18/02/2013 Inside Out East Midlands

Hello. Tonight's Inside Out is at Wirksworth in Derbyshire. Coming up

in the next half hour What happens when a fairground ride goes wrong?

We investigate fairground safety. Also tonight - the hidden army of

And can you learn to sink in 48 hours? John turns tender. -- --

tenor. Fairground rides are designed to thrill and millions

rides them at theme-park and at the seaside but sometimes they go wrong

Since the millennium, it's been reported around 700 workers and

1,400 people have been injured around amusement rides. Some deadly,

some involving life changing injuries and others resulting in

nothing more than cuts and bruises. But the question is, how safe are

we when we go to the fair? During the summer Leicestershire's Billy

Bates fair, who've been in the business for six generations, hit

the headlines. Two teenagers were badly injured when the Mega Frog

Bounce ride went wrong. I got on it, I remember going round

about three times and the next thing there was a buying. I

remember my face smashing against the barriers and I ended up on the

floor. I heard people around me and I knew it was quite bad.

coincidence, some the was filming it. This is the footage. We were

talking as normal while the right was going around picking up some

speed, and then suddenly it collapses on us. That really did

come off. You came away with serious injuries. I had 80 stables,

stents -- 10 stitches on my chin, five in my tongue, a punctured lung

and a fractured rib. It is shocking, it really? It is. We do go on at

fairground ride again? I think about it all the time. It just

seems like a massive nightmare, really. Billy Bates Funfair first

agreed, and then pulled out of an interview. In a statement they

Even now, it's still unclear how the accident happened. The HSE are

still investigating. Elsewhere at other fairs, the Health and Safety

Executive is concerned about the way rides are designed. Miami Trip

threw two riders out last year, and Tagada is a ride which has no

passenger restraints. It's injured dozens of people over the past few

years. The HSE has made compulsory changes to the design of both. Next,

I'm with James Mellor. He owns some of the best rides in the business,

and has a good safety record. He's the main man behind Nottingham's

Goose Fair and a spokesperson for the Showman's Guild, who represent

20,000 travelling workers. I want to ask him how his industry has

reacted to recent safety scares. Whenever you hear an accident,

something happened on a ride, the home industry feed us down. Until

we find because of what has actually happened, we are all very

cautious. Nobody wants to see anybody injured at off. How have

things changed over the last 10 or 12 years? 2000 was a bad year.

was about gear and reflected badly on us. There is a lot more people

work now. There are certain as it ever gets that have all got to be

completed before the actual fare. There is an examination of the

rides, every year, just like an MoT. It is much more stringent, I would

say, than an MoT. When is a ride to old? How can you say that? If you

keep the quality of, it is up to yourself, you know? If you want to

replace something, you can do it. Most people are changing them

frequently. It is a question, when is it too old? Along with many

theme parks, every ride at the Goose Fair and every member of the

Showman's Guild are compelled to undertake a yearly inspection -

basically, an MOT for fairground equipment. We've come to Skegness

to meet Nicola Foss, who's from Derby. Her daughter Paige was on a

ride operated by the Pleasure Beach, when it malfunctioned with very

serious consequences. You witnessed the accident. What went wrong?

don't know. I heard this clicking noise, as if something was not

connected properly. They went around twice, and then the side

fail. This was a ride that went round 360 degrees and you were

meant to stay horizontal in the carriage as he went round. When we

got to the top beside just went. a mother watching your daughter on

the right, it must have been terrifying. It was really

terrifying, especially when I had to pretend that I was not scared.

You have to try to be calm and try not to cry. I felt like crying my

eyes out. Nicola's daughter Paige is autistic and was traumatized

after she was trapped on the ride with injured people. There was one

woman on the right you were very concerned about? Yeah, I actually

thought she was dead. It was really bad. She looked dead. I've thought

they were trying to work on her to save her. It is like something you

see on TV, not real life. You don't expect to go on holiday and retired

come home and not be have to ring about it. We contacted Skegness

Pleasure Beach, who didn't want to be interviewed. The faulty ride in

question has since been removed. So, serious accidents continue to

happen. But are funfair rides safer now than a decade ago? Melvin

Sandell from the Health and Safety Executive works out what went wrong,

how accidents can be prevented and who or what is to blame. Their

national data can tell us whether safety has improved. Have things

improved since 2000? They have. No fair grounds are a safe place to be,

I think. You stand a far greater chance of being heard on your

weight to the fairground than worst on the affair. How can the public

protect themselves? The public can be reasonably sure that they will

be OK. When they act -- when they are at large organised first. --

scarce. All of the rights will have been tested. What I would say to

parents is have a look at the machines. If it looks nice and

clean and tidy and well run, it probably is well run. Stick to the

big fairgrounds and you will generally be all right. Sifting

through the stats, yearly incidents at funfairs are less than half of

what they were back in the dark days of 2000. But it's mixed news

as there have been years when accidents have gone up as well as

down, and the HSE admits many incidents may simply go unreported.

