:00:06. > :00:12.How does a radio presenter manage her booze free Christmas? I have
:00:12. > :00:19.been asked if I want to drink an alcoholic drink by more people...
:00:19. > :00:25.For them it is a big laugh. For me the joke is wearing thin. How much
:00:25. > :00:35.has Hastings changed in a quarter of a century? Or the London people
:00:35. > :00:35.
:00:35. > :00:40.coming down, they have no chance. Big changes. And is a mega airport
:00:40. > :00:47.on the Isle of Grain the good idea for Kent? Is Grain the perfect
:00:47. > :00:57.place? Of course it is. I am Natalie Graham with untold stories
:00:57. > :01:11.
:01:11. > :01:15.closer to home. From all around Tonight we are at the Hastings
:01:15. > :01:20.Fishermen's Museum for the start of a new series. I will be back here
:01:20. > :01:25.later, but first Christmas and New Year are a time when most enjoy a
:01:25. > :01:29.celebration but what is it like without alcohol? BBC Sussex
:01:29. > :01:36.presenter Neil Pringle has just tried it and he was surprised by
:01:36. > :01:45.what he discovered. I am Neil Pringle, a busy dad to
:01:45. > :01:50.two year-old poppy. James is a red. Know that is Thomas. Went I am not
:01:50. > :02:00.tidying up after a poppy, I am getting up at the crack of dawn
:02:00. > :02:01.
:02:01. > :02:06.presenting BBC Sussex's breakfast When it comes to the evening, I
:02:07. > :02:15.like to relax with a few glasses of wine. What could be better than a
:02:15. > :02:19.favour red and my wife. Any left for me? Of course! For me, the
:02:19. > :02:24.evening is not complete if you have not sat down and had a glass of
:02:25. > :02:30.wine, because it sets the tone for the evening. But our cosy life is
:02:30. > :02:35.about to change. I have decided to have a booze free Christmas. But
:02:35. > :02:40.the enjoyment stops here. I will be giving up half a bottle of red each
:02:40. > :02:45.evening and two bottles at the weekend. I will be putting myself
:02:45. > :02:49.to the Test and finding out how much is too much? To date I am
:02:49. > :02:55.visiting Dr Ann Robinson, a GP he will monitor my progress and give
:02:55. > :03:01.me advice. One bottle of wine is at nine units. If you are having half
:03:01. > :03:07.a bottle, you are having 4.5 units and night and the maximum daily
:03:07. > :03:14.recommended amount for a man is four units. I am on about 31 units
:03:14. > :03:19.and I should be on 21. I am way over. Will that affect my health?
:03:19. > :03:25.You would probably have some fatty deposits in the liver, fatty change,
:03:25. > :03:30.that is reversible if you stop drinking. It can go on and inflame
:03:30. > :03:34.the liver, that his alcoholic hepatitis. You can recover but the
:03:34. > :03:39.third stage is cirrhosis of the liver and if you keep drinking
:03:39. > :03:43.heavily, you can end up with cirrhosis. Once you damage the
:03:43. > :03:48.liver to that extent it is irreversible. The some research at
:03:48. > :03:54.home reveals the situation is worse than we thought. And has calculated
:03:55. > :04:02.my alcohol intake on a wind of a 9% but the wines I drink are stronger.
:04:02. > :04:06.I am over double what I should be. Frankly, I am surprised. I am
:04:06. > :04:12.worried. Under government guidelines, men are allowed no more
:04:12. > :04:18.than four units of alcohol a day, roughly a pint and a half of beer
:04:18. > :04:22.and it is 2-3 units for women. But it is more complicated than that
:04:22. > :04:26.because beers and wines have different strengths. Tom is in
:04:26. > :04:30.charge of health care in Brighton. He says many are exceeding
:04:30. > :04:35.recommended limits without realising. People drink the same
:04:35. > :04:41.volume of alcohol as they did 10 years ago, but they drink about 10
:04:41. > :04:49.% more alcohol so the content, the strength of the alcohol has
:04:49. > :04:52.increased. Some experts say the units system is not working. A
:04:52. > :04:59.government report released today reveals that there is widespread
:04:59. > :05:03.confusion over what sensible drinking levels are. It has been a
:05:03. > :05:08.week since I gave up drink and although it is early days, I am
:05:08. > :05:14.starting to notice a difference. I already feel I have more energy, I
:05:14. > :05:24.do not fall asleep in front of the TV. I feel marginally more wide-
:05:24. > :05:26.
