:00:20. > :00:22.Hello and welcome to Gloucester docks, once the final port for sea-
:00:22. > :00:25.faring ships carrying cargo destined for the West Midlands.
:00:25. > :00:28.Tonight we'll be transporting you back to the big freeze of 1963,
:00:28. > :00:38.when canals were frozen solid, and an FA Cup tie was postponed an
:00:38. > :00:40.
:00:40. > :00:50.incredible 14 times. Reviving a 1930s social experiment
:00:50. > :00:52.
:00:52. > :01:00.- can these long-term unemployed workers build a new life?
:01:00. > :01:03.But first tonight, we're looking into a charity promising to save
:01:03. > :01:06.lives. The Children's Air Ambulance was set up six years ago, but as
:01:06. > :01:09.yet hasn't managed to fly a single child anywhere. And as Matthew Hill
:01:09. > :01:19.discovered, the charity has sparked a row with existing air ambulance
:01:19. > :01:24.
:01:24. > :01:28.They're called the angels of the sky. It's not hard to see why. Air
:01:28. > :01:38.ambulances like this one are run by charities. And, as charities, they
:01:38. > :01:41.
:01:41. > :01:48.depend entirely on donations to save lives.
:01:48. > :01:58.Each area has its own service. They are distinct from each other. There
:01:58. > :02:06.
:02:06. > :02:09.last 16 services covering each part But now there's an air ambulance
:02:09. > :02:16.that's not playing by the same rules as everyone else. And there
:02:16. > :02:20.are questions over its motives and how it's spending donations.
:02:20. > :02:25.If funds are diminished, it could curtail their flight. People could
:02:25. > :02:35.dive. This new service has cost nearly �2
:02:35. > :02:41.
:02:41. > :02:45.million. But so far not a single Its backers believe in its future.
:02:45. > :02:48.If the public get behind this, it is worth every penny. But how
:02:48. > :02:57.realistic is their vision to create a national children's air ambulance
:02:57. > :03:01.service? And what cost will it have on our regional services?
:03:01. > :03:07.The Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire and blintzes Court
:03:07. > :03:11.to three missions per day. It flies 1,000 of those per year. This would
:03:11. > :03:17.not be possible without money collected at places like the shop
:03:17. > :03:22.in Lincolnshire. There are all sorts of ways that we
:03:22. > :03:30.raise the money. We have got charity shops. We collect clothes
:03:30. > :03:34.and recycle them. We have donations from the general public. We don't
:03:34. > :03:39.have fund raising outside of our own territory. That is not fair on
:03:39. > :03:42.the other air ambulances. Peter is concern the principle is not being
:03:42. > :03:47.reciprocated by another air ambulance service that is now
:03:47. > :03:51.raising money in Nottinghamshire. These bags are a charity clothing
:03:51. > :03:55.bags, and they have been flooded throughout Nottinghamshire and
:03:55. > :04:00.Lincolnshire, and causing a lot of confusing a month the donors that
:04:00. > :04:06.we have. You get a bag like that, it is yellow, like a helicopter,
:04:06. > :04:10.implying it is a national service. But we are the local service
:04:10. > :04:15.providing service to Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.
:04:15. > :04:21.The charity that owns these bags is not yet saving lives nationwide. It
:04:21. > :04:27.actually operates the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire and other
:04:27. > :04:32.areas' said Mrs. But it was to start a new service to transport
:04:32. > :04:38.children between hospitals. They plan to offer this service by using
:04:38. > :04:42.one helicopter to cover the entire country. The current method of
:04:42. > :04:46.transporting children is complex. There are different ways of doing
:04:46. > :04:50.it. I am not sure that having a helicopter based in Coventry
:04:50. > :04:54.providing a service for the whole of the UK is the best and the most
:04:54. > :04:58.appropriate way of doing it. Peter is not the only person to
:04:58. > :05:08.have concerns. We have spoken to several former volunteers and
:05:08. > :05:14.
