29/01/2018 Inside Out West

He was a whisker away from death

but who shot George?

None of us could believe it.

We still now are very

angry and very upset.

We didn't know if he was

going to make it and it

was totally heartbreaking

for all of us.

Emma Britton lifts the lid

on our public toilets.

Oh, it stinks around here!

I wonder why?

And we spend a year

on a 100-year-old cider farm.

We are just having a good old drink

tonight to celebrate the beginning

of the wassail.

So, cheers, everybody!

Evening all.

Welcome to Inside Out West.

Now, this might seem

like a strange question.

but who would shoot a cat?

Hopefully none of us

but there are people out

there who would, and have.

We are a nation of cat lovers.

But, our feline friends face

a surprising menace, air-guns.

They can leave cats

maimed or even dead.

What pleasure can

anyone get from going out

and shooting an animal?

I can't believe that someone

would actually physically do

it, attack someone else's pet.

I want to find out what compels

anyone to shoot a cat,

and what can be done to stop it.

Georgie.

They say you're just

a cat but you're

mummy's special little boy.

Mummy's baby?

This is George the cat,

at home in Matson,

near Gloucester, after spending

the last week in intensive care.

George went out on Boxing Day

morning for his usual run

around for 15 minutes.

He was crying quite a lot.

When he didn't improve

his owner Helen

took him to the vet.

They gave him a shave and could see

he had been injured.

They said it was a pellet.

The vet tells you your

cat has been shot.

We were just gobsmacked, sorry?

It was such a shock.

We just can believe it.

George had a perforated

gall bladder, a hole in

his diaphragm and

a tear in his liver.

He was rushed in for

emergency surgery.

It was a very long night

waiting up for that call.

It seemed like a lifetime,

waiting for the phone to ring.

We felt sick.

We've never got through so many

tea-bags in one evening!

Now back home, George

is still very poorly - his belly

held together with metal staples

and the pellet still

lodged in his side.

So does Helen have any

idea who shot her cat?

Maybe someone got

a new toy for Christmas.

Saw him and shot him.

Vet's say it was close range.

To hear that, makes

me physically sick.

It's been the worst

two weeks of my life.

It's been absolutely

horrendous just not knowing

if he would make it or not.

In the Forest of Dean, I've come

to meet a cat coming to terms

with life-changing injuries.

Come on then.

Lily was shot

last September just

a few streets from home.

The pellet missed her heart

by millimetres but she lost her leg.

Who did this to you?

How did you feel?

Very angry.

I didn't know whether to be

angry or to cry, that

someone could be so crue.

The angle of the pellet as it

entered her body suggested

the shooter was in

an upstairs window.

Kim's convinced

it was someone in the neighbourhood.

These are the pellets

where they shattered.

There's quite a few of them.

They're quite a big chuck.

That was in my cat.

I can't believe someone would do

that, locally as well,

attack someone else's pet.

Like Lilly and George,

cats that are shot often end up

needing major surgery.

Look away now if you're

a bit squeamish.

It can be traumatic

when the cats don't make it.

We've had two cats

into our practice here.

One died.

I was very sad.

It wasn't nice because I was hoping

we could save hom but the deision

was made to put him to sleep.

It did make me weep.

Across England and Wales almost

2,000 cats have been shot

in the last five years.

But that's just what gets reported.

Here in the West, the figure is

around two cat shootings per month.

The problem is big - we only

see the tip of iceberg.

Prosecuting them is hard - you need

to catch them in the act.

With forensics, we can match

pellets to rifles but no

certification, you don't know

who owns those rifles.

What the RSPCA wants

is air-rifle licencing

like they have in Scotland.

But maybe the answer isn't

legislation, but education.

Always treat the gun as loaded.

I've come to a pub in Nailsea

in Somerset to see a gun club

entirely for children,

some as young as eight.

Always keep the gun pointing

in a safe direction,

down range.

Which way is down range?

That way.

Are you sure?

This way.

Never point a gun at anything

you don't wish to destroy.

If I say to you, you were

in a garden shooting

and your neighbour's cat walked out,

would you shoot the cat?

No.

That's animal cruelty.

There is no reason to should

an animal, is there?

Every life is sacred.

Safety briefing over,

it's time to shoot.

These kids are good.

You're teaching

kids to shoot guns.

Is that a good idea?

Something I was always brought up

with, education is key.

Kids are like sponges so if you

educate them correctly,

the process is

very simple because they learn right

from wrong right from a very early

start.

A lot of people might

say

these are dangerous,

should they not

be licensed like in Scotland?

Our firearms departments are already

overwhelmed with work

and they are undermanned.

Adding this to licensing,

it would inhibit the

training and teaching

and the

education of the children coming in.

