Browse content similar to 14/12/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good evening. Welcome to Wednesday's Midlands Today from the | :00:04. | :00:09. | |
BBC. Tonight: unemployment rises again in the region - there are now | :00:09. | :00:18. | |
almost a quarter of a million people looking for work here. | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
of companies say that I don't have enough experience. That is the | :00:22. | :00:27. | |
greatest problem I find right now. He went on Facebook and called for | :00:27. | :00:37. | |
:00:37. | :00:38. | ||
a riot - now he is starting a jail sentence. Sudden bad weather is | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
blamed for a motorway crash. It was described by those at the scene has | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
almost like an ice rink. Who and winter is on the way with heavy | :00:46. | :00:56. | |
:00:56. | :01:05. | ||
snowfall for Friday, as much as 10 Good evening. Welcome to | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
Wednesday's Midlands Today. Unemployment rises again in the | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
region, there are now almost a quarter of a million people looking | :01:11. | :01:15. | |
for work here. New figures released today show that there are now a | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
total of 243,000 out of work in this region - up by four thousand | :01:19. | :01:21. | |
on last month's total. There's also been a big increase in youth | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
unemployment in the last 12 months. Close to 52,000 18 to 24-year-olds | :01:25. | :01:27. | |
are now claiming Jobseekers Allowance, slightly down on last | :01:27. | :01:37. | |
month but a rise of 14.6% on this time last year. Our special | :01:37. | :01:39. | |
correspondent Peter Wilson reports now on the struggle for young | :01:39. | :01:42. | |
people in today's difficult job market. | :01:42. | :01:47. | |
Getting ready for work. The uniform is unusual. These three are Santa's | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
helpers at the West Midlands Safari Park. The jobs are temporary. The | :01:52. | :02:02. | |
:02:02. | :02:03. | ||
zoo in Worcestershire takes on 90 I do want a full-time job, but | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
there are that many people unemployed or getting made | :02:07. | :02:12. | |
redundant, but fair every job that is permanent, about a hundred other | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
Bebo have applied. Laura is a qualified teacher waiting to get | :02:16. | :02:24. | |
her first job. Anything between 80 and 280 people apply for one | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
teaching position, so even to get to the interview stage, I am doing | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
well. What about those without jobs? This workshop in Handsworth | :02:31. | :02:34. | |
was set up to provide advice. One in four young people are out of | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
work in Birmingham. Esther wants to be a lawyer and has even been | :02:37. | :02:45. | |
looking for work in America. graduated last year in law, under | :02:45. | :02:50. | |
have recently come back from America. I took a New York bar exam | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
over there, because I have had to venture out. I'm finding it | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
difficult to get a job in the UK. Royal Mail have always been a big | :02:59. | :03:01. | |
employer. Once they'd take on a thousand staff a year in the | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
Midlands. Now there's a recruitment freeze. But this empty warehouse in | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
Nuneaton has been converted for the Christmas rush, and all these staff | :03:07. | :03:16. | |
have been taken on, too. The job market is difficult for young | :03:16. | :03:23. | |
people, but Royal Mail is committed to bringing in talent. We start our | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
graduate scheme in January, and we are looking to take content of | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
graduates. Last month Jaguar Land Rover announced they are creating a | :03:30. | :03:32. | |
thousand new jobs, while Staffordshire-based JCB are looking | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
for 350 new workers. Meanwhile this Gloucestershire publishing company | :03:35. | :03:45. | |
:03:45. | :03:47. | ||
say they can't fill their vacancies. We have tried all the newspapers, | :03:47. | :03:53. | |
agencies, our own magazine. Our magazine goes out to 25,000 people | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
in Ross on Wye at Hereford, and that hasn't brought anybody in. | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
Back at the safari park, the very young are full of hope for what | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
Santa might bring. And a ray of light for Laura - she's finally got | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
a job as a teacher, starting in the new year. Peter Wilson, BBC | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
Midlands Today at West Midlands Safari Park. | :04:10. | :04:17. | |
Joining us now is the Conservative MP for Wyre Forest, Mark Garnier. | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
Good evening. Thanks for joining us. We heard from some of your young | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
constituents there. They are finding it hard to find work, in | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
some cases hundreds of them chasing each vacancy. There is no doubt it | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
is difficult to find jobs, and whilst it is always welcome that | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
organisations like the West Midlands Safari Park provide | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
temporary Christmas jobs, they are of course only temporary. We have | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
to address the problem of youth unemployment which across the | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
