08/11/2013 BBC Wales Today

Typhoon as it heads towards Vietnam this

Welcome to Wales Today. Tonight's headlines: 16-year-old soldiers.

These teenagers are preparing for the army. The call tonight to raise

the recruitment age to 18. I am ready now and I am mentally and

physically ready but I would be hard to motivate myself. I have good

qualifications which will also help me in the army but there is not that

much around employment wise for people my age.

Also tonight: A mother dies after giving birth at Wrexham Maelor

Hospital. The inquest hears she wasn't given medication quickly

enough after surgery. A call for low-paid workers to get a

living wage to save the economy millions. But can businesses here

afford it? One of the country's biggest private

landlords says his company could be at risk as tenants' struggle to cope

with benefit changes. In sport: And all the build-up to

the first autumn international. One coach says a win against South

Africa would be one of Wales' best results.

Good evening. 16-year-olds can't drive or buy alcohol, but they can

join the Army. A policy that should change according to the bishops at

the Church in Wales. They're backing a campaign to up the recruitment age

of soldiers to 18 and have signed a letter to the Ministry of Defence.

But the UK government says a military career offers many benefits

to young recruits. Natasha Llewelyn reports.

At the age of 16, Army recruits are preparing for this: Life on the

front line. They can't be deployed until they are 18 but they are still

trained to fight wars. That training can start at military training

colleges like this one in the Heads of the Valleys. Around 40 youngsters

aged 16 and 17 come here five times a week. They usually spend a year at

the college before joining the Army. It was a big decision to make but

looking at my options, I have good confiscations, which will also help

me in the Army, there are not that many things around employment wise

for people my age. I would be gutted if it got taken

back to 18. I feel physically and mentally ready and it would be hard

to motivate myself. A job would be hard to come by.

I think my fitness would have dropped. South Wales has always been

a good recruitment ground because of the high level of unemployment.

Child Soldiers International once the mostly of defence to end the

recruitment of under 18 's -- the Ministry of Defence to end the

recruitment of under-18s. I don't think that people joining and 16 are

more likely to end up as one of those statistics, it really doesn't

matter what age you join the army, you are exposed to the same

environment. I know that if you join at 16 years

old, in the military you are not exposed to any type of combat

environment until you are 18. But the Church in Wales say 16 is too

young. Are they really aware of the rigours

of the training that would be involved? And what might actually

face them were said to be deployed to a combat zone at the age of 18?

The question is whether they are ready for it physically and,

possibly more importantly, psychologically?

But they don't have to stay. Figures from the MoD show that across the

UK, just under the 1000 16-year-old were recruited to the Army in 2012.

Almost half of them left during training. Somebody who didn't leave

was Lloyd Rees. He signed up at 16 and stayed in the Armed Forces for

many years. His brother joined at 18 but Lloyd says he was better off

starting younger. I am not an academic at all but the army opened

up a whole new world for me. It gave me all the verification is

an basic skills in life that you need.

The MoD agrees. need.

The MoD It says the campaign ignores the benefits and opportunities that

a military career offers young people and that the Army provides

them with education, training and employment. The campaign comes at a

sensitive time, with many commemorating the Remembrance Day.

These recruits say they are aware of the dangers of war and they know

they have made the right decision. Natasha Llewelyn reporting. A

coroner has said lessons must be learned following the death of a

mother from a blood clot just hours after she gave birth.

Elizabeth Maddocks from Wrexham died in February last year. Our reporter

Matthew Richards is outside Wrexham Maelor Hospital. Just remind us

first of all of what happened? When Elizabeth Maddocks was admitted

in February, she was looking forward to the birth of her daughter and the

fact she was getting married in December that year. Less than 24

hours after she underwent an emergency Caesarean and her daughter

was born safe and well, she died of a blood clot. It was heard at the

inquest that surgeons had recommended she be given some

anti-clotting medication within six hours of the operation, about midday

on the day that she died. That wasn't administered until more than

12 hours later because a chart that had the drugs she was needing had

gone missing. She complained about her legs swelling but was told that

was normal after the operation. She died during the early hours of the

following morning and her family were devastated. Her partner issued

a statement today. We know that the health board has taken certain steps

to try to reduce the chances of any other women dying in circumstances

such as this. We also note that the coroner is

making enquiries into other issues which the health board will address

at the hearing. We feel strongly that had Elizabeth received the

care, her death would have been avoided.

What conclusions did the coroner reach?

