Episode 4 Connie's People

'I'm on a very personal journey across Wales in search

'of our most valuable resource, the people.

'I've met an amazing range of individuals,

'from the men and women who save lives in their spare time

'to the colourful and eccentric.

'Hold tight and be prepared to be shocked, surprised...'

That's the liquid nitrogen coming out, there.

'..or just plain grateful for their heroic effort.'

Keep going, keep going.

As I introduce you to Connie's People.

And today I'm a meeting people who just love going back to Roman times

to race and to revel.

# I predict a riot

# I predict a riot. #

And meet the Welsh statue who springs to life.

But first-time heading to Snowdonia in North Wales to meet

a group of men and their dogs who have saved countless lives in Wales and across the globe.

The International Rescue Training Centre Wales, near Bangor,

is one of very few in the world doing this inspirational work.

The rescue team are mainly made up of volunteers and their own dogs.

They are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week

to respond to emergencies such as a missing person

on the mountains of Wales or large scale disasters overseas.

When we hear on the news that an earthquake or tsunami

has struck a country thousands of miles away,

the north Wales rescue dogs pack their bags

and head straight into the thick of it.

What they can do is identify where people are trapped

and pull them to safety or locate bodies among the debris.

'I'm spending the day with these heroic dogs and their handlers

'to learn more about their astonishing work.

'I went to meet Brian Jones and his dog, Alfie, as they were working.

'Brian is one of the longest-serving volunteers and has been

'part of the International Emergency Rescue Team for around 15 years.'

What was your most dramatic experience?

I should imagine Pakistan.

We were searching. We'd found a lot of people but a lot of people were dead.

It was early morning so all the children were in school.

The roofs had collapsed on the school

so they were still sat at their desks and we broke through the roof.

All the children, even the school master,

would still be sat at his desk,

even with pens in their hands and so forth.

We got to this area and I started looking around

and I discovered a body lying under some brickwork.

But I could faintly hear verbal talk

so I asked this Pakistani chap to shout down the hole.

He shouted down and we got an answer.

There was a young lad in there of 18 so we had to dig through the top and it took quite a while,

five or six hours just to dig down to him.

His legs were bent under his back and he had been like that

for four days so when we got him out,

his legs were still in that position.

We gave him a drink and then he disappears like everything else.

The local people took him to the hospital and so forth.

Brian has taken his dogs to many international disaster areas.

Quarantine rules have led to emotional separations.

If you ever seen grown men cry, including myself,

just watch the aeroplane when it lands back in this country

and they come and snatch your dog off you and you don't see it

for about a week before you get to actually know where it is.

Luckily, our quarantine kennels are only about 50 miles down the road.

We can go and see them regular.

There's a constant need for more recruits.

'Today, there's another new intake.'

-Here you go.

-Oh! Are they the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Director David Jones is introducing me

to a new litter of potential superdogs.

-How old are they, Dave?

-Five weeks.

-Five weeks old?

Their mother was Jo Jo, the search dog.

Their father is a retriever who has just yesterday gone off to Afghanistan.

-So they come from good working stock.

-What's the future for these puppies?

What we'll probably do is to assess them over nine months

and then we'll start training them.

They'll probably be a mixture, these.

We'll probably have them for water search

and a couple of disaster search dogs.

There's not many of these dogs around the world

so for this line of work, they do get asked to go to a lot of countries.

Training these puppies will take 12 months

and even fully skilled adult dogs

are constantly put through their paces.

I'm joining a training exercise to see just how it's done.

Today they are going to take you on board

and show you how to work a search dog.

-The idea is, trust the dog.

-Where do I begin?

-You begin bodying.

-What's bodying?

We are going to hide you and then the dog has to find you.

-Doggy hide and seek. I love it!

-Doggy hide and seek. OK.

I'll leave that with you.

'This may look like an assault course but it is a specifically designed training centre'

with built in hiding holes where dogs are given their first steps

'in following a scent and finding a missing person.'