:05:15. > :05:21.employees of the charity. Barbara Parish is one of them. She
:05:21. > :05:30.used to work as a fundraiser there. I was unhappy with the way it was
:05:30. > :05:34.run. It became a hard-nosed business.
:05:34. > :05:40.One of the senior personnel was the head of PR and was paid through a
:05:40. > :05:47.public relations company. Did you know about this? Yes. The chief
:05:47. > :05:57.executive of the air ambulance was married to the director. The
:05:57. > :05:59.
:05:59. > :06:05.company, I know, organised events that benefited the air ambulance.
:06:05. > :06:13.Barbara says celebrities were also paid to appear. What is wrong with
:06:13. > :06:18.that? It depends on how it is promoted, whether it is perceived
:06:18. > :06:23.that somebody is appearing free of charge, what profit is made from
:06:23. > :06:28.the event. The charity but my spending on
:06:28. > :06:31.celebrities was not only confined to fund raising events. -- the
:06:31. > :06:34.charity's spending. Barbara also told me she remembers
:06:34. > :06:37.a staff party that was organised by the chief executive, Andy
:06:37. > :06:40.Williamson. It was in this village hall in Dunchurch, in Rugby. Anton
:06:40. > :06:46.Du Beke and Erin Boag from BBC's Strictly Come Dancing were invited
:06:46. > :06:52.to give dancing lessons to the staff.
:06:52. > :06:56.It was organised by Andy Williamson. She claims it cost several thousand
:06:56. > :07:05.pounds. Barbara also says some staff were paid performance related
:07:05. > :07:10.bonuses. She, herself, received the �1,500, something she now regrets.
:07:10. > :07:20.-- �3,500. And Andy Williamson is paid up to
:07:20. > :07:21.
:07:21. > :07:26.�119,000. It is about time and we I have come to Coventry airport. It
:07:26. > :07:32.is home of the air ambulance service, and where he is based.
:07:32. > :07:37.Why did he choose the name, the air ambulance service? It is a good
:07:37. > :07:40.reflection of what we are doing. The chief executive of
:07:40. > :07:47.Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire says you have been dropping charity
:07:47. > :07:54.bags in their area and confusing donors. In one week, 42 complaints.
:07:54. > :08:02.The children's air and ruins is operating nationwide. The service
:08:02. > :08:06.is appropriate for where we are. it appropriate for you have to have
:08:06. > :08:11.paid another company for services? We are looking at what are the
:08:11. > :08:16.services that we need to provide for our staff, because, in the end
:08:16. > :08:23.we have to deliver substantial sums for patient care. Did you have a
:08:24. > :08:28.hand in her appointment? No. did, then? We have a board of
:08:28. > :08:35.trustees, who process all our appointments. So you think your
:08:35. > :08:41.wife is the best person for the job? Well, obviously. But you paid
:08:41. > :08:46.celebrities costing several thousand pounds, you had a day of
:08:46. > :08:50.morale-boosting. Is it really appropriate for money given by
:08:50. > :08:56.people to be spent in that way? is about what we do for our
:08:56. > :09:00.patients. But that is for the staff. Everything is about the patients.
:09:00. > :09:04.Whatever it is, however many staff we have, we need to keep them
:09:04. > :09:10.motivated, we need to keep them focused on delivering their
:09:10. > :09:15.particular role to insure that we deliver the patient care.
:09:16. > :09:20.This helicopter will cost �2 million per year to operate. The
:09:20. > :09:26.last month, it has transported four medical teams. So far, it has not
:09:26. > :09:29.transferred a single child. But he believes it will by the spring. Mr
:09:29. > :09:34.Williamson's charity is not the only one looking at providing a
:09:34. > :09:39.national air transfer service but it children. The NHS has just
:09:39. > :09:43.commissioned a report looking at how it can be achieved and who will
:09:43. > :09:47.provide it. We have obtained a leaked copy.