:05:26. > :05:29.But let us not forget it is party season and temptation is everywhere.
:05:29. > :05:35.With my Christmas party looming, I have decided to forget about my
:05:35. > :05:39.wife and child to meet up with perfect strangers - women with
:05:39. > :05:45.experience who can show me a good time. I am here for a cocktail
:05:45. > :05:52.lesson, but do not worry, non alcoholic cocktails is the name of
:05:52. > :05:58.the game. We will use fresh ginger, apple, fresh mint. These lovely
:05:58. > :06:02.ladies are all teetotal. Brenda gave up alcohol in March. Why did
:06:02. > :06:08.you do it? I stopped for health reasons but when I started to look
:06:08. > :06:13.into it, it was becoming a habit. A social drinker and binge drinking
:06:13. > :06:18.on the weekend. Is it difficult going out with people when you are
:06:18. > :06:24.sober and they are drunk? It is entertaining and I am laughing at
:06:24. > :06:29.them rather than with them. Do they queue you differently? Some do. But
:06:29. > :06:35.it is a choice I have made. Something I do not want in my life.
:06:35. > :06:39.It feels powerful. But blues is a feature at many parties. My
:06:40. > :06:45.Christmas do is no different. The drinks and the conversation are
:06:45. > :06:52.flowing and I am tempted. I have been asked if I want to drink and
:06:52. > :06:57.I'll I'll drink by more people tarmac it is like, for them it is a
:06:57. > :07:02.laugh, for me the joke is wearing thin. Exceeding units like I have
:07:02. > :07:06.been doing is no laughing matter. It increases the risk of cancer and
:07:06. > :07:09.liver disease and harm can take years to show by which time serious
:07:09. > :07:16.health problems have already developed. The effects on the
:07:16. > :07:23.outside are more difficult to ignore. I have meant Dr prints. If
:07:23. > :07:30.you drink a lot, what will it do to your face? The effects will include
:07:30. > :07:36.eight accelerated ageing process. Not base for sad, redness on the
:07:36. > :07:40.face. After some computer magic, it was time to base my future. This is
:07:40. > :07:46.how you would look if you carried on drinking their way you were
:07:46. > :07:52.drinking for the next 10 years. That his horrible! It is the
:07:52. > :07:56.redness. And the fatness! There will be loads of people who drink
:07:56. > :08:03.more than they should do and they do not consider the health costs. I
:08:03. > :08:08.did not at all. The fact is I have 52, I have a two year-old daughter
:08:08. > :08:11.and I want to be as fit and healthy as I can be for her. I am not alone.
:08:11. > :08:15.The government says most people with health problems caused by
:08:15. > :08:21.drink are not alcoholics but drinkers are just like me who have
:08:21. > :08:27.been exceeding the limits. People tend to focus on younger people and
:08:27. > :08:31.the social disruption of a hole causes. You find older people
:08:31. > :08:37.quietly having a bottle of wine at home are drinking much higher
:08:38. > :08:42.levels than is recommended. It is nearly a month on. Time to go back
:08:42. > :08:47.to the doctor's to see if giving up drink has made any difference. It
:08:47. > :08:52.turns out because. My blood pressure is low, I am less stressed
:08:52. > :08:57.and my reaction times are quicker. You look fresher, like to have come
:08:57. > :09:01.back from a holiday. It was just a net positive effect. I am
:09:01. > :09:05.encouraged by what the doctor has said. With the year drawing to a
:09:06. > :09:10.close, I have come to Brighton Pavilion to celebrate. It is New
:09:10. > :09:18.year's Eve and instead of going to a bar, we have decided to go on the
:09:18. > :09:22.ice. Last time I went ice-skating I broke my leg. This time I am sober.
