Browse content similar to 20/02/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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forces and protestors. That is all from BBC News. It is goodbye from | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
Hello, and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight: | :00:00. | :00:07. | |
Turning the tide after the floods ` firms look to social media to drive | :00:08. | :00:11. | |
home their message ` "open for business". | :00:12. | :00:18. | |
We are an independent retailer here in Worcester, and we had two days | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
last week where we didn't have a single customer. | :00:23. | :00:24. | |
We've spent the day in Worcester talking to shop owners who've had a | :00:25. | :00:27. | |
week they would clearly love to forget. | :00:28. | :00:30. | |
Also tonight: Seven years ago, this village was under water ` what | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
lessons can we learn today from the great floods of 2007? | :00:35. | :00:37. | |
If you can show a united front, I think that's the one thing I want to | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
get out there ` then you will get an awful lot more help. | :00:43. | :00:44. | |
Bishops accuse the Government of driving people into food and fuel | :00:45. | :00:46. | |
poverty. To find that families and | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
individuals are not getting enough to eat in one of the richest | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
countries in the world is a scandal. And stranded in the Atlantic, but | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
determined to carry on ` the rowers who refuse to admit defeat. | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
And the latest rainfall figures have just been released, and I'm afraid | :01:02. | :01:08. | |
they make for grim reading. So how much rain have we had and how much | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
more are we due to get? All those details coming up in the forecast | :01:14. | :01:20. | |
later. Good evening. One week after the | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
highest water levels in living memory, the fightback is on ` that's | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
the message from Worcester shops and businesses tonight, who hope | :01:29. | :01:30. | |
receding water will mean increased takings. The number of people | :01:31. | :01:35. | |
spending money in the city dropped by 10% at the height of the River | :01:36. | :01:39. | |
Severn floods, but a major social media campaign's under way to entice | :01:40. | :01:46. | |
people back. Ben Sidwell reports. What a difference a week makes. This | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
was the scene in Worcester last Thursday. Seven days later, with | :01:51. | :01:59. | |
people starting to return to the high street, shops and businesses | :02:00. | :02:02. | |
have joined forces to try and get a united message across that Worcester | :02:03. | :02:11. | |
is still very much open. The high street has been dead to be honest. | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
It is quiet. We have had the odd people in and out. Luckily we have a | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
lot of customers that have come in. It has been a quiet few weeks. | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
Unlike during the last big floods of 2007, the city now has the power of | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
social media, and they've turned to Twitter in an attempt to boost | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
trade. Businesses can help themselves and help others to show | :02:36. | :02:38. | |
we are open for business. We have taken to social media to get that | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
message across. The response has been phenomenal. And businesses have | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
gotten in touch with us as well to tell us about their experiences. | :02:49. | :02:54. | |
Like this one. This boutique only opened in October, and here, without | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
a doubt, the last ten days have been the toughest they've faced so far. | :02:59. | :03:05. | |
It has been difficult for us as a business. We are an independent | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
retailer in Worcester, and we had two days last week when we didn't | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
have a single customer. Much closer to the river, and at the Diglis | :03:14. | :03:16. | |
House Hotel, they're still pumping out the water. Like many businesses | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
in the city, they've lost trade over the last ten days because customers | :03:23. | :03:32. | |
presumed they were flooded and shut. I think people have been worried | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
about coming in, and at some point last week, rightly so, but now the | :03:38. | :03:44. | |
roads and motorways are open. There is no reason why people should not | :03:45. | :03:47. | |
come to Worcester. While we were at the hotel, a tweet likely to bring | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
joy to many in the city. With the river levels dropping fast, the | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
clean`up has begun. Welcome news for businesses like this cafe. Is | :03:56. | :04:03. | |
getting back to normal. We have a few of the regulars realising they | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
can get to West, so they are starting to get back in. Today on | :04:09. | :04:11. | |
Twitter, it was the free parking that everyone was tweeting about. | :04:12. | :04:13. | |
Another attempt to help attract shoppers back to the high street, | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
and reinforce the message that the city is well and truly open for | :04:18. | :04:25. | |
