:00:03. > :00:10.Hello from Frogmore Street in the centre of Bristol. Tonight we're
:00:10. > :00:15.reporting on the campaign to save the city's ice rink from closure.
:00:15. > :00:19.As the protests continued, we will hear from three Olympic champions
:00:19. > :00:27.who say Bristol should not be left without an ice rink. If there was
:00:27. > :00:32.not a local ice rink where we love, we would not be sedating today. --
:00:32. > :00:39.skating. Bristol is a move that and a shake-up city and it needs an ice
:00:39. > :00:44.rink. Also, how can sort spending cuts are threatening support for
:00:44. > :00:48.Young Carers in Somerset. If we take the service away, whereas
:00:48. > :00:56.their voice to speak? We need to stick up for the services and we
:00:56. > :01:03.need to stop making cuts. Stranger on the shore, 50 years on
:01:03. > :01:12.from Acker Bilk's hit, he admits he is tired of hearing it. It is OK.
:01:12. > :01:22.You do get fed up with it. With surprising stories from close
:01:22. > :01:29.
:01:29. > :01:32.Let's be honest, it is not the most attractive -- building in Bristol,
:01:32. > :01:38.before many people this is the centre of their world. There are
:01:39. > :01:46.plans to turn it into student flats, closing an ice rink where an
:01:46. > :01:51.Olympic champion learned to skate. It is just before 6:00am and while
:01:51. > :01:59.many of us are still asleep, a dedicated band of figure skaters
:01:59. > :02:05.are getting ready to head on to the ice. I'm hazel and I live in Bath.
:02:05. > :02:10.I r I skate in Bristol. When I first started skating I was a five.
:02:10. > :02:15.Since then, I come on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays before
:02:15. > :02:25.school at 6:00am. I get up at 4:45am. My dream was to go to the
:02:25. > :02:26.
:02:26. > :02:30.Winter Olympics. I might get there in 2018. That would be my dream.
:02:30. > :02:34.Dreams like hers have flourished here for almost 50 years, but not
:02:34. > :02:44.much longer. With the closure of the rink, she will have no word to
:02:44. > :02:44.
:02:44. > :02:47.realise them. The new Silver Blades brink, the pride of Bristol was
:02:47. > :02:54.opened in April 1966. It was proclaimed the largest
:02:54. > :02:59.entertainment centre in Europe. It has been provided, said Bristol's
:02:59. > :03:03.lord mayor, now it is up to the citizens to use it, and use it they
:03:03. > :03:09.did, buying their ticket to glide in their hundreds and thousands.
:03:09. > :03:16.One regular skater was a nine-year- old Bristol boy called Robin
:03:16. > :03:20.Cousins. Jennifer, you are glamourous and elegant. You always
:03:20. > :03:27.hit the perfect position in the hips. He is now head judge on
:03:27. > :03:32.Dancing On Ice. I put my first pair her skates on at a rink in
:03:32. > :03:36.Bournemouth only to find out that there was one being built in
:03:36. > :03:41.Bristol. The room and my father told me was that the only way I
:03:41. > :03:46.would go to cut my hair on Saturday mornings was if we went by the ice
:03:46. > :03:51.rink on the way home. On the ice by it 6:00am before school, go to
:03:51. > :03:56.school, back in the evening occasionally, or if I was lucky, I
:03:56. > :04:01.would come back in on a sports afternoon and do more. Legwork that
:04:01. > :04:10.propelled Robin Cousins from his local rink to Olympic gold. As was
:04:10. > :04:14.the case with his Dancing On Ice co-stars. To have a facility where
:04:14. > :04:19.you can begin to skate at a grassroots level is really
:04:19. > :04:22.important. If there wasn't a local ice rink where we live, we would
:04:22. > :04:30.not be skating. We would have been doing something else. Jayne would
:04:30. > :04:37.have been an insurance clerk and I would have been that -- a retired!
:04:37. > :04:42.We were lucky that we had a local rink. As these girls have for now.
:04:42. > :04:47.You need to be very dedicated, make sure you were up early, get lots of
:04:48. > :04:52.practice in, make sure that when you fall you get back up. When I
:04:52. > :04:59.was young, I did rollerblading and got into this by watching it on TV.
