09/01/2012 Inside Out South East

How does a radio presenter manage her booze free Christmas? I have

been asked if I want to drink an alcoholic drink by more people...

For them it is a big laugh. For me the joke is wearing thin. How much

has Hastings changed in a quarter of a century? Or the London people

coming down, they have no chance. Big changes. And is a mega airport

on the Isle of Grain the good idea for Kent? Is Grain the perfect

place? Of course it is. I am Natalie Graham with untold stories

closer to home. From all around Tonight we are at the Hastings

Fishermen's Museum for the start of a new series. I will be back here

later, but first Christmas and New Year are a time when most enjoy a

celebration but what is it like without alcohol? BBC Sussex

presenter Neil Pringle has just tried it and he was surprised by

what he discovered. I am Neil Pringle, a busy dad to

two year-old poppy. James is a red. Know that is Thomas. Went I am not

tidying up after a poppy, I am getting up at the crack of dawn

presenting BBC Sussex's breakfast When it comes to the evening, I

like to relax with a few glasses of wine. What could be better than a

favour red and my wife. Any left for me? Of course! For me, the

evening is not complete if you have not sat down and had a glass of

wine, because it sets the tone for the evening. But our cosy life is

about to change. I have decided to have a booze free Christmas. But

the enjoyment stops here. I will be giving up half a bottle of red each

evening and two bottles at the weekend. I will be putting myself

to the Test and finding out how much is too much? To date I am

visiting Dr Ann Robinson, a GP he will monitor my progress and give

me advice. One bottle of wine is at nine units. If you are having half

a bottle, you are having 4.5 units and night and the maximum daily

recommended amount for a man is four units. I am on about 31 units

and I should be on 21. I am way over. Will that affect my health?

You would probably have some fatty deposits in the liver, fatty change,

that is reversible if you stop drinking. It can go on and inflame

the liver, that his alcoholic hepatitis. You can recover but the

third stage is cirrhosis of the liver and if you keep drinking

heavily, you can end up with cirrhosis. Once you damage the

liver to that extent it is irreversible. The some research at

home reveals the situation is worse than we thought. And has calculated

my alcohol intake on a wind of a 9% but the wines I drink are stronger.

I am over double what I should be. Frankly, I am surprised. I am

worried. Under government guidelines, men are allowed no more

than four units of alcohol a day, roughly a pint and a half of beer

and it is 2-3 units for women. But it is more complicated than that

because beers and wines have different strengths. Tom is in

charge of health care in Brighton. He says many are exceeding

recommended limits without realising. People drink the same

volume of alcohol as they did 10 years ago, but they drink about 10

% more alcohol so the content, the strength of the alcohol has

increased. Some experts say the units system is not working. A

government report released today reveals that there is widespread

confusion over what sensible drinking levels are. It has been a

week since I gave up drink and although it is early days, I am

starting to notice a difference. I already feel I have more energy, I

do not fall asleep in front of the TV. I feel marginally more wide-

But let us not forget it is party season and temptation is everywhere.

With my Christmas party looming, I have decided to forget about my

wife and child to meet up with perfect strangers - women with

experience who can show me a good time. I am here for a cocktail

lesson, but do not worry, non alcoholic cocktails is the name of

the game. We will use fresh ginger, apple, fresh mint. These lovely

ladies are all teetotal. Brenda gave up alcohol in March. Why did

you do it? I stopped for health reasons but when I started to look

into it, it was becoming a habit. A social drinker and binge drinking

on the weekend. Is it difficult going out with people when you are

sober and they are drunk? It is entertaining and I am laughing at

them rather than with them. Do they queue you differently? Some do. But

it is a choice I have made. Something I do not want in my life.