:09:22. > :09:28.Here we go. And after a not so grace for a jaunt around the eyes,
:09:28. > :09:34.my mind is made up. You do not need alcohol to have a good time. The
:09:34. > :09:38.other thing I have learnt his hump much alcohol I was drinking on a
:09:38. > :09:43.regular basis, way over the limit and that is potentially damaging to
:09:43. > :09:47.my health. I have come up with a new year's resolution and the tears
:09:47. > :09:55.I will continue not to drink alcohol, at least through January
:09:55. > :10:05.because I think my health is that important. So to you, a happy and
:10:05. > :10:06.
:10:06. > :10:10.That was Neil Pringle reporting. Coming up: what do the people of
:10:10. > :10:17.Grain think about plans for an airport to be built on their homes?
:10:17. > :10:22.I will follow it through to Number Ten Downing Street.
:10:23. > :10:26.The year we associate most with Hastings is of course of 1066 and a
:10:26. > :10:31.lot has changed here since then. But how much have things changed
:10:31. > :10:38.over a shorter period of time? How does present day Hastings compare
:10:38. > :10:43.with the town of 25 years ago? 1986 was the year Britain and France
:10:43. > :10:51.agreed to build a Channel Tunnel. It was when Gary Lineker scored
:10:51. > :10:57.more goals than anyone else at the Mexico World Cup. And if you
:10:57. > :11:01.ordered cod and chips to take away, you still have change from �1.20.
:11:01. > :11:05.1986 was also the year in which a famous author came to Hastings to
:11:05. > :11:10.make a TV programme about the people who lived here. Beryl
:11:10. > :11:16.Bainbridge was from Liverpool. She came to Hastings to meet Joe And
:11:16. > :11:21.Clara Coglan and their fishermen's sons Roy and Graham. Did you know
:11:21. > :11:28.you would go to see? No. She wanted to see what life was like in a
:11:28. > :11:32.southern seaside town. Just over 25 years later, I am following in
:11:32. > :11:38.barrel's footsteps meeting some of the people she met and finding out
:11:38. > :11:42.how much lives have changed in a single generation. Back in 1986,
:11:42. > :11:46.Graham Coghlan was a very happy fisherman. After years in the
:11:46. > :11:56.lucrative building trade, he decided to earn his living at sea
:11:56. > :12:02.
:12:02. > :12:07.You would look out over the water, see the board's coming out to sea,
:12:07. > :12:13.-- see the boat coming up to see. But it is a challenge, you never
:12:13. > :12:19.know what you are going to catch, some days you get good catches,
:12:19. > :12:23.some days you get nothing. Today, Graham is 74, his boat is 42, and
:12:23. > :12:27.they are still together and still fishing. All those years ago you
:12:27. > :12:37.were telling barrel how enthusiastic you wear about fishing,
:12:37. > :12:39.
:12:39. > :12:47.you could hardly sleep at night? Yes, I do really enjoy it, and if I
:12:47. > :12:50.give it up, what do I do? Sit around in dollars and get fat. --
:12:50. > :12:54.indoors and get fat. Like all families, the Coghlans have seen
:12:54. > :12:58.many changes since 1986. Graham's father died in 1991, and his mother
:12:58. > :13:01.died just six weeks later. And he's lost his younger brother too. Back
:13:01. > :13:05.in 1986 Roy Coghlan fished from here and also ran the Jenny Lind
:13:05. > :13:09.pub. In 2000, despite a serious illness, Roy set his heart on
:13:09. > :13:13.having a new boat built. $YELLOW The boat was up the top, we
:13:13. > :13:17.had got it all finished, ready to go to sea, so we asked him to come
:13:17. > :13:19.down and have a look at it. We helped him aboard, he stood looking
:13:19. > :13:25.around, looking round in the wheelhouse, proud as punch, and
:13:25. > :13:30.then of course unfortunately next day, he never made it. He never got
:13:30. > :13:36.to go out on his boat? No, he never came to again. His son Darren and
:13:37. > :13:46.myself was there when he passed away, we were holding him and...
:13:46. > :13:49.Mmm. Roy's son Darren has skippered Roy's Boys ever since. But with the
:13:49. > :13:54.limits on how much can be caught and how many days the boat can be
:13:54. > :13:56.at sea, it's getting harder and harder to make it pay. And Darren's
:13:56. > :13:59.having to look at alternative ways to make a living.