Do you think teaching

the kids stops them doing

things like shooting cats?

If they are properly trained, they

won't want to take

the life

unnecessarily but after

they've been

trained and if they shot

someone's cat, they

darn well meant to

so they've got no leg to stand on.

So, who's going to

win the competition?

Would you ever shoot a cat?

No.

Why?

Because it's animal cruelty.

What do you think you get

from shooting as well as Rob does?

You can have good skills.

We can teach our

children not to kill

things, explain not

to shoot them otherwise

they will face a lot

of

not so nice consequences.

They will have to suffer them.

A couple of weeks on from his

shooting, George is back at the vet.

Lift up his front legs so I can look

at the wound first of all.

Has he made the recovery Helen

so desperately wants?

That looks perfect.

No reason why we cannot take

the stables out today.

Great boy!

The wound runs almost the full

length of his stomach - with no less

than 14 staples holding it together.

There's multiple ways he could have

been killed by this, but

he didn't, so he is pretty

lucky to be alive.

It is such a relief and he was

so good in there, I just can't

believe how well he sat.

It was amazing, quite

tearful because he has

been through so much and to see him

well again and you know he is going

to go back to himself,

it is just amazing.

I just don't know what to say,

I feel quite emotional.

Glad to see he's on the mend.

Tell us what you think.

E-mail me or get in touch

via Facebook or Twitter.

Coming up, cider making

the old fashioned way.

Good stuff!

When you've got to go,

you've got to go but where?

This one is safe but public toilets

are disappearing fast.

BBC Radio Bristol's Emma

Britton is on the case.

Wee wee?

My Billy can have a wee anywhere

on here but for us humans

we need to find a loo.

Ah phew, this looks promising.

Oh, it stinks around here.

I wonder why?

All of Bristol's 18 roadside

public toilets are due

to close permanently,

all at once, and in two days' time.

The city council does have a plan B

though - a community toilet scheme.

Local businesses are

being asked to volunteer

to open up their toilets to everyone

and anyone, well here's a cafe.

Let's see how I get on.

Sorry, Billy.

We've found very little

evidence that the new scheme

is ready to take over.

You have just come out of the cafe.

What were you doing in there?

Well, I hadn't planned

on going in to the cafe, I only

wanted to go to the ladies

but unfortunately the good

old toilets which we have relied

on for years are locked so I had

to end up buying coffee and a cake

in order to be able to go

to the loo.

Unless you use the cafe,

where are you going to go?

Way over on the other side

by the gorge, the thousands

of people who enjoy the downs can

still visit the toilets

near the viewing point.

But they too are on the council's

list of closures!

The toilets by the Clifton

Suspension bridge are also

earmarked to shut even though

they are

used by streams of tourists

and local people every year.

We've visited every one

of the toilets due for closure

and have so far found none

of the promised signs directing

people to the nearest

community toilet.

Over at St George's Park,

these toilets have already shut.

We discover there's some foul play

going on and the public

are facing a health hazard.

What's been causing you problems?

Lots of poo.

Dog poo?

Well there is dog poo but that's

not the main problem.

It's human poo.

We have a big human poo problem.

So what kind of areas have

you found the human poo in?

Bottom of trees, on the side

of the paths, in the play area.

It's too far for the kids to walk

so they tend to go wherever they go.

People having barbecues and parties

have to go wherever they can go.

This is a destination park.

We have people coming

from miles and they don't know

where the nearest toilets

are and giving us a map saying

go to the nearest pub

isn't going to help.

So can these community schemes work?

My next loo-cation is a converted

toilet block in Sea Mills which has

operated successfully for six years

as a community cafe and toilet.

I'm here to meet Professor Clara

Greed who is a world renowned expert

on public toilets.

She's not impressed

by the council's plans.

I think it's putting a lot

of responsibility on owners

particularly in pubs

and cafes and other places.

And as far as I can understand,

there is no actual

financial return on this.

There is no contribution

from the council which has occurred

in some other local authorities.

So I have got to say,

why would they want to do this?

And you have got to think about

the cleaning and the vandalism.

There's a lot of people

who would say the toilets in a shop

or a cafe are not necessarily open

when they need them,

the facilities are very limited

and also they are not

in the location that they want them.

So who would this

impact the most?

Well, it would impact

everyone but it affects some

groups more than others.

It affects tourists coming

to the city, it affects commuters

who have been stuck in traffic

for ages, people with incontinence

problems, it particularly affects

women more than men.

Because women have more reasons

to use the toilet than men.

Women for example who are

menstruating need the toilet more,

women who are pregnant.

Look at small children

and babies, they need

the toilet they have

to have it pretty quick.

