06/01/2014 Inside Out South West

Hello, and welcome back to a new series of Inside Out South West,

stories and investigations from where you live. Tonight, the extreme

diet that could get Radio Devon's Fitz back on track.

I've been bad`tempered, I've craved food, but it was for a good cause `

to try and ward off the effects of diabetes.

Also tonight, what happens when social services get it wrong? One

Devon mother's story. They caused a level of harm that if a parent had

caused, they would be put on a child protection plan.

And we meet a man with a passion for other people's memories.

It might be holidays in Kenya, or holidays in Torquay. Amateur

film`makers film the things they love.

I'm Sam Smith and this is Inside Out South West.

It's that time of year when many others are looking to lose a few

festive pounds, but for Radio Devon's David Fitzgerald, things are

a little more serious than that. Over the past three years, I've

given up booze, taken up exercise and run a half marathon, all with

the aim of getting fit. No mean fit for a 50`something`year`old man who

likes the finer things in life. But now, in what my producer likes to

call the fourth in the trilogy, Inside Out have set me the toughest

challenge yet. Good morning. Now what? This year's challenge is a

very low`calorie diet, to see if we can reverse the diabetes. Reverse

the diabetes, not cure? Well, it's reverseal they're calling it at the

moment. Cure is still a bit of a Holy Grail. The initial work

suggests that the fat in the liver can reverse, and that's perhaps at

the bottom of why people get type II diabetes. So, ten days, at 800

calories. Will that show results? It will reduce blood sugars. We will

see some reduction in weight, that is for sure. I think it's worth a

go. So what's the next action? I'm assuming blood, urine, all sorts of

nasties? Well, the idea is simple. By going on such an extreme diet,

I'll lose weight from my liver and pancreas. That's what the initial

results from a study at Newcastle University have shown, and a

significant number of people on that study have seen the diabetes

reversed. But it is an extreme diet, and not to be undertaken without

medical supervision. For the duration of this, it's about having

no poultry, no fish, no meat, no bread or pasta, no dairy products

apart from what's in the drinks themselves, no root vegetables like

potatoes sweet potatoes, no pulses, no fruits and the big one, no

alcohol. OK. Hm great, so nothing, really, except diet shakes and a few

veg. Well, this is the first full day, and I've made up dinner. It's

strawberry flavour, and it has the consistency of wallpaper paste.

Slightly better than yesterday's breakfast, or was it lunch? They all

tend to blend into one. That was chocolate. This at least is

palatable. It's not too bad. It says it's strawberry. It's about 230

calories. It's lovely. Awful as the shakes are, there is a reason to

persist, and I'm here to see a lady who's had type II diabetes for

nearly 30 years. This is right in front of us and this is the result

of a pretty extensive operation. Yes, it was. I have a picture to

show you, which shows one side. So complete reconstruction of the

ankle? Oh, yes. The bone has become very brittle. Also, I have diabetic

neuropathy from my toes to about mid`calf. Which means you don't

feel? I don't have any sensation at all. For the future, could you

actually lose a leg? Yes. That was discussed at the onset. If this

surgery hadn't gone well, then I would have had a below`the`knee

amputation. The ironic thing is you are a nurse and you must have dealt

with lots of patients. I have to ask, could you have done more? Yes,

probably in the early stages. I was a lot younger then and thought

tablet control would be enough. I didn't take probably as much care as

I should have done in the beginning. Well, it was nice to have met Sue. I

wish it was under different circumstances. She's a lady who may

well be looking forward to losing a leg. But what have I got to look

forward to? A life of increasing uncertainty and ill`health. Obesity,

from which a quarter of us suffer, is strongly associated with

diabetes. Doctors believe it's driving what they call an epidemic.

Research into the condition reveals I'm raising my risk of heart

disease, kidney failure, blindness, depression, amputation, nerve

disorder and sexual dysfunction. Well, at least the wife should be

pleased. So changing my lifestyle is the only option. I'm not going to be

able to live on this extreme diet for ever, so I've come to see a guy

who faces temptation every day, but who's had remarkable success in

shedding the pounds over a sustained period. You have managed to lose

four stones in weight since filming the great British Bake`off. How? I

worked out a calorie`controlled meal replacement diet to have during the

week. So I couldn't let people down. I was going to do the baking, but I

worked out this diet, mainly of these shakes based on real food,

healthy shakes, that I knew were 300 calorie a portion, and I'd have

those instead. Greek zero percent fat yoghurt. Porridge oats. A banana

is brilliant for sweetening it, and frozen fruits. Water, and blend. How

many calories? 300. This is two portions. Those you can't have, but

this, you can try. It has everything I need. So, less than a pint. And

you've lost four stones? Yes, just from doing that. Phenomenal.