:04:59. > :05:06.I tried it when I was 10 and I really enjoyed it. I took it up
:05:06. > :05:12.professionally after that. I do lots of different jumps and
:05:12. > :05:16.spins because I need to practise them and then I practise tonight
:05:16. > :05:23.programme. All of the jumps and spins get put into that with the
:05:23. > :05:30.steps. It is not just those with Olympic dreams who use the brink.
:05:30. > :05:35.The range of people of massive -- is massive. There are people from
:05:35. > :05:44.the age of two right the way through to people in their early
:05:44. > :05:51.90s and darts Phil skating now. We have a success for ice hockey group
:05:51. > :05:55.here. They are doing well in the British championships. There are
:05:55. > :06:01.about 200,000 people who use it every year. It is well used and a
:06:01. > :06:07.feasible business. So why is it closing's released the building, we
:06:07. > :06:12.do not own it. We have attempted to get a five-year lease when the last
:06:12. > :06:17.lease expired. Unfortunately the landlords would not agree. The
:06:17. > :06:26.business will have to close on 31st October and there is no discussion
:06:26. > :06:29.about that. We have tried and it has not happened. Unite, a company
:06:29. > :06:35.that made its name a turning empty office blocks into student flats,
:06:35. > :06:39.bought the ice rink 10 years ago. We bought it as an investment,
:06:39. > :06:43.subject to a couple of leases. It would always have been our
:06:43. > :06:47.aspiration to develop it at some point in the future. Like they have
:06:47. > :06:51.with the building next door. plans are for the existing building
:06:51. > :06:58.to be demolished and then the new billing -- building to be developed
:06:58. > :07:02.including leisure and then that the student flats above. It would house
:07:02. > :07:12.between 405 hundred students. We will spend in excess of �20 billion
:07:12. > :07:16.here. We have to hunt -- to successful universities here. We
:07:16. > :07:19.are accommodating people that need housing. Needing one need creates
:07:19. > :07:24.another. Come the end of October, the nearest rink for Bristol
:07:24. > :07:29.skaters will be Swindon or Cardiff. Campaigners say that a round trip
:07:29. > :07:34.of 50 miles is impractical on a regular basis and for a city the
:07:34. > :07:40.size of Bristol, it needs its own rink.
:07:40. > :07:48.At the forefront of the campaign to keep the rink opened are the
:07:49. > :07:57.Bristol pair balls ice hockey team. -- pit-bulls. It is an all drink
:07:57. > :08:02.and it is like a second home to us. They want to build flats, that is
:08:02. > :08:08.what they specialise in it. This is what we do. One of us is going to
:08:08. > :08:12.lose out. One glimmer of hope is that each Unite are considering the
:08:12. > :08:15.possibility of including a smaller ice rink in their new development.
:08:15. > :08:25.But the campaigners say it would be a poor substitute for the current
:08:25. > :08:30.
:08:30. > :08:34.facilities. An ice rink for training would need to be of a
:08:34. > :08:40.regulation that size. A4 sized rink is important because when you get
:08:40. > :08:46.to a certain level, you need that. Having said that, it means more
:08:46. > :08:52.public skaters can get on it. space provided will not be of any
:08:52. > :08:56.interest to us. You can see how many players are on the ice at the
:08:56. > :09:00.moment. We will not be able to agree accommodate them. Time to
:09:00. > :09:06.talk to the council. Is there anything they can do to ensure
:09:06. > :09:10.Bristol is not left without an ice rink? In terms of a new ice rink
:09:10. > :09:17.being belt, it we want to help as much as possible, but we cannot
:09:17. > :09:22.provide land, capital or running costs. But we will do, and are
:09:22. > :09:26.doing, everything we can to try and get a private operator to come in
:09:26. > :09:32.and build a new Ice Rink somewhere else. That is a very difficult
:09:32. > :09:37.thing to do within the time space that Unite have left us. Would
:09:37. > :09:42.Unite delay closer to give time for an alternative rink to be built?
:09:43. > :09:52.have not had any discussions around other of the and -- alternatives.