:09:47. > :09:52.This draft report recommends a network of different providers,
:09:52. > :09:55.including regional air ambulances. But looking at the report, it is
:09:55. > :10:00.apparent a single helicopter ambulance based in Coventry may not
:10:00. > :10:06.be able to meet the emergency response times for all parts of the
:10:06. > :10:11.country. And even if it could, less than a quarter of our hospitals
:10:11. > :10:16.have a helipad for it to land on. In the meantime, the arguments
:10:16. > :10:19.continue over the way the air ambulance service is using its
:10:19. > :10:28.children's helicopter to raise money, and how that is impacting on
:10:28. > :10:34.local services. We have been operating in his 1994.
:10:34. > :10:37.-- since 1994. The number of supporters we have got has grown
:10:37. > :10:46.steadily. This is really what keeps the service going. They don't
:10:46. > :10:52.support us, we can't afford to pay for services. If the opportunity to
:10:52. > :11:02.raise funds for the air ambulance is diminished, yeah, there's a
:11:02. > :11:08.
:11:08. > :11:11.likelihood that you are Thanks for a big response from you
:11:11. > :11:14.last week after our film focussing on Tourette's syndrome. We'd love
:11:14. > :11:17.to hear from you tonight. On Twitter we are at BBCIOWM. You can
:11:17. > :11:19.also talk to me direct. My email address is mary.rhodes@bbc.co.uk.
:11:19. > :11:22.Still to come tonight: After the recent snow and freezing
:11:22. > :11:32.temperatures, we remember when it really was cold the big freeze of
:11:32. > :11:38.1963. What a place to be! I AM standing,
:11:38. > :11:47.this afternoon, on what I hope his 11 inches of solid ice. I have come
:11:47. > :11:49.here to talk about, of all things, the Boat Show.
:11:49. > :11:52.The latest unemployment figures show 246,000 people out of work
:11:52. > :11:55.here in the West Midlands. Of course, it's not a new problem.
:11:55. > :11:58.Back in 1930, following the Great Depression, there was a vast army
:11:58. > :12:08.of unemployed men. Barbara Jacobs has been finding out if a social
:12:08. > :12:16.
:12:16. > :12:20.experiment from 80 years ago could West of the Derwent Valley stands a
:12:20. > :12:22.medieval woodland that's inspired artists and writers for years. This
:12:23. > :12:32.was 1930s Britain during the Great Depression - widescale unemployment
:12:33. > :12:47.
:12:48. > :12:51.and soup kitchens. But a group of socialist academics had an idea.
:12:51. > :13:01.They wanted to offer a fresh start to give jobless men confidence and
:13:01. > :13:02.
:13:02. > :13:04.motivation. It was called Gryth Fryd, which means Peace Army.
:13:04. > :13:07.These camps are small self-governed communities where young men of all
:13:07. > :13:10.classes can develop themselves both physically and mentally. One of
:13:10. > :13:14.their camps was in Shining Cliff Wood.
:13:14. > :13:19.They still run courses here in self-sufficiency and bushcraft.
:13:19. > :13:23.So I wondered, could a similar approach work 80 years later? After
:13:23. > :13:26.all, we're in the perfect economic climate to test that out. We
:13:26. > :13:36.haven't got months, but Inside Out went looking for some willing
:13:36. > :13:43.
:13:43. > :13:49.volunteers to take up the challenge A few weeks later we have found our
:13:49. > :13:54.recruits. Craig is 22 and desperate to get into the armed forces. Lee
:13:54. > :14:00.is 18 and what a career in retail. Wisley is 22 and and aspiring
:14:00. > :14:06.illustrator. An unemployed writer Alex is 39 and see to be the dad of
:14:06. > :14:09.twins. They have all been unemployed and for more than a year,
:14:09. > :14:17.they want to make changes. This is the man who is going to show them
:14:17. > :14:21.the way. Camp leader Paul Barker. They have to then key survival
:14:21. > :14:29.skills to get them through the next 24 hours, so first things first,
:14:29. > :14:39.making a shelter. I will be more than happy. I am building walls
:14:39. > :14:39.
