26/07/2011 Midlands Today


26/07/2011

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Hello and welcome to Midlands Today, with Nick Owen and Suzanne Virdee.

:00:05.:00:07.

While the national economy almost stagnates, signs of a genuine

:00:07.:00:15.

recovery in the motor industry. want to create more jobs in the

:00:15.:00:20.

area and bring in more money, and we want to export more, and we are

:00:20.:00:23.

doing all those things. Reliving her dramatic rescue, the

:00:23.:00:27.

pensioner who thought she was going to die after falling down a well.

:00:27.:00:30.

can remember seeing the wall of the well and then just going down into

:00:31.:00:34.

the water, and I didn't think, that's it.

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A lorry driver is killed and a motorway's closed for more than 12

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hours, causing rush-hour chaos. And the schoolgirl who's tee-ed up

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her place against the world's best Good evening and welcome to

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Tuesday's Midlands Today, from the BBC. Tonight, the economy's still

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in the doldrums but there are signs of a recovery in the car industry.

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Two of our biggest carmakers recently announced plans to expand,

:01:08.:01:12.

and a major components firm has re- hired workers it was forced to lay

:01:12.:01:16.

off during the slump. And today the Society of Motor Manufacturers said

:01:16.:01:20.

it expects that recovery to continue into next year and beyond.

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Some positive news on a day that new figures show productivity in

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the UK is barely growing at all. Giles Latcham reports now on the

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drive for jobs. It's getting busier at the biggest

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wheel-maker in the Black Country. Two years ago, in the jaws of

:01:36.:01:39.

recession, a third of the workforce was laid off and the company came

:01:39.:01:46.

close to collapse. A lot of the lads were coming in and they would

:01:46.:01:51.

not know if they were going to be in a job next week. It is an

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amazing turnaround. It isn't until you sort of stand here and look

:01:56.:02:01.

back that you realise how much we have achieved over such a short

:02:01.:02:04.

period, to be honest. Before the recession, Rimstock was turning out

:02:04.:02:08.

about 9,000 wheels a week, many of them for motorbikes. In the slump

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that fell to about 3,000, but now it's back up to 5,000, and the

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kinds of wheels they're making has changed too. These wheels are for a

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company that specialises in upgrading Range Rovers of

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Premiership footballers and other celebrities. They are not cheap,

:02:27.:02:31.

they are aspirational, and an example of how this company is

:02:31.:02:35.

diversifying into a niche market to survive. We have increased our

:02:35.:02:41.

level of employees. We are at 250 people now. We have some real

:02:41.:02:44.

opportunities going for it but every day is a challenge. It is far

:02:44.:02:51.

from easy. But higher very confident about our future. -- but

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I am very confident. Elsewhere, Jaguar Land Rover seem set to

:02:54.:02:57.

expand beyond Castle Bromwich and Solihull, to build a new plant near

:02:57.:02:59.

Wolverhampton. BMW is planning major investment at Hams Hall in

:03:00.:03:03.

Warwickshire, to build on the success of the Mini. But only last

:03:03.:03:06.

week, a components firm in Burton- on-Trent, Kongsberg, said it was

:03:06.:03:09.

moving to Poland, with the loss of 150 jobs. It helps that Rimstock's

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marketing director is also a leading touring car driver. They've

:03:12.:03:15.

ventured into motorsport with Honda and developed new products along

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the way. We sell and we test wheels on the track in race situations,

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and then the innovation we have done with those comes onto the road

:03:28.:03:31.

market. There's no reinventing the wheel, but innovation's given this

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firm a future once very much in doubt.

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Our business correspondent, Peter Plisner, is outside the Jaguar

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factory at Castle Bromwich now. Peter, today disappointing news

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nationally on the economy, so how are big car manufacturers like

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Jaguar Land Rover managing to do so well? It's a mixed picture. Across

:03:52.:04:02.
:04:02.:04:03.

the UK, manufacturing is up but sales are down. Jaguar sales in

:04:03.:04:09.