The first part of bodying, I must give you a ball. OK.

The dog is looking for you but he is looking for a scent

and his goal is that ball.

As a handler, this is how I start. I am a body and I hide.

-So don't talk.

-Always hard for me.

-Completely silent.

The dog will find you.

Probably the dog will find you through that small hole.

Maybe four or five barks and then throw the ball through the hole.

-And that's his report for finding me?

-That's his reward.

He's found your scent.

(I've got to be quiet now, OK.)

(Are you going to find her?)

Go and find.

Find. Find.

Find. Good boy.

The dogs rely virtually entirely on their sense of smell.

Dogs noses are up to 10,000 times more sensitive than ours.

-Where is she?

-DOG BARKS

-(I think he found me.)

-BARKING CONTINUES

SHE SHRIEKS

-OK!

-SHE GIGGLES

-Clever boy!

-Are you going to let me out now?

-No!

Anyone? Thank you, Brian.

-The next stage is you can have a go at working the dog.

-Brilliant.

OK, fine.

This man is going to be your body.

-He's going to hide and then from there, it's up to you.

-Good boy.

So, while Josh finds a cubbyhole to hide in,

I get the low-down on how to handle Billy.

If he's too far in front, call him back. Just his name, Billy.

Hand movements left, right.

One word, just find.

Go! Find!

Find, not go!

-Find.

-Push him on.

-Find, Billy. Find, Billy.

Good start. Find. Good boy, Billy.

-If you want him to go like here, just pat it.

-Find!

That's it.

Where's he gone? There he is. Find, Billy. Billy!

-OK, his tail is up. He is working.

-Billy, find!

Is he here, Billy? Not there. Find!

'Getting warmer.

'Oh, it's hot now!'

HE BARKS

Good boy, Billy! Good boy!

-But is Josh still alive? Josh?

-SHE LAUGHS

'And even with my hindrance, Billy proved he's still top dog.'

I'm not getting in there, Dave. I'm not getting in there.

You don't have to, don't worry.

'Later in the programme, I go out on a real exercise on the mountains of Snowdonia.'

He's quick when he gets going.

'As I join a team searching for a trapped victim.'

But now I'm heading 100 miles south

and just under 2,000 years back in time.

Everyone likes dressing up now and again, don't they?

Some people take it that little bit further.

When in Llanwrtyd Wells, do as the Romans did, I say.

And the locals here have made this town a Rome from home.

So on a very cold Welsh weekend, I am joining around 100 Welsh Romans

as they are preparing for the traditional Saturnalia celebration.

It's going to involve chariot racing and feasting

but I am assured no sacrifices and not even a minor orgy.

The Romans are famed for their chariot races.

Horses raced at huge speeds around the Coliseums.

There were injuries and even sometimes fatalities.

This was the Formula 1 of its day.

In Llanwrtyd 2012, we are not expecting a serious injury

but this is serious competition.

'This is the Mountain Bike Chariot Racing World Championship

'and I am going to compete.'

Do you know what, it's minus four in Llanwrtyd Wells.

My feet are like ice but I'm still going to race in a chariot.

-What is it about this event that you love?

-Erm, it's really silly.

-How are you feeling about the whole race?

-Excited.

-We are going to win this.

-Are you particularly competitive?

-I'm really competitive.

-It's my first time here racing.

How mad do you have to be to do this chariot race?

-FRENCH ACCENT:

-Completely crazy.

-It seems that you are.

-Yes.

-How confident are you?

-We win. Of course.

-FRENCH ACCENT:

-Of course you do.

Why is she French? I don't know.

Feet on pedals. Ready, steady, go!

Despite the arctic conditions, there are 16 teams competing.

The race is run in heats. Two chariots and their horses at a time.

It's all about lap time.

The fastest four make it to the final race.

Centurion Tony Bain is a regular.

We get fitness freaks who want to blast around here

and be, you know, top dog.

The locals come just to say they've done it.