country is just over 1 million individuals. The Government is | :04:53. | :04:59. | |
coming in with the youth programme, which is investing a billion pounds | :04:59. | :05:04. | |
in ideas to try to get work experience, more apprenticeships. | :05:04. | :05:10. | |
How soon will this take effect? has already started. If you look at | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
apprenticeships across the West Midlands, there are up 65%, and in | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
my constituency, 109%. So they are coming through, but it takes time | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
for these things to bed down. government is predicting that the | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
figure will go up, so you must be concern about a lost generation he | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
will forever struggle to find work, it seems. We need to help that lost | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
generation not become completely lost. The idea behind the youth | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
programme has to make sure that they have the opportunity to have | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
experience, so that there are opportunities were there can go and | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
get work experience. If they have been unemployed for more than nine | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
months, there will be more support for them. The important point is to | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
make sure that they did lose those skills that they need to develop | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
early on in their career. private sector just isn't creating | :05:57. | :06:02. | |
the jobs to the public sector is losing. Do think it is fair to say | :06:02. | :06:06. | |
the Government's plan isn't working? In terms of total numbers | :06:06. | :06:12. | |
of people employed, that is up. But you are right, we are seeing a | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
gentle increase in the unemployment figures. But it seems to be | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
steadying off. Clearly we have colossal head wind coming at us | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
from Europe, which is making life very difficult, and certainly | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
businesses are nervous to invest in the future until they see what | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
comes out of the euro crisis and what happens with the banks. Mark | :06:30. | :06:40. | |
:06:40. | :06:45. | ||
A The unemployment figures weren't the only economic data about the | :06:45. | :06:47. | |
region released today. Statistics showing how much the region is | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
worth to the UK's economy have also been published. The Gross Value | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
Added figure, as it's know, shows how much the West Midlands is worth | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
to UK plc. What they show is that the West Midlands share of the | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
total economy amounts to 7.3%. That compares to the 21.5% share for | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
London, which is the highest, and the 3.2% in the North East, which | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
is the lowest. The West Midlands is ranked 6th out of the nine regions | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
of England in terms of economic output. Joining us now to help make | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
sense of all this is our political editor Patrick Burns. What do these | :07:13. | :07:18. | |
figures mean for us in our region? There are a real comedown. When you | :07:18. | :07:22. | |
bear in mind that as little as 20 years ago, are part of the country | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
was accounting for almost a quarter of all UK manufactured exports, | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
what a change. And it is also, in a way, a bit of a reality check for | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
those ministers who think that West Midlands manufacturing can almost | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
as an assumption be one of the escape routes for our economic woes. | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
What does it say about the economy here? How can this worrying trend | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
be reversed? I was at a meeting of senior business leaders earlier | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
today, and why on after another, they said there were no quick fixes. | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
It would take years, it is about stepping outside the comfort zone | :07:57. | :08:03. | |
and developing new export markets in the developing Far flung | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
economies. The chilling statistic from a senior Palmer in an | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
accountancy firm who said that our biggest export earner to China at | :08:10. | :08:16. | |
the moment, not Jaguar or Land Rovers, but scrap metal. What does | :08:16. | :08:23. | |
that say about the challenges that lie ahead? There is limited growth | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
in the UK, not much growth in the eurozone. So we are looking at | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
markets like Brazil, Russia, China, parts of the Middle East and Africa, | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
where there is growing demand for the product. What does this mean in | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
terms of jobs and unemployment? Also in the unemployment figures | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
today, creditably, the private sector has actually created 26,000 | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
jobs over the year to September, but worryingly, more than 37,000 | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
public sector jobs were lost. The challenge for the Government is to | :08:54. | :08:59. | |
