11/01/2012 South Today

Hello, I'm Sally Taylor. Welcome to South Today. In tonight's

programme: A lucky escape from this crash -

how the pilot, one of the survivors, walked away with minor injuries.

My choices were a river or tree, so I picked the fluffy list looking

tree. In danger of falling silent - why

the bells may not toll for the Olympics.

The stowaway sparrow that has swapped the Med for the Solent and

got them all a-twitter. It is getting fed every day, why go

back to Turkey where they should Sparrow's?

And, as the fictional War Horse film hits the silver screen, we

hear the true tale of a Great War The pilot of a helicopter which

crashed in Salisbury has been reliving the moment his aircraft

lost power. Andy ridings was at the controls of the helicopter when it

came down in woodland about a mile from the city centre. He and a

passenger suffered minor injuries. Another passenger remains in

hospital with cracked vertebrae. John Maguire has been to hear the

tale of a remarkable estate. He is stiff, sore, has 70 staples

in his head, but he is alive. Frightening is something to be

instilled in you, you have time to think about it, but there was no

time to become frightened and well on it. It was just, something went

wrong and I had to do something. Little more than 24 hours since his

helicopter crashed, Andy was back at work at his waste-management

business near Bath reflecting on what might have been. Yesterday

morning he was taking off after a meeting in Salisbury and realised

the engine had failed and there was little time to react. He feared the

worst. I thought that all the way, but as human body is built of four

fight or flight, the adrenalin kicks in, and you just do your best.

I would say, really, it is tenders and skill, 90% good fortune, and

somebody was smiling on us. -- 10% skill. Andy opted to fly the

aircraft into a tree to soften the landing. His passengers also

escaped serious injury. It is not yet known what caused the problem

and he will submit a report to the Air Accident Investigation Branch.

So, has any of this put him off flying? I have been flying since I

was 16, and this is the first time I have written off and aircraft,

but I walked away and there is the old adage, or any accident you walk

away from is a good one. There will still be the scars and memories of

this crash and the day that all three cheated death and survived to

tell the tale. A man has told a jury that he saw

his girlfriend hit a disabled friend around the head with a

rounders bat and saying, "I'm going to finish him off". Jon Ellison was

found dead at his flat in Brighton last April. David Sole and Denise

Antonia, who had recently moved in with Mr Ellison, are both on trial

for his murder. Our reporter Sean Killick is in Brighton for us

tonight. Just remind us of the background of this case.

Jon Ellison was an alcoholic, disabled and terminally ill. He

lived in central Brighton. Lewes Crown Court has been told his flat

was a drugs and drinking den with various people visiting there. Last

April, friends found him dead on his bed, his head badly beaten.

Paramedics pronounced him dead. In court, he was described as a

harmless and caring man who let many friends use his home as an

open house. David Sole, aged 33, has denied his murder. At the time,

he was living at the flat with his girlfriend, 33-year-old Denise

Antonia, who also denies murder. The pair were arrested in

Winchester the following day. So how is Mr Ellison alleged to

have died? In a police interview, Denise

Antonia said Mr Ellison had intervened in a fight the couple

were having, and her boyfriend had repeatedly hit Mr Ellison with a

rounders bat. Today, David Sole said he had been stocked with the

bat and blacked out. When he came round, he found he was holding the

bat, and Mr Ellison was lying on the bed covered in blood, and his

girlfriend were shouting, you have gone too far. But he said his

girlfriend then took the bat and delivered a blow to Mr Ellison's

head and said, there is no point leaving him here like that, I will

finish him off. David Sole then said he took the bat, and told his

girlfriend he was leaving the house and did not want her to follow him.

The trial will continue tomorrow. Thank you very much.

Parents at a Berkshire school have been told three teachers, including

the head, will be absent for the foreseeable future. The Board of

Governors at Willowbank Junior School in Woodley told parents and

staff yesterday that headteacher Joe Moyster, his deputy Alan

Ridgeway, and another teacher, Grant Close, would all be absent

from the school. The reason is not clear, but Wokingham Borough

Council says parents will be kept informed.

Four years ago today, 77-year-old Georgina Edmonds was found stabbed

and beaten to death at her cottage in Brambridge, near Eastleigh.

Today, the man accused of her murder told a court he is not an

aggressive person. Matthew Hamlen, 33, from Bishopstoke, denies murder.

I am joined by our home affairs correspondent Alex Forsyth, who has

been following this case. What did Matthew Hamlen say today?

This morning was the third day he was in the witness box giving

evidence in his defence. Yesterday the prosecution said that around

the time of Georgina Edmonds' murder, Matthew Hamlen used to walk

up and down the river towpath near her home to get rid of his

aggression. Today he was asked about that and said, that is not

the case. He went on to say that he is not an aggressive person at all.

