15/12/2011 Look East - East

Hello and welcome to the programme. The headlines: es which footballer

addicted to gambling saved from his creditors are by the club.

So far they have handed over a quarter of a million pounds. He is

try to sort himself out. We're trying to help him. It is good to

be a rock long and rocky road. The high street loses its festive

sparkle as more shoppers tighten their belts. It has not been as

busy as we expected it to be. Seals are law.

Just not good enough. MPs queue up to condemn the rail service into

Liverpool Street. And 108 years old today, it would

raises a glass to his latest milestone. -- Edwards raises a

glass. Ipswich Town Football Club has

confirmed its lend a quarter of a million pounds to one of its star

players to stave off the loan sharks. The club only recently

admitted that Michael Chopra had been seeking help for an addiction

to gambling. The scale of the player's debts has taking many by

surprise. It was town say they acted because Chopra was clearly in

trouble with the people he owed money to.

Michael Chopra's ongoing battle with gambling was revealed publicly

six weeks ago. He decided to seek help, not for the first time. The

club said it would back him all the way. That is meant not just sorting

out rehabilitation, but also giving him a huge loan to keep the money

lenders at bay. Bizarrely, details about his lawn and the sheer scale

of Chopra's debts have come to light because of a trial underway

in Newcastle. There is no suggestion that opera is linked to

any of the alleged offences, but the court has been told about

�50,000 which was apparently found in the food will of a Jaguar car.

It has been suggested that the money was a payment made by top as

an instalment to settle debts in the North of England. The club's

Chief Executive gave evidence to the court, speaking about the

club's own he said I was aware that Michael was concerned about keeping

the money on time, he needed to pay the money back or he would find

himself in trouble. There were not the sort of people that I would be

going to if I wanted to borrow money. The court was also told how

to opera had apparently been confronted at the club's training

ground by what appeared to be a debt collector. This morning, the

club's manager said the club is doing everything it can to help.

is trying to sort himself out and it is going to be a long and rocky

road. We are tried to help him. We wanted to try and forget about it

and score goals. The club is doing the right thing to help the player

out. He is going to take -- pay the money back, I take it. It is an

illness, which is treatable. I think the club should support him.

As for Michael Chopra's team-mates, some of them at the children's

Hospice this afternoon, bearing gifts. The focus is Christmas, not

controversy. You cannot talk about Michael Chopra Atul? Know. The club

knew about Michael Chopra's problems when they signed him, it

has a duty to help him. Mike Pickup is a psychotherapist

who helps people with gambling problems, he is with us now. If

anyone is watching us and they have a similar problem to Michael Chopra,

what should they do? The most important thing is to talk to

someone, a friend or family, the real point of this is that a

problem shared is a problem halved. With this kind of addiction, they

tend to be may be more secrecy than with other ones. A huge amount of

secrecy with gambling. It is something that people can do by

themselves, his face at home playing bingo. Michael Chopra doing

what he has done. It is something that needs to be brought out into

the open. What kind of help is out there for people have this

addiction? There is very little help, really. The main people to

contact could be done care, a charity which deals with people

with gambling addiction. And friends and family, and to talk to

a councillor if you can find one. Even if they sort out their

addiction, what often happens in Michael Chopra's case we can see

this, they have huge problems of debt. Not everyone has a football

club that can help them. What should they do about that? Again,

make sure you talk to someone. Seek advice from friends and family.

Often a solicitor will get a half- an-hour's consultation about what

to do. The terrifying thing about this addiction is the loan sharks.

And the fear that they can bring to people's lives. That is actually

illegal, as did? It is. If anyone wants to work on a government

website for loan sharks, they will see that it is go to the police. It

is illegal. As far as you are aware from your work, how widespread the

problem is this? It is a very widespread problem. You can see

from people using scratch cards to playing bingo at home to more

serious gambling on horses and all of the betting offices that are

springing up everywhere, it is a very big problem that people have,

not being able to pay for the gambling that they do. And getting

more widespread because the internet? I think so. And if you

would like to talk to someone about gambling addiction, there is

gambling and face at gamblersanonymous.org.uk.

