'm really interested in emotion and how we understand and explore our experiences and improve our wellbeing, and music for me is a really key ingredient for that.

"Music allows us to sit in a particular emotion that we're feeling.

"We feel this whole messy array of emotions, as humans, and sometimes we just need a piece of music to hold us in that space.

"That can be a joyful piece of music, sometimes that can be a deeply emotive or sad piece of music that enables us to connect with that loss and that sad feeling.

"Also it can help us map our journey – we know grief isn't a linear process, we will move through a range of different experiences that link to yearning and loss.

"But also to the bittersweet nature of remembering the joyful parts."

Ms Anders said: "I've always had a life and career in music, so every single minute of my day was filled with music in some way.

"After my husband Rob died, for a good number of months I just couldn't listen to music at all.

"I couldn't see it live, I couldn't listen to it at home, I just didn't want music.

"Then very gradually I started to reintroduce it.

"But what has happened now is the music I listen to is almost completely separate from what I was listening to before.

"My tastes have really developed and grown, I'm listening to stuff now I wouldn't have listened to before.

"I'm going to gigs that I wouldn't have gone to you before, it's opened up a new relationship with music that feels healthy.

"There is a saying 'grieve fully and live fully'.

"It's allowing me to stay connected to Rob, but at the same time It's about the forward path while still connecting to what I had."

The owner of a shire horse has thanked firefighters and others who helped save her beloved animal from a ditch.

Bilbo, 14, was spooked during a ride in Southery, west Norfolk, and unseated his owner Caryn Wilkinson.

After running across a field, he was found almost upside down at the bottom of a bank. Local fire crews eventually managed to drag him out with the help of farm machinery.

Ms Wilkinson said Bilbo had since made a full recovery and she intended to hop back on the saddle soon. She said she had "just the most heartfelt gratitude" for those who helped.

Bilbo, also known as Bill, weighs about 900kg (142 stones) and stands 1.86m (6.1ft) tall.

In the five years that owner Ms Wilkinson has owned him, it was the first time she had fallen off.

"He dumped me in the field and I thought he was running for home," she said.

After a search, some flattened reeds showed Bilbo had ended up in a nearby ditch.

"We followed the drain along and there he was – sort of half upside down and half on his side, about five-feet down in the water of the ditch."

The fire service, a vet and a neighbouring farmer were called to help.

Ms Wilkinson said: "The first fire tender got to us within 15 minutes.

"They were so calm, so professional. It helped keep me calm, which in turn helped Bilbo."

The horse was sedated, then straps were attached to his saddle.

Finally a teleporter – a small piece of farm machinery – was used to gently drag him out.

The vet then reversed the sedation – and within 20 minutes Bilbo was on his feet and ready to walk home.

Ms Wilkinson said she was unhurt following the incident on 1 June thanks to her riding hat and body protector.

She said she intended to ride Bilbo again soon and was planning a quiet session in her school before getting back out on the road.

Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service posted on social media about the challenge crews faced.

It said: "We love a happy ending! Crews from King's Lynn and Downham Market were called to help a large horse that had got stuck in a ditch in Southery.

"When they were called it had already been stuck for two hours and was distressed.

"The horse took some lifting but we were pleased to get it back on its feet and to hear that it has since made a full recovery."

Planes dating back to World War Two are set to take to the skies above Guernsey to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Liberation Day.

The States of Guernsey said a Hawker Hurricane, Spitfire, Harvard and a Douglas R4D would be joined by modern planes with an Airbus A400M and a P8A Poseidon from Guernsey's Own 201 Squadron.

The Hawker Hurricane R4118 was built in 1940 and is the only Hurricane to have taken part in the Battle of Britain that remains flying.

The Douglas R4D – the US navy's version of the military transport aircraft based on the Douglas DC-3, which was called the Dakota by the Royal Air Force – is operated by the Dallas-based Commemorative Air Force.

Ready for Duty (R4D) was built in 1944 and is taking on a 12,000 mile journey to honour the service and sacrifice of American and Allied forces and take part in VE Day events marking the anniversary of the end of the war in Europe.

The aircraft is due to be carrying historic artefacts from World War II warships including items from the USS Yorktown, USS Texas and USS Laffey.

The Harvard was built in 1942 and was one of the Allies' most important training planes.

The day before the flypasts on 9 May the three World War Two planes will be on display at Guernsey Airport.

In addition the RAF Falcons parachute display team is due to drop at L'Eree at 15:30 BST as part of the St Pierre du Bois parish event.

Anne Thomas, one of the organisers for the St Pierre du Bois event, said: "We're extremely excited to have the opportunity to provide such an exciting visual display for our community."

Flypasts – Friday 9 May

• 11:35 P8A Poseidon flypast along east coast
• 11:45 A400M flypast along east coast
• 14:15-14:30 Hurricane and Harvard to complete two laps of the island
• 14:35-14:45 Douglas R4D to complete two laps of the island
• About 19:00 Spitfire MK9 flypast along east coast

Dogs roaming off their leads have been threatening ground-nesting birds at a nature reserve, a ranger has said.

Leonie Washington, is a ranger at Landguard Nature Reserve in Felixstowe, Suffolk, where birds such as ringed plover nest.