He was asked for any reason he might have been in the area near

her home. He said he might have been in the pub or driving through.

So he was asked what he was doing on that day?

He has been repeatedly asked and repeatedly said he cannot remember

exactly what he was doing on Monday four years ago but has been picked

up on CCTV in and around Eastleigh town centre that evening. This is

footage of him in Sainsbury's. He says he was buying cakes for his

girlfriend who was away and to that that weekend. But because

identification has been quite a central issue in this case, these

are some of the first in it -- first images we have seen publicly

of Matthew Hamlen. The prosecution says it shows him going shopping

after he killed Georgina Edmonds, but Mr Hamlen, of course, denies

murder. The case is due to continue tomorrow.

Thank you. It is meant to be the way that we

welcome the Olympic Games. In just 198 days, London 2012 will get

underway. And on the day the Games begin, organisers want people in

the South to help simultaneously ring every bell in the country at 8

o'clock in the morning. But, as Ed Sherry reports, bells in some

churches around the region will be staying silent.

Weymouth and Portland is the home of Olympic sailing, but even here

at 8am the bells will stay silent. We normally do not ring much before

9am. The logistics of ringing for three minutes is not really very

practical because most things take more than three minutes. Bell's

only have one volume, and basically only one speed. This is what artist

Martin Creed hopes that were at 197 will sound like on July 27th --

1197. This work, in order to work, needs a lot of people to do it, it

totally relies on people to make it happen. It is all part of the

London Festival, a nationwide celebration of the arts that runs

alongside the Olympic Games. Quite a lot of churches have signed up

and over the next few months we hope churches that have any

concerns will contact us and we can work through any issues they have,

and make sure that they can all join in the fund, because it will

be great fun. But the bells will be run at a 10th. A special mobile

phone app is being developed. -- will be wrong at 8am. What I hope

is that throughout the diocese, as many ringers as possible ring their

bells during the course of that day for what they feel is appropriate.

Some churches will ring for a shorter period of time, some

probably for a longer period of time.

Watch the birdie! That is what twitchers have been doing in a

coastal Hampshire village. Hundreds of them have travelled many miles

in the hope of seeing a rare visitor, a Spanish sparrow, which

has moved into the gardens and hedgerows of Calshot. The sparrow

has not been seen in Britain since the mid-90s, and its presence here

is creating quite a flutter of excitement. Chris Coneybeer reports.

It is a story of adventure, a long and dangerous journey ending in

avian romance. The Spanish Barratt is now safely on British shores,

and bird watchers for many miles have come to see him. As soon as he

is spotted, they move in. We set off about 4 km from Leeds this

morning. It is a good example of an adult male Spanish sparrow. It is

really nice to see. Literally anything new for my list I will go

and see. Straight away, we will charter planes, boats, I would do

anything to go and see a bird, spend unlimited amounts of money.

Local residents are slightly overwhelmed but mostly tolerant.

actually think it is winning Nice, and the people I think are quite

relaxed about it, people have not started going into other people's

gardens without permission, and I believe this weekend we will open

the village hall. The Spanish Barrow is from the Mediterranean,

possibly Spain or Turkey or North Africa, and almost certainly caught

a passing ship to get here. Since arriving, he has been mating,

producing half English, half Spanish sparrows. This Barrow is

living happily here with other sparrows, it has clearly bred with

one of those, and there is plenty of food available, it is fed every

day in gardens. Why would it want to go back to Turkey, where they

shoot them? It is still early morning and already 100

birdwatchers have come and gone. It is expected this weekend the number

of human visitors will go to four figures. And they will be able to

Opposition is growing towards a controversial gas drilling

technique which has been linked to earthquakes, and it's feared could

happen in parts of Sussex. Cuadrilla has been given permission

for exploratory drilling at a site in Balcombe, but insists it has no

plans to carry out any work at this time. Locals fear the impact it

would have. They are holding a public meeting tonight.

The food giant Nestle says it is going to move its UK headquarters

from South London to West Sussex. The relocation of 840 members of

staff from Nestle Towers in Croydon to a new site close to Gatwick

Airport will be complete by the end of the year.

Still to come in this evening's South Today:

What does a record-breaking round- the-world sailor treat himself to

when he gets home? I had a nectarine, that was

unbelievable! Some fresh bread with just butter, that was the best meal

A delegation from Dorset who are concerned about plans to axe the

county's search and rescue helicopter say a meeting with David

Cameron today went well. The Government plans to shut the

service, which is based in Portland, as part of a strategy to station

helicopters at regular intervals around the coastline. The

delegation was led by South Dorset Conservative MP Richard Drax.

The part that struck him most was the issue of statistical evidence

that we have to show the number of incidents that occur off Paul and.