Something to try after I finish my extreme diet. I've been

bad`tempered, I've craved food, I have been sluggish and I've been

terribly forgetful. I don't know what the rest of the staff at the

BBC think of me, but I been wandering around in a daze. But it

was all for a good cause, to try and ward off the effects of diabetes.

Well, this is the moment of truth. Day ten of this radical diet. I know

I've lost weight. My trousers are loose. Even my wedding ring is

loose. Hilary's here to take the reading. What are the results? Gosh,

yes, that's quite interesting, actually. Over ten days, you've lost

seven kilograms. That's over a stone in weight? Yes. In ten days, which

is incredible. Not bad. Time to catch up with Anne to see what else

I've lost. OK, quite amazing results. Over a stone in weight in

ten days. Your diabetes has improved. Your cholesterol has

dropped. Have I reversed my diabetes? We don't know, but the

thing that monitors your diabetes has fallen three points. It is quite

dramatic. It'll be interesting to see what happens if you were to do

it for eight weeks. Well, I'm not sure I can handle a whole eight

weeks of this diet, but I am determined to use this experience to

kick`start a change of lifestyle. Two years ago, I walked down the

stairs and Anne had given me the prognosis that I was looking forward

to being overweight. Now I'm looking forward to a better diet, and

hopefully, a slightly longer life. Inadequate in every respect. That's

the official assessment of Devon's Child Protection Service. The

council says it's going to put things right, but what evidence is

there it's capable of making vital changes? We've been investigating.

Devon spent ?47 million last year trying to protect children. Despite

cuts across the council, the child protection budget has risen in the

last three years. And yet, according to the Government watchdog Ofsted,

the service is failing ` a view shared by some of those who've

witnessed its workings at first hand. It's frightening. They

genuinely do not know what they're doing. It's a dangerous organisation

to become involved with. You're supposed to trust social services of

all people to keep you safe in this world. If you can't trust them, who

can you trust? Since the terrible case of Baby Peter in London, Devon,

like many other local authorities, has seen an increase in its

workload. The number of children being taken into care here has

almost doubled. Children like 18`year`old Elorah Drewe's baby boy.

When he was born, Elorah was in a troubled relationship; social

services put her and her son into a foster placement to have her

parenting ability assessed. It didn't go well. I'd only just

started weaning Jackson, something I'd been looking forward to doing

for a long time. And when I finally got to do it I got fwo days in ` I

fed him pureed apple for breakfast, said goodbye to him ` said, I'll see

you later. And I went. And I didn't see him later. That day, social

services took her son into care while the courts decided what would

happen next. Elorah accepts she needed help, but thinks such drastic

action was unwarranted. I understand my mistakes, but you don't approach

a mother and take her child off like that. If I'd rammed him against a

wall, I'd expect immediate action, but this...I think it was uncalled

for. We only have Elorah's side of the story and we don't know whether

the social workers' actions were justified or not. But we have

evidence that on other occasions social services in Devon have made

mistakes ` mistakes that have had catastrophic consequences. Sarah's

story almost beggars belief. Sarah is not her real name and we have

disguised her identity at her request. Her words are spoken by an

actor. I would suggest that anyone who needs help looks elsewhere, um,

unless they want to lose their child. In the summer of 2012 Sarah

was suffering from what she describes as extreme exhaustion and

was receiving mental health support from the NHS. She'd had help from

social services too in the past so asked them for some respite care for

her daughter. This was arranged. Four months later, her daughter was

away in that respite care when social services called at her home.