rebalance that equation, or they will be vulnerable to the chart | :08:59. | :09:05. | |
Nicol was putting to Mark Garnier, that it simply isn't working. | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
Thank you very much. And we'll have more on the region's economy in | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
tomorrow's programme, when we'll be looking at the state of the High | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
Street. There'll also be more on that throughout the day on your BBC | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
local radio station. Good to have you with us this | :09:17. | :09:19. | |
evening. Later, the walking tours around Shrewsbury, once transformed | :09:19. | :09:29. | |
:09:29. | :09:33. | ||
Dickensian-style to film A A 22-year-old man who set up a | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
website called Letz Start A Riot during the summer riots is | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
beginning a jail term tonight. Danny Cook said he did it as a joke, | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
but the judge said it was a very serious offence and he would be | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
failing in his duty if he did not impose a substantial sentence. Andy | :09:47. | :09:53. | |
Newman reports. Jailed over a website for would-be | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
rioters. During the height of this summer's disturbances, 22-year-old | :09:55. | :10:01. | |
Danny Cook set up a Facebook page called Letz Start A Riot. Comments | :10:01. | :10:06. | |
he added included "loads to be smashed" And "I want in". In the | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
event, the troubles which sprewd across Birmingham and the Black | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
Country did not reach his home town of Kidderminster, but today he paid | :10:12. | :10:22. | |
:10:22. | :10:23. | ||
The defendant even posted a poem on his website: There's a riot going | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
on from Brum to London, tell you what, I don't want to sit back | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
because I want to join them. He later told police he set up the | :10:32. | :10:37. | |
website as a joke, and created the page out of boredom. He closed it | :10:37. | :10:44. | |
down within an hour. The court regarded it as a serious offence, | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
as reflected in the sentence. Inciting others is a serious | :10:48. | :10:52. | |
offence and his own right. 16-year- old Johhny Melfah from Droitwich, | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
here dodging the cameras at a previous hearing, was one of 44 | :10:55. | :10:57. | |
people who joined the Facebook group. Sentencing him back in | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
September, magistrates lifted that anonymity that would normally be | :10:59. | :11:09. | |
:11:09. | :11:10. | ||
given to a teenager to name and shame him. So, did these internet | :11:10. | :11:16. | |
offenders think they could get away with it? It could be any of us, at | :11:16. | :11:21. | |
home, maybe had a bit too much to drink and think it is funny, or | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
maybe bravado in front of friends. Any one of us could do it. | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
Justice Butterfield sentenced Cook to two-and-a-half years, half of | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
that to be served in custody and the other half on licence. He said | :11:34. | :11:37. | |
it was a very serious offence, committed in the context of writing | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
across the country, and he would be failing in his public duty if he | :11:41. | :11:51. | |
:11:51. | :11:51. | ||
did not impose a substantial custodial sentence. | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
In other news: A man's appeared in court charged with murdering a | :11:54. | :11:57. | |
security guard who vanished seven years ago. Martin Stafford, of no | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
fixed address, is accused of killing 38-year-old Michelle | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
Gunshon. She was staying at the Dubliner pub in Digbeth in | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
Birmingham while working at the NEC, but hasn't been seen since December | :12:05. | :12:07. | |
2004. Mr Stafford, who's been extradited from the Republic of | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
Ireland, was remanded in custody by Birmingham magistrates. | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
UK Coal has been ordered to pay �1.2 million after four miners died | :12:14. | :12:22. | |
following safety breaches at two of its collieries. Anthony Garrigan, | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
Paul Hunt and Trevor Steeples died in accidents at the Daw Mill | :12:25. | :12:30. | |
colliery near Coventry in 2006 and 2007. Paul Milner died after an | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
accident at the now-closed Welbeck Colliery in Nottinghamshire in 2007. | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
The firm admitted offences under health and safety laws during an | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
earlier hearing at Sheffield Crown Court. | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
The body of a teenage woman has been discovered at a flat in Stoke- | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
on-Trent. Police are describing the death as unexplained while they | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
await the results of a post mortem examination. Our Staffordshire | :12:50. | :12:53. | |
reporter Liz Copper joins us now. Liz, what more do we know about | :12:53. | :13:01. | |
this? Well, although this young woman is yet to be formally | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
identified, this evening the police said the understand she is Victoria | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
Heiton, 18. Her body was discovered by a visitor to her flat he came | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