business. If you want to talk to us on | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
Twitter, as many businesses have been doing, you can contact us. | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
Plenty more ahead tonight, including: The soldiers helping the | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
British Army bring tonnes of equipment home from Afghanistan. | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
And the special home in Birmingham continuing to help families of men | :04:44. | :04:51. | |
and women wounded in action. 20 nurses from Stoke`on`Trent are | :04:52. | :04:54. | |
being sent to Stafford Hospital to ease a staffing crisis. The hospital | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
was taken over by administrators in April last year after an inquiry | :05:00. | :05:02. | |
into its higher`than`expected death rate between 2005 and 2008. Staffing | :05:03. | :05:09. | |
is tonight being described as a "very fragile situation" by the | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
hospital chief executive. Our Staffordshire reporter, Liz Copper, | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
is outside the hospital now. Liz, what more did you learn at the | :05:17. | :05:25. | |
meeting? This comes down to one main issue, | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
the shortage of nursing staff and the difficulties the trust has | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
placed in recruiting and retaining nurses. We learned today that 20 | :05:36. | :05:42. | |
experienced nurses from the NHS in Stoke`on`Trent will come to | :05:43. | :05:44. | |
Staffordshire for three months. There will arrive in Monday and be | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
on the wards on Tuesday. We also learned that 15 beds will be made | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
available in Wolverhampton, and I will help alleviate the pressure. To | :05:56. | :06:03. | |
discuss this, we are joined by a campaign. Give us your initial | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
response. Witham we are happier than we thought we would be when this | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
meeting was called. We thought our ANC hours would be reduced. This is | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
good news is we're getting some or staff. We have this problem of not | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
being able to recruit staff, and this has been due to the prolonged | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
process. The chief executive described the situation as fragile. | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
It is concerning. We need the decision next week that there has to | :06:33. | :06:35. | |
be stability and future of the staff. People have mortgages to | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
pay. They need to know the certainty of their future career. Thank you | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
for joining us this evening. Next week will be a very important week | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
here at the hospital. We are expecting to have the decision from | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
the Secretary of State. His decision on the administrator's plans for the | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
future of services here at Stafford. It is hoped by the board | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
that the decision at the least will provide some measure of certainty. | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
Thank you. 27 bishops, including four from our region, have written a | :07:11. | :07:13. | |
letter condemning the Government's "punitive" welfare reforms, which | :07:14. | :07:16. | |
they say have forced people into food and fuel poverty. The Bishops | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
of Birmingham, Gloucester, Lichfield and Tewkesbury believe too many | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
people are having to choose between "heat or eat". Bob Hockenhull | :07:23. | :07:28. | |
reports. The Government says the sun is | :07:29. | :07:31. | |
starting to shine on the economy again, but church leaders are | :07:32. | :07:34. | |
painting a bleaker picture ` one of a society with too many people going | :07:35. | :07:41. | |
hungry. I'm absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to speak up for | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
those who can't speak for themselves. Inequalities in Britain | :07:46. | :07:48. | |
have grown over the last two years, in spite of everyone's best efforts, | :07:49. | :07:51. | |
and to find that families and individuals are not getting enough | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
to eat in one of the richest countries in the world is a scandal. | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
The Bishop of Birmingham's signature is on an open letter to the Prime | :07:59. | :08:01. | |
Minister criticising failures in the benefit system. It states, "This is | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
a national crisis and one we must rise to". In reply, the Government | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
said it aimed to make people less dependent. But for Becky Beasley, | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
collecting her food parcel at Sparkhill food bank today, those | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
words cut no ice. She is suffering from depression, struggling to find | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
work, and her benefit payments have been delayed. The Government should | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
have ?50 a week to live on like we do. If we didn't have food banks, we | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
would be begging on the street. The Government isn't seeing it because | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
they haven't lived like that. The food bank here says that the | :08:40. | :08:42. | |
