News in Felixstowe

On This Day

Today's Felixstowe sunrise: 07:11

Friday Flower Facts:

Conversely the yellow rose is a sign of friendship, so if you get one of these in a couple of days you know you are in the friend zone.

A child rapist who spent a night camping in Trimley woods before being caught by police walking along the High Road has been jailed for a year.

After being recognised by an eagle-eyed police officer, Mark Stevenson, 42, appeared before magistrates in January. He admitted breaching a lifetime sex offender notification order requiring him to notify police of any change of circumstances.

Funding for a partnership promoting economic growth and events in Felixstowe has been extended until the end of December this year.

The Felixstowe Forward partnership brings East Suffolk Council and Felixstowe Town Council together with organisations such as the Port of Felixstowe and Chamber of Commerce to work on economic growth projects, promote the town as a visitor destination, showcase the town's high street, protect heritage elements and encourage cultural activities.

As part of the Council's Suffolk 2020 fund, SCC are launching a Virtual Centre of Excellence for youth work, which can be used by Felixstowe groups old and new.

The project seeks to enable organisations to deliver accessible, good quality youth provision across Suffolk. This will be supported through the creation of a virtual 'Centre of Excellence' which will provide an accessible 'one stop shop' of support for established or new youth groups.

2020 was another busy year for Felixstowe thriller writer Iain Maitland. His novel Mr Todd's Reckoning was snapped up for TV by Abbottvision, the team behind Shameless and Cracker. He had a novel out, The Scribbler, in May and he parted company from his long-time agent and publisher at the end of the year.

"I'd been with Clare, my agent, for five years. She's great and is the agent behind the million-selling Pinch Of Nom book. I'd been with Saraband, my publisher, for the last three books. They're wonderful too – their book His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae-Burnett was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize."

The so-called Beast form the East 2 has forced complete closure of schools, traffic disruption and concern over power supplies in the Felixstowe area.

Although many students were already studying from home, a number were still attending Felixstowe School as children of key workers.

Fascinating Facts:

Today's Felixstowe sunrise: 07:15

Domestic abuse reports in Felixstowe and neighbouring areas have risen by a quarter during the Covid-19 crisis, latest police data shows.

Suffolk Constabulary figures for the 12 months to the end of December revealed 3,655 domestic abuse reports for the Ipswich and south Suffolk area – a 27% increase on the 2,867 average for the prior three years.

A further seven rapid testing centres for COVID-19 are to open in Suffolk, including one in Felixstowe today.

These tests are for people who do not have symptoms of coronavirus and cannot work from home.