03/03/2014 Inside Out East

Their home was destroyed by the sea, so what next? What are we going to

do now? Three months after the terrifying night when a storm surge

sent their home over the cliff, there is some good news for a

Norfolk couple. Desperate to see Mum. We meet the families torn apart

by a system they say is unfair. I've known her for 12 years. We've been

married for ten years. The mother of my kids. I'm British. My children

are British. They have the right to have their mother living with them,

to look after them. And from the old vicarage in Grantchester to the

corner of a foreign field that is for ever England. The story of one

of the greatest poems of World War I.

If I should die, think only this of me.

That there is some corner of a foreign field that is for ever

England. Revealing the stories that matter

closer to home. This is inside out, for the East

Tonight, inside out is in Grantchester in Cambridgeshire.

Hello and welcome to the wonderfully historic village of Grantchester.

Now, the night of December five last year is night I will never afford

it. It was truly terrifying. I was filming with the people of Hemsby on

the Norfolk coast as a storm surge pushed down the North Sea. I spent

the evening with Steve and Jackie Connolly. Their home was destroyed.

Now, we've kept in touch and I've been back to see them. There's been

some good news. It's really atmospheric here on Hemsby beach and

despite the sound of the waves crashing through the fog, it's

actually really peaceful. Which is in stark contrast to the dramatic

events that happened here on fifth December. Alex Dolan's here with the

latest on the weather front. The concern over the next few hours is

the storm surge. Everyday, Jackie Connolly dreads listening to the

weather forecast. And today more than ever. We have very strong

onshore winds. What's predicted to happen tonight could literally

change her life. Jackie's home is perched precariously on a clifftop.

The violent storm expected tonight could see it topple over the edge

into the sea. A neighbour has already moved out. His home

condemned. It's only a matter of time before Jackie's home suffers

the same fate. How worried are you, living here?

Very worried because we don't know what the next storm's going to

bring, how bad it's going to get. Do you ever go to bed thinking, my

goodness, if we have a bad storm tonight we may awaken in the night

and half my house is gone? Yes, might be homeless tomorrow. That's

what I think. Just look how close Jackie's home is to the edge. And

it's not just her home here in Hemsby. The whole resort is fighting

force a viable. `` for survival. I'm when you get whether like this storm

that's blown up, it's no wonder that people here in Hemsby are really

worried about their future. There are no sea defences protecting the

village. They've been refused public funding to build them. So, they're

doing it themselves. The fear of losing part of the village has

brought the whole community together. As the storm rages

outside, they've gathered for a fundraising evening at the pump. ``

the pub. It will add to the ?20,000 they've already raised to pay for

their own sea defences. Lorna, the whole community seems to be behind

this. Absolutely, 100% behind it. We are having fun and raising money at

the same time. The community is dead set on it, on enjoying and raising

money at the same time. So all the money raised here tonight will go

directly into building new sea defences? It absolutely will, yes,

every penny. But while we're filming in the pub, outside, the storm surge

is making its way down the North Sea. While we're standing here, the

lifeboat hut is literally tipping into the sea. The high tide is

chewing away, underneath the foundations and it's literally

tipping up as we're standing here. Jackie and husband Steve have been

at the pub for the fundraising evening and have just come back to

their house. Jackie's just going into the house now with her husband.

Hang on a second. It's really close, it's really close, hang on. The back

of the house has gone. Don't get too close to that because that will be

very unstable. What are we going to do now? SHE SOBS. Can't believe this

is happening. What's happening now? What are you doing now? We don't

know, because we're not prepared. For none of it. Where will you go

tonight? Is there someone you can go? Well there's only, like, people

that offered us somewhere to stay for the night. It must be

heartbreaking for you to come back and find this. I mean, we didn't

expect it to go like this. Can we go now, please? People from the village

have come down to help Jackie and Steve move stuff out of their house

before it goes over the edge. They're grabbing anything they can

and getting it out of the house. The house just isn't safe. Get the table

out the door. That's enough, guys. You need to prioritise now. The most

important thing, you need to get out, now. They have now said that

the house is not safe. They can actually hear it rocking at the

back. Everyone's clearing the house, everyone's out, that's it. Just as

we go, we see the floor lifting, and what was Jackie's neighbours house

is carried away by the sea. Calm down, you will be all right.