It feels powerful. But blues is a feature at many parties. My

Christmas do is no different. The drinks and the conversation are

flowing and I am tempted. I have been asked if I want to drink and

I'll I'll drink by more people tarmac it is like, for them it is a

laugh, for me the joke is wearing thin. Exceeding units like I have

been doing is no laughing matter. It increases the risk of cancer and

liver disease and harm can take years to show by which time serious

health problems have already developed. The effects on the

outside are more difficult to ignore. I have meant Dr prints. If

you drink a lot, what will it do to your face? The effects will include

eight accelerated ageing process. Not base for sad, redness on the

face. After some computer magic, it was time to base my future. This is

how you would look if you carried on drinking their way you were

drinking for the next 10 years. That his horrible! It is the

redness. And the fatness! There will be loads of people who drink

more than they should do and they do not consider the health costs. I

did not at all. The fact is I have 52, I have a two year-old daughter

and I want to be as fit and healthy as I can be for her. I am not alone.

The government says most people with health problems caused by

drink are not alcoholics but drinkers are just like me who have

been exceeding the limits. People tend to focus on younger people and

the social disruption of a hole causes. You find older people

quietly having a bottle of wine at home are drinking much higher

levels than is recommended. It is nearly a month on. Time to go back

to the doctor's to see if giving up drink has made any difference. It

turns out because. My blood pressure is low, I am less stressed

and my reaction times are quicker. You look fresher, like to have come

back from a holiday. It was just a net positive effect. I am

encouraged by what the doctor has said. With the year drawing to a

close, I have come to Brighton Pavilion to celebrate. It is New

year's Eve and instead of going to a bar, we have decided to go on the

ice. Last time I went ice-skating I broke my leg. This time I am sober.

Here we go. And after a not so grace for a jaunt around the eyes,

my mind is made up. You do not need alcohol to have a good time. The

other thing I have learnt his hump much alcohol I was drinking on a

regular basis, way over the limit and that is potentially damaging to

my health. I have come up with a new year's resolution and the tears

I will continue not to drink alcohol, at least through January

because I think my health is that important. So to you, a happy and

That was Neil Pringle reporting. Coming up: what do the people of

Grain think about plans for an airport to be built on their homes?

I will follow it through to Number Ten Downing Street.

The year we associate most with Hastings is of course of 1066 and a

lot has changed here since then. But how much have things changed

over a shorter period of time? How does present day Hastings compare

with the town of 25 years ago? 1986 was the year Britain and France

agreed to build a Channel Tunnel. It was when Gary Lineker scored

more goals than anyone else at the Mexico World Cup. And if you

ordered cod and chips to take away, you still have change from �1.20.

1986 was also the year in which a famous author came to Hastings to

make a TV programme about the people who lived here. Beryl

Bainbridge was from Liverpool. She came to Hastings to meet Joe And

Clara Coglan and their fishermen's sons Roy and Graham. Did you know

you would go to see? No. She wanted to see what life was like in a

southern seaside town. Just over 25 years later, I am following in

barrel's footsteps meeting some of the people she met and finding out

how much lives have changed in a single generation. Back in 1986,

Graham Coghlan was a very happy fisherman. After years in the

lucrative building trade, he decided to earn his living at sea

You would look out over the water, see the board's coming out to sea,

-- see the boat coming up to see. But it is a challenge, you never

know what you are going to catch, some days you get good catches,

some days you get nothing. Today, Graham is 74, his boat is 42, and

they are still together and still fishing. All those years ago you

were telling barrel how enthusiastic you wear about fishing,

you could hardly sleep at night? Yes, I do really enjoy it, and if I

give it up, what do I do? Sit around in dollars and get fat. --

indoors and get fat. Like all families, the Coghlans have seen

many changes since 1986. Graham's father died in 1991, and his mother

died just six weeks later. And he's lost his younger brother too. Back

in 1986 Roy Coghlan fished from here and also ran the Jenny Lind

pub. In 2000, despite a serious illness, Roy set his heart on

having a new boat built. $YELLOW The boat was up the top, we

had got it all finished, ready to go to sea, so we asked him to come

down and have a look at it. We helped him aboard, he stood looking

around, looking round in the wheelhouse, proud as punch, and

then of course unfortunately next day, he never made it. He never got

to go out on his boat? No, he never came to again. His son Darren and

myself was there when he passed away, we were holding him and...

Mmm. Roy's son Darren has skippered Roy's Boys ever since. But with the

limits on how much can be caught and how many days the boat can be

at sea, it's getting harder and harder to make it pay. And Darren's

having to look at alternative ways to make a living.

