Business

What did you get up to in your summer holidays? Ride your bike? Maybe head to the park with your friends – or perhaps relentlessly shout "I'm bored"?

For one Shropshire teenager, six weeks off school saw her create her own clothing business for fellow teens.

Jemima set up Mima Rose in August 2023 and started to design T-shirts from her home in Much Wenlock.

The 15-year-old has since sold more than 8,000 and even hosted a pop-up shop on King's Road, Chelsea, all while studying for her GCSEs.

Jemima said she felt like she needed something to do during the long summer break and was inspired after spotting a gap in the market for "affordable teenage clothing".

She approached her parents and asked them for a small loan to get her business underway.

Her mum and dad were aware that the business was a risk but offered her "a small amount of money" to get started.

"I decided to start off with T-shirts because they are versatile and can be worn the whole year round," she said.

"Graphic designs were popular with my age group and quite fun, so I started to look online for designs that I liked.

"My dad gave me £700 to cover the cost of the T-shirts and then I started to look at my competitors to see how much I should sell my products for."

"I'm quite careful with my money", Jemima said. "It was helpful that I had aimed my tops at people my age."

"I thought 'would I pay this amount of money?', 'Can people my age, who don't have any income, afford this?'".

She settled on £15 each and credited her friends for helping to share her business page on social media and spread the word.

"It took off from there," Jemima said.

Mima Rose originally stocked five products but 18 months later Jemima said she now offered more than 50 items in range of colours.

However she added running a business at a young age was not easy.

The "constant everyday admin of the business" was one of her biggest challenges, Jemima said.

"I am still at school so late nights and weekends are dedicated to packing items," she added.

But her family and friends have been "very supportive" and were not afraid to lend a hand.

"I set my orders out on the kitchen table and my grandma helps me pack them," Jemima said.

"My friends have helped too; they do a lot of modelling and photoshoots, they are happy to help."

The 15-year-old was able to pay her dad back three months after her initial loan and said her summer holiday endeavour taught her a lot about how to run a business.

But she added it was not something she learnt at school.

"I really think there should be more education about money and things such as tax and how to save your money," she added.

"It's a life skill and fundamental to running a business."

Expansion plans

This summer she will return to London to sell her products.

"My favourite part of the business is face-to-face selling and I am very excited to take my products back to the capital", Jemima said.

She added success of the company so far meant she had increased the price of her T-shirts to £17 and this enabled her to use thicker material with the addition of her own label to the back of the top.

Jemima said the next step for her business was to scale-up.

"I want to gain brand recognition, open more pop-up shops and gain a bigger Instagram following," she said.

"I am launching a new product, tank tops, next week and want to keep expanding the range [of products]."

A summit on how to tackle the causes of knife crime is being hosted by a centre for children and young people.

Friday's event at the Springs Family Centre in Northampton will also look at what voluntary sector organisations are doing to stop young people carrying knives.

"We delight in getting people into work or further education who then move on with their lives into adulthood away from the gangs, away from having to roam around the streets," said Clive Ireson, the centre's development manager.

The summit comes just weeks after an anti-knife crime campaign was launched by the Northamptonshire Serious Violence Prevention Partnership.

Mr Ireson said intervention by voluntary groups could make a difference and young people should be given positive options, including music and sport.

"You start by just being there," he said.

Professional youth mentor Quinton Green said he felt there was a shift happening across Northamptonshire and agencies and organisations were taking "leaps and bounds" in their efforts to highlight the dangers.

Mr Green said all families affected by knife crime shared one sentiment.

"They don't want anybody to experience or go through what they are going through.

"It's a life sentence for them, torn apart by tragedy and united in grief."

He said his work with young people involved talking about patterns of behaviour, self-regulation, conflict resolution and the dangers of carrying a knife.

"It does come from fear, it does come from insecurities… young people today have so many influences and so much imagery across social media.

"You can have a distorted sense of a world view so what we do is unpack that."

A 100-year-old woman has shared her memories of when she was evacuated from Guernsey ahead of the German Occupation in World War Two.

Marion Delbridge, who lived in St Sampson before the war, said her father was a docker and stayed while she, aged 16, her mother and sister were taken to London.

During World War Two, German forces invaded the island on 30 June 1940 and remained in occupation for five years.

"My dad would never go – he would be a real fish out of water," said Ms Delbridge.

'Weren't bringing in diseases'

On the boat from Guernsey to Weymouth, she said they knew people also evacuating and shared a cabin with two other families.

She said: "When we got to Weymouth… we were lined up outside some kind of a wall.

"It was raining and they looked down our throats and in our ears to make sure we weren't bringing in any diseases.

"Other people gathered to get on a train to Lancashire where a lot of Guernsey evacuees were going to be housed."

She said her family went on the train to London.

'The romantic bit'

Ms Delbridge said they stayed with cousins and aunties in Ealing, London, during the war where the three of them all found jobs.

Her mother's first job was making coffee in a hall and Ms Delbridge worked in a small factory where they made measuring instruments such as air meters and volt meters which she said was "very important for the war".

"Although it was a funny little place, we were doing good work," Ms Delbridge said.

