CHILDREN from Beyton Middle School were Top of the Pops this week when they visited a recording studio to create their very own charity Christmas album.

They recorded festive favourites by Slade, Wizzard, Band Aid, The Jackson 5 and the hymn Silent Night to raise money for East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices.

In Sudbury the environmental group, Woodland B.A.T.S (Bio-diversity Around Towns Scheme), has come up with the idea of “renting out” live Christmas trees so that they can be re-used next year.

In Bury St Edmunds red and white costumes were dusted off and given an airing for the annual Santa run with a record turnout of 279 people and there was joy as hundreds of people lined the streets of Bury St Edmunds to welcome home soldiers from the 1 Royal Tank Regiment. Families and friends gathered on Angel Hill as the regiment, which is based at RAF Honington, was presented with Operation Herrick campaign medals before marching around the war memorial.

There were also many thrills and spills at CurveMotion, in Bury St Edmunds as it played host to a landmark international roller derby clash. It featured one of the top men’s teams in the world, the New York Shock Exchange (NYSE), taking on a team consisting of some of the best players from across Europe, the Brawl Street Thrash.

Work at Abbeygate Picture House, in the historic core of Bury St Edmunds was completed this week and it is now set to become a major cultural centre. The cinema, in Hatter Street, has a new bar, restaurant and new layout with disabled facilities.

Delighted audiences were transported back to 1920s New York and the shadowy world of gangsters, molls, hoodlums and Tommy guns when youngsters from Brandeston Hall – the preparatory school for Framlingham College – performed Bugsy Malone at the Headmaster Porter Theatre, while the Saxmundham Free School was visited by an award-winning author this week. Sita Brahmachari was on hand to help students learn about writing from other cultures.

Former Stowmarket Carnival Princess Fern Margetson supported children who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment. She did this by having 19 inches of her hair snipped off to raise cash for two good causes.

Stowmarket High School’s Water Rocket Challenge saw Year Four and Year Five students construct rockets and propel them up to 40 metres as part of a day promoting mathematics.

The team at Westrope Farming, in Parham, near Woodbridge, have been sporting some intriguing styles of facial hair after a month of growth for ‘Movember’. They raised more than �1,435 during the annual month-long campaign to promote men’s health and raise awareness of prostate and testicular cancer.

The Princess Royal visited Kentford, Newmarket to open a state-of-the-art cancer treatment and research facility for animals.T he unit at the Animal Health Trust (AHT), has been purpose-built to treat horses, dogs and cats and is thought to be the first of its kind in Europe.

Pupils past and present bid a fond farewell to a popular music teacher this week. Susan Booth has retired from Queen’s House – the pre-preparatory school for Woodbridge School – after 25 years.

Children who attend the pre-school in Little Cornard have been involved in a reading initiative to raise money for the Spirit of Sudbury Campaign. The youngsters aged three to five were sponsored to ‘read’ as many books as possible in seven days and this week, �800 was handed to the charity as a result of the kids’ efforts.

A group of youngsters have helped transform a Suffolk youth centre. ITFC Charitable Trust’s ‘Team 16’ gave the Woodbridge centre’s exterior a lick of their hallmark blue paint.

Motorists experienced long delays on some of Suffolk’s main roads this week following two major accidents. Paramedics from the East Anglian Air Ambulance were called to the scene alongside the ambulance service.

Three people were cautioned after demonstrating against plans for a new nuclear-plant at Sizewell this week. Over the next 11 weeks EDF will be consulting on its initial proposals for the Sizewell C development and the protesters claim more time is needed.

Experts are predicting a “considerable spread” of ash dieback disease in Suffolk next year, despite an apparent slowing down in the number of reported infections.

Finally there was an unexpected visitor in Cransford, near Framlingham this week as a stray cat turned out to be from Romania. In an bid to find her owner she was taken to a local vet to see if she was micro-chipped – a move that led to the surprising discovery.