:09:52. > :09:57.The dialogue is one that we would be happy to have. It would need to
:09:57. > :10:02.include an operator within that. We do not operate ice rinks. It would
:10:02. > :10:09.need a commercial operator in order to be part of that, but I would not
:10:09. > :10:14.dismiss it. Perhaps all is not lost for the skaters of Bristol. They
:10:14. > :10:18.certainly have some high-profile supporters. Any time an ice rink is
:10:18. > :10:23.closing, it is a sad thing for the people who have established
:10:23. > :10:30.themselves and that rink. The community is losing something.
:10:30. > :10:35.Every time we hear of one, we do our best to lend our names do it to
:10:35. > :10:39.try and keep it open. This is a great opportunity for the City to
:10:40. > :10:44.say, we need to let that rink go, keep hold of his legacy and let's
:10:44. > :10:49.find the right place in Bristol where we continue to have this be a
:10:49. > :10:57.centre of excellence for the south- west. But the final word goes to
:10:57. > :11:04.the current generation of Bristol skaters. The impact it will have on
:11:04. > :11:14.me is that I will not be able to skate and I will be really upset
:11:14. > :11:16.
:11:16. > :11:24.because it is a blessing in my life If you have got a view on the close
:11:24. > :11:30.of the ice rink, why not let us know by a Facebook or Twitter?
:11:30. > :11:40.Later, 83 and still performing. I am meeting Acker Bilk at his home
:11:40. > :11:47.
:11:47. > :11:51.From libraries to policing, housing benefit to road repairs, it seems
:11:51. > :11:55.spending cuts are being felt everywhere in society. The battle-
:11:55. > :12:01.lines are being drawn in Somerset to protect support services for a
:12:01. > :12:09.group of youngsters with more responsibilities than most.
:12:09. > :12:16.6:30am in Bridgwater. Kelson Searle is up, dressed for school and ready
:12:16. > :12:22.to help his dad get downstairs. Not every nine year-old would be this
:12:22. > :12:27.organised, especially this morning. But Kelson knows his dad can't
:12:27. > :12:33.manage without him. 12-year-old Jasmin is sorting out the family's
:12:33. > :12:38.breakfast. Mark Searle is disabled with arthritis. It affects his
:12:38. > :12:44.bones and skin. Many normal household activities are painful or
:12:44. > :12:47.impossible for him to manage. Mark gets help from an adult carer but
:12:47. > :12:54.he would not be able to manage at home without his children helping
:12:54. > :13:01.to. They are responsible on days when I cannot do anything. Even
:13:01. > :13:05.personal things, helping me with personal hygiene, bathing and
:13:05. > :13:10.washing and applying cream. They have to be responsible for food,
:13:10. > :13:16.feeding themselves sometimes. Anything we would normally be
:13:16. > :13:20.responsible for as a parent, the in person takes that on. It must be a
:13:20. > :13:29.nightmare for them. To think about doing these extra things every
:13:29. > :13:33.single day and not being a normal child. Sometimes it gets annoying
:13:33. > :13:42.when I have just sat down but I don't mind because I know it helps
:13:42. > :13:52.my dad and that's all that matters. Sometimes I am cleaning up and it
:13:52. > :13:53.
:13:53. > :13:58.is fun. But when dad like gets her that it is not so nice. Kelson and
:13:58. > :14:02.Jasmin are among 350 children in Somerset registered as young carers.
:14:02. > :14:07.All provide support for someone in their family with physical or
:14:07. > :14:11.mental disabilities. A young carers service is provided by Somerset
:14:11. > :14:15.County Council. Specialist workers assess the needs at home and
:14:15. > :14:19.continue to offer one-to-one counselling to them organising
:14:19. > :14:23.group meetings and activities to give the children a break. It is
:14:23. > :14:26.really good because everyone knows what you're going through and it
:14:26. > :14:35.might not be about the dad, it might be the mother or sister or
:14:35. > :14:41.brother. It is good to know it is not just me who looks after someone.