Bishop's letter is particularly timely, because earlier this week it | :08:43. | :08:45. | |
set a new record, giving out 41 food parcels in the space of just three | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
hours. The Bishop's letter also points out wages have stagnated | :08:52. | :08:54. | |
while food prices have risen, so some in work are struggling as well | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
` an assertion backed up by supervisors here. Some people are | :08:59. | :09:05. | |
perhaps on a zero hours contract, and so they are not able to claim | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
job`seeker's Allowance, and suddenly they find themselves in a desperate | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
situation when they are not able to get any money. In addition to the | :09:13. | :09:20. | |
letter, the church in Birmingham is to produce a hunger journal, | :09:21. | :09:23. | |
allowing those who were skipping meals to tell their stories. | :09:24. | :09:30. | |
With the December deadline looming, the mammoth task of withdrawing | :09:31. | :09:33. | |
British troops from Afghanistan is stepping up a gear, and soldiers | :09:34. | :09:36. | |
from the Midlands are in the thick of it. It's costing the UK ?300 | :09:37. | :09:43. | |
million to leave Afghanistan. 5,500 containers of equipment will have to | :09:44. | :09:46. | |
be brought back, along with 400 tonnes of ammunition cases. The | :09:47. | :09:53. | |
supply convoys are being driven by soldiers from our region. They run | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
the risk of roadside bombs on a daily basis. From Helmand Province, | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
Jeremy Ball reports. Imagine getting stuck behind this | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
lot when you are trying to get to work. More than 50 heavily armoured | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
trucks travelling in convoy. It's called a combat logistics patrol. | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
There are drivers here from Tamworth and Telford. Mark Hanslo comes from | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
Sutton Coldfield. It's pretty fun, to be honest. IED threats are | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
probably one of the main problems we have out here. It's mostly pressure | :10:26. | :10:28. | |
plate or operated IEDs, that if a vehicle rolls over it, it explodes. | :10:29. | :10:33. | |
It must be frightening when that happens. I wouldn't like to be | :10:34. | :10:36. | |
underneath it when it goes off. The convoys are collecting millions of | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
pounds worth of sensitive equipment from British bases that are being | :10:40. | :10:42. | |
closed, including weapons, vehicles, and power plants. It makes them a | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
prime target for the Taliban. That's why these huge force protection | :10:49. | :10:50. | |
vehicles are pushing rollers in front of them. They are designed to | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
take the force of the blast if they hit an improvised bomb. In fact, the | :10:56. | :10:58. | |
protection is so good that hundreds of British soldiers have survived | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
IED strikes. The latest occupational hazard is known as a pillow charge | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
IED ` a sack full of explosives that is thrown underneath their vehicle. | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
I wasn't expecting the bang when it went off, so I was a bit jumpy. A | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
lot of the kids, you get 50% who wave at you, the other half will | :11:17. | :11:20. | |
throw stones at you or gesture to you. What surprised you most? Having | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
six people on one motorbike. It's quite crazy. Just the way they live, | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
the way they drive ` it is quite mad, you know? This driving is | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
pretty unusual too. It is an army heading home after more than 12 | :11:37. | :11:45. | |
years at war. The UK's military role in | :11:46. | :11:47. | |
Afghanistan since 2001 has brought with it a heavy human toll. The | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
number of deaths stands at 447 ` with nearly 2,200 people flown back | :11:54. | :11:56. | |
to UK hospitals after being wounded in action. Many of those servicemen | :11:57. | :12:03. | |
and women are brought to Birmingham, with families from around the | :12:04. | :12:06. | |
country heading to Selly Oak to support their loved ones. And, at | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
times of enormous emotional strain, help is provided at a special home | :12:11. | :12:24. | |
in the city. Since 2003, more than 2000 British personnel have been | :12:25. | :12:26. | |
seriously injured in Afghanistan. Seeders like Stephen. We were going | :12:27. | :12:33. | |
through the desert and I hit an IED. From the damaged that it did in | :12:34. | :12:39. | |
my legs, they decided to amputate one of my legs. | :12:40. | :12:41. | |
Like thousands of his colleagues, Steven was flown to the UK to be | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
treated at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Fiancee Amy was | :12:46. | :12:49. | |
there throughout. It was heartbreaking. He flew back, and it | :12:50. | :12:58. | |
is like your world falls apart when you hear the news. With Steven in a | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
coma, being close was vital ` and that was made possible by the | :13:03. | :13:05. | |
military charity SSAFA and their base in the city. It may look like a | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
normal house on a Birmingham street, but to the people that stay here, | :13:10. | :13:12. | |
