20/03/2017 Midlands Today

Good evening. me to find out more now

Pioneering technology being trialled at the University

of Birmingham could revolutionise safety in football.

Experts there are hoping that concussion could be identified

in a matter of seconds they believe players who'd suffered

a head injury could therefore be prevented from rejoining the game

The technology's now being looked at by at least one

COMMENTATOR: Both appear, certainly in Dawson's

Injuries are part and parcel of the game,

Evidence is mounting it can affect the brain.

This virtual reality device is called an Oculus Rift,

and something similar is currently being trialled at some college

soccer games in America with a neurosurgeon pitchside.

And along with clinical assessments, it can help to detect

Dr Michael Grey has been conducting a trial with the device

for the last three years, and he's brought it along to show

The idea of the test is getting the brain to do two

With our virtual reality balance test, we're having

the brain do one thing, and then we challenge it

And it's only by doing this that we can see subtle changes that

might not show up in a standard neurocognitive test.

I think we're looking for functional task to allow us to make a quick

decision and technologies such as that could potentially be

So, could football learn from other sports?

New rule changes have been introduced to reduce head injuries,

and every player now receives concussion training.

The challenge is when we allow players to get back out on the pitch

Because the next one, the same blow, may cause a more serious injury.

For current players and youngsters, just a few hundred pounds

on new technology could help to prevent

Laura May McMullan, BBC Midlands Today.

Four people walked away with only minor injuries after a bus

ploughed into a house in Coventry this morning.

The bus failed to negotiate a roundabout and collided with a car

before smashing into the property on Keresley Road.

It hit the outer wall of the owner's children's bedroom.

Fortunately, they were sleeping elsewhere.

We heard a banging noise and I said what happened, and he said somebody

said there was a car outside and he opened the curtain and he saw next

door there was a bus inside the house and we were really shocked.

A pensioner's been jailed for four years after knocking down

and killing a three-year-old girl on a pedestrian crossing.

Poppy-Arabella Rose Clarke was walking across Chester Road

in Boldmere in Sutton Coldfield last July.

Poppy died in hospital - her mother Rachel was seriously injured.

72-year-old John Place admitted causing death by dangerous driving.

The funeral's taken place of Brenda Procter, a leading

campaigner during the 1984 Miners Strike in Stoke-on-Trent.

Trade unionists, including former NUM leader Arthur Scargill, turned

out in force to pay their respects to the 66-year-old.

Mrs Procter was secretary of the North Staffordshire Miners'

Wives Action Group and later became a city councillor.

House prices are on the rise and, according to research by the online

Estate Agents Rightmove, the growth's now being driven not

The company says the increase reflects growing interest

in the region, but also a shortage of properties in some price ranges.

Elizabeth Glinka has been taking a closer look

So Elizabeth, this sounds like good news for the Midlands,

The increase reflects a buoyant market, people

are feeling confident, people are moving to the region

As we heard in the past, the Midlands is now the number one

location for 30 and 40 somethings relocating from London.

Price rises can also reflect a shortage of supply.

Let's have a look at the figures that Rightmove have put out today.

The average house price in England and Wales this month

Just a few hundred pounds under the previous record,

which was recorded in June last year.

The average hearing the Midlands is, as you'd expect, lower.

The prices here going up faster than almost anywhere else.

We have the second highest growth rate in the country

And while we know London is very expensive, their averages

just under ?650,000 and, the prices are going up at a much

So why do the experts think this is happening?

There's an increase in investment from businesses

There is an increase in confidence among buyers

and there is an increase in confidence among sellers and also

in terms of mortgages, mortgages for those people who can

get them either the bit easier to get than they used to be years ago.

get them are a bit easier to get than they used to be years ago.

Now, perhaps they would say this as their living depends on it,

but estate agents from the Midlands told Rightmove they expect prices

to continue to rise in our region by between 4% and 5% over

The most expensive part of our region is Warwickshire,

where the average property price is now ?286,000.