June are down almost 18% when compared with June 2010. Of course,

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sales elsewhere in the world aren't as bad. Emerging markets like China

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and India are doing really well. Components firms who were very

:04:17.:04:20.

optimistic earlier in the year are now much more pessimistic about the

:04:20.:04:24.

future. As you saw in the film, many have had to diversify or move

:04:24.:04:27.

into niche markets to survive the recession. Some are still

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struggling. What about all those jobs that JLR said they would be

:04:32.:04:36.

creating? Are they still going ahead? Well, generally, according

:04:36.:04:39.

to a recent survey, many companies have called a halt of new

:04:39.:04:42.

recruitment, preferring instead to get more productivity out of their

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existing workforce. The good new is there's no increase in redundancies

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at the moment. At JLR, it's different. They are still

:04:48.:04:51.

recruiting as they need to develop new product and fulfil demand from

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abroad. Today the company told me they were looking for 1,300 people

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and they've now recruited around 900 of them.

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Still ahead in tonight's programme, anti-social behaviour or just high

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jinks? As one local authority calls for greater tolerance, claims we're

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being too hard on the youth of A grandmother who can't swim has

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been re-living the moment she was rescued from more than 30 feet down

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a well in her garden. Denise Brooks spent an hour and a half clinging

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to a rope. She'd fallen off a ladder as she tried to retrieve a

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water pump. She says she thought she was going to die. Andy Newman

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reports. Staring into the abyss. Denise

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Brooks poses with her husband next to the well where clinging to life

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meant clinging to a rope for an hour and a half. She fell from the

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bottom rung of a ladder which had been lowered into cavity to

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retrieve a pump. As she dropped, she went under the water, and she

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can't swim. It all happened in a split second, but how can remember

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seeing the wall of the well and then just going down under the

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water. And I did think, that's it. In that split second, I thought,

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that is it. I am not going to come back up. But come back, she did,

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somehow managing to wedge herself above the water, holding on to a

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rope attached to them as income. Had I tried to go down, I could

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have slipped and toppled on proper for. I could have knocked bricks on

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top of her. When the emergency services arrived at their home,

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Denise was appalled to the surface, where medical teams were waiting to

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attend to have. The Midlands Air Ambulance and an emergency response

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team were called to her home. In the event, she was slightly

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hyperthermic but basically OK. was incredibly calm for somebody

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who had fallen and had been stuck down a well. But she was

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communicating with us the whole time so we knew she did not have

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life-threatening injuries. I have got out to tell the tale. Would you

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be going down again? No! I will not. And the ambulance people said she

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seemed amazingly calm. It is that that helped her out. Incredible!

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"A massive fireball" - that's how witnesses have described a crash on

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the M5 which killed a driver. Some said the impact shook nearby homes.

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The lorry ploughed into a bridge near Junction 3 at Halesowen in the

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early hours of morning. The motorway was shut for more than 12

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hours because of fears the bridge was unsafe. As Ben Godfrey reports,

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thousands of drivers were caught in the chaos.

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This was all that was left of the HGV, such was the force of the

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impact with the Carters Lane bridge near Quinton. The driver, a 59-

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year-old man from Cheshire, had been heading northbound on the M5

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shortly before 2am this morning. He was killed instantly. People living

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nearby reported hearing loud explosions. As we rushed out of our

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house, the lorry was engulfed in flames and there was a series of

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three or four explosions. It was quite terrifying. Police closed the

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motorway completely between Junctions 3 and 4. You can see the

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fire has completely engulfed the cabin of a lorry. Investigators

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have been here for more than 12 hours. The accident happened at a

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time when overhead lights on this stretch of the M5 were turned off,

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under a scheme to reduce pollution. At this stage, we cannot confirm

:08:38.:08:43.

what happened. But we know a lorry came in contact to -- with the

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bridge. Police are hoping other motorists will come forward. Late

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this afternoon, the lorry was taken away for further analysis.

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Engineers were satisfied that the bridge, despite some external

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cracks, is structurally safe. The motorway has re-opened for the rush

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hour but may close for a time overnight, for road resurfacing.