:13:59. > :14:05.Would you give up on fishing altogether or just try and combine
:14:05. > :14:08.it with another job? No, combine it with another job. I'd like to get a
:14:08. > :14:12.job in the winter and, in the summer, fish again. That boat was
:14:12. > :14:16.your dad's - I know he never got to fish in it, butare you planning to
:14:16. > :14:26.keep it? Yes, I'd never get rid of that. Because of what it means to
:14:26. > :14:27.
:14:27. > :14:30.family. Yeah, exactly. And myself. It's my life, that little boat.
:14:30. > :14:33.There were roughly twice as many boats here in the pre-fishing quota
:14:33. > :14:42.days of 1986, when a fresh-faced 21 year-old Darren was just starting
:14:42. > :14:48.out as a fisherman with his cousin Lawrence.
:14:48. > :14:52.I was thinking of what we imagine constitutes cleverness. I dare say
:14:52. > :14:57.Darren and Lawrence were not considered scholars in class, but
:14:57. > :15:07.think of the learning required to draw the sea. A mixture of
:15:07. > :15:10.intuition and knowledge. -- to trawl the sea.
:15:10. > :15:13.Hastings has had a facelift since the '80s. It's got a new station,
:15:13. > :15:16.new university buildings, new apartment blocks and even a new art
:15:16. > :15:19.gallery. The Old Town is now a mix of bistros, bars and boutiques,
:15:19. > :15:22.many run by a growing number of "Down from Londoners". According to
:15:22. > :15:25.Graham's sister Pauline, this influx of new money has pushed the
:15:25. > :15:29.house prices out of reach of the original Old Towners. I met up with
:15:29. > :15:37.her in one of the few places that haven't changed since Beryl ate
:15:37. > :15:43.here with Pauline's mum 25 years ago.
:15:43. > :15:49.All these London people coming down and buying all the houses, their
:15:49. > :15:59.kids have got no chance of getting a deposit to buy it anywhere. My
:15:59. > :16:04.eldest son lives at home still! He is 41 next month. And he has had to
:16:04. > :16:10.come back home, cannot afford to live anywhere else. Presumably be
:16:10. > :16:13.that it was not part of your plan! MUSIC: The Sun Has Got His Hat On
:16:13. > :16:23.Beryl ended her visit to Hastings by having tea and cakes with Graham
:16:23. > :16:27.
:16:27. > :16:36.Coghlan's mother-in-law Renee, and her dance partner Frank.
:16:36. > :16:42.Retired they may be, but... I knew this place before the war. That was
:16:42. > :16:47.a different place to what it is now. It had its own orchestra, its own
:16:47. > :16:50.theatre. WHITE I couldn't help but wonder
:16:50. > :16:54.whether we all look at the past through rose-tinted glasses. So I
:16:54. > :16:57.decided to end my visit by having tea and cakes with Pat and Clive
:16:57. > :17:00.Upton. They've lived in Hastings all their lives, and Pat used to
:17:00. > :17:10.play bowls with Renee. So how do they feel about the changes since
:17:10. > :17:15.
:17:15. > :17:19.the '80s? The restaurants, cafes, having the outside tables like in
:17:19. > :17:24.France. It gives it a nice atmosphere along there. That is a
:17:24. > :17:27.big change - you get a lot of change in shops, but there is a
:17:27. > :17:37.nice atmosphere there. And what about the social changes?
:17:37. > :17:41.In 1986 Frank was worried about women walking alone at night.
:17:41. > :17:51.You cannot feel safe walking down the street. You are expecting a
:17:51. > :17:57.
:17:57. > :18:03.thump on the head. A lot of young people go out with the total idea
:18:03. > :18:13.of just getting smashed. When we were young, you did not do that.
:18:13. > :18:15.
:18:15. > :18:25.Care for! -- careful! I Remember You knocking all the milk bottles
:18:25. > :18:27.
:18:27. > :18:30.of but when you came in when your mother was babysitting.
:18:30. > :18:34.Maybe there really is nothing new under the sun. People come and
:18:34. > :18:44.people go. Pubs change hands. Shops close down. Shops open up again.
:18:44. > :18:48.
:18:48. > :18:55.But in the end, everyone agrees on one thing. I would not like to live
:18:55. > :19:05.anywhere else. Every time I go on holiday, I cannot wait to get back.
:19:05. > :19:13.