:14:39. > :14:45.around my shoulder, I have been eating some squirrels! I wanted to
:14:45. > :14:54.be one of them, I wanted to do something with my life, I wanted to
:14:54. > :15:04.do my A-levels, take a course and get into the Marines. My exams
:15:04. > :15:14.didn't go to plan, really. You can do all sorts of this. It is your
:15:14. > :15:18.
:15:18. > :15:21.average British log! There we are like their grilles and Ray Mears! A
:15:21. > :15:25.I applied for jobs and they wouldn't accept it, I didn't have a
:15:25. > :15:29.driving licence. Back in the Thirties, the men had to construct
:15:30. > :15:35.a huge campsite from scratch, including making pigsties, digging
:15:35. > :15:41.allotment and building huts. Getting people outdoors and
:15:41. > :15:46.developing those experiences are very important. Learning skills,
:15:46. > :15:50.going to new jobs, hopefully. They will be mixing with new people,
:15:50. > :16:00.they will be doing tasks that they had never done before. So it is
:16:00. > :16:03.
:16:03. > :16:08.just a good learning point. That is wonderful! We have got these, they
:16:09. > :16:12.can sit under fire. Just to motivate themselves to motivate
:16:12. > :16:17.themselves, they are out here in the woods. If they don't do it
:16:17. > :16:22.nobody else is going to do it for them. When we relate that to back
:16:22. > :16:25.home, if you have nothing to get up for, why bother? So they were
:16:25. > :16:30.needed motivation to keep going and to make those changes in their
:16:30. > :16:39.lives. And if they went out of their comfort zone already, the
:16:39. > :16:42.great British weather was there to finish the job! Well, that has
:16:42. > :16:46.dampened the enthusiasm somewhat, but life in the camp it means that
:16:46. > :16:56.you have to get on with it if you want to eat. It is a fantastic
:16:56. > :16:58.
:16:58. > :17:02.colony of working insects. Anybody want to try one? Have you done it?
:17:02. > :17:09.It tastes like something you would pick off a tree if you were in the
:17:09. > :17:19.wood! Would you like one? I have rule, don't eat anything that moves.
:17:19. > :17:23.
:17:23. > :17:28.I will leave them to it for the It is an early start but I am
:17:28. > :17:38.anxious to see what effect the last 24 hours has had a now volunteers
:17:38. > :17:39.
:17:39. > :17:46.and to find out whether the I think you come to appreciate the
:17:46. > :17:50.similarities that all people hold. And there are just certain element
:17:50. > :17:55.in which all people of one and the same. If you spent a long time here,
:17:55. > :17:59.it would really change your life. We have only spent a day and we
:17:59. > :18:03.have already interacted with people we wouldn't normally and asked for
:18:03. > :18:08.help we wouldn't normally, so after a few months, it would be crazy.
:18:08. > :18:11.This is great, I think living out in this environment for a couple of
:18:11. > :18:18.months would probably change your whole perspective on time and
:18:18. > :18:21.everything. Which you want to do it again? Not in a hurry, but I can
:18:21. > :18:31.see the value of experience. Whether or not it would be for me,
:18:31. > :18:38.
:18:38. > :18:43.So what have I found that in the last 24 hours? Maybe we all have
:18:43. > :18:47.stereotypes about the unemployed. But these are four lads were all
:18:47. > :18:50.hard-working, ambitious and just needed some help to get on the path
:18:50. > :18:59.to their dreams. And maybe they're not going to find that in a
:18:59. > :19:04.JobCentre. So what has happened since we filmed? Craig and Lee are
:19:04. > :19:11.both working, Alex is a stay at home dad and Wesley is still
:19:11. > :19:15.looking for work. Last week's programme came to you
:19:15. > :19:18.from a winter wonderland at Hatton Locks. And it got us thinking as we
:19:18. > :19:28.trudged through the snow. What must it have been like 50 years ago in
:19:28. > :19:31.