First of all he said, "We're here about your daughter," and that was

on the doorstep, and I just thought something terrible had happened,

like there'd been an accident. And then he said something about me

needing a solicitor and I couldn't understand anything that was going

on. What was going on was that social services had, without

warning, taken her daughter into Care. I didn't know it was possible

to feel that bad. Because I was told that I might never get her back. Two

weeks later the care proceedings came to court. Only then did the

truth emerge. Sarah discovered that notes taken in an official meeting

about her and her daughter said one thing. A version typed up later `

and signed off by social services ` said quite another. It had some

damning additions ` that Sarah had "threatened to take her own life and

her daughter's with her" and that Sarah was "a significant self`

harmer." All lies, says Sarah. When the altered minutes were revealed,

social services dropped the case. Sarah's daughter was returned to her

after seven weeks in care. Sarah says she wasn't the same. She was

distressed, traumatised, she was frightened cos she'd spent so long

away. They caused a level of harm that if a parent had caused would

put that parent on a child protection plan. What do you say to

that? Sarah complained about what had

happened and the council launched an inquiry.

The inquiry stopped short of blaming any individual although it described

the social worker involved as "inexperienced, poorly supervised

and over`confident with an inappropriate determination to get

Sarah's daughter into care." It also found a catalogue of departmental

failings which the council says it's now addressing.

Another incident that's left a family seriously aggrieved involves

this man, David. Again, we've concealed his identity. He blames

social services for destroying his daughter's childhood. She was raped

by a known sex offender from the age of seven.

In the end she opened up and it was every 7`10 days for four years.

Karl Hole befriended David's family and started having contact with his

daughter in 2008. Social services warned the mother of his history but

allowed the contact to continue. David, who didn't live in the family

home, was not warned. When he finally found out it was four years

too late. Devastated. Just devastated. You

want to keep your kids safe. But I can't blame myself because I didn't

know it was going on. During the four years Hole was

abusing David's daughter, social workers were in contact with her but

did not discover the abuse. David says he still hasn't had an

explanation. I haven't heard anything from them,

not an apology, nothing. We asked the council what action had

been taken. It said that it currently has a Serious Case Review

underway. Tiverton Councillor Des Hannon says the council's not

learning from its mistakes. Young children in positions of great

personal danger are not the people we want to put at further risk. This

is the most important thing not to get wrong and it's been

comprehensively got wrong. Ofsted are so clear on this.

According to Hannon the problems within management run deep.

I have heard that senior members of staff haven't spoken to each other

for a year and if that's the case I'm appalled and I also want to know

why that hasn't come out in public. The problems within the service have

been known about for some time. There was the Ofsted inspection nine

months ago which found "Significant weaknesses, very poor practice" with

"children exposed to unnecessary risk of significant harm." But six

months before the Ofsted report in October 2012, a peer review,

overseen by the Local Government Association, recommended "A clearer

vision and direction", a "better analysis of how children come into

care" and that the council "reflect on its priorities and pace of

change". Now, eight months after the Ofsted report an improvement panel

is recommending a fundamental restructuring of the service.

It's going to take a year to drive these improvements through. Will

children be safe in the meantime? I don't agree that it will take a

year. It doesn't stop us from making changes already on the ground.

You're seeing a radical overhaul of all the structures and that

inevitably will take some time to put in place. A passion and lately

`` I passionately believe that we will see a rapid change around in

the New Year. Last month, the Head of Child and

Adult Protection, Rory McCallum, in the words of the council, "Left to

pursue new opportunities." Has anyone been fired?

Nobody has been sacked. We will continue to make changes in light of

the planned for improvement that is put in place.

So who's going to be held to account?

I will be held to account for improvements.

Sarah has no confidence that anything will change. The council

told us that since the inquiry it had agreed certain actions with her.

But she says that's not so. While they're focusing on a case like mine

they're not going near children who genuinely need help. They seem to be

entirely out of control. Elorah, like Catherine, finally won

her son back. The battle for Devon County Council

is to win back public confidence in this most vital of services.

We've had exclusive access to a man's extraordinary video

collection. Home life in the 1950s. For Mrs

Smith and her husband, every day was worth recording.

It is the social history that is caught. With amateur footage, every

event is important. Paul Dibbins doesn't even know their

first names, but feels he knows the Smiths through their intimate home

movies. You've got their pets, their dogs and cats then you see a shot of

him with a fox on a lead. Paul's house is filled with other people's

lives. Rescuing amateur film helped Paul recover after a massive heart

attack ended his teaching career. My doctor said that's it, hiking,

motorcycles out, you have got to find something you can do, jigsaw

puzzles or something. He said have you got a hobby? And I said, well, I

like old films and he said there you go.