Some of the evidence we heard from the medical teams. If she had been

given this medicine slightly earlier, it may not have had an

impact. The plot may have been to well formed and impervious to this

kind of anti-clotting medication. Nonetheless, there were certain

systems that weren't in place that perhaps would have stopped something

like this happening to you said he was going to write to the health

board to make sure the review had now implemented its own

recommendations to make sure this kind of thing didn't happen to

anyone else and as you learn from that statement, the family and

friends of Elizabeth Maddocks working to make sure that didn't

happen. Police looking for a Pembrokeshire

man missing in London have found a body in the Thames. 23-year-old

Gianni Sonvico, who's originally from Goodwick, has been missing

since the end of October. His family have been informed, while formal

identification takes place. It's been confirmed that one adult

reported an incident involving Jimmy Savile at Cardiff Royal Infirmary

that's alleged to have taken place in the early 1960s. Cardiff and Vale

NHS Trust say they've been working with South Wales Police and the

Department of Health over the matter. The Infirmary is one of 13

hospitals involved in the investigation of Savile, who's

suspected of abusing patients at NHS hospitals.

The new chief constable of Gwent Police is promising to listen more

carefully to staff and officers in the force. Jeff Farrar officially

took up the post this morning - he was the only person to apply. His

predecessor Carmel Napier was forced to retire earlier this year by the

area's Police and Crime Commissioner Ian Johnston. The new chief

constable says there has been a sea change in attitude at the force.

I think now both the Commissioner, myself, the chief officer team and

senior officers, what I'm saying is you need to listen to what your

staff are saying. Otherwise you are not leading the service properly.

A private sector landlord with more than 700 homes says benefit changes

could put his business at risk. The UK government says it's making the

system fairer. But Carmarthenshire based Kevin Green fears tenants will

fall behind on their rent, when a new system of paying benefits is

introduced. Our political reporter Daniel Davies spent the day with

him. Kevin Green, a landlord and an

entrepreneur but he is concerned about the knock-on effect of welfare

reform stop what we find is if welfare payments are put in the

Tennents hand, they are not taught in school how to run a home and they

can't budget. It will lead to careers. He has

built a small property empire with more than 700 homes around

Carmarthenshire. I spent the morning with him to hear

how he thinks the overhaul to the welfare state with changes business.

I met one of his tenants, Stacey, a mother of 11 children. Nine of whom

live with her in Llanelli. The benefits were cut in August and she

gets just over ?500 per week that she is behind on the rent.

I can't afford to pay all my bills. I've run out of money before I am

due to get my next lot of an effect. And struggling.

We don't know how many people here in Carmarthenshire will have had

their benefits cut but they just over 700 people in Wales were

affected. A much bigger change to the welfare system is on it's way.

Universal credit will merge six benefit payments into an monthly

payment. Kevin Green is worried about the results of a trial run

where rent arrears went up. I was immersed myself in 1984 so I

tend to be towards high-priority tenants who have had faculties. -- I

was homeless myself. The UK government says it wants to

restore fairness to a system that was allowed to spiral out of

control. It is working on exemptions for tenants and landlords and said

monthly payments will make it easier for people to move into work. Kevin

Green was sleeping rough years ago but now he teaches other people have

to make a fortune. Universal credit is due to be phased in over four

years in a week where MPs have criticised the government 's

handling of it, this wealth coach says he is not convinced it will

work out. And you can see more on that story

on Sunday Politics here on BBC One Wales from 12:25pm.

on Sunday Politics here But still to come tonight:

on Sunday Politics here But still The story of one young

First World War soldier who never came home to Wales.

The economy in Wales could be more than ?150 million a year better off

if low paid workers were given a living wage. That's according to the

TUC here, who say if workers received ?7.45 an hour they'd

contribute more in tax and receive fewer benefits. Some businesses

argue higher wages would result in job cuts. Our economics

correspondent Sarah Dickins has spent the day at one business in

Brecon. Garlic from Spain, to be transformed

into puree to end up in sauces and baguettes and all in Brecon. Edward

and his mother set up this company 20 years ago. They started pureeing

garlic and ginger and now they use 20 tonnes of garlic a week.

Businesses supplying the food industry tend to keep costs low to

compete. 100 people work here. 40 of them are paid around ?7 20 an hour.

That is 90p more than the minimum wage but paying a living wage would

cost the company an extra ?10 a week for each of them. Some businesses

are due -- argue that they might have to cut jobs if they had to pay

the living wage. Do you have to rework materials? Do

you have to hold disciplinary? This is a physical cost of money.

If a mistake is made in a food factory, it can cost millions.

Reliable staff are crucial. Leo has worked here for more than two and a

half years and his partner looks after their toddler full-time. He is

pleased to get more than the minimum wage but there's even an extra 20p

an hour would make a difference. I would be able to save money to

take my family on holiday and I would be able to buy a car and have

the happy life everyone is after. They are producing 4.5 tonnes of

chilli paste a week, working flat-out in the run-up to

Christmas. Workers here earned more than the

minimum wage but less than the living wage. One in four of us earn

in that bracket but the debate this week is about whether putting pay up

by a pound and other would actually help workers or mean there were

fewer jobs? There is significant support around Wales for the

argument that companies would shed staff if they had to increase wages.

