08/11/2013 South East Today

We will keep you updated on the Typhoon as it heads towards Vietnam

this weekend. Welcome to South East Today. I'm

Natalie Graham. And I'm Rob Smith. Tonight's top stories. A Kent

pensioner can apply for a Visa for her brain`damaged Turkish husband to

live in Britain. A life cruelly cut short ` the father of Sussex soldier

James Brynin talks of his pride in his son, killed in Afghanistan. Also

in tonight's programme: A council tax rise in Kent for the first time

in four years and more cuts to jobs and services planned. And England's

first crop of outdoor olives is harvested, but has it been a

success? Feeling Blue? They are in Brighton, where the band is playing

tonight. Good evening. The father of a Sussex soldier killed in action in

Afghanistan says he still keeps thinking his son will walk through

the door. Lance Corporal James Brynin, from Shoreham, was shot dead

during a patrol in Helmand Province last month. In his first television

interview, his father said James had found his vocation and loved being a

soldier, but his life was cruelly cut short. We feel immensely proud.

James died a warrior's death, as a hero. You cannot help to feel the

honour of being his parent. It is overwhelming, really. Lance Corporal

James Brynin loved being a soldier. Just 22, his family said he found

his vocation in life, he just did not have it for long enough. While

in Afghanistan, he was shot dead when his patrol was attacked. You

always have the worry as a parent, was he bleeding to death for hours?

Was he scared? We are comforted by the fact that we know that was not

the case. We have the lucky, if that is the right word, because we have

had wonderful people, his colleagues, who have given us a

port. James is the 445th service personnel to die in as Dennis

Thomson 's 2001. His family are overwhelmed by tributes `` to die in

Afghanistan. Our thoughts are with his family, his friends and

colleagues at this difficult time. He made the ultimate sacrifice and

we must not forget it. Not only did he love being a soldier, he was

passionate about foot wall and played for the under 16 Sussex

squad. `` football. And he was a fan of seagulls. Tomorrow, in honour of

his sacrifice, this stadium, 27,500 supporters, will be silent. They are

the real heroes. They fight for their country and put their life at

risk. It has not hit us, the magnitude of it. We are expecting

him to walk through the door. We appreciate that will not happen. A

Kent pensioner whose Turkish husband was left with permanent brain damage

after an attack that almost killed him has won a battle with the

Government over his right to come to England. The Home Office refused

Eileen Bora's application to bring him here because she doesn't earn

enough money. That decision has been overturned on appeal under Human

Rights legislation, meaning Nusret Bora can now apply for a UK visa.

This is Nusret Bora, disabled and brain`damaged in Turkey. By

Christmas, he could be back in England, to the delight of his

Tunbridge Wells fight, who won a fight is with the Home Office over

their refusal to grant a Visa. I had two choices, leaving my husband and

living with my family, or leaving my family and living with my and in the

country I do not want to be in. Every day, he begs to go to England.

Let's go, we will never come back stock that is how much it means to

him `` never come back. The couple married in 2003. On a visit by the

couple to Turkey in 2011, the 53`year`old was attacked. His wife

wanted to bring him back but Home Office rules came into effect in

2012, meaning he was not eligible. Friends of the couple said that he

earned his right to live here. He has been in England before and he

has worked in England before. He has paid his dues and National

Insurance. He was working towards citizenship. That is what he wanted

after he married. The couple won the case on human rights grounds. The

appeal tribunal found the Home Office had acted disproportionately

and affected their right to a private and family life. I would

like to congratulate Eileen on the success of the appeal and welcome

her Turkish husband to become free and he should be here in time for

Christmas. But it is important we control the numbers of people coming

into the country and it is quite right that we ask someone marrying

someone from overseas to make sure they have the

support. He was horrifically injured in the attack. His wife said he will

not be a drain on the NHS, but they will be better able to care for him

in the UK. How soon will the couple be able to come here from Turkey?

They hope to have him back by mid`December, when his Visa should

come through. That is not the end of the story. They applied for a

multi`entry fees and in order to remain in the country he will have

to be granted indefinite leave to remain, which they will have two

apply for. The Home Office issued a statement saying that applications

are considered on individual merits and in line with immigration rules.