here around 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon and then alerted the | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
emergency services. A post-mortem examination is being conducted, | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
although the results were not expected to be made public until at | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
least tomorrow morning. Police have been here all day, and earlier this | :13:25. | :13:31. | |
evening, I spoke to inspector Chris Hines. We have stepped up police | :13:31. | :13:37. | |
patrols in the area handing out leaflets to locals to tell people | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
what is happening in terms of the investigation. We will continue | :13:40. | :13:45. | |
that affright the week to reassure local communities, and if anyone | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
has any information or concerns, they should contact their local | :13:48. | :13:55. | |
police station. What's been the reaction in the local area? | :13:55. | :14:01. | |
A great deal of shock. A while ago, friends arrived at a lay tributes. | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
They all said that they hoped that people would not jump to | :14:04. | :14:07. | |
conclusions about exactly what had happened here, but would wait for | :14:07. | :14:14. | |
the outcome and the details of that One person has died after a fire at | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
a flat in Worcester. West Mercia Police are treating it as arson. | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
The victim, who has not been identified, was found in a first- | :14:21. | :14:24. | |
floor flat in Chedworth Close on the Warndon estate in the early | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
hours of this morning. The fire was so severe, forensic teams couldn't | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
get into the flat until late this afternoon. | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
Two people have been charged with the murder of a two-year-old boy | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
from Birmingham. Keanu Williams died in January this year at a | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
house in Ward End. A post-mortem examination found he had died of | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
''non-accidental'' injuries. A 23- year-old woman and a 30-year-old | :14:46. | :14:48. | |
man will appear before Birmingham Magistrates tomorrow charged with | :14:48. | :14:55. | |
causing or allowing the death of a child and child cruelty. | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
Police in Gloucestershire say they believe extreme weather conditions | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
were a major factor in a crash on the M5 last night in which a driver | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
died. Three lorries and two cars were involved in a collision just | :15:06. | :15:15. | |
north of Cheltenham. Tonight more bad weather is expected and the | :15:15. | :15:21. | |
Highways Agency are warning drivers to take extra care. | :15:21. | :15:26. | |
Conditions last night were difficult, to say the least. | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
Because of the weather, police had warned drivers to be careful. There | :15:30. | :15:36. | |
was a sudden flash down part higher at 9:30pm. Drivers said it froze | :15:36. | :15:42. | |
instantly and they could not see lane markings. A car stuck to help | :15:42. | :15:50. | |
another driver and was hit. The driver of his lorry was killed. | :15:50. | :15:55. | |
There will be a lengthy investigation but police say a | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
major role in the crash was plays by the weather conditions. | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
The witnesses and offices at the scene describes the road as an ice | :16:04. | :16:09. | |
rink. We believe it was a major factor with regard to the | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
commission itself. They must passing the crash last | :16:12. | :16:16. | |
night said the driving conditions were among the worst they had | :16:16. | :16:22. | |
experienced. We hit rain, hail and it was clear | :16:22. | :16:28. | |
there was a bad smash up. The lorry was and 90 degrees to the motorway | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
hands of a lot of firemen were working on it. You felt like | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
someone had stab you in the heart because it was clear it was a very | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
bad incident. The M5 northbound was closed for | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
several hours. Police have been busy this week due to the weather | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
on the roads. They are warning drivers to be more cautious than | :16:47. | :16:51. | |
normal. Hale and bad weather can come on | :16:51. | :16:59. | |
very quickly. Double the two-second rule in that bad weather. With | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
worse weather forecast for later in the week, the gritting teams are | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
starting their annual battle against the ice and snow. | :17:08. | :17:15. | |
Stockpiles and Rhodes sold at their highest level for two years. | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
Let us speak to Steve now. Do we have more details about the man who | :17:19. | :17:26. | |
died? No, he was a 55-year-old man. He | :17:26. | :17:33. | |
died so last night. The police are not prepared to say anything | :17:33. | :17:38. | |
officially until they have more details from the investigating team. | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
I can see all the grit has lined up behind you and more bad weather is | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
predicted. What plans are in place to prevent another tragedy like | :17:46. | :17:52. | |
this? The grazing dreams will be out | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
tonight. The north Cotswolds will be sorted out in the next half-an- | :17:56. | :18:04. | |
