04/02/2013 Inside Out West Midlands

Hello and welcome to Gloucester docks, once the final port for sea-

faring ships carrying cargo destined for the West Midlands.

Tonight we'll be transporting you back to the big freeze of 1963,

when canals were frozen solid, and an FA Cup tie was postponed an

incredible 14 times. Reviving a 1930s social experiment

- can these long-term unemployed workers build a new life?

But first tonight, we're looking into a charity promising to save

lives. The Children's Air Ambulance was set up six years ago, but as

yet hasn't managed to fly a single child anywhere. And as Matthew Hill

discovered, the charity has sparked a row with existing air ambulance

They're called the angels of the sky. It's not hard to see why. Air

ambulances like this one are run by charities. And, as charities, they

depend entirely on donations to save lives.

Each area has its own service. They are distinct from each other. There

last 16 services covering each part But now there's an air ambulance

that's not playing by the same rules as everyone else. And there

are questions over its motives and how it's spending donations.

If funds are diminished, it could curtail their flight. People could

dive. This new service has cost nearly �2

million. But so far not a single Its backers believe in its future.

If the public get behind this, it is worth every penny. But how

realistic is their vision to create a national children's air ambulance

service? And what cost will it have on our regional services?

The Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire and blintzes Court

to three missions per day. It flies 1,000 of those per year. This would

not be possible without money collected at places like the shop

in Lincolnshire. There are all sorts of ways that we

raise the money. We have got charity shops. We collect clothes

and recycle them. We have donations from the general public. We don't

have fund raising outside of our own territory. That is not fair on

the other air ambulances. Peter is concern the principle is not being

reciprocated by another air ambulance service that is now

raising money in Nottinghamshire. These bags are a charity clothing

bags, and they have been flooded throughout Nottinghamshire and

Lincolnshire, and causing a lot of confusing a month the donors that

we have. You get a bag like that, it is yellow, like a helicopter,

implying it is a national service. But we are the local service

providing service to Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.

The charity that owns these bags is not yet saving lives nationwide. It

actually operates the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire and other

areas' said Mrs. But it was to start a new service to transport

children between hospitals. They plan to offer this service by using

one helicopter to cover the entire country. The current method of

transporting children is complex. There are different ways of doing

it. I am not sure that having a helicopter based in Coventry

providing a service for the whole of the UK is the best and the most

appropriate way of doing it. Peter is not the only person to

have concerns. We have spoken to several former volunteers and

employees of the charity. Barbara Parish is one of them. She

used to work as a fundraiser there. I was unhappy with the way it was

run. It became a hard-nosed business.

One of the senior personnel was the head of PR and was paid through a

public relations company. Did you know about this? Yes. The chief

executive of the air ambulance was married to the director. The

company, I know, organised events that benefited the air ambulance.

Barbara says celebrities were also paid to appear. What is wrong with

that? It depends on how it is promoted, whether it is perceived

that somebody is appearing free of charge, what profit is made from

the event. The charity but my spending on

celebrities was not only confined to fund raising events. -- the

charity's spending. Barbara also told me she remembers

a staff party that was organised by the chief executive, Andy

Williamson. It was in this village hall in Dunchurch, in Rugby. Anton

Du Beke and Erin Boag from BBC's Strictly Come Dancing were invited

to give dancing lessons to the staff.

It was organised by Andy Williamson. She claims it cost several thousand

pounds. Barbara also says some staff were paid performance related

bonuses. She, herself, received the �1,500, something she now regrets.

-- �3,500. And Andy Williamson is paid up to

�119,000. It is about time and we I have come to Coventry airport. It

is home of the air ambulance service, and where he is based.

Why did he choose the name, the air ambulance service? It is a good

reflection of what we are doing. The chief executive of

Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire says you have been dropping charity

bags in their area and confusing donors. In one week, 42 complaints.

The children's air and ruins is operating nationwide. The service

is appropriate for where we are. it appropriate for you have to have

paid another company for services? We are looking at what are the

services that we need to provide for our staff, because, in the end

we have to deliver substantial sums for patient care. Did you have a

hand in her appointment? No. did, then? We have a board of

trustees, who process all our appointments. So you think your

wife is the best person for the job? Well, obviously. But you paid

celebrities costing several thousand pounds, you had a day of

morale-boosting. Is it really appropriate for money given by

people to be spent in that way? is about what we do for our

patients. But that is for the staff. Everything is about the patients.

Whatever it is, however many staff we have, we need to keep them

motivated, we need to keep them focused on delivering their

particular role to insure that we deliver the patient care.

This helicopter will cost �2 million per year to operate. The

last month, it has transported four medical teams. So far, it has not

transferred a single child. But he believes it will by the spring. Mr

Williamson's charity is not the only one looking at providing a

national air transfer service but it children. The NHS has just

commissioned a report looking at how it can be achieved and who will

provide it. We have obtained a leaked copy.

This draft report recommends a network of different providers,

including regional air ambulances. But looking at the report, it is

apparent a single helicopter ambulance based in Coventry may not

be able to meet the emergency response times for all parts of the

country. And even if it could, less than a quarter of our hospitals

have a helipad for it to land on. In the meantime, the arguments

continue over the way the air ambulance service is using its

children's helicopter to raise money, and how that is impacting on

local services. We have been operating in his 1994.