:19:31. > :19:39.Last month we had the Big Chill. Across the West Midlands, freezing
:19:39. > :19:46.temperatures for weeks. This know, coming down hard and fast to stop
:19:46. > :19:52.flight are suspended. It is not looking good at the moment. But was
:19:52. > :19:56.it really that bad? Well, people of a certain age think not. Exactly 50
:19:56. > :20:00.years ago, Britain was caught in a stranglehold by one of the coldest
:20:00. > :20:09.winters ever recorded. It was an invasion of snow and ice and they
:20:09. > :20:14.called it the Big Freeze. With this blizzard, there were now drifts of
:20:14. > :20:20.15 and 20 feet. The snow started on Boxing Day and the biting cold
:20:20. > :20:25.didn't let up until March. Parts of Britain looked like a fairy-tale.
:20:25. > :20:29.The sea froze, sometimes for 100 feet out from the shore. What was
:20:29. > :20:39.it like here in the West Midlands? We have been looking back through
:20:39. > :20:39.
:20:39. > :20:43.Getting around was a nightmare. In Shropshire, snowploughs cleared the
:20:43. > :20:49.line between Shrewsbury and Welshpool, put in place is the only
:20:50. > :20:54.option was to preach to the shovel to stop -- reached for the shovel.
:20:54. > :20:58.Travelling by air wasn't much better. This was the scene at the
:20:58. > :21:03.old Birmingham airport, and Denmark were problems on the canals, not
:21:03. > :21:12.least for this reporter, at the first at the Birmingham boat show,
:21:12. > :21:17.held partly indoors but also on the water. That was the plan! What a
:21:17. > :21:23.place to be. I'm standing here this afternoon on what I hope his 11
:21:23. > :21:30.inches of solid ice, and I have come here this afternoon to talk
:21:30. > :21:37.about of all things, the Boat Show. This is where we would have had a
:21:37. > :21:43.fleeting display and demonstrations of the craft in the show. But for
:21:43. > :21:46.those of working on the waterways, it was no laughing matter. Every
:21:46. > :21:56.narrow canal froze solid, destroying what of the trade they
:21:56. > :21:57.
:21:57. > :22:02.still supported. But some vessels did manage to get through the ship
:22:02. > :22:07.canal where Chris Witts worked on the barge. The ropes was just solid.
:22:07. > :22:12.It was just horrible. I remember coming up the canal one morning, we
:22:12. > :22:16.were so fed up of this, myself and a mate went up onto the front of
:22:16. > :22:22.the vessel, he got over the side, and was walking on the ice in front
:22:22. > :22:26.of us. As we were trying to go through, he was walking in front!
:22:26. > :22:33.He was crazy, Mike, but there he was a walking on the ice in front
:22:33. > :22:36.of us. Frustratingly, the Big Freeze meant it was all work and no
:22:36. > :22:46.play, because the weather to to make to the Midlands's sporting
:22:46. > :22:47.
:22:47. > :22:51.calendar. -- decimated. In 1963, Birmingham City's No. 7 shirt was
:22:51. > :22:56.warned by Mike Hellawell. He was a fast winger but during the big
:22:56. > :23:01.freeze he didn't skip past anyone. It was so frustrating to not be
:23:01. > :23:07.able to play on it for so long. I remember playing my last game at
:23:07. > :23:13.Leyton Orient of the 22nd December, 1962 and then not playing again
:23:13. > :23:16.until March 11th. Three consecutive months of snow and frost. It was
:23:16. > :23:22.the third round of the FA Cup that bore the brunt of it, and
:23:22. > :23:26.Birmingham's tie against Bury was the worst affected. It was
:23:26. > :23:34.abandoned once and then postponed no less than 14 times! Even then,
:23:34. > :23:39.it went to a replay. It was very frustrating. We just didn't do
:23:39. > :23:42.anything apart from a train and hope that we played. But there was
:23:42. > :23:47.no thought, we kept listing to the forecast and the forecast was just
:23:47. > :23:52.the same for three months. That didn't stop the club being
:23:52. > :23:58.optimistic, though. This is a programme from a match that never
:23:58. > :24:03.was, January Thirties, 1963. They must have hoped to play that game.