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And police are warning drivers to avoid the M42 tonight close to its

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junction with the M5, after an accident has shut the northbound

:09:06.:09:10.

carriageway. Trading Standards officers have

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carried out raids across Birmingham to remove potentially harmful clay

:09:12.:09:17.

tablets from sale. The so-called Sikor tablets are traditionally

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used by pregnant Asian women as a remedy for cravings. But samples

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recently bought in Birmingham were found to contain dangerously high

:09:24.:09:34.
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levels of lead. Are we growing less tolerant of the

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behaviour of youngsters? As the summer holidays start, street

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wardens in Coventry are handing out leaflets urging adults not to be

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too quick to judge. They're pointing out that most young people

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hanging out on street corners aren't looking for trouble and are

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only doing what their own parents and grandparents did. Here's Kevin

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Reide. Is this anti-social behaviour or

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kids just doing what they do? And is it intimidating to others? With

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six weeks of school holidays ahead, Coventry Council aims to quell any

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tensions before they begin, and its wardens are spreading the message

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with these leaflets. It is about tolerance of youths and then need

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to hang out and be together. leaflet states that 96.5% of young

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people never get into serious trouble with the police, and it

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asks older people living in the area to be more tolerant. Young

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people in large groups can be intimidating. Part of the problem

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could be that as people get older, they forget what it is like to be

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young and hang around with your friends and talk. And for the

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majority of young people, that is all they're doing. It's a tricky

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message to get across. Willenhall has higher-than-average social

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depravation and high levels of unemployment. There's not a lot for

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young people to do, and with nearly �500,000 in cuts to Coventry

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Council's youth service provision, there're fears there'll be even

:10:51.:10:56.

less. We are going to use this Dickie Dodds and I want you to put

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the dot where you live. But this Junior Rangers scheme has just been

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launched, and aims to get children and teenagers interested in where

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they live. It encourages people to explore and use the green space on

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their doorstep and brings lots of people from across the community

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together. It also means some pride of ownership for those green spaces,

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which will be beneficial in the long run. It is great because it

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get you out of the house and you get to do things like walking

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through the forest. You get to see places you might not have seen

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before. It gets the kids learning about their environment and getting

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involved. And doing things and sharing experiences with other

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people. It's one of a number of schemes in the area aimed at

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tackling anti-social behaviour. The holidays are just beginning in

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Coventry, and it's hoped there'll be just enough for youngsters to do

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to keep them on the right side of the law.

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And Kevin joins us now from Willenhall in Coventry. Over to you,

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Kevin. I am now joined by a Sylvia Lanigan, who is chair of the

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Willenhall Community Forum and also lives in the area. You have seen

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the cuts coming. Can you sustain the level of activities? It is

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difficult because a lot of the activities we put on a short-term

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funded and you have got activities for the children and then you run

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out of money and they take them away. So there is no continuity.

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The children behind me have just finished a bike project, but when

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the money runs out, how will we keep it going? You have been

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unemployed up until recently, haven't you? How difficult is it to

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keep children occupied? It is difficult but it is not impossible.

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It does not have to be the theme parks. They can ride their bikes

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and there of projects like this now. It gets them out of the house and

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off the computers. So there's a lot of things you can do. So the

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message here is if the community pulls together and keeps to these

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schemes and keeps them running, and anti-social behaviour is not

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necessarily a problem. They look like models citizens to

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me any way! Have you been affected by anti-

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social behaviour? Are you concerned about the impact of cuts on youth

:13:19.:13:24.

projects? If so, we'd like to hear from you. Get in touch and we could

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be telling your story later this week.

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Still to come, high excitement in the world of science as researchers

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in Birmingham get closer to finding the missing link that's eluded

:13:33.:13:38.

generations of physicists. And from physics to meteorology.

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I'll be here with the weather forecast, and it's looking pretty

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good for the next few days, with some cloud, some sunshine, and

:13:44.:13:54.
:13:54.:13:55.

feeling warm as well. Join me for As a boy, Nathan Wood was severely

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burned by a 25,000 volt overhead train cable. He says it still

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affects him today. As the school holidays begin, Nathan has been

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talking about his ordeal in the hope of stopping other youngsters

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from risking their lives. Bob Hockenhull reports.

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This railway bridge will haunt Nathan Wood from Tamworth forever.

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As a 12-year-old, Nathan suffered a severe electric shock. He was

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playing a game throwing a discarded electric wire, when it hit an

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:14:33.:14:33.

overhead cable. I tell you something, it was like hell. I was

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screaming. The pain was unbearable. I thought I was going to dive. I

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broke a lot of heart and upset a lot of people. For what I thought

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was fun. It was not worth it. meant a year off school for Nathan.