Official figures out today show that I streets across the region

are still suffering the effects of the weak economy. Spending dead by

not 0.4% in November, despite widespread discounting. -- spending

bit. Tonight is late night shopping and Peterborough, let's go there

now. Does it look busy? Judge for

yourself. This is the time of year of her shops me to see customers

pouring through their doors. This is what they are doing. Big sales.

We are seeing these are much sooner than usual. Speaking to people here,

they say that trading this year is much tougher than last.

This time of year, retailers rely on strong sales. Or Haw Haw, merry

Christmas! In our shopping centres, times are tough and, not many. This

man has run a stall for more than 40 years. The big shops take all of

the trade. It is not as good as it used to be. It is still reasonably

good, but the Christmas trade is not like it used to be ten years

ago. At this designer clothes shop, sales are slow. Last Christmas was

bad, this year is worse. The reason being that there is a lot more

competition in terms of you have the Internet, you have people going

online to shop and look for bargains. It is easy to shop online.

Customers seem to go, they have been divided. Last month, sales

were predicted to fall by 0.3%, they actually fell by 0.4%, despite

average prices being down by 0.2%. How to regenerate our high street

has made big headlines this week. The challenge for most places is

empty shops. In Ipswich. -- in its was, this shopping-centre his 100

years old. In Bury St Edmunds, they say they

have called in the crowds this year by turning Christmas shopping into

family fun. We have just had the Christmas market where there were

around 60,000 extra people at a three-day event. 120 coaches really

brought the food fallen. For retailers, it is crunch time.

One in nine shopping days until Christmas and they need customers.

Lots of them. I have the results here, it makes interesting reading.

Last month there were very poor sales of computers, watches and

jewellery. But it is not all doom and gloom. John Lewis were down

last month, they reported some very strong figures indeed. Both in the

run-up to Christmas and the sales after words should field strong

sales. In 2012, we should -- we could see major players in trouble.

Waiter on a be well paid a visit to Bury St Edmunds to meet shoppers on

a budget. MPs have been having their say about train services into

Liverpool Street. Plus, some of us could be about to see the first

snowflakes of winter. The full forecast coming up after more news

The new commander of RAF Marham has told Look East that he wants to see

a period of stability and recovery at the Norfolk-based. Group Captain

David Cooper is taking over after one of mum's most intense period,

with Tornado crews fighting campaigns and was lucky and

Afghanistan. David Cooper knows he is taking

command of RAF Marham at one of its busiest times. This year, Marham's

crew have fought on two fronts, in Libya and Afghanistan. Kandahar

will be their second home for several years yet. At home, too, in

tense local lobbying has helped secure its future as the home of

the Tornado. Welcome to my office, you can see

it is a wonderful place to work. One thing I have noticed in my

first few weeks is that people are working at a very, very high pace.

One of my jobs is to bring them back down to some sort of

recuperated stability. If we do not do that, we will burn ourselves out

before the next operation. Married with two children, Group Captain

David Cooper is no stranger to this operation. Since he was a navigator

here, he has won countless missions across the globe. The Tornado will

be wound down within seven to ten years. The Joint Strike Fighter

will be based here. -- will be done strictly to the Batya? Because the

joint strike fighter is a few years away, it is difficult to tell.

David Cooper will be decent commander for the next few years.

With the ongoing campaigns, it could be an interesting time for

them. He says that now the priority is to take time out to rest and

recuperate. A big police search is underway in

Suffolk after someone threw missiles from a bridge on the E14.

The car, an ambulance and two lorries have been damage this

evening will be were going under the flyover at trimly St Mary. It

comes two weeks after a woman was seriously hurt by a lump of

concrete block from a bridge in Essex.

The small girl is seriously ill after being run over outside

Monkwick Junior School in Colchester. Two goals were hit by a

car, one of them and eight-year-old, was trapped under the car itself.

She was flown to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge where she is

said to be stable. A post-mortem examination has shown

that a man who was killed in Clacton died from a stab wound to

the test. 21-year-old de Liam Mearns was attacked on Tuesday

evening. The police have been given more time to question ten people.

An appeal has been wants to try and find a cure for a very rare Alice.

It is known as black bone disease, a crippling condition which leaves

patients in intense pain. Only 80 people in this country suffer from

it, and one of them is a man from Suffolk.