They said they would not appeal the decision. In a moment, suspended by

the British Legion, a war veteran and his daughter investigated for

alleged financial irregularities. Hundreds of job losses, cuts to

essential services and the first council tax increase for four years.

These are the headlines from Kent County Council's latest budget

plans, as the authority looks to plug a ?273 million hole in its

finances over the next three years. It's proposing to increase council

tax by just under 2%, which would lead to an extra 18 pounds a year on

the bill for band B and C households. They should improve

efficiency. In a lot of councils, that is where the scope is, stop

cutting and look at the way you do things and improve that within the

existing budget. I blame the government for reducing the money

they provide to councils and lumbering them with more services to

provide. It is fair enough. I kept it low the last years and eventually

they will have to increase it. The proposals would have a significant

impact on council staff and services. Over the next three years

they are looking to save ?127 million by changing the way the

authority is run. 27 million through cuts to how adults and elderly

people are looked after. And nearly ?25 million from staffing costs.

That could lead to the loss of hundreds of posts, and union leaders

are concerned. I think we are in a difficult as it should, where,

perhaps, the people of Kent say look, Kent cannot do any more, come

on, government, you need to help us. Kent County Council has now launched

a consultation into its plans, which will last about five weeks. It will

then publish its draft budget early next year. The leader of the council

is with us in the studio. You will Westminster colleagues want you to

freeze council tax, are you picking a fight with? We have been saving

?90 million for the past two years and it will go on for another three

years. They put money on the table to freeze the council tax to help

hard`working strep should people. We froze council tax in the last three

years. The money from government is one of money representing 4.5

million. Where we have a ?90 million a year problem to stand still. We

have to pay for increased energy costs to run streetlights and the

organisation and have the same inflation dresses as any business.

We have been able to make savings and freeze council tax, but

something has to give and we will have to put it up by 2%, currently

out to the resident of Kent through the consultation launched this

morning. You are cutting services and jobs, affecting but rubble

people. We make further savings in expenditure. It does not mean we are

cutting front line services. We aren't going through a massive

change in the council. It is vulnerable people who will be

affected. We will support the most vulnerable people in the community.

The shape of services delivered might change, but they will

hopefully be more effective and some cases more so in supporting

honourable people. A company that wants to drill for oil and gas in

East Kent has withdrawn its planning applications for the time being.

Coastal Oil and Gas had applied to carry out exploratory drilling in

three areas in a process campaigners feared would lead to fracking. But

now the company's told Kent County Council it will

applications at a later date. A woman who stabbed a grandmother to

death in broad daylight has lost her attempt to appeal against her

conviction and sentence. Nicola Edgington was jailed for 37 years in

March for the murder of 58`year old Sally Hodkin in Bexleyheath. She'd

stabbed her own mother to death in Forest Row in Sussex six years

earlier, but was then released to live in the community. An elderly

war veteran and his daughter have been suspended by their local branch

of the Royal British Legion. John Froud and his daughter Shirley are

under investigation in Edenbridge for alleged financial

irregularities. Robin, you have spoken to surely, what did she have

to say? She was distressed and said the family were distraught. They

were advised not to speak which she wanted to make a couple of things

clear, the first that no poppy day funds were involved. The second that

her father, a war veteran, who has been at the heart of the British

Legion for 40 years in Edenbridge, had no responsibility. She said she

was responsible for the branch funds in the past year but because of

illness she allowed her duties to slide. She said no money had been

stolen and hopes the investigation would prove that. For its part, the

British Legion says the investigation continues and two

members of the branch had been suspended. The top story. The father

of a Sussex soldier killed in action in Afghanistan says he still keeps

thinking his son will walk through the door. Lance Corporal James

Brynin, from Shoreham, was shot dead during a patrol in Helmand Province

last month. Also in tonight's programme: It's sad, but don't be

blue! We're talking to the boy band who are playing in Brighton tonight.

And I will have the weather details later. Less than two years after

being planted, the first olives from Britain's first outdoor olive grove,

in Kent, have been harvested. It's not an unqualified success ` the

crop is not good enough to Mediterranean alternatives. And at

Huggits Farm in Tenterden, they admit they've taken a big risk by

doing it at all. But as our environment correspondent Yvette

Austin reports for out Food Chain series, they are far from

discouraged. Autumnal fruit, Mediterranean style. But this is

East Kent and it is the country's first`out door olive grove harvest.

