09/01/2012 Inside Out South West

Hello and welcome to gin side out South West with stories from where

you live. Tonight, as alcohol abuse takes its toll, can radio Devon's

Fitz manage a dry December. Why are you doing a dookmentry on alcohol.

Because I have given it up for a month. Are you an alcoholic. It is

a challenge and now I'm going to complete it. And drinking in

retirement. Is it best not to drink anything and then having to go to

the doctor to get tablets? No. I'd rather do it my way. Also tonight

lidious eyesore or post-war gem, the case for conserving Plymouth.

think the civic centre and many other of Plymouth's fine buildings

should be cherished. I'm Sam Smith Many of us will still be recovering

from the excesses of Christmas and new year. But for a special Inside

Out experiment, David Fitzgerald took up the challenge of giving up

alcohol for the hardest month of all. BBC Radio Devon. See you

tomorrow. The lines are open. What is on the programme? It is all

coming up after the news. Coffee, black, no sugar, part of the diet.

This is the me that most of you know at the coal face of public

service broad casting. Getting ready to interview the Chief

Constable. I bet you weigh less than me. 15 stone. Two stone

lighter! And this is the private me, out at my favourite Plymouth haunt.

It is fair to say a spent erspend a lot of my life sitting down with a

glass of something alcoholic. But I have been asked to put this behind

me for a month. Will I manage it. I love filthy old boozer, so let's

hear from one. Fits -- Fitz loves to come out and to stop drinking

will be a struggle. It will be a challenge. You have set me the

challenge. And I have now got my mind set to complete it. It will be

31 days, but it is leading up to my 50 th birthday. I would like to

look great. Come on in. You wipe your feet when you leave this place.

This way please. Past all sorts of junk and meet the enemy, the good

lady wife. This is Karen who will be monitoring my situation when I'm

not drinking throughout the entire month. She has got to monitor it.

Not that she is going to monitor it. I think I will stick to this. But a

lady with the same sort of hobby as I have, behind. She does like a

drink herself. So we both enjoy a couple of glasses of wine every

evening. A bit more than me at times. I can do more. That is the

red wine. I don't know if we have any white. No but the white will be

filled to about there. That is one. That is one glass! We do drink and

we do drink probably more than a lot of people do. We would have at

least two glasses like that each. That will be a bottle a night.

Between us. But I don't think that he will do it. It will be a

challenge for him now. I don't think he will. Whether we're

married by the end that could be an issue. I hn thought of that. But if

he sobers up, I might not like him! Yeah, promise, promises. But as a

diabetic, she may inherit early. So I have come for tests. If you would

step on the scales. Take the strain. Why are these machines so accurate,

why can't they just give you an estimate? Last time I saw a receipt

that long, I was leaving an off licence. Look at these. Looking at

your Body Mass Index that is 33.3, that is in the obese range. Your

body is as of a 64-year-old. The main part of this is the alcohol.

The units you have had this week are adding up to 74. That is three

times the Government guidelines. I don't remember voting for that.

Looking at the calories, it is over 5,000 in just the alcohol. That is

a couple of days worth of good food. Your risk of developing high blood

pressure, cancer of the mouth and stroke. How did that go. It is an

eye opener when you're described as a 64-year-old who is looking

forward to being obese rather than overweight. Nobody likes the truth,

especially when you're told your actions are killing you, which is

what will happen if I don't ease up. It has been a week of no booze and

is it working? It is looking good. The weight has come down. It is a

good starting point to lose a kilo in five days. It is the 8th

December and day nine and to be honest I don't miss it. So to the

local curry house. There is the wife helping the situation, by

drinking my share. Christmas parties spin by, surprisingly easy.

Nine days to Christmas. Thank you. You have already had a drink. This

is the chaos I'm going through. But I'm not drinking. Do you think I'm

slimmer? Thank you. No sports bra. Not that close. That is it.

Normally at this time I would be in there enjoying a pre-Christmas

drink, but tonight I'm taking to the streets in the interests of

scientific research. I feel more guilty if I was drinking in the

week and then drank at a lot at weekend. It is getting the balance.