:24:03. > :24:09.And obviously it was postponed at the last minute. Quite a
:24:09. > :24:15.collector's piece! Yes. So after all that, how did the blues get on?
:24:15. > :24:22.You guessed it, they lost! I didn't realise we had lost 2-0, it has
:24:22. > :24:27.gone from my memory, but we lost to a smaller club, no wonder it has. A
:24:27. > :24:31.bit of a disgrace, really. wasn't all bad, for children across
:24:31. > :24:40.the West Midlands, part became winter playgrounds and lakes became
:24:40. > :24:46.ice rinks. This home movie shows boys playing in Mary Stevens park
:24:46. > :24:51.in Stourbridge to stop some happy memories and some not so happy. In
:24:52. > :25:01.Birtley, there was a danger to be had on this brazen Baines Paul to
:25:01. > :25:05.stop -- in Dudley. The lake had been frozen for weeks. Zhalia
:25:06. > :25:10.Lister had been spending much of the Big Freeze skating with friends
:25:10. > :25:16.on the lake in Walsall. None of the 50 winters since have been cold
:25:16. > :25:21.enough for a reprisal. Adults were charged a shilling and children had
:25:21. > :25:24.to pay sixpence, but they had almost the whole lake to skate on.
:25:24. > :25:31.There was only one tiny area or at the far end where the water hadn't
:25:31. > :25:41.frozen. I know a lot of people were miserable about it but I just had a
:25:41. > :25:49.For one group of people, the Big Freeze was an almighty shock to the
:25:49. > :25:54.system. Many immigrants from the Caribbean white and the Midlands's
:25:54. > :26:00.railways. Most were relatively new to Britain that winter. Are you
:26:00. > :26:07.feeling the cold? It oh yes, it is very, very cold. I'm from Jamaica.
:26:07. > :26:16.How long have you been here? 2 1/2 years. Are you married? Yes, my
:26:16. > :26:21.wife is interested to go home! Bernard Westcarr now volunteers at
:26:21. > :26:26.this day centre, but 50 years ago he was a painter for the RAF, and
:26:26. > :26:30.remembers cycling to work through the blizzard. Never seen snow
:26:30. > :26:36.before, in Jamaica the only time I ever saw it was on a picture
:26:36. > :26:41.postcard. It not only fell heavily but it for us, like a block of ice.
:26:41. > :26:47.The whole road, everywhere, the pavement, but roads. I know of many
:26:47. > :26:56.people, many of my friends, who ended up having chilblains, swollen
:26:56. > :27:02.fingers and toes. And that is no joy at all. So what caused the Big
:27:02. > :27:07.Freeze? 50 years ago, weather forecasters had a theory. There is
:27:07. > :27:11.a patch of the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of thousands of square
:27:11. > :27:15.miles, that got unusually warm and has stayed like that. As a result
:27:15. > :27:20.so much moisture has been sent up into the atmosphere that it has
:27:21. > :27:27.switched all the upper air currents and exaggerated their North South
:27:27. > :27:35.swing. So we can blame it on the Hawaiians! So were the Hawaiians
:27:35. > :27:40.really to blame? We think the warm water around high wire was probably
:27:40. > :27:45.a red herring, not the cause of the Soviet weather, more that it was
:27:45. > :27:50.heating in the stratosphere, 23 kilometres up in the stratosphere,
:27:50. > :27:55.causing easterly winds which gradually broke down and pushing
:27:55. > :27:58.the jet stream towards the British Isles. That allowed cold air to
:27:58. > :28:02.flood in from the Arctic across Scandinavia, Europe and the British
:28:02. > :28:09.Isles, it was one of the biggest snowstorms of the Twenties had
:28:09. > :28:15.century. When you next think we are having a hard winter, spare a
:28:15. > :28:18.thought for the Midlanders to endured the Big Freeze! Well,
:28:18. > :28:21.that's it for tonight. Don't forget you can find more information about
:28:21. > :28:30.the films on tonight's programme on our Facebook page. From Gloucester
:28:30. > :28:33.Coming Up on next week's Inside Out: An unseen interview with