You'll be all right... The next day, we return to see the full extent of

the damage. Jackie, what were looking at, it's just unreal. Yes,

it was. It was the living room. What time did it go over last night? We

don't know. I can't believe that is your house on the beach. I can't

believe it, either. This is devastating. You and your husband

have lost your home. Yes. We have lost everything now. To make matters

worse, Jackie and Steve believe they're not covered by their home

insurance. Three months on, the council is still considering plans

to help them and other residents. One option is buying land to rebuild

theirs and other lost houses, but that couldn't happen without

extensive consultation and it would cost around ?200,000 just to develop

the idea. Is there anything that can assist people if their home is near

the edge? There is a thing called rollback, which basically means that

local authorities, when there are houses close to falling into the

sea, can give easier planning permission to actually buildanother

house further back. Maybe they wouldn't get planning

permission for that type of thing as a matter of course. So, there are

these facilities, but if you look at where we are today, the rollback has

been carrying on the rollback has been carrying on for some time,

because there are actually people living there who have been rolled

back three times. They've actually had three premises. You might think

that, with their home`made sea defences not stopping the tidal

surge, residents here might give up the fight, but it seems that what's

happened has made them even more determined to battle on. That is a

huge fear. We've got 100 feet of dunes lost the last 18 months. They

are ever closer to the edge. If we get any more of the tide lapping at

the base of the dunes, if we get another tidal surge, there will be

another at least five homes going, then we got another 20 pretty much

at danger after that. So, yes, they are very worried. They don't sleep

well at all at the moment. There's nothing left of the Connollys' home

now. It's all been cleared away. But, for Jackie and Steve, there's

been some unexpected good news. The local council has managed to find

them some accommodation here in Great Yarmouth.You're talking about

your insurance. And what's happened with your financial situation? Well,

the insurance people have paid up. They have? Yes, the insurance people

have paid up. We were covered for a new build, weren't we? They got in

touch with us. They said it was storm damage. And not coastal

erosion. So, a different part of the clause, because it was storm damage

and not coastal erosion? Exactly. You got the money. How much did you

get? Altogether, they gave us 51,000. Who'd have thought it? Here

you are, a few weeks ago, thinking you lost everything, and now you're

about to embark on a new chapter. That's right. We've had an offer

accepted on a property that we looked at. Up in Rotherham. Things

have turned around now. And we're on a better footing, so to speak, now,

aren't we? We got a place. And hopefully... Hopefully, that's the

start of a new chapter. And we wish Steve and Jackie all the

very best for the future. If you want to get in touch with me,

I'm on Twitter... And you can send me anything you

think that we should be looking at via e`mail.

This is Inside Out for the East of England. Still to come on the

programme, how this beautiful village of Grantchester helped to

inspire one of the most famous poems of the First World War.

Across the East, hundreds of families areHaving to live apart

because of changes in immigration rules. The families say that the

rules are unfair. And this week, the Court of Appeal will decide if they

are right. Jo Taylor has been finding out what that means for

parents and their children. Hiya! A lipstick!

Atusha and Anna are desperate to see their Mum. They're one of hundreds

of families torn apart by immigration rules they say are

unfair. For eight months, the only way they've seen each other is over

the Internet. I've known her for 12 years, we've been married for ten.

She is the mother of my kids. I'm British, my children are British.

They have the right to have their The school shirts. You've not seen

them in their school shirts, have you? Farshid is back in the house in

Cambridge where he grew up. He came home to look after his elderly

mother. His wife is still in Thailand. I never thought this was

going to happen. So, we said OK, I'll go first, with the kids. So we

got the kids settled in. Got them acclimatised because Thailand's hot,

it's a different climate here. So we can meet, because I got them to

school before the summer holiday so they have four weeks at school, so

they got to know the environment around them. And I was pretty sure

that she was going to get a visa to come over. Never thought my wife

would be stuck out there. I spoke to his wife over the Internet. That is

hard. When my kids are saying about this, I have no answer, you know?

They don't understand, and it is so hard to talk to them.