Most of all we get people

who just want to have a good quality day out and a laugh.

It's supposed to be fun but it's all about the winning for these guys.

'I can smell competition in the air.'

-I've got to grab you. How was it?

-We crashed.

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-How scary was it?

-Very scary.

-Very muddy over that bit.

-I hear there are lakes, not puddles.

-Definitely.

-A bit of a lake.

It's hotting up now and it's all about getting around that course

as fast as your cyclists' little legs can paddle.

Timing is everything.

We came in under five minutes. I'm pleased with that. That's good.

I think that's throwing down the gauntlet.

Is that Roman? Anyway, I've chosen the fittest cyclists on offer.

I just need some last-minute chariot cycling trips.

Survival tips. Hang on tight and bend ze knees. Up and down.

-Take the bumps with your knees.

-OK.

Up for the challenge.

O-M-G. I'm going to be riding a Roman chariot.

You know me, I am pretty competitive. I'm in it to win it!

Riders, feet on pedals!

Ready, steady, go!

-SHE SCREAMS

-Tally ho.

Come on, boys.

Why are we doing this?

-There's a big puddle coming up. No!

-SHE SCREAMS

-SHE LAUGHS

-I'm really wet!

SHE SCREAMS

I thought this was chariot racing.

It feels more like bog snorkelling!

A bit of a hairpin bend.

Come on, boys. Into the speed bump straight.

No hands.

Come on, guys! We can do this.

'Four minutes eight seconds.

'A Roman result. Eat my mud!

'Not quite.

'Although we were fast, we weren't fast enough to make the final,'

and neither have these other Roman ladies.

-We missed it by two seconds.

-How disappointed are you?

-Gutted, aren't we?

-Extremely.

-We are, very.

-Our team name was macrocarpa.

-Which means?

Bush bearing large fruits.

How have you stayed so glamorous through all that mud?

Glitter's actually very practical and very waterproof, we find.

-Perhaps next year I should go with the glitter.

-Go with glitter.

Rather than the white toga which got trashed.

And there are four teams through to the final

and word is that local veteran charioteer

John Lloyd is hot favourite.

He's the reigning champion of this race

and has won it since time immemorial.

Well, the five years it has been running.

-How are you feeling, John, but the final?

-Excited.

You hold the world title so to lose it would be really devastating.

We've got competition.

Four teams in the final. One big prize.

Bring on the chariot race, 2012.

-Ready, steady, go!

-CHEERING

They're almost neck and neck, hurtling down the straight.

It looks like one team is breaking away from the rest of the pack.

It's so exciting.

The current world record holders are currently in second place.

I don't believe it! Another chariot is overtaking.

John Lloyd could be knocked off his plinth.

But through the mist, it is becoming clear that John has kept

a bit up his toga and with a final lash of the whip, he triumphs!

-Here they come, the winners!

-CHEERING

John, you held on to the title. How do you feel?

You are the Roman Emperor. How do you feel?

You had a very scary race. You were second at one point.

Yeah, they overtook us but the tactics came through.

Not bad for a pensioner, hey?

In Roman days, chariot winners got massive cash prizes, palaces and even hordes of slaves.

In Llanwrtyd Wells, the prizes are a little less lavish

but the excitement still just as great.

Congratulations, John. Well done.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Well, that was the most fun I think I've had in a long time.

Now, keeping in tradition with the festival,

it's time for me to reverse roles, going from master to sleeve.

I don't like the sound of that.

After the excesses of the chariot racing earlier, it's a different sort of Roman excess,

the evening feast, and the togas are out in force.

It's time for the Roman centurions to kick back and enjoy a beer or two.

You've come to the Saturnalia Festival. How was it for you today?

-Did you go to the chariot race?

-We did. It was fantastic.

There were a few lions slayed and we had some fun.

'Just to make it clear, no lions were harmed in the making of this film.'

-I'm loving your outfit tonight.

-I think I've overdone it by wearing the T-shirt.