-- since 1994. The number of supporters we have got has grown

steadily. This is really what keeps the service going. They don't

support us, we can't afford to pay for services. If the opportunity to

raise funds for the air ambulance is diminished, yeah, there's a

likelihood that you are Thanks for a big response from you

last week after our film focussing on Tourette's syndrome. We'd love

to hear from you tonight. On Twitter we are at BBCIOWM. You can

also talk to me direct. My email address is [email protected].

Still to come tonight: After the recent snow and freezing

temperatures, we remember when it really was cold the big freeze of

1963. What a place to be! I AM standing,

this afternoon, on what I hope his 11 inches of solid ice. I have come

here to talk about, of all things, the Boat Show.

The latest unemployment figures show 246,000 people out of work

here in the West Midlands. Of course, it's not a new problem.

Back in 1930, following the Great Depression, there was a vast army

of unemployed men. Barbara Jacobs has been finding out if a social

experiment from 80 years ago could West of the Derwent Valley stands a

medieval woodland that's inspired artists and writers for years. This

was 1930s Britain during the Great Depression - widescale unemployment

and soup kitchens. But a group of socialist academics had an idea.

They wanted to offer a fresh start to give jobless men confidence and

motivation. It was called Gryth Fryd, which means Peace Army.

These camps are small self-governed communities where young men of all

classes can develop themselves both physically and mentally. One of

their camps was in Shining Cliff Wood.

They still run courses here in self-sufficiency and bushcraft.

So I wondered, could a similar approach work 80 years later? After

all, we're in the perfect economic climate to test that out. We

haven't got months, but Inside Out went looking for some willing

volunteers to take up the challenge A few weeks later we have found our

recruits. Craig is 22 and desperate to get into the armed forces. Lee

is 18 and what a career in retail. Wisley is 22 and and aspiring

illustrator. An unemployed writer Alex is 39 and see to be the dad of

twins. They have all been unemployed and for more than a year,

they want to make changes. This is the man who is going to show them

the way. Camp leader Paul Barker. They have to then key survival

skills to get them through the next 24 hours, so first things first,

making a shelter. I will be more than happy. I am building walls

around my shoulder, I have been eating some squirrels! I wanted to

be one of them, I wanted to do something with my life, I wanted to

do my A-levels, take a course and get into the Marines. My exams

didn't go to plan, really. You can do all sorts of this. It is your

average British log! There we are like their grilles and Ray Mears! A

I applied for jobs and they wouldn't accept it, I didn't have a

driving licence. Back in the Thirties, the men had to construct

a huge campsite from scratch, including making pigsties, digging

allotment and building huts. Getting people outdoors and

developing those experiences are very important. Learning skills,

going to new jobs, hopefully. They will be mixing with new people,

they will be doing tasks that they had never done before. So it is

just a good learning point. That is wonderful! We have got these, they

can sit under fire. Just to motivate themselves to motivate

themselves, they are out here in the woods. If they don't do it

nobody else is going to do it for them. When we relate that to back

home, if you have nothing to get up for, why bother? So they were

needed motivation to keep going and to make those changes in their

lives. And if they went out of their comfort zone already, the

great British weather was there to finish the job! Well, that has

dampened the enthusiasm somewhat, but life in the camp it means that

you have to get on with it if you want to eat. It is a fantastic

colony of working insects. Anybody want to try one? Have you done it?

It tastes like something you would pick off a tree if you were in the

wood! Would you like one? I have rule, don't eat anything that moves.

I will leave them to it for the It is an early start but I am

anxious to see what effect the last 24 hours has had a now volunteers

and to find out whether the I think you come to appreciate the

similarities that all people hold. And there are just certain element

in which all people of one and the same. If you spent a long time here,

it would really change your life. We have only spent a day and we

have already interacted with people we wouldn't normally and asked for

help we wouldn't normally, so after a few months, it would be crazy.

This is great, I think living out in this environment for a couple of

months would probably change your whole perspective on time and

everything. Which you want to do it again? Not in a hurry, but I can

see the value of experience. Whether or not it would be for me,

So what have I found that in the last 24 hours? Maybe we all have

stereotypes about the unemployed. But these are four lads were all

hard-working, ambitious and just needed some help to get on the path

to their dreams. And maybe they're not going to find that in a

JobCentre. So what has happened since we filmed? Craig and Lee are

both working, Alex is a stay at home dad and Wesley is still

looking for work. Last week's programme came to you

from a winter wonderland at Hatton Locks. And it got us thinking as we

trudged through the snow. What must it have been like 50 years ago in

Last month we had the Big Chill. Across the West Midlands, freezing

temperatures for weeks. This know, coming down hard and fast to stop

flight are suspended. It is not looking good at the moment. But was

it really that bad? Well, people of a certain age think not. Exactly 50

years ago, Britain was caught in a stranglehold by one of the coldest

winters ever recorded. It was an invasion of snow and ice and they

called it the Big Freeze. With this blizzard, there were now drifts of

15 and 20 feet. The snow started on Boxing Day and the biting cold

didn't let up until March. Parts of Britain looked like a fairy-tale.