I have thought maybe something had changed, and they could give the

visa after six months. I just hoped, you know? That's what I wanted.

Immigration rules are designed to limit the number of people coming

into the country and keep unwanted people out. But we found thousands

of ordinary families caught up in a system which, they say, isn't

working. The rules say that spouses of British nationals can only settle

in Britain if they have savings of ?62,500 or have been working for at

least six months, earning at least ?18,600. Farshid's wife stayed in

Thailand to sell their business. They thought that would be enough

money to meet the immigration rules. But it wasn't. She applied for her

visa which was, I think, the second week of September. And we had to

wait two or three months to get a response from the British Embassy.

And she was informed by letter that her visa has been put on hold. That

was in mid`December, early December. And due to a financial requirement

by immigration, that wathat was the reason they put her application. On

hold. And also because I hadn't been earning enough money, not working

prior to that. But the Government has to draw the line somewhere,

though. I think the Government has to look at individual cases and not

generalise the whole thing. There has to be some merit given to

families who genuinely are a family. And who are married. With the money

we had saved, we could have come with that money to the UK and

invested in a small business and started something together. If the

Government has this generalised rule for everybody, itdoesn't look at

individuals, and they have to look at each case on its merits and judge

it that way. Many people say the new minimum income rule of 18,600 is too

high. Almost half of UK workers earn less than that and wouldn't qualify.

The big issue that people face at the moment is the minimum income

requirement of ?18,600. And I think it has generally been accepted now

that it is appropriate to have some form of income requirement to make

sure that people can support their family if they come to the UK

without recourse to public funds. But ?18,600 is still a lot more than

we expect people to live on, if they are on benefits. It's more than you

would expect to receive if you did a normal working week for the national

minimum wage. So it has been suggested that perhaps that figure

should be set at a slightly lower level. She says she wants to help

you. Do you see that? More than 16,000 spousal visas have been

refused since the rules changed, but it's no comfort to Farshid to know

that they are not the only family. And even when the rules have been

met, mistakes prevent some families being together. This man is British

and lives in Cambridge. He met his future wife on a visit to

Bangladesh. Before marrying her, he checked the immigration rules to

check that she could join him here. The judge in the case says that some

of the casework have been mixed up and that mistakes have been made.

How do you feel? It's not just the emotional impact

on families that is a concern. Some academics have told us that the

rules are putting them off and employers say they are losing

world`class expertise. Simon Payne is chief executive of Cambridge

Technology Group. If We have gone out and actually tried to find the

best talent we could become to the UK to attract them to come to our

universities, so there is an income earner, just there. And what

actually happens is later on, that top talent is retained in the UK,

where it goes into the workforce and then their parents are unable to

visit. What sort of message do you think that would be sending back,

where the parents would be saying to you, their neighbours, to relatives,

about sending their children to the UK foreign education, if they were

refused a visa to come and visit their child later on? The Home

Office wouldn't be interviewed but told us...

With the help of his MP, he's finally succeeded. Now his wife is

with him in Cambridge, along with their baby girl.

She says, are we going to go to the cinema? Yes, we will be here one

day. Farshid is working now and says his wife would not be a burden. If

my wife was here, she would be a burden to the state. She wouldn't be

going to sign on or anything like that. She would be part of British

society, she would contribute, she would work. And to provide for the

family and take care of the girls as well. Last month, the family were

reunited. On a two`week visit to Thailand. At last, after eight

months, the girls could have their long`awaited hug with Mum. This

week, the court of appeal will start to judge whether the rules need to

change but, for now, the family have to make the most of this preciou

moments together. `` precious. It is 100 years since the start of the

First World War. None of those brave men who fought are a longer with us,

but their stories live on. Grantchester was once home to one of

the most famous authors of the time. Alex Tobin traces the story from

this release to the front line. If I should die, think only this of me.