Yes. Some of drinkers I met were responsible. Some drinkers were

merry. And some were out of control. To me, this is shocking. Very. Not

as shocking as not having a drink on Christmas Day. I don't have a

drink full stop. What would you like. A diet coke please. All right.

So to the final day. That I it, 2012, I'm about to drive my guests

home from this party and again no booze, no glass in hand. 2012, well

I'm hoping I'm going to keep this up. I'm not going to be a preacher

and be that way, but I'm going to cutback on the alcohol. Tirs back

to the lab to see if it has done anything for my health. Blood

pressure, weight and the width. it is 108 centimetres. That is a

centimetre you have lost around the middle. You have lostn't be 1

kilograms in weight, that is five pounds, your Body Mass Index has

reduced. It lass gone well they are all -- it has gone well, they are

all down. But not everything has changed for the better. I'm still

64. Even though I'm 50 tomorrow. Yes. That is evening out. You may

meet in the middle. This a message to give people of my age? I think

generally speaking it is good time of year to turn over a new leaf.

Keep your ambitions sensible and stick with it. That was an

interesting meeting with Ann and Hilary. I'm wiser and a little

thinner. The information they were trying to get across is alcohol in

bg excess is bad for you. That is nothing I didn't know. Moderation

in all things. The last four weeks have been interesting for me. I

hope they have been interesting for you and you have noticed that I am

a little thinner. And I'm going to try and keep it up. I know I'm 50

tomorrow, but there will be a party, but after that, a bit more exercise

and a little less booze. Well Fitz's determined to cutback, but

if you're retired with a nice pub on your door accept, social

drinking can become a way of life. We know at the fit falls and perks

of liquid lunch. Mackie has lived and works on the edge of Dartmoor

for most of his life. Now he has retired he can spend more time on

his favourite pastimes. The thing I done best were onions, potatoes and

runner beans. My runner beans have never been beaten, with the longest

runner bean. So you know I'm proud of that. He is a countryman and

partial to fishing, shooting and rabbiting with ferrets. I love

rabbit myself. If I get, I will put it in the freezer and any surplus I

let the, sell them to the pubs for a pint or something like that.

the pub is where he is heady later. With fellow regular, retired diver

Gordon, who lives with his dog near Yelverton. It suits me, because I

have the moors, just up the roted. I have got -- road, I have got

Plymouth if I want to go there 12 miles that way, and eight miles to

Tavistock. The Royal Oak is something of a rarity. It is owned

by the parish council, was puts the rent it collects from the landlord

back into the community purse. Mackie and Gordon do their bit, by

drinking here nearly every day. have been coming here 40 years and

I don't go to any other pub. There a brewery up there, you have the

finest pint of bitter you will get. At weekends the Royal Oak attracts

diners from far and wide. But on week days the landlord reliess on

the session drinking regulars. We're lucky in we have a great

local trade and a lot of people have been drinking here as their

fathers have before them. Still support the pub. And they are the

backbone of the pub. And no matter what day you come, you can always

have a chat with someone. Sl Retirement has allowed Mackie to

dedicate time to another of his favourite pursuits. I have got

loads of interests, and when I come out at dinner time, I can relax and

speak to the boys who are here and it is something different, because

I have never been able to do that when I was working. Gordon cease

his regular sessions as a kind of therapy, relief from a life of

You become reclusive and you go into a shell landed in a notice it.

I've been tried out of it again. There is plenty of good cheer on

cue but is this jovial country pursuits as harmless as it appears,

especially when it comes to McKie who has already had open heart

surgery. I have to be reasonably sensible because of the murders and

I take. If I did not take away a proper drink a lot more. I drink

two or three pints and that is all I am allowed to. Sidey used to be

Gordon's favourite tipple and to the gave him health problems of his

own. I used to drink lots of the cider. I burnt my as Ofgas. I have

to be a bit careful. Dr Richard Ayres knows a thing or two about

the dangers associated with heavy drinking. Around a quarter of the

adults he sees in his Plymouth practice have alcohol-related

problems. He is on his way to the Royal Oak to have a word with

Mackie and Gordon about their drinking habits. There is a general

increase in alcohol-related hospital admissions, both in

younger people and older people and I think that is because the average

consumption is rising so the extremes are seen more often, which

is why I suppose this business of how much people regularly drink on

a social basis starts mattering. So, I just wonder, you probably realise

that there is a level of drinking that can sometimes be harmful. I

wonder if you had any idea how to work out how much your drinking

yourselves? Say I have three pints, six days a week, that would be

miles over the limit. That is 18 pints over a week. What would it be

for you? A pint a day or maybe two? More than that, three or four.