A proper Roman would be bare-chested.

Can I ask you a personal question? What do you wear under your toga?

Lindsay, you are the ruler of this land. You're the festival organiser.

-I am.

-So what is the Saturnalia Festival?

-It is the origin of the Christian Christmas.

It was a Roman festival, originally, to their god, Saturn,

in the winter months when they were trying to jolly up the pretty dark times.

Decorating their houses, exchanging presents, in much the same way as we do for Christmas these days.

The other thing they did was exchange rolls.

Slaves became masters for a day.

And therefore, I'm becoming a slave this evening, at your every command.

So I'm going to be serving.

'Not wishing to offend any of my masters, the first thing

'I need to do is to take some lessons in how to be a servant.'

-Put the plate down and sort of bow your way back.

-Yes, master.

-No, master.

-That's it.

-Don't look at them. Madonna, don't look her in the eye.

-That's it.

-Yes, master. Don't hit me, master.

-Don't spill the gravy.

-Oh.

The pressure.

Kind sirs, forgive me.

'I think my accent might be a bit more Baldrick from Blackadder than Roman.'

Mistress, I bow to thee.

'OK, I'll use my Latin. I knew that would come in useful.'

Who haveth the limporum?

'Hmm, not really working, is it? I've got one last accent in my repertoire.'

-All right then, who's for lasagne?

-LAUGHTER

Thanks.

And it's traditional Roman rock into the wee small hours. Toga on down!

Well, who would have thought that a dark mid January day would turn out so bright, fun and sparkly!

Much merriment was had at this Roman festival in Llanwrtyd Wells.

What concerns me though is that at the original Saturnalia Festival,

there was always a sacrifice.

I'm getting out of here before this lot get carried away.

# I predict a riot, I predict a riot... #

But now, Cardiff Civic Centre.

Full of historic buildings

and statues of people I can't quite recognise.

It's also home to Ben Spruce's artistic work.

Ben is preparing for another day on the street.

Nearly 15 years since I first did this.

I thought it would be something that I did as a one-off.

And it went really well and I made loads of money.

Frantic preparations to be followed by hours of... well, just being very still.

And that has its own challenges.

I've never found that I've had to itch or go to the loo, or anything.

I guess once you kind of get into that sort of level of focus,

all those sort of things switch off.

Ben is one of Wales's most experienced statues.

He's been keeping still on the streets of Cardiff for well over a decade.

He still gets a few strange looks and comments on his way to work,

but then it's ready, steady...stop!

Ben can remain statuesque for up to eight hours in one session.

Paradoxically, the skill of being one of the country's leading living statues

doesn't all lie in just standing still.

Ben is mostly self-taught.

He uses his talent to bring his statue to life.

After a number of years, basically, I sort of kept the most successful

reactions and gestures that had come from improv and stuck to those.

The characters developed really, I suppose, through that process.

I got loads and loads of really positive comments,

saying how wonderful they thought it was

and how much sort of joy it brought.

And that really affected me. I was quite amazed.

So overall, I've enjoyed it.

But there's one thing that has changed in recent years.

Ben has been abused verbally and physically

and even on a few occasions, attacked and injured.

It's becoming a little bit dangerous.

I'm tending to get kind of attacked sometimes,

which is very sad. I'm starting to get a bit anxious about that.

There seems to be some people to who I'm not interesting or entertaining

and they feel that is something that needs to be sort of challenged.

And I'm constantly amazed about how long someone will spend doing that.

Hanging around for anything up to an hour with the sole purpose of trying

to stop me doing what I'm doing or injure me in some kind of way.

If there's one message that's written in stone, it's come on, everyone,

pay respect to the statue, or it'll disappear for ever.

Earlier, I visited the world renowned International Rescue Training Centre Wales, near Bangor.

The team and their dogs have been rescuing victims of accidents and natural disasters in Wales

and around the world for over 25 years.

And today, I'm on a real exercise on a disused granite quarry in Snowdonia

where the tumbledown buildings are used to simulate an earthquake scenario.