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Now 25 and a father of two, he's still suffering the consequences.

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suffer in the cold. I have got to be careful in the sun because of

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the skin grafts, which mean I could get cancer. This CCTV footage shows

:15:01.:15:07.

many children still have a blatant disregard for safety, though.

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Network Rail's saved it -- concern is that it is still a problem with

:15:14.:15:17.

children. Nearly two-thirds of parents have not told their

:15:17.:15:21.

children about the dangers of railway lines and four intended not

:15:21.:15:26.

realise that overhead cables power of the trains. Deaths from

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accidents on railway lines fell nationally last year to 27,

:15:28.:15:32.

compared with 49 the year before. But Network Rail says trespassing

:15:32.:15:37.

is still a major problem, particularly in school holidays.

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With 25,000 volts going through the overhead wires, if you touch that,

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the likelihood is, you are going to die. Nathan is extremely lucky he

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didn't. It is not worth it. If I could turn back time, I would.

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Nathan says the scars and the consequences of one moment of folly

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will be with him forever. My goodness. What telegraphic

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message. A message from a man who knows what he is talking about.

:16:08.:16:11.

The world of physics is swirling with talk that the mysterious

:16:11.:16:13.

"Higgs Boson" has been discovered at the Large Hadron Collider in

:16:13.:16:17.

Geneva. So what is the curiously named Higgs Boson? Well, it's often

:16:17.:16:21.

called the God particle. It's far smaller than an atom and has so far

:16:21.:16:23.

remained undetected. Birmingham University scientists have been

:16:23.:16:26.

playing a key role in the research. Here's our science correspondent,

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David Gregory. We visited the Large Hadron

:16:32.:16:35.

Collider back in 2007 to see some what Birmingham researchers were

:16:35.:16:42.

doing. Since then, it's been smashing together protons and

:16:42.:16:50.

looking at what's produced. Top of the watch list, the mysterious

:16:50.:17:00.
:17:00.:17:03.

Higgs Boson. So have they found it? Actually, only just last week, I

:17:03.:17:07.

was away, and there have been rumours going around, but everybody

:17:08.:17:11.

has been rather tight lipped. rumours can be traced back to the

:17:11.:17:14.

leak of this internal memo, which appeared to suggest the Higgs Boson

:17:14.:17:17.

might have been found. If true, it would mean that our theoretical

:17:17.:17:20.

models of how the universe works are actually correct, as Professor

:17:20.:17:30.
:17:30.:17:30.

Brian Cox tweeted. Has it been found? We are not yet in a position

:17:30.:17:34.

to say it has been discovered. But if there is a Higgs Boson and it

:17:34.:17:39.

has a mass that we are expecting, it would look like what we are

:17:39.:17:44.

seeing at the moment. What's needed now is more data. Ten times as much.

:17:44.:17:48.

Taking us into 2012. And of course there's a chance this effect might

:17:48.:17:55.

just be a blip, not a Boson. around the end of 2012, if it is

:17:55.:18:00.

there, we will either say, there's the Higgs Boson and this is its

:18:00.:18:04.

mass, or we will be able to say it doesn't exist and we need a new

:18:04.:18:14.
:18:14.:18:14.

theory. It is going to be a tense few months for particle physics.

:18:14.:18:20.

David, for a poor science imbecilic me, can you explain it? Well,

:18:20.:18:24.

scientists have a model of the universe and the different parts

:18:24.:18:28.

that are needed to make it work. You have the model and the

:18:28.:18:32.

experiment, and if you put them together, you understand what makes

:18:32.:18:37.

the universe tick. That is pretty good. What benefit will this mean

:18:37.:18:43.

for us? Well, the concern is that it cost billions of pounds. But

:18:43.:18:51.

when they were working out how to move the data around, they

:18:51.:18:54.

developed the internet and how we use it. That is a pretty good spin-

:18:54.:19:00.

off. The electron was discovered around 100 years ago. At the time,

:19:00.:19:04.

it was really esoteric, but now it is vital to modern life. So it

:19:04.:19:10.

could be that in 50 years, it develops something essential.