It is satisfying. I stood out in the first week of June after a horrible

summer last year, a long winter and late spring, and I was looking

affectively at an live graveyard and thought it was the worst idea. But

then the new shoots appeared and we had flowers in the grove. I was

still not optimistic but where we are now, we are producing probably

20 kilograms, fivefold increase on last year. We are delighted. It is a

project he knew would be risky. Most trees were planted 18 months ago and

have had snow, some of the wettest weather on record and the late

spring this year. Some trees did that than others. Last year, we were

surprised we got some. This year, with the late spring and summer

armour some people thinking with a good summer we would have a lot of

lives, but because it was late, we had a lot, but not big enough ``

olives. Not big enough for olive oil, but a local restaurant

specialising in local produce had a look and is to Mystic they can be

used. It would be a shame to have them go to waste, the first harvest

of English lives. We will definitely do something will stop we might cure

them for table olives. Maybe pressing them into dressings. Maybe

as varnish is for light fish dishes. It is getting the initial bitterness

out of them. The climate has not quite changed enough to produce the

perfect olive for olive oil. But this news will delight growers and

give them hope that Kentish olive oil might be just a few years are

going `` a few years away. They have been described as the forgotten

heroes of World War II. 48,000 Bevin Boys, who were sent down the mines,

tasked with solving Britain's coal supply crisis. Among them was George

Locke from Tonbridge, who was killed during an enemy bombardment while

making his way home from Betteshanger Colliery in Dover in

1944. Now campaigners are fighting to get George's name added to

Tonbridge War Memorial. What is life like that those young men we have

heard so much about? The Bevin Boys. Winston Churchill had no intention

finding out what would happen if Britain ran out of coal so 48 hours

and beverage boys, named after the Labour investor Ernest Bevin, were

conscripted to work as minors. George Locke was one of them and

there are calls his name to be added the war memorial. He was coming home

on leave. You propose his name should sit alongside those who lost

their lives. The government reckons nice to them as war heroes and so

his name should go on their stop the memorial to the Bevin Boys was of

issue lead unveiled this year following years of campaigning. We

were more valuable than those in battle, because if they lost the

battle, they have not lost the war, but if we lost the battle for coal,

we would have lost the war, because coal powered everything in those

days. George Locke is varied somewhere here in the cemetery in an

unmarked grave. `` is varied. Could his name be immortalised? The

council said it would be pleased to discuss adding the name. But some

want to keep certain memorials for those who died fighting, that

supporters say the Bevin boys were fighting, down below, for coal. Do

join us for our Remembrance Sunday bulletin. We're on air at 6:10pm on

Sunday evening. And we'll be covering Armistice Day

commemorations across the South East on Monday.That's here on BBC One at

1.30 and 6.30pm. And now it is that time of year when four callers from

the less heralded teams start to dream of Wembley. The FA Cup first

round matches are taking place this weekend and Neil Bell joins us live

from Chatham. Some of our teams want a giant`killing, but Gillingham want

to avoid one Neil. Absolutely. It is the big banana skin. And people love

it when teams, Cropper. Gilligan have been knocked out twice in the

last eight years, most notably by Dover. Peter Taylor has plenty of

incentive to do well against the Conference North side up the road.

He knows a victory could be he gets the job full`time. Taylor looks

likely play his strongest side and give give a debut to midfield loan

signing John Mousinho. They are in good form and will be looking

forward to the match because it is the FA Cup and they would fancy

their chances that they can create a shock and we have make sure we do

everything right. Dover go to Corby Town. Crawley town have a tough

looking game. Dartford already on the road, travelling to Salisbury.