hour also. -- the gritting seems. There has been some unexpected snow | :18:04. | :18:09. | |
earlier this evening. It is unpredictable and that does creates | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
at ice and snow problems for drivers. To be careful hands the | :18:14. | :18:21. | |
gritting teams are doing their best in difficult conditions. | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
The weather has been pretty grim in the last 24 hours and it doesn't | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
look as if it is going to get any better, Shefali? No, it doesn't. We | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
may have escaped the threat of a storm but the prospects are grim. | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
This is what you could be getting in its place - up to 10cm of snow | :18:35. | :18:45. | |
:18:45. | :18:51. | ||
and treacherous conditions. Join me Not looking good at all. Really | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
grim. A dad whose ten-year-old son nearly | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
died after being knocked off his bike says he is concerned a period | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
of specialist therapy he is undergoing could end earlier than | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
first recommended. Josh Dudley was in a coma for more | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
than two months after the accident near his home in Willenhall near | :19:07. | :19:12. | |
Wolverhampton. Kevin Reide reports. Josh Dudley was just nine years old | :19:12. | :19:17. | |
when he lost control of his bike and went into the path of a car. | :19:17. | :19:24. | |
His dad was confronted with every parent's worst nightmare. | :19:24. | :19:31. | |
I ran up to the scene. I thought he was dead on the road. I had to | :19:31. | :19:37. | |
revive him, bring him back ground. At the time, auto pilot kicks in | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
and you do what you have to do. It was not until after he had been | :19:41. | :19:49. | |
taken to hospital but it dawns on me what had gone on. I was so lucky | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
to have him still there. After two months in a coma, Josh | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
came around but was unable to walk or talk and so was transferred to | :19:56. | :19:59. | |
this specialist Children's Centre at Tadworth in Surrey where he has | :19:59. | :20:08. | |
made remarkable progress. One of the main forms of treatment | :20:08. | :20:15. | |
carried out here is hydrotherapy. In this pool, he can learn to use | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
his limbs again without the pain of weight-bearing. | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
When Josh first came here we had seek change in in the changing | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
rooms because he could not sit up unaided. He has progressed to a | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
chair and is now he is walking in and out of the water. It is | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
phenomenal progress. What was the best bit about that, | :20:38. | :20:46. | |
Josh? Jumping in and getting dad where it. | :20:46. | :20:55. | |
-- getting dad whacked. Is this going to be on CV? | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
It might be. The Children's Centre has | :20:58. | :21:00. | |
recommended Josh completes six months of treatment, meaning he | :21:00. | :21:02. | |
would come home mid-February but Walsall have only committed funding | :21:03. | :21:05. | |
until mid-January. In the meantime, Josh's parents have embarked on | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
their own fundraising as they want to ensure their son stays where | :21:08. | :21:16. | |
they believe he is getting the best possible treatment. | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
And tonight Walsall Primary Care Trust told us they are in talks | :21:19. | :21:22. | |
with the Children's Centre and are aiming for Josh to come home | :21:22. | :21:24. | |
towards the end of January, on condition that all the necessary | :21:25. | :21:28. | |
supports for him here will be in place. | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
Onto football and Stoke City are playing their final group match in | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
the Europa League against Besiktas in Turkey right now. They have | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
already qualified for the knock-out stages but need a point to top the | :21:38. | :21:48. | |
:21:48. | :21:50. | ||
group. It is going well so far. They lead 1-0 at half-time. The | :21:50. | :21:56. | |
scorers bravery nearly got them a second so it is all going well so | :21:56. | :21:58. | |
far. And you can hear second-half | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
commentary on that match on BBC Radio Stoke from 7 o'clock. | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
In cricket, the England batsman Jonathan Trott has signed a three- | :22:05. | :22:08. | |
year contract extension with Warwickshire. Trott was voted the | :22:08. | :22:10. | |
ICC's cricketer of the year for 2011 after his performances for | :22:10. | :22:15. | |
England. His new contract will keep him at Edgbaston until the end of | :22:15. | :22:24. | |
the 2015 season. Let us go back in time a bit now. | :22:25. | :22:27. | |
Charles Dicken's novel A Christmas Carol has long been a festive | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
favourite when it comes to film adaptations but did you know that | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
Shrewsbury was picked as a filming location for the version starring | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
Academy Award winner George C Scott? It was made in 1984 when the | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
town was taken over for six weeks. This weekend, tours are being | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
offered for those who want a trip down memory lane. We sent our arts | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
reporter Satnam Rana to discover some of the people and sites | :22:46. | :22:55. | |