it's much, much more. Since 2009, the families of 1,800 injured | :13:13. | :13:15. | |
servicemen and women have stayed here at Norton House, and today it's | :13:16. | :13:18. | |
celebrating its fifth birthday. To help with the birthday celebrations, | :13:19. | :13:21. | |
volunteers from the 167 Catering Regiment were on hand. There are a | :13:22. | :13:29. | |
few of us who come down and volunteered to cook for the | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
families. It is a worthwhile task, and we enjoy doing it. Norton house | :13:34. | :13:42. | |
can accommodate several families. This is a fully functional disabled | :13:43. | :13:50. | |
room. You have touched a lot of people 's lives. Some people stay | :13:51. | :13:55. | |
for one night, some people say for seven nights. And after five years, | :13:56. | :13:58. | |
many former residents and volunteers were back to celebrate ` including | :13:59. | :14:01. | |
Caroline Boyd, who was one of the first to use the house when her son | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
Sami was injured in 2009. All you had to concentrate on with your son | :14:08. | :14:10. | |
getting better, and you didn't have to think about driving home or | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
making food or doing anything. It was the most incredible place, and | :14:15. | :14:17. | |
looking back on it, it was fantastic. It is a fantastic | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
facility. As the campaign in Afghanistan draws to a close, the | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
number of people being injured has dropped ` but as Birmingham remains | :14:26. | :14:28. | |
the main centre for military casualties, the need for Norton | :14:29. | :14:31. | |
House and the support it offers to their families continues. | :14:32. | :14:38. | |
Your detailed weather forecast to come shortly. This is our top story | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
tonight: Turning the tide after the floods ` firms look to social media | :14:44. | :14:46. | |
to drive home their message ` "we're open for business". | :14:47. | :14:50. | |
Also in tonight's programme, we revisit one of the worst flood`hit | :14:51. | :14:53. | |
villages from 2007. What lessons can be learned seven years on? | :14:54. | :15:04. | |
Friends of a rower stranded in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean say she | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
won't give up until she finishes the 3,000`mile race. Hannah Lawton, from | :15:11. | :15:13. | |
Stoke`on`Trent, and her team`mate, Lauren Morton, are waiting for a | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
replacement rudder for their boat. This is where they are now ` almost | :15:19. | :15:22. | |
1,000 nautical miles from the finish in Antigua. In a moment, I'll be | :15:23. | :15:28. | |
talking to a rower who knows what it's like to be stranded at sea, but | :15:29. | :15:32. | |
first, here's Dan Pallett. He's a worried parent, and why he | :15:33. | :15:35. | |
wouldn't he be? John Lawton's daughter, Hannah, seen here at the | :15:36. | :15:38. | |
front, is trying to row across the Atlantic with her friend, Lauren | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
Morton. They prepared for months, but their progress is slow after | :15:43. | :15:45. | |
their rudder and two spares were broken in a storm. So the pair and | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
their boat, Inspirational Friends, are 1127 miles away from the finish. | :15:51. | :15:58. | |
If the storms have been bad on mainland Britain, at sea, it's even | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
worse. They've had a lot of problems with the boat. Serious problems with | :16:03. | :16:05. | |
the boat. Some competitors have abandoned the race with similar | :16:06. | :16:08. | |
issues, but they decided to stick with it, to endure and hopefully | :16:09. | :16:15. | |
complete the challenge. Hannah's blog posts highlight how tough it | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
has been. She has written that the dangers are very real and can be | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
scary at times. This is the race website. Here is the finish line in | :16:25. | :16:28. | |
Antigua in the Caribbean. As of midday today, Inspirational Friends | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
are still way out here. That is 980 nautical miles from the finish. | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
Hannah's a coach at Worcester Rowing Club, where this week, the clean`up | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
is underway after the floods. Vicky is a friend who has been in regular | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
contact via e`mail. She says the pair are determined to finish the | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
race as they are rowing in memory of a friend, Elena, who died of cancer | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
aged just 23. They are raising money for two charities, Jo's Cervical | :16:56. | :16:57. | |
Cancer Trust, and Martin House Hospice, who cared for Elena when | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
she was ill. I think the inspiration behind her as a friend, the way in | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
which she faced the illness, they're not going to stop. Inspirational | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
Friends have already been at sea for 78 days, and they hope to reach | :17:11. | :17:16. | |
Antigua by the end of next month. This is one race where taking part | :17:17. | :17:28. | |
really is everything. We wish them well. | :17:29. | :17:31. | |
So, what's it like to be stranded at sea, up the creek without a paddle ` | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
well, rudder? In 2004, Richard Wood became the 11th person to row across | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
the Atlantic. It took him 101 days ` and he's here now. Good evening. | :17:40. | :17:42. | |