:19:10.:19:16.

you, David. Now on to something we all understand - golf.

:19:16.:19:19.

Lauren Taylor made golfing history last month. The 16-year-old became

:19:19.:19:22.

the youngest to win the British Women's Amateur Golf Championship.

:19:22.:19:25.

Now Lauren faces an even bigger challenge. She's up against many of

:19:26.:19:28.

the world's finest golfers, professionals in other words, at

:19:28.:19:31.

the British Women's Open in Scotland. Ian Winter reports.

:19:31.:19:34.

What an opportunity. A rare chance to caddy for a British golf

:19:34.:19:41.

champion. You've got a bit of water in the bottom here that you've got

:19:42.:19:45.

to watch. What do you reckon? Normally, Lauren Taylor's dad

:19:45.:19:49.

carries her bag at big tournaments. But he was at work, so I stepped in

:19:49.:19:55.

on the first tee, at Stratford Oaks Golf Club. Perfect. All part of

:19:55.:19:58.

Lauren's normal routine, of course. But a big relief for her rookie

:19:58.:20:01.

assistant. And as we walked, we talked about her dedication to golf

:20:01.:20:08.

and the sacrifices required to reach the very top. People are

:20:08.:20:12.

saying, you should be going out with your friends all the time, but

:20:12.:20:17.

I can go out with my friends when I am older and world number one.

:20:17.:20:20.

month, Lauren made golf history, as the youngest player ever to become

:20:20.:20:24.

Women's British Amateur Champion aged only 16. As a kid, she was

:20:24.:20:27.

talented at football and tennis. But once golf became her passion at

:20:27.:20:34.

11, she's never looked back. And now you off to the Open? Yes, it is

:20:34.:20:38.

going to be one of the best experiences of my life. If you do

:20:38.:20:43.

well, you do well, I guess, but I am just going to have fun and see

:20:43.:20:46.

what happens. Lauren's certainly not over-awed by facing the world's

:20:46.:20:49.

finest players this week. And no wonder, if she delivers shots like

:20:49.:20:53.

this. A couple of weeks ago, she watched Tom Lewis win the silver

:20:53.:20:57.

medal as the best amateur player at the Open Championship. Lauren would

:20:57.:21:01.

love to do the same at the Women's Open. But her coach believes she's

:21:01.:21:07.

so talented, the sky's the limit. You either go to make the numbers

:21:07.:21:11.

up or to win, and if she wants to be the best in the world she has to

:21:11.:21:17.

compete against those girls. But she just has that little bit extra.

:21:17.:21:20.

I've never known a girl with such drive and determination to achieve.

:21:20.:21:24.

She can go to number one in the world, without question. Any time

:21:24.:21:28.

soon, without any help from me, I reckon Lauren Taylor will face a

:21:28.:21:32.

long putt like this to win a major title. And when it drops, this 16-

:21:32.:21:35.

year-old from Rugby will achieve her goal to join the best women

:21:35.:21:45.
:21:45.:21:46.

golfers in the world. I get the feeling she will not need

:21:46.:21:49.

much luck. And looking further ahead in the

:21:50.:21:54.

sporting calendar, tomorrow marks a year to the start off London 2012

:21:54.:21:58.

and the prospects for next year's Olympics is therein memories for

:21:58.:22:02.

our only surviving medallist from the London Games. Tommy Godwin, who

:22:02.:22:08.

is 90, won two cycling gold medals. They were known as the austerity

:22:08.:22:12.

Games, coming so soon after the Second World War. Our reporter has

:22:12.:22:17.

been to meet Tommy, to reflect on the Olympic Games coming back to

:22:17.:22:22.

Britain. I have been to the site on a number

:22:22.:22:27.

of occasions and the development. It is out of this world. It must be

:22:27.:22:34.

the finest bowler Drome in the world, the one built. The first one

:22:34.:22:43.

was built in the 1,800s. Now, perfection. Where ours was so

:22:43.:22:49.

amateur and antiquated. Coming into the last lap, and Tommy Godwin,

:22:49.:22:54.

number seven, has raised print left in the bag. Here it comes and it

:22:54.:23:02.

wins him the race. -- has a sprint. You have run recently, haven't you?

