24/03/2017 East Midlands Today

And now the news for the East Midlands, I'm Emily Anderson.

First tonight, one of the region's most colourful characters says

being beaten up and robbed by two men on his rounds

David Bartram from Nottingham is one of the UK's few

Medical checks after the attack revealed something

David didn't know - that he had cancer.

Our health Correspondent Rob Sissons has been finding out

how being mugged has given him the chance

to get the crucial medical treatment he needs.

I'm called the Cockle Man or the Fish Man by everybody in Nottingham!

But recently, walking between pubs in Nottingham city centre,

he says he was punched and pushed to the ground.

If they had been in front of me, I could have done

Rib injuries and they still hurt now.

Even in pain, he has kept up the job.

He says, in a strange way, the attackers have

His medical check revealed bowel cancer.

I didn't want it, I could have done without the pain,

Now 70, David is determined to keep working, to take his mind not only

off the disease but also continue a pub tradition.

I've got a dog myself, and four walls.

Nottingham people wanted me to do it.

I do it for Collecting for Rainbows charity.

David has not yet reported the attack to the police.

He believes his cancer has been caught early but is awaiting

He's struggling to make sense of why he was targeted.

Because Nottingham people wouldn't do that to me.

Well, tonight, Dave's back at work here at

He says this has been a really strange way to find out

because he had no symptoms of the disease.

He says anyone who is offered a test should take it up.

There's been an armed raid on a Leicestershire

Police say two men threatened staff and customers at the Shepshed branch

of the Nottingham Building Society, with what appeared to be a shotgun.

It happened at around one o'clock this afternoon.

No one was hurt but the robbers escaped with cash.

Severn Trent says a major route in Derby will remain closed

until next Tuesday after a major water main burst.

It happened on Mansfield Road in Chester Green last weekend -

There have been long traffic delays across the city as a result.

Severn Trent says the road closure's lasted longer than expected

Next tonight, fire services across the East Midlands are urging

Firefighters say they're having to deal with hundreds

Derbyshire Fire Service training in Alfreton today.

But at any moment, these officers may have to rush to an emergency,

It's frustrating that some fires aren't accidents

Fire officers hope people will be on the lookout

We stand ready to respond 24 hours a day.

Clearly we can't be in two places at once.

So whilst we are dealing with the deliberately ignited car

or pile of rubbish or a disused building, then we're not

immediately available for house fires and the like,

Arson can be just pointless destruction.

People also set fires to illegally claim on insurance.

Since April last year, Derbyshire Fire Service had to deal

There were more than 950 in Leicestershire.

And in Nottinghamshire, close to 1500.

That means there are around nine deliberate fires

The authorities are also keen for people to spot situations that

As well as the potential loss of life, 60% of businesses never

recover or close within three years of being deliberately set on fire.

The ?2 million renovation of one of our finest churches

The parish church of St Mary's in Melton Mowbray closed

When it re-opens later this year, one of the centre-pieces will be

as James Roberson's been finding out.

At his studio in Medbourne in East Leicestershire,

Derek Hunt is at work on his latest commission, a new stained-glass

window he has designed force and Mary's Church in Melton.

It is currently closed while a ?1.9 million

renovation takes place including relaying the floor.

The church currently has this plain window and Derek has created

a modern design but the working method is anything but.

Basically, stained-glass is a medieval process and we're

making it the same way medieval craftsmen made it centuries ago.

It's a system that was devised in the 12th century and it has

The colour is in the glass itself and then the paint is put

onto the surface of the glass and then fired in the kiln.

Those behind the church's restoration are delighted

with the way the new window is shaping up.

It is in memory of John Plumb, who left money for the refurbishment.

the benefactor wanted us to update to the history of Melton Mowbray, so

we have Jerusalem here. You have a fox, relating to fox hunting and

Stilton cheese and pork pie. You have the bird, that is lower down

with a paintbrush, indicating painting the town red, which comes

from Melton Mowbray. Derek and the congregation

at Saint Mary's are looking forward to the church and the new window

being completed this autumn. I'll leave you with Rebecca Wood who

has the weekend's weather forecast. Well, the clocks are going for this

weekend and it's Mothering Sunday. Well, the clocks are going

forward this weekend The good news for all

of that is we got plenty It is going to be springlike out

there with some clear spells of sunshine and dry and bright this

weekend, with high-pressure So through tonight, we got clearing

skies, are temperatures So through tonight, we got clearing

skies, our temperatures Some mist and fog patches developing

here and there but we are looking at our temperatures dipping down

to two or three Celsius. We start the day with that

high-pressure still sitting The wind is dropping out,

though, so that's going A little bit of mist and fog

lingering through the morning but eventually the sun will come up,

burning that off, and it will be a dry and bright day

with lots of lovely sunshine. Still a bit of a breeze

along the coast, so that will affect temperatures,

just 10 Celsius there, but we should see them climbing

to 13 Celsius further inland. More sunshine to come

as we head through the day on Mothering Sunday and,

again, our temperatures managing There's more information on all of

that in the national forecast next. weather outlook for the whole of the

Good evening. It is good news on the weather front for most of the UK. We

have been forecasting fine weather for a few days. It has certainly