Straight in, feet first, if you can.

Most of the team members on this exercise are dedicated volunteers

who fit in their weekly training around their working lives.

Today, they're creating a challenging life or death situation.

Josh is being hidden away, out of sight of any of the dogs.

In disaster zones, finding victims quickly saves lives.

Brian is going to go ahead with his dog, Billy,

give us a demonstration on how to search the collapsed buildings which you see over here

and after that, we want you to take one of the other dogs and work that one.

-So watch carefully.

-Watch this carefully, off the old master.

-Best of luck.

-No pressure(!)

He's got to try and guide the dog around the area he's been given

and if the dogs hits a scent, it'll take Brian in.

He's like the driver of the partnership.

So he's now... The dog's going off round the buildings.

He's gone completely the wrong direction.

-Is that because of the wind?

-Brian's been given this area.

With these dogs, you do tend to work into the wind. It helps them.

-Now he's directing him.

-Right.

-Left, right.

He just looks like he's going for a nice walk. He's actually sniffing, is he?

Mountain rescue dogs tend to do a big area.

These dogs are more to confined spaces and collapsed buildings.

These people will not be lying on the top.

-More than often, they're underneath.

-In a quake situation.

Actually, these dogs kind of fearless. Jumping over this rubble.

-They're not afraid to get stuck in.

-No.

When they're pups, we bring them on to this type of ground

just to get them used to this environment.

If you go on to the real when they're qualified and they're not happy on that type of ground,

then it affects their working. He's covering over that collapsed building now.

He's on to it, isn't he? He's not barking. He's wagging his tail.

Look at him.

DOG BARKS

Good boy.

I thought he was really good.

It took him about a minute to find him in this massive expanse.

-It's my turn, is it?

-It's your turn now.

'I'm going to be given the chance to work with one of the dogs.'

-This is Max.

-Hello, Maxy. Who's a good boy!

Mark is going to take you through some of the commands, so you know how to work the dog.

Hopefully, when you find the casualty, the dog will indicate

by a bark and when he does that, cos I'm assessing you,

I need you to put your hand up to say, "I'm confident there is a body here."

OK.

Just before you start the search, get the dog sat,

gee him up a little bit and then simply send him off with away find.

-You're the boss.

-Right, let's do it.

Ready, Max? Ready, Max? Away find!

Good start. Away find! Away find!

Away! Max!

Find!

If you let him get ahead of you... Go on.

'It seemed so easy in the hands of the experts.'

I feel stiff! Good boy! Find now!

-He's having a wee! He's having a wee.

-Give him a sec.

Here, go on. Find.

He's a bit quick when he gets going.

Right, Max. Find!

Where is he, Max? Good boy. Oh, he's excited about something. Up. Up.

-Good boy! Find!

-Just walk along slowly now. He'll come with you.

-Good boy, Max! Yes!

-He's picking it up now.

See how his whole body is telling you before he's even got to the casualty.

Oh, he's found him! He's found him! What, Max?

MAX BARKS

I think I've found him! There we go! Woo!

Good boy, Max! Good boy!

It gives you an insight into how much work goes in to training these search dogs.

It's voluntary work, but it's full on, it takes over your life

and you have to be so in tune with your dog.

Spending a day in the North Wales countryside

with a bunch of cute dogs is a pretty ideal day for me.

But I take my hat off to this lot.

They give up their own time and work hard to make sure these dogs

know exactly what to do in a real life or death situation.

Congratulations, John. Well done.

'In the past four weeks, I've met hundreds of people from around Wales. From the funny...'

-How mad do you have to be to do this chariot race?

-Completely crazy!

'..To the slightly eccentric.' Hello, knitters!

-'..To the truly heroic.'

-There was a young lad in there of 18,

we dug him out on the fourth day he'd been in there.

'It's been a total pleasure and has definitely proved to me

'that Wales' most valuable resource is you.'

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd