A day of remembrance and celebrations has been held in Alderney to mark the 80th anniversary of when the island was liberated from Nazi German occupation at the end of Word War Two.

Held at the harbour and conducted by the Reverend David Knight, a morning service saw the police, RNLI and other emergency services come together with islanders on the anniversary of liberation on 16 May.

It was followed by a parade, performed by the Force 135 living history group, through the town to Royal Connaught Square before an address was delivered by President of the States William Tate.

In his speech, he paid tribute to the islanders who had returned to Alderney several months after liberation.

High rates of violence and "significant" drug use have been uncovered at a new prison in Leicestershire, inspectors say.

Inmates at HMP Fosse Way in Glen Parva, Leicestershire, told His Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) that they felt unsafe during an unannounced inspection in March.

Data showed there had been a "steady rise" in violence at the prison which opened in 2023, over the 12 months before the inspection, with violence against staff also increasing.

While the inspection revealed "significant concerns" over safety, inspectors rated three other areas – respect, purposeful activity and preparation for release – as "reasonably good".

The visit was the first review of the service – which is run privately by Serco – since it opened in 2023, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Inspectors said they found "illicit drugs" were "widely available" at the prison, and added it was a "threat to the stability" of the centre.

They said such items were being brought in through the gate by staff or prisoners, or being thrown over the fence, but acknowledged that steps had been taken to crackdown on the issue.

The report added that tackling the issues had been identified as "a priority" by prison leadership, but said that "not enough" was being done to address demand for drugs or provide support for those who engaged with substance misuse

It added that leaders had taken "decisive action" to deal with "staff corruption" with several members of staff "arrested or dismissed".

'Maintain the momentum'

Some 42% of prisoners said they had experienced "bullying or victimisation" in the prison compared to 29% in similar centres.

There were also about 360 new charges brought against prisoners each month, most of which were for possession of unauthorised articles, incidents of violence and positive drug test results, according to the LDRS.

HMIP said staff often "failed" to reinforce the standard of behaviour needed to make prisoners feel safe.

However, the prison was praised for the amount of time prisoners were able to be out of their cells, and the "wide range" of education, work and training opportunities provided.

There was also praise for the range of activities available to inmates, and prisoners were encouraged to stay in touch with their families, the report added.

Ultimately, inspectors said that leaders and staff "should be congratulated on what they had achieved so far" and "encouraged to maintain the momentum they have created".

Wyn Jones, prison director for Serco, said the company was "overall pleased" with the findings.

He said: "Our focus remains on ensuring our prison is safe and we have an action plan in place to improve this.

"This includes an accommodation strategy for prisoners who feel unsafe to move to quieter house blocks.

"Our zero-tolerance approach to drugs in the prison continues and our work with the police has led to a significant reduction in the availability of drugs within Fosse Way."

A mural on the side of a wall in a car park for nearly 20 years has been re-painted to the delight of the daughter of the original artist.

Rebekah Newton, 37, said she was initially nervous when told her father's street art of Locomotion No 1 was going to be restored for the 200th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

But she said she was grateful and relieved to discover artist Jess McGowan planned to follow the original lines.

Stockton Council is going to use the Bishop Street car park mural as the backdrop for a railway-themed party on 28 September.

Zak Newton moved to Stockton from Northampton in 1990 and his daughter said he was "really passionate about history and culture" in the area.

"He did so much research before painting a mural, he was always going to the library," she said.

"He would see a wall and think a mural would look good on that."

Miss McGowan, 28, worked on the mural for four weeks to get it back to its former glory.

She said: "It was really challenging with how the wall was, all the paint was peeling off.

"We managed to get some good references and chat to people who first saw it when it was done.

"We wanted to make sure it was true to how it was originally painted."

Miss Newton was invited to see the repainting work in progress.

"I have got to admit that I was initially a bit sceptical," she said.

"But when I saw that the artist had followed his lines I was so grateful.

"She has done an absolutely amazing job, I'm delighted.

"I'm really proud of his work and it's great it has been given new life."

Rebecca McLellan is trying to safeguard the future of a rare breed of sheep one scarf at a time.

She fell in love with the Castlemilk Moorit and now has her own flock of 18 on the farm where she and her husband live in Rockcliffe on the Solway Firth.

Rebecca was keen to look at ways to help ensure the long-term survival of the sheep, which are on the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST) "at risk" list.

That was when she hit on the idea of learning to weave to try to encourage other potential breeders to follow her lead.

She was born in Kenya and worked in London before moving to Scotland to a house which had been in her husband's family for about a century.

"With that came the responsibility and the stewardship for that land," she said.

"The reality was it had always been grazed by sheep, so we took a look at it and thought, well, there we go, that's the answer – we've got to get some sheep."

After that they had to narrow it down to what type.

"Some native breeds in Scotland are becoming ever rarer, and I'm mad about my conservation," she said.

"We started to look for rare breed of sheep that were native specifically to this corner of Scotland and settled on the Castlemilk Moorit."

The brown-coated, curly-horned sheep were originally bred in the 1920s by Sir John Buchanan-Jardine for his Castlemilk estate in Dumfriesshire.

They are on the "at risk" list, with an estimated breeding population of between 900 and 1,500.

Rebecca said they were originally bred as a "park sheep".

"They are an elegant-looking breed of sheep," she explained.

"They've got sweeping back horns, they've got neat legs and a sort of gazelle or deer-like head.

"So they grace the field – but they also have this practical side with the fleece.

"It is a soft fleece – I blend it to make it go further – but it's a soft mocha colour, it is cream at the tip down to chocolate at the base."

She describes the sheep as "quite flighty" but also "quite curious".

"If you do anything in the field or anywhere near them within a blink of an eye, they're all standing around in a circle, watching," she said.

Rebecca turns their fleeces into tapestries, knitwear and upholstery and hopes her work can help save the breed by showing the value they can offer.

"We've got breeds that have developed and evolved in Scotland particularly – but across the UK – which suit the geographical nature of our landscape," she said.

"So you're not trying to raise a breed of sheep that isn't suited to where you are from.

"There's a reality that these are breeds that need to be helped to survive and not sort of forgotten in the rush to have ever more economical sheep which are good for raising just for meat."

Rebecca is throwing open the doors to her workshop as part of the Spring Fling open studios event across Dumfries and Galloway between 24 and 26 May.

Visitors will get a chance to see what she produces, how she does it and meet the rare breed itself.

In the process, she hopes it might convince a few more people that the Castlemilk Moorit deserves to flourish in the years to come.