On the first day at the factory, Ms Delbridge said she also happened to meet the love of her life.

She said: "Now this is the romantic bit.

"In this hallway there was a wooden door, and it opened and there was a young man with black hair.

"He eyed me up and down and quickly closed the door again and that's the start of a marriage that lasted forever with three grown up boys."

'Deckchair under the staircase'

She described life in London as somewhat "normal" as the family lived under one roof and on winter evenings, all of the women would knit together in front of the fireplace.

"My mother and sister had the back living room, and we had those wooden chairs which were quite popular at that time.

"They were chairs with loose cushions, and you could make them into a kind of bed.

"My sister and I were lucky we both had them in our room as my mum had a deckchair under the staircase."

'Keen to get home'

She said, "life went on" and the family were not always sitting there thinking about their father in Guernsey in the five years when they were separated.

"We eventually got the news over the radio our dear Channel Islands have been liberated and of course we were mad keen to get home.

"My sister and I went to some office… we told them our father was over 70 and we hadn't seen him for five years."

She said as a result she managed to get a "fairly early booking to come back" where their dad met them from the boat.

The authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo are seeking to lift former President Joseph Kabila's immunity from prosecution after accusing him of backing rebels in the east.

There was a "substantial body of documents, testimony and material facts" linking Kabila to the M23 armed group, Justice Minister Constant Mutamba said on Wednesday.

The M23 currently controls parts of the mineral-rich east of the country after making significant advances earlier this year.

Kabila, 53, has not commented on the accusations but has in the past denied any connection with the insurgents.

He led DR Congo for 18 years, after succeeding his father Laurent, who was shot dead in 2001. Joseph Kabila was just 29 at the time.

After stepping down, he was given the title of "senator for life", which gives him legal immunity.

In order to pursue a legal case, DR Congo's military prosecutor has asked the senate to overturn this.

Kabila has been living outside the country, in South Africa, for the past two years. But at the beginning of last month he said he would be returning to help find a solution to the conflict in the east.

A few weeks later, there were reports that the former president had come back and was in Goma, one of the cities captured by the M23.

But these were denied by his political party, the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD).

Last month, the authorities banned the PPRD because of its "ambiguous attitude" to the occupation of Congolese territory by the M23.

Justice Minister Mutamba, who last month ordered the seizure of Kabila's assets, said the former president should return to the country and "face justice… and present his defence".

DR Congo and Rwanda, which denies accusations it backs the M23, may be edging towards a peace deal to end the fighting, which has seen hundreds of thousands of civilians forced from their homes in recent months.

The two countries signed a preliminary agreement in Washington last week and said they would have a draft deal by Friday.

• PODCAST: Why are people talking about Kabila's return?
• What's the fighting in DR Congo all about?
• Your phone, a rare metal and the war in DR Congo

Who is Joseph Kabila?

After being sworn in as president following his father's death, Kabila twice won elections. His second and final elected term in office officially ended in December 2016, but he refused to step down, saying it wasn't possible to organise elections, leading to deadly protests.

He stayed in power for two more years until elections were finally held in 2018.

In January 2019, he handed power to Félix Tshisekedi, the official winner of a disputed election, which many election observers said was rightfully won by Martin Fayulu.

He accused Kabila and Tshisekedi of agreeing a deal to exclude him from power – something both men have denied.

But relations between the pair worsened and their parties' coalition was formally ended in December 2020.

Kabila left DR Congo in 2023, officially to study in South Africa.

In January 2024, his doctoral thesis on the geopolitics of African relations with the US, China and Russia was validated at the University of Johannesburg.

More about the conflict in DR Congo from the BBC:

A police officer has been dismissed and barred from the profession after pleading guilty to being drunk and disorderly in public.

Det Sgt Gareth Snoad from Wiltshire Police was arrested when off duty last October – he was involved in a incident in Liverpool and heard at Merseyside Magistrates Court in December 2024.

A gross misconduct hearing at the force headquarters on 24 April concluded he had breached standards of professional behaviour and was dismissed without notice.

Deputy Chief Constable Mark Cooper called the behaviour "simply not acceptable".

"We expect the highest standards of professional behaviour from our officers and staff, both on and off duty.

"I would like to reassure our communities that we will continue to act robustly where behaviour is reported to us that falls short of what our communities expect and deserve.

"Only through doing this can we ensure that we maintain the highest standards of professional behaviour and build the trust and confidence of the communities we are here to serve" said DCC Cooper.

A company which runs a helicopter passenger service between the Isles of Scilly and the mainland is expanding its fleet to meet increased demand.

Penzance Helicopters runs up to 11 daily flights between the islands and Penzance, taking up to 10 people per crossing.

The company said the addition of another helicopter would increase its fleet to three aircraft and allow up to 17 crossings per day.

David Page, Penzance Heliport base manager, said passenger numbers had increased by 30% since helicopter operators Starspeed took over running the service in 2022.

"The addition of a third aircraft will make a significant investment in the resilience, reliability and extra flights to the islands which is obviously what we need," Mr Page told BBC Radio Cornwall.

He added: "Initially we'll lease it [the aircraft] for a long-term period with the aim, eventually, to purchase it like we've done with the other two.