Paul's archive isn't full of feature films with famous stars but family

films of high days and holidays. Occasionally one small roll of film

contains someone's whole life story. And it'll have little kids, then a

bit older, there'd be a wedding, and there'd be perhaps grandchildren,

all in little three minute bursts across the reel. And then you get to

the last little bit and suddenly they're elderly and retired, and

then it stops. And you know they've died, and what's worse, their life's

on this little reel of film and it's been thrown away.

Paul throws nothing away. Among the Smiths' collection is a record of a

year's activity on their farm near Barnstaple.

That's quite an undertaking to document somewhere for a whole 12

months, but they'd done it and made a really good job of it.

Paul was given their films by friends of the Smiths. He restored

them so Mrs Smith, by then widowed and in her 90s, could see them for

one last time. They had a gathering. The old lady

watched the films and then passed peacefully away in her sleep a few

days later. They say it all flashes before your

eyes before you go, so maybe in a way that's exactly what we'd allowed

her to have. Relive all the best, and the fantastic moments in her

whole life, all the people she loved and cared about. You get to see them

all one last time. I don't know, you'll make me cry if

you're not careful, you will. Some of Paul's films are of real

historical value. This is the Sudan in the 1920s filmed by Brigadier

Peter Acland while serving in the Political Service. Both he and his

wife Bridget took to the hobby, then an expensive and unusual pastime.

That's when 16mm film dates from. It means he must have taken up filming

in the new medium. At first, Paul had no idea whose

family he was looking at. All he knew was the fragile films had been

found in a dustbin in the Devon village of Feniton by a local man,

Eric Yates. Eric said, it's the Squire's films,

they've been thrown away. So I bought them back here and I thought

squire, squire. Well, he wasn't really the squire of Feniton and of

course all of the film is shot on the back lawn of the house and so

you can drive around for ever looking at the fronts of houses but

you can't go knocking on posh doors and saying excuse me can I have a

look at your back garden? After some detective work, Paul

found the films that had so nearly been lost forever belonged to one of

Devon's oldest aristocratic families, the Aclands. And that this

back garden, at Feniton, was the one he'd been searching for. And for the

first time, Paul could meet someone in one of his cast`off films.

Because this little boy captured almost 80 years ago is still alive.

The Brigadier's younger son, Anthony. Now Sir Anthony Acland,

once head of the Diplomatic Service and a former Provost of Eton.

This is the first I restored. It's a family gathering.

Very often we had tea on the lawn. That's my father's nanny.

While his parents were in Sudan for more than half the year, Anthony

spent idyllic summers in Devon with his grandparents and his pony,

Billy. I loved my pony and spent a lot of

time with it. He was enchanting in every way. A lovely character and

used to spend a lot of time lying down in the stables. I would go down

and lie down with him. If I was late for lunch or being called, I was

probably in the stable lying down with the pony. It brought back

wonderful memories. Over 30 years, Paul has watched tens

of thousands of hours of film, but there's one subject he's never seen.

I have never had a film of a funeral, never, ever, ever. Who

would spend 27 and six to record a funeral when you could spend 27 and

six and record a wedding, and everybody having a real thumb's up

time? And sometimes the films he's given

contain secrets perhaps best kept that way.

After the husband passed away, his wife asked me to transfer the films,

only to find out that her best friend and her husband had been

having an affair which he'd been quietly recording on film for over

40 years. How did she feel about that?

Two big stiff whiskeys were the next thing. Don't think I'll bother to

get those digitised was the next thing she said.

While today social media encourages us to record every part of our

lives, should we wish, Paul fears an archive like his will not be

possible again. Far more people today can record a

moving image than ever could but they don't print that to anything

they can keep. Are we losing something because of

that, do you think? I think future generations will

think we have. I'm not sure that we are aware, it's like all of those

things. It's gone before you noticed it.

Paul says these amateur films don't just preserve a vanished world, they

reveal how similar we all are, no matter who we are.

It might be holidays in Kenya or holidays in Torquay, but the actual

reason for filming it and the subject matter is pretty much the

same right across the board. It's what you love. People, amateur film

makers, film the things they love. That's all from this week's

programme. We are back next Monday with more stories and investigations

from the south`west. See you then. Hello, I'm Ellie Crisell with your

90 second update. There are more spending cuts on the

way. The Chancellor says ?25 billion worth of savings need to be made

after the next election. At least half of it is likely to come from

the welfare budget. Full details at ten.

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