ON YOUR bike!That has to be the message from Suffolk today to proposals from the Anglia Cancer Network to move neck and cancer treatment from Ipswich Hospital to the Norfolk and Norwich.

ON YOUR bike!

That has to be the message from Suffolk today to proposals from the Anglia Cancer Network to move neck and cancer treatment from Ipswich Hospital to the Norfolk and Norwich.

Bosses at the ACN have now admitted there is no evidence that concentrating the treatment at a single centre will save any lives.

And the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is so congested that patients are asked to travel there by bike rather than car.

This is a total nonsense. Everyone wants to ensure the best treatment is available, but there is no point in moving services more than 40 miles if there is nothing to suggest that survival rates will improve.

It is now becoming more and more apparent that the proposed move has nothing to do with improving patient care - and everything to do with streamlining the ACN's bureaucracy.

This is a fight that must be fought and won by the people of Suffolk - the people who will be at risk if this vital service is moved to the other end of the A140.

The pressure must be kept up on the ACN to reverse the transfer of neck and head cancer services to Norwich - it is a move that serves no purpose for the patients and therefore a move that should not even be contemplated by a caring service.

TODAY people across England are celebrating our patron saint, St George.

This gives the English an opportunity to celebrate our nation, to wave the flag for the country - and there are precious few opportunities to do that these days!

The country's sporting teams are hardly known for their success - the football team failed to make the finals of the European Championships, the rugby team blew hot and cold in the Six Nations, and our cricketers hardly set the world on fire during their winter tours to Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

England is not a “small” country which celebrates its patron saint with gusto like the Irish or the Welsh - but that should not stop us raising a toast to someone who embodies Christian strength, courage, and steadfastness.

Maybe things would be different if his saint's day fell at a different time of the year - April 23 always falls between Easter and the May bank holiday.

But true Englishmen won't worry about as they raise a pint to St George at the pub tonight - using it to wash down a plate of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding . . . or bangers and mash!

CONGRATULATIONS go out today to the footballers of Needham Market who finally got their hands on some silverware after the disappointment of missing out on a Wembley trip at the last hurdle.

Their sudden-death penalty victory against Leiston in the Suffolk Premier Cup Final at Portman Road ensures they will have something to put in the trophy cabinet this season.

And there is still time to add to the haul as they head for a treble - they are strongly-placed in the Ridgeon's League and have also made it through to the final of the Ridgeon's League cup.