That there is some corner of a foreign field that is for England ``

for ever England. The Soldier, written by Rupert Brooke is one of

the most famous poems from World War I. Written in 1914, it can tell us a

lot about what people were thinking and feeling 100 years ago as war

loomed. It's still recited today when we remember those who died and

is still used in schools as a voice from a soldier not much older than

these children. This is how well you are going to be wrapped up. What the

soldiers have been thinking about in that line? Writing a letter to their

family. The words of the poem are the memoirs of a dead solder,

declaring his patriotism, and the sacrifice of soldiers on the battle

front. Brooke wrote it before the full horror of war had hit home. The

Old Vicarage at Granchester near in Cambridge where Brooke once lived is

now the home of Mary and Jeffery Archer. But Brooke's memory is very

much alive here. I first learned The Soldier at school, and I really fell

in love with him, for the poetry, the pros, they were that he leaps

off the page. Brooke loved the house. And to him it was everything

that was the ideal England. It sympbolised what we were fighting to

save. He wrote another poem about it ` the Old Vicarage, Granchester.

Just now the lilac is in bloom, All before my little room; And in my

flower`beds, I think, Smile the carnation and the pink.

His presence is very strong because of the poem, The Old Vicarage. In

it, he talks with such affection about the house. The peacefulness of

English life was abruptly broken in 1914. Brooke, like many others, saw

the war as a chance for adventure and travel. Looking back, it was a

romantic view of war. The Soldier was written in Berlin and is a love

letter to England and a sonnet to his old home in Granchester. The

Rupert Brooke society ` based in the village ` still celebrate and

discuss his work. If the `` I think you see shadows of the old vicarage,

Grantchester. It says a lot about the country and the soldier. He

wrote it in December 1914. It was printed in the times, I think it

was, at the time. And that hit a note with people. If I should die,

think only this of me. That there is some corner of a foreign field that

is for ever England. There shall be an act which Earth, a richer dust

concealed. Dust from England bore, shape, made aware, they once had

flowers tonight, a body of England's breathing English air,

washed by the rivers, and the sons of home.

And laughed alone to friends and gentleness, and hearts at these, and

an English home. `` Hearts at peace. Other poets like Wilfred Owen and

Siegfried Sassoon wrote of the horror of war. Unlike them, Brooke

never fought in the trenches and his poem captured a different mood.

Early drafts of the poem show it was originally titled The Recruit,

suggesting more of a "call to arms". He did know what war was about.

Sometimes he gets criticised because he did not live through The Somme.

He did not get Siegfried Sassoonised. That is, disgusted with

the war, and how it was conducted. Often in schools, they contrast it

with the style of Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, but if you look at

their work, that was written at the time, there's is exactly the same

sentiment, it is just that they lived longer and saw the impact of

the war. The soldier is the masterpiece amongst his five war

sonnets and it has this extraordinary and uncanny prophecy

that he would lie in some corner of a foreign field. Brooke died in

Greece from a mosquito bite only a matter of weeks after writing The

Soldier. The children from St Nicholas

school, Harlow, have travelled to The Somme to see the battle ground

for themselves. On July first, 1916, 60,000 men were killed or seriously

injured in just one day. Brooke's words can still help connect them to

what happened here Poetry is important. The poem talks about how

the families were missed, and they were homesick. It is not a sad poem.

It is more, he is looking on the brighter side of things, which is

nice. For us, we cannot expand `` understand what they went through.

Poetry is a good way to see what it was like. Difficult lives. Today the

Somme is a stark, haunting place. Brooke's poem may not paint a

picture of the horror of trench warfare but it is a reminder of the

human cost and here it has an even greater sadness. If I should die,

think only this of me. That there is some corner of a foreign field that

is for ever England. There shall be in that rich earth, a richer dust

concealed. And think, this heart, all evil shed away. A pulse in the

eternal mind, no less. Gives somewhere back the thoughts by

England given. Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day. And

laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness. In hearts at peace,

under an English heaven. If you want if you want to find a more about

what happened in the First World War in your area, you can go to the

page. That is it for the programme. And the series. I will be back in

the autumn. In the meantime, you can contact me on Twitter, or e`mail me.

If you think there is something we should be doing a story about. Thank

you for watching. See you Hello. The 92nd update. The Oscar

Pistorius trial has begun in South Africa. He pleaded not guilty to

murdering his girlfriend at his home last year. A neighbour said she had

terrible screams on the night. Russia sends more soldiers