The nature reserve is calling for dog owners to read warning signs and learn which areas they can walk safely after some birds were driven off the site.

Ms Washington urged people to give the birds space and said it was "heartbreaking" to see them being disturbed.

"We've seen a huge increase in the number of dog walkers on site, probably as a result of the lockdowns and Covid, but also I'm sure as a result of the increased development all over Suffolk," Ms Washington explained.

"Unfortunately there are those that choose not to read the signs, or not to take our advice, and allow their dogs to just run free."

'Exhausted'

Ms Washington said there was clear signage for where dogs could and could not be walked.

The disturbances had meant the birds were moving away from their nests, meaning they had less chances to feed or mate and their eggs were also threatened.

"It's quite heartbreaking to watch the birds struggle," Ms Washington continued.

"Each time that a nest fails due to disturbance or predation, because of course predation occurs, they do try again.

"But before they try again they have to rebuild their breeding condition and then they have to find a nest site again, lay their eggs, incubate the eggs, so they're using more and more energy as the season progresses.

"They might try two or three times, occasionally four times, by the end of the breeding season they are exhausted."

Andrew told the BBC it all began when they heard a barking noise about three days earlier and assumed it was a neighbour's new dog.

Michela realised the sound was coming from a drain on her way back from work on Monday.

Her father used a pickaxe to lift the drain cover, revealing the cub was stuck about 1.8 metres (6ft) below ground level.

"We tried to flush it out," Andrew said. "I got a piece of wood and nailed some carpet to it and we put some ham on a piece of string.

"It turns out the drain is quite deep and large with a number of connected tunnels and we could hear the fox going up and down the different tubes.

"It then took the ham, but it didn't come out, so Michela phoned the RSPCA."

Andrew added: "They came out and called South Leicestershire Fire and Rescue, and they were out there for about two or three hours, pulling up all the manholes and it was going up and down the tunnels.

"Eventually, they managed to use towels to block off the tunnels and drain rods to coax the fox in the right direction, before one of the firefighters, who was in one of the manholes, managed to catch it in a cage."

Ms Harlock said: "This was such a perfect result. At this time of the year, reports about young foxes getting themselves in a pickle tend to rocket.

"At that age, they're very curious about the world but unaware of the dangers."

Watch manager Stephen Willatt said: "We're very glad to hear the cub and its mother have been reunited.

"If you find an animal in distress please contact the appropriate animal welfare organisation, and do not endanger yourself in trying to rescue it."

A circus boss whose company had to travel from Guernsey to Jersey via Portsmouth due to a "lack of ferry services" between the two Channel Islands said the detour cost £20,000 in lost time and accommodation.

Joel Hatton, manager and ringmaster of Gandey's Circus, said a gap in inter-island freight ferry travel meant they had no choice but to travel the extra 380km (230 miles) by sea.

It comes after the islands' governments chose different firms to operate services to the UK and France for the next 15 years, leading to fewer large inter-island vessels.

Authorities said previously they had been approached by a group, FerryBridge, offering to run vehicle and freight services between the islands.

The BBC has asked the governments of Jersey and Guernsey for comment.

Mr Hatton said in previous years, the circus had been able to perform in Guernsey before travelling directly to Jersey by ferry on the same day.

But he said they were "surprised" to discover a reduction in scheduled services this year.

So, having dismantled the big top on Monday, he said they then left Guernsey at 4:00 BST on Tuesday, before arriving into Jersey via Portsmouth at 07:00 on Wednesday.

It meant waiting in Portsmouth for five hours, he said, before loading all their equipment back onto freight ferries.

Due to time lost, they had to immediately start constructing the big top on their arrival into Jersey: "We were very tight on time due to losing a whole day travelling and being sat waiting in Portsmouth."

A dilapidated 1,000-year-old church could be reopened for services, the local Church of England diocese has said.

The Church of St Augustine in Oundle Road, Peterborough, has been closed since 2022.

The Diocese of Ely, which runs the building, said more than £300,000 was needed to repair issues including water ingress and the condition of the roof.

Samuel Pedlar, community support adviser at the diocese, said it had been in "active discussions" with other Christian denominations for one of them to take over the church.

"It is important for the church to be opened again," he said.

"We see it as a great community asset."

Historic England says the urgency of the repairs are classed as category A, and says there is an "immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric".

On Tuesday, community groups and church stakeholders were invited to a meeting to discuss the future of the Woodston church, as it is popularly known locally.

Mr Pedlar said there was six inches of water on the floor when the diocese examined the church "a few years back" for the Historic England survey.

He said "holding repairs" had stopped the damage worsening.

The diocese was talking to other Christian denominations who were interested in buying the building it, he said.

"[They would] start worshipping there and open it for the use of schoolchildren for their services, ringing of church bells, and any other community events they agree with," he explained.

Elaine Wilkinson, tower captain at the church, welcomed the news.

"It was a flourishing, beautiful church. Now it is crumbling," she said.

"When it closed it was so sad – myself and other bell-ringers felt our hearts were crushed. Because we were passionate about it and wanted it to keep going.

"It looks like we may have a great partnership to get involved with and hope the bells keep ringing."