Sussex weekly round-up: 1 June - 7 June 2024

The story about an East Sussex seaside town having its blank walls decorated for a celebration of its community proved a popular read this week.

A variety of local issues featured on the BBC News website, BBC Radio Sussex and BBC South East Today.

We have picked five stories from the past week in case you missed them.

A D-Day veteran who entertained soldiers fighting in France has recalled her memories on the 80th anniversary of the World War Two operation.

Betty Beckers, 100, volunteered as a dancer to keep British soldiers' spirits up as the Allies pushed back against Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy on 6 June 1944.

Ms Beckers, who lives at the Goldbridge Bupa Care Home in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, said she was “very proud” of her experience helping the war effort and being able to tell memories to her family including dancing on makeshift stages.

She said one of the hardest moments was seeing the bodies of soldiers from the Devonshire Regiment, the county where she was born and grew up.

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Ms Beckers spoke to BBC Radio Sussex.

The families of nine babies who died at a scandal-hit NHS trust over a three-year period have called for a public inquiry into the standard of its maternity care.

A collective letter has been sent to each of the families' MPs after they lost babies at hospitals run by the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.

Of the nine bereaved mothers, four said they too almost died as a result of "poor standards of care" from maternity teams between 2021 and 2023

The trust said it had recruited more midwives and "changed" how it supported families, with outcomes now better "than most other trusts in the country".

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An art gallery in East Sussex says a Donald Trump sculpture has been attracting hundreds of people after he became the first former US president to be a convicted felon.

The silicone and fibreglass sculpture at W Gallery in Rye has been catching the attention of locals and tourists in the medieval town.

Gallery owner Wendy Bowker, 62, said she had been “inundated” with people coming in to see it.

Trump was found guilty last week of falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments to former adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election campaign.

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Gallery owner Wendy Bowker explained the attraction on BBC Radio Sussex.

A diabetic woman from West Sussex said she became ill while taking a different medication after global supply shortages meant her usual treatment was unavailable.

Searleana Flesher, from Burgess Hill, stopped taking Victoza injections in February when they became hard to source, and was prescribed Rybelsus tablets instead.

The 50-year-old, who has type 2 diabetes, said Rybelsus gave her nausea and diarrhoea, so was told by her doctor in May to stop the tablets.

She said she blamed the shortages partially on celebrities who use medicines for weight loss purposes which should be prescribed to people with type 2 diabetes.

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A restaurateur from West Sussex says he feels "much, much better" after receiving "love, solidarity and respect" from the community after he was reportedly assaulted.

On 19 May there was a disturbance at The Passage to India in Barnham where Muhammed Islam was reportedly assaulted and cut near his eye, with the restaurant also being damaged.

He said the behaviour showed a lack of respect and was "extremely unacceptable".

Following the incident the 64-year-old, who has run the restaurant for 35 years, said he received a number of cards from customers.

Read more here

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