:19:13. > :19:17.Will you stay here? Yes, I will A serious proposal has been put
:19:17. > :19:26.forward to obliterate the Isle of Grain as we know it, and build a
:19:26. > :19:30.huge airport there. We have just one question - why?
:19:30. > :19:34.We are taking all the Christmas decorations down. Christmas is all
:19:34. > :19:39.over with. The villagers of Grain in north
:19:40. > :19:44.Kent are packing away the decorations in their local church.
:19:44. > :19:48.We are so close knit. Everybody knows everybody.
:19:48. > :19:55.But one day, it could all be destroyed - if Lord Foster of
:19:55. > :20:00.Thames Bank gets his way. Lord Foster is the architect famous
:20:00. > :20:04.for the Gherkin in London. But now he has bought -- come up with an
:20:04. > :20:08.ambitious plan to overhaul the transport system of Britain. This
:20:08. > :20:13.would include taking the Isle of Grain and building a massive Thames
:20:13. > :20:19.Hub airport, a replacement for Heathrow. Of course, Lord Foster
:20:19. > :20:25.knows that Homs would have to be destroyed, with devastating effect.
:20:25. > :20:34.That is absolutely inevitable. And I understand. My heart goes out to
:20:34. > :20:37.anybody who is impacted by this. And the ones impacted, are this lot.
:20:38. > :20:41.The community atmosphere is incredibly strong, we have
:20:41. > :20:44.generations who have lived in these villages and want to continue
:20:44. > :20:48.living here for the foreseeable future.
:20:48. > :20:55.The idea of an airport in the Thames estuary has been around for
:20:56. > :20:59.a decade. There was Maplin Sands in the 70s, Cliffe in 2003, and most
:20:59. > :21:05.recently Boris Island, a man-made runway in the estuary proposed by
:21:05. > :21:11.Boris Johnson. And now, there is the London Hub at
:21:12. > :21:14.Grain. It would also wipe out nearby villages.
:21:14. > :21:19.Local politicians and environmentalists are queuing up to
:21:19. > :21:23.stick the boot into the idea. have carried out opinion polls
:21:23. > :21:26.which say that people do not want the airport, we just need to keep
:21:26. > :21:31.telling them because they are not listening.
:21:31. > :21:38.Today we see these architects rehashing the same proposal, the
:21:38. > :21:41.proposal that was largely dismissed in 2003, this is a wintering
:21:41. > :21:44.destination for hundreds of thousands of waders, ducks and
:21:44. > :21:52.geese. It is the wrong place to port and
:21:52. > :21:57.airport. Where are all the boxes and bags?
:21:57. > :22:00.Unsurprising it, the villagers are dead against it. But would it be
:22:00. > :22:05.possible for Foster and Partners to convince them to sacrifice their
:22:05. > :22:09.village for the good of the country as a whole? They would not be the
:22:09. > :22:14.villagers face to face, but they will speak to me, and I will pass
:22:14. > :22:17.it on to Grain. It boils down to three basic ideas. The first to
:22:18. > :22:24.have nothing to do with Grain, but you have to know them to understand
:22:24. > :22:29.the arguments for an airport. Number-one... The the idea is to
:22:29. > :22:35.look at all the things we have to do in terms of infrastructure - how
:22:35. > :22:39.do we integrate them into a corridor, into a spine. They are
:22:39. > :22:45.suggesting combining railways, power and communication, and water,
:22:46. > :22:51.into spines running the length of the country. Over in the Hogarth
:22:51. > :22:56.Inn, I pass on the message. The trains are in there, you have
:22:56. > :23:03.got water pipes running through there. Is that a good idea? It is a
:23:03. > :23:06.good idea for the country. We have kids who need a future and add jobs,
:23:06. > :23:10.the country have to move with the times.
:23:11. > :23:17.Back in the church, the local fire brigade have turned up to take the
:23:17. > :23:26.Christmas tree down from the roof. All of our villages have a great
:23:26. > :23:29.community spirit. The firemen are leaving the building! Thank you!
:23:29. > :23:35.So we come to the second part of the Foster and Partners big idea
:23:36. > :23:40.for the country. It is still not about the Grain airport, but about
:23:40. > :23:45.where their spines should go. Not through London, they say, but
:23:45. > :23:51.around London, favouring the Thames Estuary.