:14:41. > :14:46.It made her more confident telling people her worries. And she was
:14:46. > :14:53.much more confident. Somerset County Council has faced cuts of
:14:53. > :14:58.more than �30 million across a range services. Now even the tiny
:14:58. > :15:02.budget of �140,000 the young carers is in the firing line. There are
:15:02. > :15:06.proposals to cut spending by half. They would lose some of the full-
:15:06. > :15:09.time trained specialists, assessing children's needs would be split
:15:09. > :15:14.between different council departments and volunteers would be
:15:14. > :15:19.expected to take on the role of councillors. What we want is to
:15:19. > :15:24.free up the resources from the assessment sites which we believe
:15:24. > :15:28.can be done from other areas within the county council. We have a
:15:28. > :15:34.successful children's social care and we want to use lies that
:15:34. > :15:38.resource. They forget the social work teams are already under
:15:38. > :15:42.pressure but they have to look at the children on the register in
:15:42. > :15:47.care and they will not have time to look at other children on top of
:15:47. > :15:51.what they do. The young carers and parents were given 11 days to argue
:15:52. > :15:59.a case against the cuts. Abigail Carpenter and her mum are preparing
:15:59. > :16:05.to speak to the cancer. How will you speak to them? I should tell
:16:05. > :16:12.them that I am 16 and I have an autistic sister. I have been a
:16:12. > :16:18.young carer for long time. I am upset about the cuts because I know
:16:18. > :16:27.the budget helps so many young children and it helps them get away
:16:27. > :16:31.from it, the one-on-one care when they get helps him. The council
:16:31. > :16:34.says it wants to extricate young carers from their duties by getting
:16:34. > :16:39.the at all social care department to take on some of the work that
:16:39. > :16:44.children do now. That's left some children concerned about their
:16:44. > :16:49.future within their families. would not like to leave my parents
:16:49. > :16:54.with my sister because we are a team to help her be happy and build
:16:54. > :16:59.her up to be as normal as she could be. These children live in these
:16:59. > :17:06.families, it is their world. You cannot lift them out of it. You
:17:07. > :17:11.need to enable them to manage, give them support, give them a break.
:17:11. > :17:15.Some of the kids are proud of what they do. I want to relieve the
:17:15. > :17:20.burden from them, if I can do that by working with adults social
:17:20. > :17:25.services, we have a duty to assess the family and have conversations
:17:25. > :17:30.with adult social services, we want them to cunning, help the young
:17:30. > :17:35.people, help the adults provide proper care for the adult is so
:17:35. > :17:38.young people have more free time to excel in other parts of their lives.
:17:38. > :17:42.Abigail and her mum have been allowed to make two minutes
:17:42. > :17:47.admissions to persuade the cancer to change the proposals. The man
:17:47. > :17:55.who will make the decision is Councillor John Osman, the Member
:17:55. > :17:59.for children and young people. Abigail Carpenter, welcome.
:17:59. > :18:04.council wants to replace our work, it is not appropriate. One big
:18:04. > :18:07.issue concerning Abigail and other carers is the suggestion the
:18:07. > :18:14.volunteer workers who can only help out at the group meetings and
:18:14. > :18:18.activities, take on a bigger role. If the council got rid of the one
:18:18. > :18:23.to work support there would be no one for us to confide in. We have
:18:23. > :18:29.grown up speaking to the supporters. The staff are were experienced with
:18:29. > :18:33.working with young people. -- well experienced. If the children did
:18:33. > :18:40.not get the continuity they would not have the confidence to confide,
:18:40. > :18:47.the trust issues would be there. Abigail's speech and those made by
:18:47. > :18:51.the other campaigners has won a reprieve. The good news today is I
:18:51. > :18:58.have taken on board what I have heard in relation to the
:18:58. > :19:01.consultation period and I will extend it until 6th March. It is
:19:01. > :19:06.fantastic Abigail is here today but there are many other young people,
:19:06. > :19:11.I have not spoken to all of them, I am grateful for your help to speak
:19:11. > :19:15.to more. So, the council is line more time for consultation and its
:19:15. > :19:23.prepared to consider other proposals.
:19:23. > :19:28.I think the meeting went pretty well. I hope what we said went in
:19:28. > :19:32.and they will promise to do something. Tonight, good news. The
:19:32. > :19:42.council has announced it will defer any decision on cuts to the young
:19:42. > :19:49.
:19:49. > :19:52.Fifty years ago an unassuming clarinet player from Somerset
:19:52. > :20:02.became the first British artist to top the Billboard Charts in America.
:20:02. > :20:04.