In the Championship, Charlton will be hoping to stretch their unbeaten

run to six games at home to Leeds United. And Will Buckley is Brighton

and Hove Albion's latest high profile casualty after tweaking his

hamstring. The winger is added to an injury list which includes Albion

stars Leo Ulloa, Craig Mackail`Smith, Kazenga LuaLua and

Liam Bridcutt. It has not read a good week in terms of recovering

from injuries. We go into it tomorrow in no greater shape than we

entered this week. It may be November, but preparations for the

2014 cricket season are already under way. Sussex have signed up

outstanding Aussie pace bowler Steve McGoffin for a third season. And

all`rounder Michael Yardy has been awarded a well deserved benefit for

next summer. The 32`year`old former Sussex skipper, who comes from

Hastings, was an integral part of the side which won three County

Championships. It is lovely to think about summer, but this is November,

typical F8 cup weather, let's hope the teams do not have a slip. `` FA

Cup. Before we go, the BBC's Children in Need 2013 appeal takes

place a week tomorrow ` and we've got something rather special

planned. Join us on Friday, November 15, at the Bluebell Railway for

children in need, when you could get the chance to ride the Pudsey

express. `` Children In Need Appeal. If you would like to join us, send

an e`mail. express. `` Children In Need Appeal.

If you would like to join Children In Need Appeal is the subject. And

there is a chance of getting on the Pudsey express. Let us know what you

are planning to do. You will be on the Pudsey express. I certainly am.

And now, the weather. It is wet Saturday, but good news Sunday when

it will be crisp cold. Saturday, it will be wet and windy. Some sunshine

around, particularly on Sunday, but it will always feel chilly and on

Sunday morning, the chance of Frost. We started the day mostly dry, but

at the moment heavy rain around and blustery wind. Feeling chilly.

Temperatures in double figures. A rumble of thunder around, too. This

evening, the rain will clear. Behind it, clearer skies and temperatures

tumbling. Also, the wind will ease off, so some mist and fog as we

start the day tomorrow will stop `` tomorrow. Rain will give us a wet

and windy afternoon. First thing, perhaps some dry weather. Perhaps

some cloud around. The rain likely to turn heavy at times and hefty

showers behind it. The rain will hear eastwards pretty quickly and it

will be a crisp and cold night over into Sunday. It will be a bright

start from the word go for Remembrance Sunday. Feeling chilly,

but we should be staying dry. Plenty of sunshine around. There will be

high pressure. It will not stay dry. Turning wet as we go into Monday.

This weekend, wet and windy, crisp and cold Sunday. They have performed

and recorded with pop legends such as Elton John and Stevie Wonder,

becoming one of the most successful UK acts of the last decade. We're

talking about the boy band Blue, who released their debut record in 2001,

the first of ten Top ten singles. They have sold more than 15 million

albums. And they marked their 10th anniversary by representing us in

the Eurovision Song Contest. They are performing at the Brighton

Centre tonight as part of a UK tour. Caroline Feraday's there for us. It

hasn't all been plain sailing for the boys in Blue over the years, has

it? It is a comeback tour, they have just arrived on the tour bus. At one

point they thought their career might be over and I chatted to them

about getting a second chance at pop success. The hits and the looks, the

fame and success, Blue had it all when they came onto the pop scene.

12 years later, I met an older and wiser Blue, who say they appreciate

it more now. Back in the day we had a massive sheen with the record, the

behind us. `` massive machine. We did interviews always on the plane,

we did not have time to take it in. It was more of a job. It is a job

now, but we enjoyed it more. We have taken the scenic route, we have gone

to the business School and learned about the business and what goes

into it and comes out of it but I think we will reap the rewards in

the future. From the height of their careers, they learned the hard way

that what goes up must come down. It was like and shade. The link and

yang. `` healing. The crash happened. We were smart with money.

We invested in property and looked after our family, we did the right

thing. It is just that the crash came. Everybody suffered. I know of

people who lost 126 million. These are people we rubbed shoulders with

will stop to them, they would get it back. You keep going, you do not let

it get you down, and luckily for us, society gives you a second chance.

They gave the Eurovision Song contest a shot and relaunched on a

TV show. They said the journey mature to them. When you are a boy,

you do not know what you are talking about. People say you still have it,

even more than before. It is nice, when people see the show, they have

a really good time. They are proving themselves to be survivors in a

fickle industry. I think she enjoyed herself. Boy bands are more

interesting ten years on when they become men. They have something to

talk about. That is it. We will be back after the weekend. We hope you

survive the weather tomorrow. It will be lovely on Sunday. Goodbye.