17/08/2011 Newsround

Hello, it is the middle of the week, this is Newsround and we are Ore

and Hayley. We are just after five with loads of stuff coming up.

Stick around for a race at a snail's pace, the loser gets eaten.

It really does! And the sunflower that just kept on growing.

Before that though, they may be small but they can save your life.

We are talking cycling helmets. In countries like Australia and New

Zealand, you cannot get on a bike without one. But here in the UK,

wearing a helmet is not the law and only one in five of you put one on.

But one man who will not be seen pedalling around without one is

Olympic gold medallist rower and action man James Cracknell. That is

him in the sunglasses. He has rowed across the Atlantic and even

trekked to the South Pole. But last year, when he was cycling across

America, he had a serious accident. He was hit on the back of the head

by a truck's wing mirror as it tried to overtake him. His injuries

were so serious he had to spend weeks in hospital but his helmet

helped him survive. Now, as he told Ricky, he wants everyone to wear

one. Please, use your head, it used a

helmet. Now, having been involved in a serious accident, I would not

be alive if I did not have a helmet on. The reason for wearing one is

obvious. It not only protect sea but the people who love you and

care about you. It is selfish to not wear one. I was lucky. I was

wearing a helmet. If I had not been, I would be dead. You might get a

slightly hotter head and it might mess your hair up so don't cycle as

fast or leave early say you can do your hair at the other end. No one

now would suggest wearing a motorbike without a helmet. I am

already back on my bike. Some cyclists will never ride again. If

you do have a crack on the head, your whole life changes. What job

you can get, whether you can play sport or music. All of those things

will be affected. From my personal experience, without one of these,

that would have been it. It may not be the most attractive hat but it

is far more attractive than the consequences.

Thank you. Ricky went to find out what you

guys thought about wearing helmets and there was a pretty mixed

response. I don't wear one because it feels uncomfortable and I don't

like it. I wear one because if I fall over I normally bash my head.

I wear one because I have a cool helmet. People say it looks

ridiculous. They make fun of you. It is not that much of an effort to

put a helmet on and if you fall, you might as well be wearing one

because it will protect your head. $$nNEWLINE We are joined by Julie

Townshend from road safety charity Brake. Can you tell me why it is

important for kids to wear helmets? It is so important for people of

all ages who cycle to wear a helmet. It is a really simple step you can

take to protect yourself. If you wear one you are less likely to be

injured. Some people think wearing one of these is embarrassing. What

would you say to those guys? should not be embarrassed. It is

the smart thing to do. Professional cyclists all wear helmets. It could

save your life which has the most important thing. Should we make it

compulsory like it is in other countries? We would like it to be

compulsory. We want lots more done to make it safer for everyone to

cycle so we want more safe cycle paths and lower speed limits.

you for coming in. Let's move it on and talk about

last week's riots across England, as lots of the people involved have

been in court. But some people are saying their punishments have been

too harsh. Two men were sentenced to four years in prison for using

Facebook to try to start riots. Prime Minister David Cameron has

said it's a good thing courts are sending out a tough message.

Now, here is a story of a real-life Jack And the Beanstalk. But without

the giant. In fact, there is no Jack or beanstalk either. We call

it Eve and the Sunflower. It is a tall tale of a tiny sunflower that

grew and grew. Just have a look at It starts with a tiny seed and some

water. A bit of sun and if you are lucky, this is what you get, more

than six metres of sunflower. Eve planted the seed with her

granddaughter and it kept on growing. I did not think it would

come to anything and it grew! Although sunflowers are famous for

being tall, they are normally only three metres high so this one is

pretty special. We have had a nice, warm summer. Things have grown well.

The other thing that looks really right about that is it is in such a

nice, cosy spot. It has a wall up against it so there has been no

wind to take the top out. The world record was set in Germany by a

sunflower which grew to eight metres tall so Eve's sunflower has

got a bit of a way to go. We had some good news today, the

amount of pocket money you get has gone up for the first time in eight

years. According to a survey, you get an average of �6.25 per week.

That is more than last year. But things are starting to cost more

and how much you get depends on where you live and apparently boys

get more than girls. We wanted to find out what you think. Danielle

who is 12 from Norwich thinks every child should get the same amount.

She says she does not get any pocket money back some of her

friends get �10. She helps around the house and does nothing.

Ten-year-old Nathan from Newport says he only gets �1.50 a week and

he is 10. He says his friends get between three and �5.

Megan from Gloucester says she does not think boys get more money than

girls. She has got a little brother and he hardly gets any money. She

thinks it is the other way round. Thank you for getting in touch. If

you want to have your say, if you can go to the Newsround website and

tell us all about it. Next, to some athletes racing at a

snail's pace. These slimy sprinters are taking part in the World Snail

Racing Championships in France. It has been going for 40 years. The

winning snail gets a shiny trophy but the losers get eaten. Why are

there so many people watching a snail's race? Surely it would get

boring! That is it for today. We have loads