What will the women be going through right now? Tremendous psychological | :17:43. | :17:51. | |
battle. It is really tough. I was coming down a big wave, lying in my | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
cabin relaxing, and suddenly I knew there was something wrong with the | :17:59. | :18:02. | |
boat. I could feel it. I went out onto the deck and I put my feet into | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
the thing that stirred the boat, and there was pressure on, so I knew | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
something had gone wrong. That is the rudder? It is upside down. The | :18:13. | :18:23. | |
original parts was the aluminium piece the rudder was in, and the | :18:24. | :18:29. | |
next morning, I spent ages trying with ropes to find a different way | :18:30. | :18:32. | |
of steering. I realised I couldn't do anything and I was stuck. Anyway | :18:33. | :18:37. | |
I could get out of it was to use my initiative. I spent a few days | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
trying to think hard to get myself out of this. Mine was an | :18:42. | :18:49. | |
old`fashioned boat made of plywood. You must have tremendous physical | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
and psychological strength. Henry Ford once said if you think you can, | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
you can. That's what it is about. The real about Ocean rowing is to | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
never give up. Can you remember clearly? Absolutely. It was amazing. | :19:06. | :19:14. | |
It was good when the wind was up because she could get on top and | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
serve the waves. You could do 65 miles a day. I would predict they | :19:19. | :19:26. | |
won't get their until April now. You have had a stroke. But you would do | :19:27. | :19:32. | |
it again? I wanted to prove that there is life after stroke. I didn't | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
want to sit down and become a blogger. Life is a disabled person | :19:38. | :19:48. | |
is horrendous. What will you do? I want to be the first disabled person | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
to read the Pacific. But you have one side not working. Yes, my right | :19:54. | :20:00. | |
side is not working. To be able to do a world first, I have to have the | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
disability, so if I didn't have that, I would be able to get a world | :20:05. | :20:10. | |
first. Think is coming in an inspiration. | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
?1 million needs to be found to restore one of the finest examples | :20:17. | :20:19. | |
of medieval architecture in the country. 15th century Beauchamp | :20:20. | :20:22. | |
Chapel in St Mary's Warwick is said to rival the best of Westminster | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
Abbey ` yet few are aware of its existence. Joan Cummins reports. | :20:27. | :20:29. | |
St Mary's church in the heart of Warwick was established in 1123. The | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
reformation, great fire of Warwick, and centuries of industrialisation | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
have started to take their toll. Richard was described as the richest | :20:40. | :20:42. | |
man in England when he left money for this ?5,000 chapel in the 15th | :20:43. | :20:51. | |
century. Now it will cost more than ?1 million to keep it in | :20:52. | :20:59. | |
21st`century condition. It is in a state. It is a wonderful building, | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
and it does need to be restored and is renovated for future generations | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
so that we can pass on this treasure. Whilst a ?40,000 grant has | :21:09. | :21:11. | |
been awarded to repair falling masonry on the outside...it's the | :21:12. | :21:13. | |
hidden treasures within the Beauchamp Chapel that are now the | :21:14. | :21:16. | |
focus of a restoration campaign to preserve the priceless medieval | :21:17. | :21:27. | |
craftmanship within. This chapel was built with the greatest skill by | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
obviously very competent medieval craftsmen. Richard de Beauchamp | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
built it specifically to commemorate a person and to have masses and | :21:40. | :21:42. | |
services held in memory of them for ever. This is one of the best if not | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
the best resource for that. Originally the tomb of Richard | :21:48. | :21:49. | |
Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, was a place of pilgrimage. He was | :21:50. | :21:52. | |
recognised as a national figure who supported the monarchy and even | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
presided over the trial of Joan of Arc. The people, I think, would have | :21:57. | :22:05. | |
been in mentally impressed that they was this place that is so beautiful | :22:06. | :22:13. | |
and colourful. We have visitors from all over the world, and they come in | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
here and just marvel and say, it has been a highlight of our day. | :22:19. | :22:21. | |
Restoration work will begin in the spring on what's regarded as a | :22:22. | :22:28. | |
hidden gem of the county. ??NEWLNE Back now to the story that's | :22:29. | :22:32. | |
dominated the news for the last ten days ` the floods. On Tuesday, our | :22:33. | :22:35. | |
reporter Joanne Writtle visited Severn Stoke, a village near | :22:36. | :22:38. | |
Worcester, where some residents have been cut off by the River Severn. | :22:39. | :22:43. | |
Five miles downstream is Uckinghall, which was devastated by the floods | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
of 2007. Seven years on, Uckinghall is flood`free. Joanne's been there | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