Duncan Batty outside of his home in haver hell struggles to walk. He

has a severe form as arthritis known as black bone disease. His

body lacks an enzyme which breaks down protein, acid for as a body

tissue and cartilage between the bones becomes black and brittle. He

needs a shoulder, knee and hip joint replacements. That is

affecting me really badly. I have now been disabled and out of work,

mainly because I just cannot get around. You are in constant pain.

It is in your knees, hips and shoulders and all your other joints.

That is 247. Living with that pain all of the time is very difficult.

This hereditary defect is extremely rare, with 80 cases in the UK, 700

worldwide. Now a charitable society wants to increase awareness. They

have launched a five million-pound appeal to found a ground-breaking

trial to test a new dog. We would like to prevent this arthritis and

degeneration of cunning before it gets established. Catching people

before they come to what is popularly referred to as the end

stage to be a critical thing to do. Edification, proper use of the drug

at the right time. The new drug could stop Blackbourn disease

progressing. Medics also hope that if the trial is a success, it could

benefit millions of patients to In football, Chelmsford's FA Cup

adventure came to an end last night. The non-league side, bidding to

make Oleh Blokin for the first time, lost 1-0 in a replay at

Macclesfield. The only goal came midway through the first half. It

means chum thought have missed out on a home tie with Bolton in the

next round. -- Chelmsford. If I said a hide for birds, you

would probably think of something damp and cramped. The RSPB have

just opened a new hide which is very different. It looks out across

one of the most important nature reserves in Europe at Minsmere, and

up -- and promises to allow birdwatchers to do their thing in

comfort. Enthusiasts, photographers or even

passers by get a front row seat to watch nature at its best. This is

what stood here before - tiny windows, not much room to move. Now

there is a 360 degree view. It is important to let birdwatchers

get to us close to the wildlife as pottable. Putting the hides in the

reed beds will make that possible. There are comfy seats and clear

views. The star attractions are the marsh harriers, unique birds that

are particular to this part of the course. I have seen them in flight

and standing. The closer you are the better. This is the habitat

where you can see rare birds, soap fingers crossed for everybody that

they will see one. I could watch them fly for hours.

The birds seem to be keeping their distance while they get used to the

new hide, but they will return within weeks and this will be the

You're watching BBC Look East. Coming up: Another big day for

Eduard. A meeting billed as a summit to

deal with the problems on one of our busiest railway lines was held

today. It was due to start at 9:30am but some of the delegates

were laid because of problems on the train. MPs have brought

together local councils, business leaders, the Government and the

rail industry. The company responsible for looking after the

region's railways admitted that it had performed badly and said that

our region had missed out on important investment. So will

anything now change? We are disappointed with our

performance when it comes to maintaining the assets on that

route - those were the words of Richard Eccles, the debt it -- the

director of Network Rail, at today's summit. He could not

understand why our region has lost out on infrastructure funding while

others have done well. He wondered if it was because of the lack of a

co-ordinated campaign. For the first time, interested parties from

five different counties came together to say, we want better

rail services in East Anglia. It was signalling problems which

delayed the Norfolk delegation. They arrived half-an-hour later at

Westminster in a furious mood. service is unreliable and not quick

enough. It is a daily frustration for the thousands of people who

travel between Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester and London.

InterCity service between London and Norwich is, by common consent,

the line most in need of improvement. The quality of

equipment is unacceptable, said a councillor from Suffolk. We are

travelling in trains that are shabby, said the Essex Rail Users

Federation. 1 euros when he added that it was a third class service.

The MP for Ipswich said he was embarrassed when he met the Cabinet

as they arrived in the town last week because they came on a grotty

train. Norman Lamb demanded to know why the electrification programme

was so far behind. At long last, all the interested parties are

coming together to demand, frankly demand, that we get better service

on our railways. The solution is to lay more track on the busy stretch

through Essex. It is said to be the busiest two-lime stretch in the

country. There were also calls for improvements to other lines. The

femme lime could have half-hourly services to Cambridge. There should

also be more frequent services between Norwich and Cambridge. --

the Fen line. I think it is probably because we have not a

powerful enough case that we have not had investment. Now, hopefully

we can do that. Cameras were not allowed at the

summit, but what happened in this room was a first - everyone agreed

to work together. The Government and Network Rail were left in no

doubt about the strength of feeling. So will anything change? The answer

is not straight away. The hope is that, with this new powerful lobby

group in action, something might just come our way soon.