"The two we're running at the moment ranged between about £15m and £20m."

Mr Page said the business had connected with the community and held classes for schools and invited the local Women's Institute group for a tour.

"It's an ambition of mine to really connect with our neighbours and the community and we have worked hard as a team to do that over the past three years," he said.

Penzance Helicopters expect to receive their new aircraft in August and have it in operation for summer 2026.

The body of a "vulnerable" 16-year-old boy who went missing at the weekend has been identified.

Athrun, who was autistic, and believed to be wearing only blue and white patterned swim shorts and no footwear, was reported missing from West Shore Beach in Llandudno, Conwy county at about 14:00 BST on 10 May.

After an extensive sea search, North Wales Police recovered a body and it was identified as Athrun, from South Gloucestershire on Thursday.

Ch Insp Trystan Bevan said: "Our thoughts are very much with Athrun's family, who wish to thank all agencies and members of the public for their overwhelming support with the search, and for not giving up on his recovery."

He added: "This is not the outcome anyone hoped for, but we hope it can now provide some answers for Athrun's family."

A four-year-old girl's appearance on BBC drama Casualty helped prompt 5,000 new blood donor registrations, the NHS has said.

Beatrix, from Burnopfield, County Durham, who spent more than a year in Newcastle's Freeman Hospital waiting for a new heart, appeared in the Christmas special to highlight the importance of donation.

Along with thousands of new donations, the episode also saw 10,000 extra appointments made to donate blood.

Dad Terry said the scale of the impact was "absolutely staggering" and that Beatrix's life had been saved "multiple times over" by blood donors.

Beatrix's family filmed the episode for the TV medical drama in September at their home and at Durham Fire Station.

Terry said his daughter was "in her element" while filming, and when the crew were "asking her to do a thumbs up, she was being cheeky and purposely doing a thumbs down".

The NHS said the episode, which featured a number of people who had been affected by blood donation, prompted a "fantastic response" and that 1,200 appointments were booked in the hour immediately after the episode aired.

Beatrix had her heart transplant in June 2023 and needed multiple blood transfusions both during and in the run up to the operation.

When Terry heard about the number of people who had signed up, he said he was "blown away and absolutely gobsmacked".

"We owe a massive debt of gratitude to every single person that has given blood and continues to do so," he said.

The NHS said it needed "5,000 donations every day to meet the needs of hospitals and patients".

The episode, All I Want for Christmas, is available on iPlayer and was first shown on BBC One on 21 December.

Plans have been lodged to convert an empty unit in Rotherham into a craft ale and coffee house.

The unit, on Wickersley Road, was last used as a dental training centre but has been vacant for several years.

Under a proposal submitted to Rotherham Council, the venue would be named Barrel & Bean and would offer teas, cakes, local craft ales and cold food platters.

Planning officers have recommended the scheme be approved by councillors at a meeting on 12 June.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the business would be spread over two floors, with seating at ground level and a storage and preparation space to the rear of the lower ground floor.

A flat on the first floor would remain in residential use.

The venue would open daily, according to the application, and operate from 09:00 BST to 21:00 or 22:30, depending on the day.

The proposal attracted 16 letters of support and 11 objections, with concerns ranging from potential late night noise to increased litter.

Some added there was a known problem with rats near the property and they feared there would also be a lack of parking.

Supporters argued that the venue would fill a local need for coffee shops and social spaces.

They praised its emphasis on sourcing local produce.

Several also suggested that such venues typically attract a more mature clientele and would bring new life to an otherwise underused unit.

Council planning officers concluded that the proposal was in line with the authority's local plan.

In response to noise concerns, the applicant has agreed to a number of proposed conditions, including no outdoor seating, no live or amplified music, and restricted operating hours.

South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds

Brad Arnold, the singer with US rock band 3 Doors Down, has revealed he has been diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer.

The 46-year-old said in an Instagram video that he has "clear cell renal carcinoma that had metastasised into my lung", adding: "And that's stage four, and that's not real good."

The band made it big in the early 2000s with hits like Kryptonite, Here Without You and It's Not My Time, and have sold more than 13 million albums in the US.

"Now, I believe It's Not My Time is really my song," Arnold wrote to fans in an accompanying caption. "This'll be a battle so we need our prayers warriors!"

3 Doors Down emerged from Mississippi to break through with their hit Kryptonite, which reached number three in the US in 2000.

Their debut album The Better Life was the 11th biggest-selling album of the year in their home country.

They returned to the top five with the 2002 singles Here Without You and When I'm Gone, and scored US number one albums with Seventeen Days in 2005 and a self-titled LP in 2008.

They also performed at President Trump's first inauguration in 2017.

In his video, the singer and drummer said: "You know what, we serve almighty God, and he can overcome anything. So I have no fear. I am really, sincerely not scared of it at all.

"But it is going to force us to cancel our tour this summer, and we're sorry for that.

"And I'd love for you to lift me up in prayer every chance you get, and I think it's time for me to maybe go listen to It's Not My Time a little bit, right?"

Clear cell renal carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer, and stage four is the most serious, meaning it has spread to another part of the body.