But crackdowns on less diligent operators, heavy fines and

redesigning problematic rides all seems to have helped. So are fairs

safer now than they were a decade ago? Well, the good news is, the

answer seems to be yes. Official figures say there are a

175,000 youngsters under the age of 18 who provide some level of unpaid

care for their families in the UK. But recent research suggests the

actual figure could be four times that, because so many don't come

forward and ask for help. Radio Leicester's Jim Davis has been

finding out what life is really like when you're left to cope on

your own. Looking after a loved one comes

naturally to children. For some, caring for brothers and sisters,

mums and dads, is a full time job. But many are too scared to tell

people what they do. Worried they'll be judged, bullied or

humiliated. They might talk behind my back so I would rather not tell

them and they might not do it. There are people on this street,

say no names, but they have been so evil to us. Some deal with the

pressure by harming themselves. These were mainly done with razor

blades, dug in with the corner. But now there's a group of young carers

in Leicester who've had enough. They're getting together to support

each other. I want to know what it's like for these young carers.

What sort of burdens are they carrying and what sort of help is

out there for them? Jhon is 13 years old and looks

after his deaf and disabled mother. Hello? Yes. How long have you had

the condition? I was born with osteogenesis, and I've probably

been going deaf since I was about six. Jhon's always been there for

his mum, but has found very few people have been there for him.

awareness in the community, places like schools, hospitals, things

like that, they don't understand what young carers are and what they

do. Jhon's got the same medical condition as his mum and can't walk

far without using a wheelchair himself. But despite this, he's

been helping his dad to care for Why don't you try having these

things to deal with and then see if that little think means so it's --

so much to you to moan about? to find a word to say what it makes

me feel like and there is not one. He is experiences have made him

determined to make a difference. -- his experiences. He is meeting

other young carers at Water Shed Community Centre in Leicester. They

have set up a support group. It is called Labelled. He is one of the

founding members along with Lotte, who started caring for her father

when he suffered a nervous breakdown ten years ago. It -- it

is about empowering young carers. We do not take away

responsibilities. A lot do not want us to take it away, they want

support to do it themselves. Recognising you are a young carer

is one of the biggest challenges. Men the carers who come here, they

only realise they are one when they came here. We had volunteers. After

speaking to them, they were like, I am a carer. One of the people they

are helping his Jasmin, who has been attending since her father

died three months ago. She lives on the New Parks estate in Leicester.

She lives with her sister and mother, who suffers from depression.