Now, we don't know what's going to happen with Brexit

But at the moment it remains pretty competitive out there.

Great if you own your own home, not so good you are trying to get

A multi-million pound plant's opened in West Bromwich to recycle nappies,

The company running it says it's the first if its kind.

It'll stop thousands of tonnes of waste ending up in landfill

and instead turn it into fuel for power stations.

The company brings its waste from all around the country.

It comes in at one end of the plant and there it goes through process

which helps us to break it apart and take the moisture

We can then return that moisture to the sewage system where it

would ideally have gone to start with and what we're left with is dry

product and that dry product is bailed and it creates something

that can be used to recover energy as fuel and power stations.

It's a tale of tempestuous love set in the wilds of the Yorkshire Moors.

But this new film adaptation of 'Wuthering Heights' is actually

being shot in the Midlands - with scenes in Herefordshire,

The director sold her house to realise her dream

of making the film, as our Arts Reporter Satnam Rana

About five miles from the Welsh border lies the village

the village and I'm coming into the churchyard now,

The Church of St Mary and St David today, a film set for the adaptation

of literary classic Wuthering Heights.

Here because of director Elisaveta Abrahall,

But isn't Emily Bronte's novel based in the Yorkshire Moors?

The locality around here really does lend itself

We have a fantastic amount of Shropshire hills -

Cleehill is desolate at the best of times - and it really has

so we hope that Yorkshire will forgive us for that.

What's more, this director has raised the ?100,000 budget

You can't always get the job you want, can you?

So you've got to make the job you want sometimes,

Filming has also taken place across Shropshire,

Worcstershire and Gloucestershire - this, Chanvenage House.

Opportunities have bene created for local orgaisations -

today, KC Horse Rescue and, of course, locals

It's nice to have something like this going on in the village.

It's totally different to what we usually have going on here.

And Cathy is played by a Herefordshire actress too,

It's been really relaxing, oddly - I haven't had to do a thing.

I fell asleep at one point, so that was pretty good.

Expect a host of emotions in this film, which will be released in time

for Emily Bronte's 200th birth anniverary in July 2018.

I'll leave you with the weather from Rebecca.

Thank you very much. Good evening. Today was the Equinox say that is

when daytime and night-time becomes the same length and it was the start

of spring for many people. It didn't really feel springlike as the start

of the day. Lots of rain and cloud but through this afternoon we

started to see the clouds breaking and we got some glorious sunshine.

It was a glorious end to the day, lovely sunset. This week, very mixed

picture. We start off with that breeze which we had today. That will

blow through plenty of scratched showers. The speeding college as

well but it should settle down by the time we get to the end of the

week. We have clear skies tonight, the showers rattling through. As

they need to cold air over the higher ground it could be a bit

wintry because our temperatures are dropping to freezing. A chilly but

bright start to the day tomorrow. Continuing to see those showers,

some could be wintry as they touch cold air and ice through the

morning, some thunder in there as well. It is also windy, the

temperature is not doing well. As we continue to head through the week we

start to get a little more unsettled. More rain than the swathe

through into Wednesday. Winds will start to ease, the temperatures are

finally starting to lift a little bit but it is a very messy picture.

The low pressure, that wind dropping out, lots of weather systems. A wet

day on Wednesday, something right behind that at our temperatures

finally starting to recover. As to the end of the week, we are seeing

high pressure finally start to take charge. I'll leave you with a look

ahead at the end of outlook for Saturday and Sunday is

for something dry and settled, sunny spells but a bit on the cool side.

This week we are starting off with a taste of winter. This is Paul and

maritime air, it has come from a long way north and will push in lots

of showers. The last of any mild air gets swept away with the cloud.

Tonight we have showers mostly across the northern half of the UK,

which will turn wintry and that means more snow, particularly across

Scotland and Northern Ireland, perhaps northern England. With those

temperatures it is not just snow that is a