Let us go back to that story about the shops now. The bad news is that

our spending has fallen back in the run-up to Christmas, despite some

fairly vigorous price-cutting. The better news could come tomorrow,

predicted to be the busiest day of the Christmas shopping season.

Tonight in barrister denims they are doing their best to attract

shoppers. Yes, they are trying to create a

bit of atmosphere here. To that end there is a theory and a toy soldier

on stilts and some lovely else touring the town centre. -- elves.

But what our shoppers and shopkeepers thinking? -- what our

This woman was out Christmas shopping. She is a barmaid. Her

partner is a warehouse man. They have three boys. I do try to spend

about the same amount on all of them. How much? About �150 each.

Christmas in total will cost you what? With everything, about �800.

With everybody else and food and drink and things.

She was the exception rather than the rule. Most shoppers I spoke to

were being careful. Are you spending more or less? I am

spending less. I am buying bigger presence, quality presents, but

just one per child. -- bigger presents.

It gets them over the bad economic times, doesn't it?

Retailers like Kate are finding it difficult but not impossible. Kate

runs a shoe shop. We are having to cut margins here because there is

such steep competition out there and big high-street chains. Yes, it

is tighter this year, it really is. Shoppers are being a little bit

more canny, shopkeepers are having to work harder to make a living.

But, with ten days to go, there is still all to play for.

Let us talk to mark the stopped these people belong to you. Tell me

what your organisation does. represent businesses in the town

centre who supply us with funding to spend money on their behalf to

get people into the town. As you can see tonight it has been pretty

successful. We can spend money better than individual businesses

on the run. Maryport us was talking about -- Mary Portas was talking

about town centres getting together. Yes, I think with the right quality

of service the businesses will be fine.

Back to the studio. We have a bit of a character for

you. His name is Edward Williams. As a boy he was one of 13 children.

Today he has seven grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. And

that is not all - Mr Williams has a birthday today. He is 108 years old

and is now one of the oldest men living in Britain. His recipe for a

long life is simple - stay active. Edward Williams says his secret a

long life is singing, a company by his daughter-in-law, wine and women.

-- accompanied by. You cannot run away from me!

Edward's parents were born in the mid- 1,800. He was born in 1903.

His earliest memory was when he was four. I remember my mother going

for me for making a mess on the staircase.

He married his late wife in 1929. They had for my children. The

youngest will be 70 next year. they had four children. We never

envisaged that he would last as long as this.

Edward has lived through a two world war, worked in the docks

repairing ships and remembers the Titanic going down. I remember

seeing the newspaper saying that the Titanic had been sunk.

He got a birthday card -- he now has a collection of birthday cards

from the Queen. I did not know that she knew me! I have no complaints.

A very happy birthday to him. There is an area of low pressure

that has been crossing the Atlantic over the last few days. It has

finally arrived and it looks as if the centre Robert will track

steadily across the South overnight tonight. The strongest winds will

be in the south. They will mostly affect Northern France. The rain

has the potential to turn to sleet or snow. The cloud will become more

expensive overnight tonight and we will see some rain travelling

steady up from the south. We will see in the far north of the region

a bit of patchy rain. In the south- west corner there is the potential

for some of that rain to turn to sleet or snow. The overnight lows

will stay above freezing tonight. The wind will be moderate and

north-easterly. Tomorrow morning there is a bit of a concern for

this part of the region. If you love him but -- if you live in

Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, that is where we

could get some accumulations of snow. It could potentially cause

problems around rush-hour. Potentially some disruption to road

such as the M1. Further east it looks like more patchy rain. It

will start to clear through the morning and it will become drier

but bitterly cold night. Temperatures will be around six

Celsius. The wind will make things feel colder. There is the potential

for one or two wintry showers in the north-eastern corner of the

region later in the day. Saturday is potentially at cold Bay. One or

two showers, mainly affecting the north-east of Norfolk. Bennett is

dry but cold on Sunday and Monday and into the beginning of next week.

There is the potential for some sharp frost overnight.