We work on the margin where we can't afford to pay an extra pound an

hour, that makes you wonder if it is viable. It is all about policy and

reliably supplying customers that is the message from here but other

family firms say they just can't afford it.

Five people have been taken to hospital following two separate

fires in south-west Wales this morning. Police helped two people

escape from a house in Haverfordwest this morning and crews were called

out to a kitchen fire in Pentrefelin near Llandeilo, where three more

were rescued. The cause of both blazes is being investigated.

People are being warned to keep their dogs off beaches in the Vale

of Glamorgan as several pets have needed urgent treatment after eating

poisonous rancid fat. The council says the degraded palm oil, which is

washing up on the coast near Ogmore by Sea, is no threat to humans

unless it's ingested. They say they'll be clearing it away on a

daily basis. Similar incidents have been reported in Cornwall.

One of the world's biggest literary prizes was awarded to American

author, Claire Vaye Watkins in Swansea last night. The 29-year-old

from California won the ?30,000 Dylan Thomas prize for her book

Battleborn, beating off competition from seven other young writers from

all over the world, including a poet from Aberystwyth.

So, the first of the autumn internationals this weekend.

Ashleigh's here looking forward to the weekend.

Good evening. After a successful Six Nations and a victorious Lions Tour,

the message from the Wales camp is no more excuses as they hunt a major

Southern Hemisphere scalp. South Africa tomorrow is the first of four

matches this month which concludes with a visit from Australia.

Nearly but not quite. That has been the story against South Africa and

the other southern hemisphere teams for the current generation of

players for Wales. They have lost the last four matches against the

Springboks by less than a single score. Sam Warburton thinks the

problem had been in the players heads. They didn't believe they

could when. But he says the team of 2013 is different. We have been

billing as a Welsh team for a few years and I think now is the time

where 23 boys want to go out and expect to win on Saturday.

There are not going to be massive celebrations if we do because we

feel like it is what is expected of us, really. I think that can then

kick-start us on. The coaching scene think this could have a major

bearing on the next World Cup. History shows that the serious

contenders for the trophy start beating the world's best sides in

the build-up. England went through that process in

2003 and four as to be involved in potential World Cup finals, we have

to beat Southern Hemisphere sides on the way and I think you have to do

that before rather than during. That is why it is key to us to do it over

the next few weeks. Wales lost unexpectedly in the opening week of

the last year's series and they hoped lessons have been learnt.

Jonathan Davies was back in the classroom last week at his old

school. He helped to launch the new digital comic for the WRU. It

features a victorious rugby playing Dragon, a description that he hopes

will fit him come 7pm tomorrow. The teachers are far nicer to me now

than they were in school. We have got a real edge about us and we

understand it is important to move forward and get results against

these teams. No question of a slow start by South

Africa. They are up to speed after pushing the all Blacks close in the

rugby championship. Of us for Wales, they had to start this campaign as

they finished the six Nations, creating a new winning feeling for

Welsh rugby. And you can catch the match on BBC

Two Wales from 5:00pm tomorrow evening, or there's commentary on

BBC Radio Wales and Radio Cymru. Wales manager Chris Coleman has been

discussing his future with officials from the Football Association of

Wales. His current deal runs out after a friendly against Finland

later this month. Today Coleman also named his squad for that match which

sees a recall for Gareth Bale who missed October's two World Cup

qualifiers through injury. Swansea City manager Michael Laudrup

said he was encouraged by an improved performance by his side,

despite conceding a late equaliser at Kuban Krasnodar in the Europa

League. Two points from their final two group matches will guarantee the

Swans advance to the knock-out stages. They host Stoke in the

Premier League on Sunday. We will try everything that we can

to win again because it is the first Premier League game after we lost

the Derby. I have to repeat what I just said, can I just say that it is

a game we just have to win because we are much better than the other

team are very arrogant to say and I'm not arrogant.

After their win in the South Wales derby last Sunday, Cardiff City are

at Aston Villa in the Premier League tomorrow.

And it's also FA Cup First Round weekend - Newport County are at

Braintree while Wrexham host Alfreton.

And finally Wales' rugby league players will be hoping to restore

some pride as their World Cup campaign comes to an end this

weekend. After defeats to Italy and the US - Iestyn Harris' side have no

chance of making the quarter finals. They face the Cook Islands in Neath

on Sunday. Plenty more build-up to the weekend

of sport on Sport Wales on BBC Two Wales from 7:00pm.

Lucy, back to you. Also this weekend, the nation's

thoughts will turn once again to remembrance with services in

villages, towns and cities across the country. They'll recall the

sacrifice made in all conflicts. As preparations get underway to mark

next year's centenary of the start of the First World War, Roger Pinney

tells the story of one young man who never came home to Wales.