:23:02.:23:07.

Yes, and I quite enjoyed it. It was nice to be invited along to take my

:23:07.:23:13.

bike down. They told me off because they thought I was only going to do

:23:13.:23:21.

one lap. But then I was told, you have got a bit of the old fireback!

:23:21.:23:25.

The whole thing now is wonderful to me, because I have been living on

:23:25.:23:30.

my own having lost my wife in January, and it is filling up a big

:23:30.:23:36.

gap in my life. My wife was so much part of my career, and the

:23:36.:23:42.

sacrifices and the dedication she gave to me. Going back to 1948,

:23:42.:23:49.

that was a real celebration after the horrors of war? Indeed so. When

:23:49.:23:54.

you think that in 1948, we were still on rations. The track was

:23:54.:23:57.

resurfaced and the running track was only laid down at White City a

:23:57.:24:02.

couple of weeks before. The hurdles and that sort of thing were brought

:24:02.:24:07.

in later and then we were supposed to be getting food parcels. I won

:24:07.:24:12.

in May and that was supposed to have put me through July and August.

:24:12.:24:17.

What are your memories of the moment she won your medals?

:24:17.:24:23.

Tremendous, because I thought we had not had enough training but

:24:23.:24:29.

they picked four of us about two weeks before and told us we were in

:24:29.:24:37.

the Games. Five of us had only ridden once before. If we had had a

:24:37.:24:40.

few months more training together, we would obviously have been in a

:24:40.:24:47.

higher position. But it was so basic and amateurish. You have won

:24:47.:24:51.

lots and lots of prizes in your time, but I should think those two

:24:51.:24:57.

Olympic medals a very special? so much so that I had said and

:24:57.:25:02.

stated categorically that they mean more to me every year of my life.

:25:02.:25:10.

To win an Olympic medal at the age of 27, go to my father, a hard man,

:25:10.:25:17.

a hard man who had worked all his life, and he broke down in tears.

:25:17.:25:25.

Something special. It is lovely to talk to you. Thank you.

:25:25.:25:30.

Full of emotion. So poignant. A lovely chap as well. There will be

:25:30.:25:38.

more from Tommy on the series inside out in the autumn. And we

:25:38.:25:47.

will be looking at preparations for It hasn't always been spectacularly

:25:47.:25:52.

sunny, but it has been dry and warm, and that is how which continues

:25:52.:25:58.

through this week. Some sunshine around at times. The reason for the

:25:58.:26:01.

set of conditions is this high- pressure sitting down here to the

:26:01.:26:05.

south-west, trying to exert its influence. It is doing a pretty

:26:05.:26:12.

good job, keeping this rain at bay. We will keep some big lumps of

:26:12.:26:16.

cloud floating around through tonight. Some clear spells,

:26:16.:26:20.

particularly in the rest of the region. Temperatures will be down

:26:20.:26:25.

to 11 or 13 degrees. Tomorrow, we will start off quite cloudy through

:26:25.:26:29.

the eastern half of the region. Further west, a fair bit of

:26:29.:26:34.

sunshine, but through the day, things will even out. So where it

:26:34.:26:40.

started sunny, we will see more cloud, and where it stars sunny, we

:26:40.:26:45.

will see cloud increasing. It will remain sunny, with temperatures up

:26:45.:26:50.

to 24 degrees down in Hereford. Some bits of sunshine here and

:26:50.:26:54.

there to end the day tomorrow, and that takes us into Thursday, which

:26:54.:26:58.

will bring us a fair amount of sunshine again. Perhaps more than

:26:58.:27:03.

we have seen in the last couple of days. The eagle eyed amongst you

:27:03.:27:09.

might have noticed a few dribbles of rain out to the West, and that

:27:09.:27:13.

is going to move across us for Thursday night. Once that clears

:27:13.:27:18.

through, by Friday and Saturday, it turns dry again. Not looking too

:27:18.:27:22.

bad. Before we leave you, and a cut the

:27:22.:27:26.

main headlines. The UK economy slows down and officials blame the

:27:26.:27:29.

warm weather, the Royal Wedding and the Japanese tsunami.

:27:29.:27:33.

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