Would you give up on fishing altogether or just try and combine

it with another job? No, combine it with another job. I'd like to get a

job in the winter and, in the summer, fish again. That boat was

your dad's - I know he never got to fish in it, butare you planning to

keep it? Yes, I'd never get rid of that. Because of what it means to

family. Yeah, exactly. And myself. It's my life, that little boat.

There were roughly twice as many boats here in the pre-fishing quota

days of 1986, when a fresh-faced 21 year-old Darren was just starting

out as a fisherman with his cousin Lawrence.

I was thinking of what we imagine constitutes cleverness. I dare say

Darren and Lawrence were not considered scholars in class, but

think of the learning required to draw the sea. A mixture of

intuition and knowledge. -- to trawl the sea.

Hastings has had a facelift since the '80s. It's got a new station,

new university buildings, new apartment blocks and even a new art

gallery. The Old Town is now a mix of bistros, bars and boutiques,

many run by a growing number of "Down from Londoners". According to

Graham's sister Pauline, this influx of new money has pushed the

house prices out of reach of the original Old Towners. I met up with

her in one of the few places that haven't changed since Beryl ate

here with Pauline's mum 25 years ago.

All these London people coming down and buying all the houses, their

kids have got no chance of getting a deposit to buy it anywhere. My

eldest son lives at home still! He is 41 next month. And he has had to

come back home, cannot afford to live anywhere else. Presumably be

that it was not part of your plan! MUSIC: The Sun Has Got His Hat On

Beryl ended her visit to Hastings by having tea and cakes with Graham

Coghlan's mother-in-law Renee, and her dance partner Frank.

Retired they may be, but... I knew this place before the war. That was

a different place to what it is now. It had its own orchestra, its own

theatre. WHITE I couldn't help but wonder

whether we all look at the past through rose-tinted glasses. So I

decided to end my visit by having tea and cakes with Pat and Clive

Upton. They've lived in Hastings all their lives, and Pat used to

play bowls with Renee. So how do they feel about the changes since

the '80s? The restaurants, cafes, having the outside tables like in

France. It gives it a nice atmosphere along there. That is a

big change - you get a lot of change in shops, but there is a

nice atmosphere there. And what about the social changes?

In 1986 Frank was worried about women walking alone at night.

You cannot feel safe walking down the street. You are expecting a

thump on the head. A lot of young people go out with the total idea

of just getting smashed. When we were young, you did not do that.

Care for! -- careful! I Remember You knocking all the milk bottles

of but when you came in when your mother was babysitting.

Maybe there really is nothing new under the sun. People come and

people go. Pubs change hands. Shops close down. Shops open up again.

But in the end, everyone agrees on one thing. I would not like to live

anywhere else. Every time I go on holiday, I cannot wait to get back.

Will you stay here? Yes, I will A serious proposal has been put

forward to obliterate the Isle of Grain as we know it, and build a

huge airport there. We have just one question - why?

We are taking all the Christmas decorations down. Christmas is all

over with. The villagers of Grain in north

Kent are packing away the decorations in their local church.

We are so close knit. Everybody knows everybody.

But one day, it could all be destroyed - if Lord Foster of

Thames Bank gets his way. Lord Foster is the architect famous

for the Gherkin in London. But now he has bought -- come up with an

ambitious plan to overhaul the transport system of Britain. This

would include taking the Isle of Grain and building a massive Thames

Hub airport, a replacement for Heathrow. Of course, Lord Foster

knows that Homs would have to be destroyed, with devastating effect.

That is absolutely inevitable. And I understand. My heart goes out to

anybody who is impacted by this. And the ones impacted, are this lot.

The community atmosphere is incredibly strong, we have

generations who have lived in these villages and want to continue

living here for the foreseeable future.

The idea of an airport in the Thames estuary has been around for

a decade. There was Maplin Sands in the 70s, Cliffe in 2003, and most

recently Boris Island, a man-made runway in the estuary proposed by

Boris Johnson. And now, there is the London Hub at

Grain. It would also wipe out nearby villages.

Local politicians and environmentalists are queuing up to

stick the boot into the idea. have carried out opinion polls

which say that people do not want the airport, we just need to keep

telling them because they are not listening.