A freshfaced young man, eager to do his best. Tom Williams was proud to

be in uniform at last. He volunteered, lying about his age to

get in. A soldier who must have travelled to the Western front with

excitement and perhaps some doubt about what lay ahead. Like so many,

he never came back. I do think about him. His story

tells the story for everyone else, really. The home he left behind is

just around the corner of a war memorial that bears his name.

His niece passes it most days as she lives in the village. Almost a

century but a generation removed from her ankle's sacrifice. They

must have all done the same thing and their families must have gone

through the same pain and anguish when they lost them.

Tom Williams died in 1917, during the first days of the battleship --

and I'll -- the battle of Passchendaele. The grave of so many

of his colleagues are now in the war cemeteries which. The battlefield

but Tom Williams has no headstone. His body was never found. He is

remembered here. At this late, the last Post ceremony

is a ritual laid out every night of the year. The gate is the memorial

to the missing. 56,000 of those who have no known grave. With the help

of fulfilled historian Erwin, I found his name in amongst so many

other Williamses who served like him in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. What

hope now that his body might be found?

There is always a slight chance we find every year a number of bodies

and very occasionally, a body is identified. It is very rare and it

doesn't happen very often. There are still so many bodies out there which

have never had a proper grave. You cannot remain untouched by this

story. The parents of Tom Williams received a letter of condolence from

the King and it is kept with letters from the front.

The family has kept mementos of Tom Williams. This was his swagger

stick, the regimental insignia of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. This

letter was sent just two weeks before he died. In it he asks for

some home comforts to be sent out, some cake and cigarettes. Then there

is this one a short while later. It says he is missing in action and a

little while after that, the family received this letter, informing them

that he had been killed. As my mother got older, she used to tell

us things about having the one brother and how Tom was killed when

he was very young. He was the only boy in the family,

which was a bit of a tragedy for my Nana. The stories I've had are

really from these letters that I found which, I think, tell me about

him, rather than just having the photographs. I can think about him

as a real person and what a brave young man he was, really.

And the story of Tom Williams speaks for his generation. A generation

which gave so much. And the sacrifice which in places like

Afghanistan continues to this day. Roger Pinney reporting.

And the Rememberance Sunday commemorations will be televised

live from the Cenotaph in Whitehall from 10:20pm on BBC One.

Let's get this weekend's weather forecast now with Sue Charles.

It is a wet and windy start and end to the weekend but in between, not

too bad. Sunny spells and chilly with blustery showers. Through this

evening scattered showers will continue for a time. Some clear

spells inland. Temperatures falling to two Celsius along the marches but

a band of heavy rain pushing into the south-west by Dawn. It chilly

start and wet and windy in the south as the front shoes eastwards,

bringing 5-10 millimetres of rain. That will clear to leave sunshine

and a few showers in the afternoon which could you wintry in the

hills. Colder than today with temperatures in single figures.

Between six and nine Celsius. Quite chilly and breezy if you are heading

for the first of the autumn internationals in Cardiff. Largely

dry with a couple of showers. The showers will ease tomorrow night and

it will turn colder. A brief ridge of high pressure building behind

this front and the winds will ease with temperatures plummeting and

those clear skies. It could be one of the coldest nights so far this

autumn. A widespread frost early Sunday inland and then a crisp,

bright and cold morning for Remembrance Sunday with plenty of

sunshine but cloud thickening. Then rain will push into the West by late

afternoon, spreading eastwards by the evening. Further heavy rain to

come, 20-30 millilitres is likely and strong winds overnight into

Monday. Clearing through Monday itself and then turning triad, drier

and brighter. A wet and windy start and end to the weekend with some

decent Sunny spells in between and an unsettled dart to next week. High

pressure will build a allowing more settled weather but colder by

Tuesday and Wednesday. Today's picture is from Rick, taking during

a brief right spell between the showers. Sunshine and showers sums

up the weather of the weekend. The main news again from the BBC: A

Royal Marine had been found guilty of murdering an injured Afghan

insurgent in what the prosecution called an execution.

A military court heard how he admitted to his colleagues that he

had just broken the Geneva Convention after shooting the man on

patrol in Helmand province. To other Marines were acquitted of the

murder. One of the strongest storms ever

recorded has drawn through the central islands of the Philippines,

causing landslides flash floods and power lines brought down.

Authorities say 12 million people are at risk. The Church in Wales is

backing a campaign from the human rights group, Child Soldiers

International to end the recruitment of under-18s into the army.

At the moment anyone aged 16 and over can be recruited. The Ministry

of Defence says a military career offers many benefits to young

recruits. And that is Wales Today. There's a

quick update at 8:00pm, more news at 10:25pm. For now though, from all of

us on the programme, have a good weekend.