The search and rescue helicopter was involved in over 200 in 2011,

so what we have achieved is to get this issue, an important issue, to

the very top of government. She is 160 feet tall, a century old,

and was making a rare trip to Southampton today. This is the

Norwegian Tall Ship Statsraad Lehmkul. Every year, she takes part

in the Tall Ships Races organised by Gosport-based charity Sail

Training International. It is trying to encourage more young

people to experience sailing. Rachael Canter reports.

Setting sail in this tall ship is enough to make anyone feel like

royalty. But fortunately you do not have to be. Anybody can do this,

this is not a rich boy it -- rich boys' and girls' game, it is for

anybody. It gives people an opportunity to discover things

inside themselves, learn how to work as part of a team and develop

self-confidence, and to find out career really, what they have got.

15-25-year-olds can apply for bursaries to take part in the tall

Ships races this summer. Being in a part -- a group of racing ships is

an amazing experience. Being on a ship you know has a good chance of

winning the race is another good thing. You are safe, she is big,

fast, so you sailed you are always in a good situation. Last year,

7,000 young people entered. Many had never sailed before. When you

are at sea and just see blue around you everywhere, it is a weird

freedom feeling. I feel at home. The tall Ships races, brilliant for

the youngsters. Steven Speilberg's new blockbuster

film War Horse has been grabbing the headlines this week. It tells

the fictional story of Joey, a horse that went to war in 1914.

There has been huge interest in the film, which gives a fresh insight

into the role of horses in the conflict. Over a million horses

went to war, and just a few survived. Tonight we have the story

of the bay thoroughbred from the Isle of Wight who survived the

battles at the Somme and Passchendaele and returned home a

It was here, on the Isle of Wight, that Jack and his force formed a

partnership that was to last 33 years. -- Jack and his horse. Both

the horse and the rider survived the horrors and slaughter of the

First World War. By the timepiece came, the bay thoroughbred called

Warrior had earned his place in history. The soldiers called him

simply the horse the Germans could not kill. On a cold, grey morning

on the Western Front in 1918, Warrior and General Jack were

immortalised in this painting by one of the country's finest artists.

The survival of Warrior and his rider permits the carnage of the

Western Front was indeed a miracle. Around one million horses were sent

to the western front by the British, only one in 10 came home. How big

would Warrior have been? He was a little bit smaller than this.

Jack's grandson is a writer, broadcaster and former jockey.

would say he is one of the bravest horses that ever lived, and

certainly the luckiest. I counted 11 different occasions when he

should have been killed. He has all the published a book that Jaque

wrote about his famous horse. A soldier, Cabinet minister and

friend of Winston Churchill, Jack was also a member of the lifeboat

crew on the Isle of Wight, where his family had a large estate.

life boat was launched by the family of General Sealey... He has

been with the cruiser over 30 years and received a peerage in the

King's birthday honours. Warrior was born on the Isle of Wight in

1908, and Jack first rode him here near the village of Brook a few

years later. The pleasant days they spend here were in stark contrast

to what was to come. Horses had a terrible time, a terrible time.

This is four years, non-stop shelling, things like that. Tens of

thousands of people a day were killed, and ditto the horses.

Warrior was at some of the biggest and deadliest battles of the

conflict, including the Somme and Passchendaele. The with Jack in the

saddle, he took part in a crucial cavalry charge that checked the

German advance. He was a general, and he led the troupe. That is

meant to be in the firm, but he went with Warrior. After the war,

he returned home with Warrior to the Isle of Wight, where they

enjoyed many years together, including visits from royalty.

had those adventures together and then survived, and then lived a

happy life in the post war period and grow old together, so I think

they knew each other from cradle to grave. The end for Warrior came in

1941 when food shortages and the Second World War led to the horse

being put down just a few weeks short of his 37th birthday. There

had been mutterings about the amount of corn he was eating. Jack

died in 1937 -- 1967. Warrior will forever be remembered as the Isle

of Wight's real War Horse. An extraordinary tale, isn't it?

Tomorrow we will tell you about the grey charger that returned to

become a Southampton piece Hall -- police force, also called a warrior.

Talking about epic stories, Chris is here with one in the sport.

Brian Thompson, what a man? He woke up this morning to the

Eiffel Tower in Paris after completing his record-breaking

round-the-world voyage, and two and was later he was looking at me!

From duty to the Beast, some would say. I would put you above the

Eiffel Tower! It has been a great few days for

record-breaking a round-the-world yachtsman Brian Thomson, who

arrived back home today. Despite his achievements, he was taking it

all in his stride. The sun-kissed serenity of

Southampton, a world away from the scenes that greeted Brian Thompson

in France. Their trophy for it was not only the fastest

circumnavigation of the globe, but made Brian the first British sailor

to go around the world four time. It has not sunk in yet. People have

been saying how big a story it has been, how many people have followed

it, but you do not realise when you are on the boat. Brian was the only

British member of the mainly French crews. He knocked an impressive

three days off the record, thanks in part to his experts steering.

could always hit something, a man- made object, a natural object, and

hitting anything at that speed could mean the record is over.