Today we see these architects rehashing the same proposal, the

proposal that was largely dismissed in 2003, this is a wintering

destination for hundreds of thousands of waders, ducks and

geese. It is the wrong place to port and

airport. Where are all the boxes and bags?

Unsurprising it, the villagers are dead against it. But would it be

possible for Foster and Partners to convince them to sacrifice their

village for the good of the country as a whole? They would not be the

villagers face to face, but they will speak to me, and I will pass

it on to Grain. It boils down to three basic ideas. The first to

have nothing to do with Grain, but you have to know them to understand

the arguments for an airport. Number-one... The the idea is to

look at all the things we have to do in terms of infrastructure - how

do we integrate them into a corridor, into a spine. They are

suggesting combining railways, power and communication, and water,

into spines running the length of the country. Over in the Hogarth

Inn, I pass on the message. The trains are in there, you have

got water pipes running through there. Is that a good idea? It is a

good idea for the country. We have kids who need a future and add jobs,

the country have to move with the times.

Back in the church, the local fire brigade have turned up to take the

Christmas tree down from the roof. All of our villages have a great

community spirit. The firemen are leaving the building! Thank you!

So we come to the second part of the Foster and Partners big idea

for the country. It is still not about the Grain airport, but about

where their spines should go. Not through London, they say, but

around London, favouring the Thames Estuary.

You are going round London this way, and not that way. Why? It is easier

to follow the M25 corridor, to enter the Channel Tunnel.

Opportunity then to pick up the major ports on the east coast.

So that is the second thing. Is that a good plan? It is good -- it

is close to all the ports, Tilbury, Felixstowe. The new Shell Haven

building, that will be London Gateway, which will link to that.

It is looking to come through the grades -- Gravesend area, which is

all brownfield and greenfield land. They want to get lorries off the

road and put it to fate. It makes sense. -- Freight. The back in the

church, the decorations are down, and it is dinner-time.

Thank you for all you do for us, in Jesus's name.

And now the third and final part of the Foster plan, which leads on

from the first two, and explains why Grain has to be obliterated. It

is down to the fact that far too many planes are landing at Heathrow.

So what they propose, is an airport at Grain which would link up with

those spines running to the east of London through north Kent. If we

can allow them to land as soon as they approach the land mass, then

we will minimise the impact. This is the ideal location.

So they say, what if you put it there? Slap bang on the Grain. They

want to build their airport might on your houses. We do not want it.

But that is the logic behind it. You are saying Grain is the perfect

place? It is, but not when my house is here! Why not go to Manston?

Infrastructure is there. This will be fantastic for the country's

infrastructure, but it is us who will be affected. What about the

people who live there? There are going to be dramatic impacts on

people. It will obliterate their homes, they will be tarmac all for.

A we understand the impact, and just floating the suggestions is

already having an impact on people's lives.

But the locals point out one serious problem. If the village is

to be flattened, what will happen to the graveyard?

How many of your family are buried there? All of them. Even I have got

a spot reserved their. This is village life. This is what they do

not think about, village life. you have been told you have got to

dig that up... At the end of the day, we are just people, we are

expendable. And what do you think about that?

will follow it through to Number Ten Downing Street. I will fight it

tooth and nail for stock you do have issues which require

sensitivity and understanding, and some kind of trade-off and balance.

There will always be that challenge. To destroy the community, and all

the space we have got in Grain, that is just wrong.

It will be an enormous act of destruction for this part of north

Kent, a very special part of north Kent.

At the moment, we do not know if one day the Isle of Grain will be

buried under a new airport. But we do know that the Government is

exploring all the options for expanding aviation capacity in the

country, and they will publish the results of a consultation in March.

If you want any more information about tonight's show, you can visit

our Kent or Sussex website. You can also watch the whole show again by

clicking on the iPlayer. Next week...

But the demands of a yacht delivery company lead to the loss of three

boats and the deaths of five crew? It breaks your heart when you think

of someone you love dying in fear. And as star-gazing it returns to

our screens, what we can see a boy of the skies in Kent and Sussex.