13/04/2014 East Midlands Today

With your news now for the East Midlands, I'm Maurice Flynn.

Members of Leicester's Sikh community have collected a record

amount of food today, to support families in need. A food drive's

been held in the city as part of celebrations for Vaisakhi.

Organisers say over 11 tonnes has been collected. Emily Anderson

reports. People from across the city arrive

with boxes and bags of food. Everything donated will be given to

charities. In the current circumstances, with a lot of people

out on the streets, we thought it would be good to do a drive that

affected local people. It is the most important day in the seek

calendar because it underlines the principles of the faith to help

others. It means donating things to the temple, helping people out who

are in need. Part of being a Sikh is about giving back to the community

and offering what ever you can. Tomorrow thousands of people across

the region will celebrate Vaisakhi but here the spirit of generosity

has come early. A priest who works in the Southwell

and Nottingham diocese has become the first member of clergy in

Britain to have a gay marriage. Canon Jeremy Pemberton, who is a

chaplain at Lincoln County Hospital, and also runs occasional services in

Nottinghamshire, wed his long`term partner this weekend. In a statement

the Bishop of Lincoln said the priest had written to him about his

plans and they'd held a meeting in which he explained the Church's

current guidelines. Health experts are encouraging more

people to donate blood in the East Midlands, particularly as stocks

drop over Easter. They especially want donors who have the O negative

and B negative blood type. Our health correspondent, Rob Sissons,

reports. Saving a life can start here. Each

donation of blood has the potential to save three lives but with the

summer holidays on the way and Easter around the corner it gets

harder for the service to get donors. Clare has been volunteering

for years. It does not take very long so it is not an inconvenience

to get here. Blood is in demand because certain ethnic groups are

more prone to diseases that require it. On negative is also very

valuable. It can be given to anybody in an emergency situation so if

there was not time to find out what somebody's blood group is they can

be given on negative. Felix has this blood type and Rembrandt to fit this

into a busy life is the biggest challenge. I am going to start

getting into giving blood again. Football now, and Derby County have

virtually confirmed their place in the play`offs. It's after their

stunning 3`1 victory over Huddersfield this weekend. With

details of that game, and the rest, here's Natalie Jackson.

Derby County came from a goal down to beat nine man Huddersfield. Steve

McClaren's Rams were scoring for fun. Johnny Russell clipped in a

lovely equaliser. The away goal keeper put the ball into his own net

to give the Rams the lead before Chris Martin sealed the win with a

penalty, his 21st goal of the season. Nottingham Forest's

play`offs hope is all but over after a defeat at QPR. They will `` Bay

are 11th in the table with no wins in 12. Notts County pulled off a

great win at home. They battled back from 2`0 down to beat Port Vale and

climb out of the relegation zone. Mansfield are having a late surge. A

stunning 3`0 win over second placed Rochdale means they are just six

points off a play`off spot with four games to go. At the London marathon,

Great Britain and Nottingham's Paralympic champion Richard

Whitehead had an incredible reception. Richard completed the

race in three hours 42 minutes and four seconds. His incredible 12

months has taken in a barely believable 40 marathons in 40 days

for charity. He was one of the most recognisable faces to the London

crowds this afternoon. Our weather woman mail took part as

well. `` Mel. If you missed out on the sunshine

today never mind is because there is plenty on offer tomorrow. Dry and

sunny. We will see more cloud building through the evening and the

first part of the night, maybe some light showers here and there, but

the skies will clear behind that and it will turn a little chilly as

well, Northern areas down to four Celsius. Tomorrow, plenty of

sunshine, the clouds coming and going into the afternoon. The winds

will be a bit lighter and temperatures up to 13 or 14 degrees.

We got to 17 degrees in the sunshine in London and many places enjoyed a

pleasant day. A different story for the zero wherein was quite wet and

windy. You