involved. Marley was as dead as a doornail. | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
The opening scene for A Christmas Carol. Look closer and you can see | :22:59. | :23:01. | |
this is Shrewsbury's Market Square, all transformed into Victorian | :23:01. | :23:08. | |
London, but why did the film crew pick Shrewsbury back in 1984? | :23:08. | :23:13. | |
It was quite an accident, really. They decided to film on location | :23:13. | :23:20. | |
and went around the country. The echoes of Christmas past linger | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
through many buildings. Tanners Wine Merchants is one of them. 27 | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
years ago it became Mr Fezzywigs' drapers. | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
The customers loved it. They loved the thought of next door they are | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
filming A Christmas Carol and they were told to keep still and they | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
froze, you know. And then there were the extras. | :23:39. | :23:44. | |
Jenny Ward, seen here in the grey dress, was one of them. | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
We came in here and looked at the scene and it was so different and | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
then we were told what we had to do and where to stand, so it was very | :23:52. | :23:54. | |
exciting. Choristers were drafted in from | :23:54. | :24:04. | |
across the town. Just a street, any street. This | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
house! Every Christmas it comes out. It's | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
a ritual in Shrewsbury that those who took part take out the DVD and | :24:11. | :24:21. | |
:24:21. | :24:22. | ||
watch it all over again. 18 locations we used in the city | :24:22. | :24:28. | |
with 500 local people used as extras. It was filmed in spring and | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
60 tons of snow was shipped nth. But it wasn't all glitzy and | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
glamorous, as town crier Martin Wood recalls. He was Edward | :24:36. | :24:38. | |
Woodward's stand-in. It was Martin's finger that did all the | :24:38. | :24:41. | |
pointing. It was 2 o'clock in the morning | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
when we filmed the scene. Freezing cold, completely covered in snow | :24:44. | :24:54. | |
from ice machines and snow machines. There was a spotlight there was a | :24:54. | :25:01. | |
poster be the Moon to give the airy atmosphere. | :25:01. | :25:04. | |
It's an atmosphere that can be rekindled by so many in Shrewsbury. | :25:04. | :25:07. | |
And for those who want to be bah humbug, think twice. Scrooge's | :25:07. | :25:17. | |
:25:17. | :25:17. | ||
gravestone still remains. Martin is very tall indeed! | :25:17. | :25:23. | |
Some treacherous weather on the way soon. Since yesterday we've | :25:24. | :25:26. | |
switched our emphasis from storms to snow which is probably going to | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
be of greater concern seeing as there could be a fair bit of it. | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
The centre of this low pressure is now heading further south and east, | :25:35. | :25:38. | |
taking its stormy weather with it but on its northern flank we see | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
this rather prominent area of white smothering the Midlands which is | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
snow and for which the Met Office have issued a yellow warning for | :25:44. | :25:46. | |
Thursday night and more particularly into the early hours | :25:46. | :25:56. | |
:25:56. | :26:02. | ||
of Friday morning. There is quite a wide Roche over our region. So | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
we'll come to that in a moment but tonight our main problem will be | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
ice after the rain, some of which could turn to wet snow. It's in the | :26:11. | :26:14. | |
next couple of hours that temperatures are falling away to | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
freezing and during this period we've got an area of low pressure | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
crossing us and that's going to draw this raft of showers in from | :26:20. | :26:23. | |
off the Bristol Channel that could appear as longer and heavier spells | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
of rain and it's very likely that some that could turn wintry and not | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
just be confined to the west but also elsewhere. So wintriness, | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
iciness the main things to be aware of tonight and even tomorrow | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
morning. Even tomorrow it doesn't stop there with the next batch of | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
showers starting to roll in from the west, although they will begin | :26:39. | :26:49. | |
:26:49. | :26:49. | ||
to show signs of easing through the afternoon. Some sunshine to end the | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
day. Temperatures around seven Celsius. And so we come to the part | :26:53. | :26:56. | |
of this week that's going to pose the greatest problem by the looks | :26:56. | :26:59. | |
of things. Heavy rain arrives in the west by tomorrow evening, | :27:00. | :27:02. | |
spreading eastwards as that comes into contact with the cold | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
northwesterly winds gusting to 50mph in places. It will turn to | :27:05. | :27:08. | |
snow and that then spreads south through the early hours of Friday | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
morning. So in terms of quantities, up to 10cm, so treacherous | :27:12. | :27:15. | |
conditions and this snow continuing on and off through much of Friday, | :27:15. | :27:23. | |
only beginning to ease through the evening. | :27:23. | :27:27. | |
A look at tonight's main headlines: Unemployment rises to its highest | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
level for 17 years. Nationally, 2.6 million people are now without a | :27:30. | :27:34. |