:20:04. > :20:09.His song went on to become the You may not know the name of this
:20:09. > :20:12.song, but you'll almost certainly recognise the melody. Written by a
:20:12. > :20:22.man from Pensford near Bristol, this is of course Acker Bilk's
:20:22. > :20:26.
:20:26. > :20:29.Whilst I might not have done it absolute justice there, the record
:20:29. > :20:33.sold over a million copies, and has featured in films, on television
:20:33. > :20:36.programmes and radio shows around the world. A song that was written
:20:36. > :20:44.for his daughter and originally named "Jenny", it was even taken
:20:44. > :20:47.into space on NASA's Apollo 10 The early 1960s, a period of great
:20:47. > :20:49.social change, a time when John F Kennedy was plotting to overthrow
:20:49. > :20:56.Fidel Castro, and the first Transatlantic television feed was
:20:56. > :20:59.launched via the Telstar satellite. Elvis Presley had already had 13
:20:59. > :21:02.number 1 singles in America, and rock'n'roll was firmly entrenched
:21:02. > :21:12.in youth culture, so what was it about this simple jazz song that so
:21:12. > :21:17.
:21:17. > :21:23.captured the hearts of the American We will pay tribute to a local hero.
:21:23. > :21:33.Acker Bilk on the occasion of his 50th anniversary of strange on the
:21:33. > :21:36.shore becoming number one in this You have to tie it to the TV
:21:36. > :21:39.programme that it was used for, about this young French girl who
:21:39. > :21:42.was over here on an exchange visit, she was lonely, and the opening
:21:42. > :21:45.titles were her walking along a shoreline, with the sea lapping at
:21:45. > :21:50.her feet, and this beautiful, sort of poignant tune "Stranger On The
:21:50. > :21:52.Shore" playing over the !top of the pictures. And I think a lot of
:21:53. > :21:58.people just bought it because it invoked that feeling of nostalgia
:21:58. > :22:01.and melancholy that we all like a little bit of from time to time.
:22:01. > :22:05.Most musicians say they know the exact moment when they've written
:22:05. > :22:08.something special. But I wonder if Acker Bilk knew when he wrote
:22:08. > :22:15."Stranger On The Shore" that he'd written such a big hit, and one
:22:15. > :22:25.that he'd still be playing 50 years later. I've come to visit him at
:22:25. > :22:25.
:22:25. > :22:29.his home near Bristol to find out. Hello. Lovely to meet you. Can I
:22:29. > :22:32.come in? Yes, come in. You're sitting there at the piano, you're
:22:32. > :22:35.playing around, you're coming up with lots of ideas, then "Stranger
:22:35. > :22:40.On The Shore" comes out. Did you immediately think: "that's
:22:40. > :22:46.special"? No, not really. I didn't think it was much different from
:22:46. > :22:53.any of the rest of it. It was just a thing that come out of my head. I
:22:53. > :22:56.didn't sort of work on it or do much at all with it. There was
:22:56. > :23:00.about half a dozen things I sort of whipped down but this was the lucky
:23:00. > :23:02.one I suppose. Is it your favourite song of all the songs that you've
:23:02. > :23:05.written? No, I'm fed up with playing it.
:23:05. > :23:10.That's why you call it "Strangler On The Floor"? Yeah, that's right.
:23:10. > :23:15.Nah, it's alright, but you do get fed up with it after a bit. After
:23:15. > :23:18.about thirty, forty, fifty years is it? At the time of writing the song,
:23:18. > :23:21.Acker can hardly have imagined the huge global success it would
:23:21. > :23:28.achieve. Tell me about how you felt when it started to really hit the
:23:28. > :23:33.heights in the States. Well, it didn't bother me that much cos we
:23:33. > :23:38.were working a lot in them days, playing every night. I didn't have
:23:38. > :23:42.much time to think about much. And they said it's gone, I don't know
:23:42. > :23:47.what number it was, quite high up in America, and I said well that's
:23:47. > :23:51.good, good. Keep 'em going. then you got the news that it had
:23:51. > :23:57.got to number one in America. I think it did yeah, get to number
:23:57. > :24:01.one. That must have been a pretty big deal. Yeah, that... I didn't...
:24:01. > :24:05.I wouldn't go over the moon about it but that was alright you know.