:23:51. > :23:57.You are going round London this way, and not that way. Why? It is easier
:23:57. > :24:03.to follow the M25 corridor, to enter the Channel Tunnel.
:24:03. > :24:10.Opportunity then to pick up the major ports on the east coast.
:24:10. > :24:14.So that is the second thing. Is that a good plan? It is good -- it
:24:14. > :24:20.is close to all the ports, Tilbury, Felixstowe. The new Shell Haven
:24:20. > :24:25.building, that will be London Gateway, which will link to that.
:24:25. > :24:29.It is looking to come through the grades -- Gravesend area, which is
:24:29. > :24:38.all brownfield and greenfield land. They want to get lorries off the
:24:38. > :24:43.road and put it to fate. It makes sense. -- Freight. The back in the
:24:43. > :24:50.church, the decorations are down, and it is dinner-time.
:24:50. > :24:55.Thank you for all you do for us, in Jesus's name.
:24:55. > :24:59.And now the third and final part of the Foster plan, which leads on
:24:59. > :25:04.from the first two, and explains why Grain has to be obliterated. It
:25:04. > :25:08.is down to the fact that far too many planes are landing at Heathrow.
:25:08. > :25:12.So what they propose, is an airport at Grain which would link up with
:25:12. > :25:17.those spines running to the east of London through north Kent. If we
:25:17. > :25:23.can allow them to land as soon as they approach the land mass, then
:25:23. > :25:30.we will minimise the impact. This is the ideal location.
:25:30. > :25:38.So they say, what if you put it there? Slap bang on the Grain. They
:25:38. > :25:45.want to build their airport might on your houses. We do not want it.
:25:45. > :25:54.But that is the logic behind it. You are saying Grain is the perfect
:25:54. > :26:00.place? It is, but not when my house is here! Why not go to Manston?
:26:00. > :26:05.Infrastructure is there. This will be fantastic for the country's
:26:05. > :26:10.infrastructure, but it is us who will be affected. What about the
:26:10. > :26:15.people who live there? There are going to be dramatic impacts on
:26:15. > :26:20.people. It will obliterate their homes, they will be tarmac all for.
:26:20. > :26:24.A we understand the impact, and just floating the suggestions is
:26:24. > :26:27.already having an impact on people's lives.
:26:27. > :26:32.But the locals point out one serious problem. If the village is
:26:32. > :26:38.to be flattened, what will happen to the graveyard?
:26:38. > :26:44.How many of your family are buried there? All of them. Even I have got
:26:44. > :26:51.a spot reserved their. This is village life. This is what they do
:26:52. > :27:00.not think about, village life. you have been told you have got to
:27:00. > :27:05.dig that up... At the end of the day, we are just people, we are
:27:05. > :27:08.expendable. And what do you think about that?
:27:08. > :27:13.will follow it through to Number Ten Downing Street. I will fight it
:27:13. > :27:18.tooth and nail for stock you do have issues which require
:27:18. > :27:26.sensitivity and understanding, and some kind of trade-off and balance.
:27:26. > :27:32.There will always be that challenge. To destroy the community, and all
:27:32. > :27:36.the space we have got in Grain, that is just wrong.
:27:36. > :27:39.It will be an enormous act of destruction for this part of north
:27:39. > :27:43.Kent, a very special part of north Kent.
:27:43. > :27:46.At the moment, we do not know if one day the Isle of Grain will be
:27:46. > :27:50.buried under a new airport. But we do know that the Government is
:27:50. > :28:00.exploring all the options for expanding aviation capacity in the
:28:00. > :28:02.
:28:02. > :28:08.country, and they will publish the results of a consultation in March.
:28:08. > :28:13.If you want any more information about tonight's show, you can visit
:28:13. > :28:19.our Kent or Sussex website. You can also watch the whole show again by
:28:19. > :28:24.clicking on the iPlayer. Next week...
:28:24. > :28:28.But the demands of a yacht delivery company lead to the loss of three
:28:28. > :28:35.boats and the deaths of five crew? It breaks your heart when you think
:28:35. > :28:43.of someone you love dying in fear. And as star-gazing it returns to
:28:43. > :28:47.our screens, what we can see a boy of the skies in Kent and Sussex.