today, seeking advice and solace for homeowners currently knee deep in | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
water. The village of Uckinghall looks calm | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
and dry today. Not a flooded home in sight. Hard to imagine then that | :23:02. | :23:08. | |
this was the same village in 2007. It's all thanks to ?1 million of | :23:09. | :23:11. | |
flood defences, including this wall and gate. Anne was used to being | :23:12. | :23:18. | |
flooded. Three times in total, the last being 2007, which was the | :23:19. | :23:21. | |
grandaddy of them all, when the water came up and through the | :23:22. | :23:29. | |
letterbox. What is it like now? Absolutely brilliant. This Tudor | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
house is dry now, but seven years ago, water poured in, causing | :23:35. | :23:42. | |
devastation. The flood defences have made all the difference. It wasn't | :23:43. | :23:45. | |
easy to get them. We had to work hard at it. We had to get together | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
as a group and put communal effort into it. Judy heads up the flood | :23:51. | :23:53. | |
action group. Part of the defences include a pumping station. She says | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
it's important not to be complacent. This is Charlie Two Pumps, and we | :23:59. | :24:01. | |
love him. It won't fail. We have three villagers who are trained to | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
manually override the pump if it should fail. I've also got another | :24:06. | :24:08. | |
wonderful villager who, every day during a flood situation, comes out | :24:09. | :24:15. | |
and checks it four times a day. Just by the pumping station, this is the | :24:16. | :24:19. | |
clay bend that was built. Over here is how far the river came up a few | :24:20. | :24:24. | |
days ago. In actual fact, the banks of the River Severn are half a mile | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
over that way. This was Judy's cottage under water in 2007. It took | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
two years to repair the damage, but today, it is flood`free. The water | :24:35. | :24:41. | |
came up to about, I would say here. I had chest waders on, which is | :24:42. | :24:45. | |
useful. 20 homes were flooded here seven years ago. Judy's advice to | :24:46. | :24:48. | |
others fighting for defences is stick together for a long fight. | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
Have faith, and the defences they now have is clear. Quiet confidence. | :24:55. | :25:02. | |
I know that doesn't sound like a celebration, and I have to say that | :25:03. | :25:05. | |
when my cottage flooded, I remember actually opening a bottle of | :25:06. | :25:08. | |
champagne the next morning because I felt I needed it. Isn't that odd? | :25:09. | :25:12. | |
This time, I had a cup of coffee and went to bed. | :25:13. | :25:23. | |
Well, we've been told today that this has been the wettest winter on | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
record. Not a total surprise! It all seems a bit quieter now. How's the | :25:29. | :25:30. | |
forecast looking, Shefali? It is a sad statistic, but no | :25:31. | :25:41. | |
surprise. We have one more week to go before the season ends, so all | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
the records have been broken, and all that is loved to say by how | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
much. This year's figures narrowly beat the previous record set in 1995 | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
by about one millimetre. We have had 487 millimetres of rain. There is | :25:59. | :26:04. | |
still more to come this week. We have another wet day ahead of us on | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
Sunday. This will produce more rain then we had last night, because the | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
jet stream is looking further south. This is the system that will bring | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
it in. It is a one sector sequence, and it will be to higher | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
temperatures, because over the next few hours, we are looking at | :26:23. | :26:25. | |
temperatures dropping. They could be a fair amount of rain. You could see | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
the ice bars. Winds will be strong as well. We won't see a repeat of | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
the recent storms. We're looking at a few more showers in the region. | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
They are gradually going to peter out later on. The frequency will | :26:42. | :26:48. | |
decrease. We're looking at largely dry conditions and clearer skies. A | :26:49. | :26:52. | |
very different night from night, where we have clearer skies, drier | :26:53. | :26:56. | |
conditions, and colder ones as well. Temperatures dropping to around two | :26:57. | :27:01. | |
degrees. This colder air will come in contact with the showers as the | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
activity steps up through the day tomorrow, so we could see some hail | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
or possibly snow mixed in there over the highs. A good deal of sunshine | :27:10. | :27:16. | |
in between, and temperatures rising up to seven or eight degrees. It | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
will be tampered by that story breeze coming in from the south | :27:21. | :27:22. | |
west. Thank you. Tonight's headlines from the BBC: | :27:23. | :27:25. | |
The deadliest day of Ukraine's protests ` many are killed as a | :27:26. | :27:27. | |
fragile truce breaks down. And a week after the record`breaking | :27:28. | :27:36. | |
floods, Worcester business owners use social media to entice shoppers | :27:37. | :27:39. | |
back to the city. That was the Midlands Today. I'll be | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
back at ten o'clock with your latest update. Have a good evening. | :27:44. | :27:49. |