:24:05. > :24:08.And then I had to...on the strength of that I went and done a Ed
:24:08. > :24:11.Sullivan Show. Had to fly over there. There was a dance troupe
:24:11. > :24:13.there and I had to learn some dance steps, and they didn't record
:24:13. > :24:17."Stranger", it was another tune from the album, it wasn't
:24:17. > :24:25."Stranger". It didn't seem to go with their dancing. I never
:24:25. > :24:33.understood that to this day. Tens of millions of people watching you
:24:33. > :24:38.on television. I had never heard of him before I went out there.
:24:38. > :24:47.were not that taken with the fame. Not really. We were playing every
:24:47. > :24:57.night. I went on playing. I was a clarinet player. I wasn't too
:24:57. > :24:59.
:24:59. > :25:02.worried about the rest of it. modestly downplays what was in fact
:25:02. > :25:05.a landmark moment in his career, a period in which he met pop royalty,
:25:05. > :25:07.and also some real royalty, and surely selling millions of records
:25:07. > :25:11.across the world must have impressed his bank manager too?
:25:11. > :25:14."Stranger On The Shore" sold more than a million over here, it sold
:25:14. > :25:19.more than a million in America. It should have made you a very wealthy
:25:19. > :25:25.man. Well, I'm not too bad. I'm not wealthy but it's good enough. There
:25:25. > :25:28.was a lot of people dipping their fingers in the purse in them days.
:25:28. > :25:33.I had people supposed to be looking after me, but I don't think they
:25:33. > :25:37.did much. That's the way it goes. If I'd have been a businessman I
:25:37. > :25:43.probably wouldn't have played like I do. But I've got no regrets,
:25:43. > :25:46.that's alright. I've enjoyed myself. Still do. At 83 years old and
:25:46. > :25:49.having survived throat cancer, Acker still plays two or three gigs
:25:49. > :25:55.a week, testament to his continued love of performance, but for how
:25:55. > :25:59.long does he think he can carry on playing? I don't want to be rude,
:26:00. > :26:03.you're not a young man. No. Quite a lot of people would have their feet
:26:03. > :26:07.up. You just seem to keep going. Is it because you're just doing a job
:26:07. > :26:12.you love so much? I'm not as good as I was, obviously I can't...I
:26:12. > :26:17.haven't got the same power. Breath. But I can get away with it, and I
:26:17. > :26:20.enjoy listening to the band as well, playing with the band. Are you
:26:20. > :26:26.surprised that so many people still come out to listen to you play?
:26:26. > :26:31.am surprised yeah. But they've got good taste I suppose. And while
:26:31. > :26:34.they keep turning up, you'll keep turning up. Yeah, sure. I'm not
:26:34. > :26:38.surprised that Acker is still out on the road, because I think he's a
:26:38. > :26:41.jazz musician, and jazz players and blues players, they tend to go on
:26:41. > :26:49.until they drop, and until he can no longer physically get onto the
:26:49. > :26:53.stage I imagine he'll go on performing.
:26:53. > :26:56.Well, that's been an enormous pleasure, meeting Acker Bilk. I
:26:56. > :26:59.must say I'm slightly taken aback at how humble he is, he's obviously
:26:59. > :27:04.had this massive career, and then there's "Stranger On The Shore"
:27:04. > :27:07.which seems to be sort of a double edged sword for him. Obviously it's
:27:07. > :27:17.brought him the most fantastic success, but maybe he gets a little
:27:17. > :27:22.
:27:22. > :27:32.We have enjoyed ourselves and hope you have to. Once again, there was
:27:32. > :28:12.
:28:12. > :28:15.one thing left, cheerio, my dear Thank you very much, thank you!
:28:15. > :28:18.And if that's wetted your appetite to go and see Acker in concert,
:28:18. > :28:23.he's performing in Frome on the 25th of February and in Taunton on
:28:23. > :28:26.the 3rd of March. Well that's it for this week but in
:28:26. > :28:36.next week's programme a last ditch attempt to stop the demolition of
:28:36. > :28:39.
:28:39. > :28:42.the Tropicana swimming pool in Weston Super Mare. And we'll be
:28:42. > :28:43.reporting on the row over a new housing development in the Somerset