days, so seven days a week. That would be 21 pints. Perhaps more

than that. So you are about level pegging. Have you got much of an

idea what sorts of things you might get trouble with. I don't have any

trouble at all. But what would the risks be, if you were drinking too

much, what mighty it do to your body? I suppose your liver, it

could mess your liver. I have a liver test regularly and they say

it is all right. OK, you know about the liver. Blood pressure us

another one. So you know it can affect your blood pressure.

cholesterol is all right. You know about that. Do you think it can

affect you up top here? I should think it can! Well, I think that is

a very common story. They are a bit over their limit, if you look at it.

They might be able to just cut down a little bit, maybe make them drink

two pints instead of three. That is probably as good as you will get.

That would bring them down to the maximum recommended weekly limit

which still gives an increased risk of heart, liver and other diseases.

But Dr Ayres is reluctant to condemn their drinking habits out

of hand because of the recognised psychological benefits to solitary

characters like Gordon. Social isolation is really a issue in

rural areas and has a definite effect on your health. We know that

being miserable and depressed and isolated is bad for your health, it

shortens your life and you get all sorts of diseases. That social

benefit of being with your mates is a huge benefit. Mackie and Gordon

are on to their third pint. Did they learn anything from the

doctor's visit? I don't think it was anything different from what we

already knew. Obviously drinking too much is not going to do anybody

a great lot of good. The thing is this. What is it best to do? Is it

not to drink anything and not smoke anything and then having to go to

the doctor to get antidepressant tablets? I don't like that. I would

rather do it my way like I have for years. If it affects my health,

then, I mean, I am here, three score years and 10. Every year

after this is a bonus, as far as I'm concerned. In the end, who is

to say whether Gordon's perspective is sober or pie-eyed? One thing is

for sure. Despite the risks, this is one country past time that look

set to defy the winds of change. If you would like advice about

alcohol you can call the action line. Calls are free from a

Medieval York, Georgian Bath. Some city centres are so historic they

have special conservation protection. But what about post-war

Plymouth? Expert Jeremy Gould believes there is much to cherish

there too, starting with one particular landmark.

This will be the tallest building, dominating Royal Parade at the

heart of the city. It is, of course, Plymouth's Civic Centre - whereever

you are, views of it are hard to avoid, rather like that other

famous landmark. The Eiffel Tower. That was hated at first, now it's

an icon. Unlike the Eiffel Tower, though, the popularity of this

building has diminished, not increased, over the years. When it

was listed, and therefore protected, there was an outcry from those who

wanted it demolished, including the city council, whose offices are

here. Yes, it will cost millions to repair, and times are hard, but it

could be done. I'm not alone in thinking that the Civic Centre, and

many other of Plymouth's fine post- war buildings need cherishing.

English Heritage, overseers of the country's historic estate, thinks

so too. The city centre doesn't only belong to Plymothians, it

belongs to the nation. The Civic Centre doesn't only belong to

Plymothians, it belongs to the nation. It is a really important

building. Together with the Festival Hall it is one of the two

most important public buildings built after the Second World War. A

symbol not only of the regeneration of this city, but of national

regeneration. Listing buildings only protects them, not the gaps

inbetween and that's what so special about the city is the

layour, the plan, the spaces inbetween. And the best way to

preserve would be to create a conservation area. The starting

point would be the eight post-war buildings that are already listed -

that's more than anywhere else outside London, the best loved

being St Andrews Church. In the first few months of 1941, the city

centre was bombed to smithereens. St Andrews, the parish church of

Plymouth, was reduced to a roofless shell. This may look like a

medieval roof, but it's made of concrete, 2.5 inched thick. The

architect designed the whole of this interior. Tthe slate floor,

the pulpit, the benches are all a 1950s piece of design, showing how

diverse that architecture could be, and I think it's wonderful. For me,

the great feature of this church are the windows. The designer,

Piper, worked at Coventry Cathedral, but I think these are the best

Piper windows you will see anywhere. It shows the church was interested

in modern art and getting the very best artists to work in Plymouth. A

stroll away is the Baptist church, with its wonderful murals. The

Roman Catholic Church, by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who designed the