She had been helping to care for her father since she had learned to

walk. He had a disease of the spine that affected his mobility. One

morning he collapsed in agony at home. She gave him CPR until

paramedics arrived but it was too late and he died from a blood clot

on the lungs. The paramedic said he had gone. She fell to the floor. We

cried together. It was horrible. I wish he was here now. She is doing

her best to help her mother through this. Mother does not like sleeping

and -- sleeping on her own, partly because of everything going through

her mind, and also that she is used to having somebody next to her. It

is a comfort thing. She has been left to manage her mother, who

suffers from a mental health condition which means share can --

she can be very high or low. times, I feel I want to go out to

see friends, but I do not feel I can because I want to make sure mum

is OK. And they are now having to move house. The council meet their

adapted house for somebody else who is disabled. If you believe

official figures there are 175,000 children who provide unpaid care to

a family member. A survey by the BBC found the actual number is four

times that because many do not have been to support services. -- key in

to support services. Reece has autism, ADHD, and he has fits and

he is an asthmatic, he has allergies, he suffers from chest

infections. The fight he has in him surprises me. This 13-year-old

struggles school life with looking after her brother. She tries to

keep it secret because she has been bullied in the past. Judgments they

make, they talk behind my back, so I would rather not tell them about

him and they might not do it and I will keep it to myself. At one

point I could not have done this without her. Being ill myself. I

could not have done it. These children from Nottingham care for a

loved one at home and have come a long tour cooking class to learn to

make nutritious meals, which was organised by a charity, Carers

Federation. It was set up to support carers of all ages in the

East Midlands. Some of those from Labelled have come to get advice on

how to run their service. We are talking to them about how they make

their voices heard particularly in the corridors of power. It has been

some weeks since they went to Carers Federation and they are now

running a self-defence class. And they have invited the head of

family services from the Council and also a representative from

Barnardo's. Are you glad you came down? I am very glad. It is

humbling in many respects. Jasmin, her mother and sister have a new

home from the council and they are moving in today. It has been a

rough road, but things are looking up. They have quite a lot of work

to do to make this close home, but with the right support I think

things are looking up. The support group now have 50 young

carers on their books and they are in talks with Leicester City

football club to become one of their official charities. Tonight,

more people are getting together in amateur choirs. Our reporter tried

it out for himself. The Albert Hall, Nottingham, and an anniversary

performance is about to start. Tickets are hard to get. But this

is no ordinary concert. And this is no ordinary choir. In fact you

could be one of the singers. That is what I am going to do. It is

first time also for Harry and Harriet. It was only a week before

the concert when they met at Nottingham Trent University. It was

the first rehearsal and everybody else -- for them and everybody else.

It is daunting. We have met a lot of people who did it before. I have

not done anything on this scale. I thought I would give it a bash.

have signed up for the Music For Everyone, a Nottinghamshire based

choir that Angela Kay has been running for years. This is

different. She has 48 hours to get us ready to perform Verdi's Requiem

at the Albert Hall in Nottingham. If anyone can find my voice, it

will be Angela. This will be a nerve-racking experience. Somehow,

you have to will people to sing well. And it works. It is a magical

moment. It is early morning and up with the lark is Karen Attwood, who

runs a business baking cakes. For this former computer manager, choir

singing helped to ease her through a career change. You gather the

stresses of the day and everything you are worried about. Singing, you

get is all-out. It is a marvellous way of getting it all out and

relaxing. Need Daytime Voices of Southwell, musically stirred and

not shaken. -- meat. Angela brings her Midas touch to tease out golden

harmonies. You are meant to be muted trumpets. This is one of

several groups she runs. This gives them confidence. They then think

they fancy singing with a big choir and orchestra. We do not have to

have an audition. It is good finding out you can sing.

auditions, no pressure, that is the philosophy of Angela. At her home,

she records musical notes on to a CD. Her next big choir project is a

concert performance of Verdi's Requiem. It is a monster of a work.

30 years after the first concert, 300 people taking part now are sent

the CD. By sending out the rehearsal CDs and the score and the

publicity, you get excitement going. We find that people prepare, they

listen at home. At home, I am giving the distance learning ago.

Maybe I need advice, especially if my voice is going to the dogs!

Robin Reece Crawford is an actor, a professional storyteller and a

veteran of the group. He sang at the first concert of Music For

Everyone 30 years ago. It is a strange feeling when you sing with

the aid group, there is a sense of community, that we are battling to

the same end result. There is something about the physical aspect

that is very good for you as a person. Are there health benefits?

At Duffield in Derbyshire, choir singing run by the Alzheimer's

Society. As the brain deteriorates, the pressure of the dementia occurs.

One thing that seems to remain his emotion. Emotion is linked to music.

It can be transformative to the person with dementia and also to

their friends and family and carers. They see another side of the person

with dementia. That is a good one to begin with. At Nottingham Trent

University, the first rehearsal. Harry Willis and Harriet Card make

a cautious start. Karen is struggling with a cold. Robin and

the bases sound good. It is a worrying time when they first come

in. Will they have prepared? Do they know how it is meant to go?

The Victoria Rooms in Bristol and James, one of Angela's discoveries

is rehearsing with the city's Sinfonia Orchestra. Angela, she

spots talent. She saw me and a few months later I got a telephone call

inviting me to play for one of her choir concert. Her energy and

passion for music ignites people. It makes people want to be involved.

Nottingham's Albert Hall and the concert is about to begin. The

choir members are not the only ones who are nervous, and this is my big

moment also. How is your voice? is great. It is back and I am

raring to go. Will we keep up the orchestra? What Angela. There is a

lot of change of mood and tempo. -- watch. You cannot be a conductor

and be a pessimist. You have to believe it will work. Many times I

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 46 seconds

have thought I am I doing this, THEY SING.

APPLAUSE. It was brilliant. I enjoyed doing

it. Everybody put so much into it. How is the boys? It has gone a

little bit. -- I must have been straining -- voice. It was

fantastic. Congratulations. Thanks, you were wonderful. How did it

sound? Fantastic. Very tight and powerful and musical. That is what

I like about it. From scratch to performance in 48 hours, it has

been Angela's approach for 30 years and it sounds pretty good.