The sea froze, sometimes for 100 feet out from the shore. What was

it like here in the West Midlands? We have been looking back through

Getting around was a nightmare. In Shropshire, snowploughs cleared the

line between Shrewsbury and Welshpool, put in place is the only

option was to preach to the shovel to stop -- reached for the shovel.

Travelling by air wasn't much better. This was the scene at the

old Birmingham airport, and Denmark were problems on the canals, not

least for this reporter, at the first at the Birmingham boat show,

held partly indoors but also on the water. That was the plan! What a

place to be. I'm standing here this afternoon on what I hope his 11

inches of solid ice, and I have come here this afternoon to talk

about of all things, the Boat Show. This is where we would have had a

fleeting display and demonstrations of the craft in the show. But for

those of working on the waterways, it was no laughing matter. Every

narrow canal froze solid, destroying what of the trade they

still supported. But some vessels did manage to get through the ship

canal where Chris Witts worked on the barge. The ropes was just solid.

It was just horrible. I remember coming up the canal one morning, we

were so fed up of this, myself and a mate went up onto the front of

the vessel, he got over the side, and was walking on the ice in front

of us. As we were trying to go through, he was walking in front!

He was crazy, Mike, but there he was a walking on the ice in front

of us. Frustratingly, the Big Freeze meant it was all work and no

play, because the weather to to make to the Midlands's sporting

calendar. -- decimated. In 1963, Birmingham City's No. 7 shirt was

warned by Mike Hellawell. He was a fast winger but during the big

freeze he didn't skip past anyone. It was so frustrating to not be

able to play on it for so long. I remember playing my last game at

Leyton Orient of the 22nd December, 1962 and then not playing again

until March 11th. Three consecutive months of snow and frost. It was

the third round of the FA Cup that bore the brunt of it, and

Birmingham's tie against Bury was the worst affected. It was

abandoned once and then postponed no less than 14 times! Even then,

it went to a replay. It was very frustrating. We just didn't do

anything apart from a train and hope that we played. But there was

no thought, we kept listing to the forecast and the forecast was just

the same for three months. That didn't stop the club being

optimistic, though. This is a programme from a match that never

was, January Thirties, 1963. They must have hoped to play that game.

And obviously it was postponed at the last minute. Quite a

collector's piece! Yes. So after all that, how did the blues get on?

You guessed it, they lost! I didn't realise we had lost 2-0, it has

gone from my memory, but we lost to a smaller club, no wonder it has. A

bit of a disgrace, really. wasn't all bad, for children across

the West Midlands, part became winter playgrounds and lakes became

ice rinks. This home movie shows boys playing in Mary Stevens park

in Stourbridge to stop some happy memories and some not so happy. In

Birtley, there was a danger to be had on this brazen Baines Paul to

stop -- in Dudley. The lake had been frozen for weeks. Zhalia

Lister had been spending much of the Big Freeze skating with friends

on the lake in Walsall. None of the 50 winters since have been cold

enough for a reprisal. Adults were charged a shilling and children had

to pay sixpence, but they had almost the whole lake to skate on.

There was only one tiny area or at the far end where the water hadn't

frozen. I know a lot of people were miserable about it but I just had a

For one group of people, the Big Freeze was an almighty shock to the

system. Many immigrants from the Caribbean white and the Midlands's

railways. Most were relatively new to Britain that winter. Are you

feeling the cold? It oh yes, it is very, very cold. I'm from Jamaica.

How long have you been here? 2 1/2 years. Are you married? Yes, my

wife is interested to go home! Bernard Westcarr now volunteers at

this day centre, but 50 years ago he was a painter for the RAF, and

remembers cycling to work through the blizzard. Never seen snow

before, in Jamaica the only time I ever saw it was on a picture

postcard. It not only fell heavily but it for us, like a block of ice.

The whole road, everywhere, the pavement, but roads. I know of many

people, many of my friends, who ended up having chilblains, swollen

fingers and toes. And that is no joy at all. So what caused the Big

Freeze? 50 years ago, weather forecasters had a theory. There is

a patch of the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of thousands of square

miles, that got unusually warm and has stayed like that. As a result

so much moisture has been sent up into the atmosphere that it has

switched all the upper air currents and exaggerated their North South

swing. So we can blame it on the Hawaiians! So were the Hawaiians

really to blame? We think the warm water around high wire was probably

a red herring, not the cause of the Soviet weather, more that it was

heating in the stratosphere, 23 kilometres up in the stratosphere,

causing easterly winds which gradually broke down and pushing

the jet stream towards the British Isles. That allowed cold air to

flood in from the Arctic across Scandinavia, Europe and the British

Isles, it was one of the biggest snowstorms of the Twenties had

century. When you next think we are having a hard winter, spare a

thought for the Midlanders to endured the Big Freeze! Well,

that's it for tonight. Don't forget you can find more information about

the films on tonight's programme on our Facebook page. From Gloucester

Coming Up on next week's Inside Out: An unseen interview with