iconic red telephone box. The glorious National Provincial Bank,

with its Venetian glass mosaic faade. And a few steps away is the

Guildhall, with its marble staircase leading to a period gem.

This is one of the great 1950s interiors anywhere outside London,

art and architecture mingled. The quality of the workmanship and of

the detail is examplary. This is one of the great sites of Plymouth.

The great feature are the chandeliers, designed by the city

architect, Hector Stirling and representing the three towns of

Plymouth. The plaster plaques by the sculptor David Weeks depict the

labours of Hercules. The background is a lovely sky blue, one of the

colours that made the 1950s. Once again, the stained glass windows

are of the highest quality, and depict major milestones in

Plymouth's history, like the opening of the original Guildhall.

And over here, the blitz, and lastly the opening of Civic Centre

by the Queen in 1962. The Queen's visit set the seal on an

extraordinary achievement. The city, with its grid of grand streets,

humming with new enterprise, was the first to be rebuilt after the

war, hailed as a masterpiece for the modern Elizabethan age. Half a

century on, the glamour has worn thin. Today, improving Plymouth's

prosperity is the priority for the council and business leaders but

can that go hand-in-hand with preserving the outstanding

cityscape? The city council says it can. I have my doubts. Take the

case of the former NAAFI Club, opened by Princess Margaret 60

years ago. It wasn't listed and it was demolished, despite a campaign

to save it. In the west of the city, neither the striking Athenaeum,

designed like a miniature Festival Hall, nor the '30s-built cinema

next door, are listed - and both are vulnerable as they are included

in the council's Area Action Plan as sites for possible development.

Business leaders agree that Plymouth urgently needs investment

but not a conservation area. your average businessman or

developer at they will think conservation area, that means I

cannot do anything there which Pinter will not even look at

building there. That is not true for Bath. I do not know about Bath.

I know that most business people, the moment they hit conservation

area, I'm not going to go there because it is far too expensive.

But that is ridiculous, it is not true. I have a feeling that the

listing of the Civic Centre is the 14-storey stumbling block to

getting any agreement between us. The listing decision is costing us

�40 million. English Heritage are not funding that. The citizens of

Plymouth have to pay for that. Duties in the eye of the be holed

up. There are an awful lot of people in the City who feel that

the civic centre is an abomination. I still think the best way forward

would be to create a conservation area, from Notte Street in the

south to North Cross. You never know, Plymouth's modern

architecture might even attract some visitors. One city is already

capitalising on its post-war heritage, but it's not in Britain

it's in France. It's Le Havre, a city so highly regarded, it's been

given the ultimate accolade - it's now a world heritage site. Like

Plymouth, huge areas were bombed. But while modern Le Havre is

celebrated, Plymouth, I feel, is ignored. The council says it will

be able to protect them of's heritage and fulfil its ambitious

plan of making the city one of the top 10 shopping centres in the

country. It says a conservation area would be a "significant

obstacle" to that ambition. English Heritage disagrees. There's no

either or here look at Chester, Bath. A fragile historic city and

it is a major shopping centre, incredibly successful. The centre

of Bath, the historic centre is very successful commercially. They

is no necessary conflict between the two. But there is compromise.

You can't keep tearing things down, there comes a point when you have

to recognise quality, so really it is for future generations. I think

there is no better embodiment of the optimistic, forward looking

spirit of Britain. That spirit of the festival in 1951, up than

Plymouth. Plymouth's brave plan paved the way for Britain's other

post-war cities, so, love it or hate it, its place in history is

deserved and should be preserved, too.

That is all prompt this week's programme but we are back next