After 45 days at sea, a hearty meal issue will be the top of the to-do

list? I had a nectarine, that was unbelievable. Some fresh bread with

just butter, that was the best meal I have ever had. Approaching his

50th birthday, he could be forgiven for winding down but is now aiming

for the solo race in November. have got a boat lined up, a team

lined up, I just need to get the company, the brand, the sponsor

that wants to come in and support me for that and try to win that

race, or at least get on the podium. The first tilt for Brian would be a

trip into the unknown. With views like this, who could blame him?

A great achievement. But I would have chosen a Sunday roast over a

nectarine! London Irish's Delon Armitage was

today left out of England's squad for the forthcoming Six Nations

competition. Instead, the full-back was named in the second-string

England Saxons party. Armitage was omitted from new England coach

Stuart Lancaster's first squad, but there was a place for his London

Irish team-mate Alex Corbissiero at prop, while Jonathan Joseph joins

Armitage in the Saxons. England begin their Six Nations campaign in

Scotland on February 4th. Southampton's potential signing of

the Japanese international striker Tadanari Lee moved closer today,

after the player was granted a work permit on appeal. Saints officials

attended FA headquarters in London today, and were successful in

overturning the original decision not to hand Lee a permit. The J-

League star will now return to England to finalise his move to the

Championship leaders. Last night we told you of

Bournemouth's interest in signing Crawley's top scorer Matt Tubbs.

The Cherries had two bids rejected by the League Two side. And it

looks like the interest will end there. Cherries' chairman Eddie

Mitchell said today that they will not be going back to Crawley with a

third offer for Tubbs, who has scored 17 goals for the Sussex side.

Mitchell added that signing a striker does remain a priority for

Bournemouth. Sussex's cricketers got off to a

winning start in the Caribbean Twenty20 competition in Antigua.

The young Sharks side beat the Netherlands by 34 runs.

Wicketkeeper Ben Brown top-scored with 42 in the Sussex innings, as

they posted 125 for 9 from their 20 overs. In reply, the Dutch were

skittled for just 91. Left-armer Naved Arif was the pick of the

bowlers with 3 for 12. Next up for Sussex is a game against Jamaica

tomorrow. South African batsman Neil McKenzie

has signed a deal to return to Hampshire for the second half of

the 2012 season. He will arrive for the T20 in mid-June, and then stay

on to play in all competitions for the rest of the summer. The 36-

year-old has spent the last two full seasons at the Rose Bowl. Last

summer he was part of a county record partnership of 523 with

Michael Carberry. It will be a rebuilding year for

Hampshire, this one. I don't know why they are not stop

playing it here. It will be 20 degrees higher. You could still

play cricket here. You just said you do not have your scarf out.

Have you got one of those jumpers? No, but they are popular because of

A dramatic roof top sunrise over Poundbury near Dorchester, captured

by Neil Crick. Jon Atkins captured cows grazing in

the sunshine at Ditching Beacon on the South Downs near Brighton.

And Linda and Stuart Welton took this picture of the sun lighting up

the cliffs at Lulworth Cove with Weymouth and Portland in the

distance. Very mild temperatures at the

moment and we hold on to mild conditions for some tonight but it

turns cooler by the end of the week. There will be some sunny spells,

though, but the nights will be frosty. Frost on the ground and air

frost as well. Breezy tonight, staying mainly dry, the outside

chance of some drizzle, but some clear spells initially and the

countryside may be -- may be in sheltered spots, we could have a

A relatively mild start to the day tomorrow, we hold on to the cloud

cover. It will be limited brightness here and there, the

weather front sinking southwards across the country, light rain and

drizzle a possibility. The winds will be fairly light. Once the

cloud sinks southwards, the skies will clear September just take a

plunge. -- so temperatures take a plunge. Mist and fog could be a

possibility first thing on Friday. It is an improving picture, sunny

conditions during the day on Friday thanks to high pressure. The air is

coming from the Arctic so it will be a chilly feel, but winds will be

like so in the sunshine it will feel fairly pleasant. A repeat

performance on Saturday, possibly more cloud than on Friday, but this

weather front stairs and they, even on Sunday. Slightly more cloud on

Sunday. But Saturday and Sunday start on a chilly note. A lot of

cloud tomorrow, some breaks in the cloud for the sunshine. It is the

weather front coming southwards, light rain and drizzle a

possibility. A cold, frosty start on Friday, temperatures will

struggle to rise, winds Fen in night, coming from the knot. Frosty

on Saturday and Sunday, but fairly settled -- coming from the north.