So lots and lots of people

who for years have depended

on these toilets and now

they are going to find they don't

exist so I think this is a very real

issue and the council has not

thought this through.

Here in Shirehampton I'm meeting two

of the local residents personally

affected by the toilet closures.

I have inflammatory

bowel diseases and what

I tend to do, I have this with me,

which I'm lucky to have.

All I need to do is show

this card and say,

sadly I've got Crohn's disease,

can I use your loo please?

The only time I've

used it is because

there hasn't been a public toilet

or a cafe around so I've been lucky

so far but who knows in the future?

Ruth, tell me about

your walking group.

We just basically walk and set

the world to rights as we talk

and go along.

We walk a lot of times

in the harbour-side, the docks and

the historic parts of Bristol.

The walk leaders have to recce walks

and they always know where

the toilets are because we're all 55

plus.

Fresh air makes you want

to go, doesn't it?

Yeah.

You cannot expect

a small cafe to expect a

dozen or so people pile in and say,

can we use your toilet?

They're going to say no.

Do you think local businesses

will sign up to the

scheme that the council

are proposing?

First is a health and safety issue

and a security issue with the shops.

A lot of the toilets will be out

the back or up the stairs so I think

the answer is going to be now.

To find out for myself,

I go across the road

to the village cafe.

If someone came in

to use your toilets

and weren't a customer,

what would you say to them?

Sorry, no.

Why?

Because it's a customer

toilet, that's why.

So you wouldn't want anyone

who wasn't a customer to come in?

No.

There might be a queue at the door

because around the corner is shut.

I know, but what can I do?

I can't do anything.

Time to head over to City Hall.

The toilets here are

available to the public -

just as they are in other council

buildings like the city museum.

By closing the 18 street toilets

the council are saving £400,000.

We have not invested in our toilets

over many, many years so

a lot of them are in various

states of disrepair.

There's a lot of anti-social

behaviour going on in

them and the alternative was to look

at bringing in a business and

community toilet scheme.

What are the benefits for any local

businesses who volunteer?

It's about providing a safe place

for local people

to use their toilets,

maybe introduce people

to

their businesses and it is just

being community minded and I have to

say, I am really heartened

by the response that

we're getting so far.

In the Cabinet papers

when the decision was made,

it says, a smooth transition

from the existing

arrangement to the new one

is very important.

How many community businesses

have signed up to the

toilet scheme?

We have 12 businesses and community

organisations signed up.

We have over 20 plus pending.

Does that number include

Bristol City Council's own building?

Yes.

If we take those out

of the equation, that doesn't sound

like very many and the public

toilets

we visited, the ones that

are closing on the 31st

of

January, there's no signage

that they are closing

or where the nearest toilet under

the scheme is.

People are quite literally

going to be caught

short?

Not necessarily, we still

have a week to go.

Would it not be better to delay

closure when you've got a viable

community toilet

scheme up and running?

It simple to say that I'm feeling

quite confident about the

fact that we will have a viable

community scheme and it is scheme

that is only going to grow and grow.

Is it all right if I use the loo?

You can use the loo, go on!

There is some late

loo news, though.

The committee which looks

after the Downs have agreed

to take over the running

of the toilets there.

And the Suspension Bridge Trust

will be responsible

for the ones by the bridge.

But elsewhere around the city,

there are no signs of a reprieve.

So look out for these,

and cross your fingers,-

or maybe your legs, that the council

haven't been caught short.

We're drinking more of Somerset's

finest every year, but how does it

get from this to this?

Well, we've spent the last year

on a legendary cider farm -

with a celebrity following.

Tucked away down a small muddy

road near Glastonbury,

lives a cider maker to the stars

and this year is a very special

year, the farm is 100 years old.

It's the start of a new season,

Land's End Farm is in full colour

and signs are this year's crop

is going to be a good one.

I've been cider making now for over

50 years and I've never

known two bumper crops of apples

and at the moment how the blossom

is looking, there's going to be

a good crop again now.

But two good harvests mean Roger

is flooded with cider.

At the moment I've got 33,

35,000 gallons, which normally

I only sell 20,000 a year,

but because we've had two bumper

crops, the actual

stock has built up.

This is all cider here.

Which is why we want a bad

crop this year really,

unless I can get some cider

drinkers in to drink it.

Roger also has 120 head of cattle.

But cider has always been

the 'agricultural lubricant'

at the heart of his family's farm.

We've traditionally made cider

on the farm ever since me

grandfather come here in 1917.

Years ago if you didn't have cider

on the farm you wouldn't get any

workers because workers would go

round and try the cider,

and who had the best,

that's where they would go to work

bcause they got paid in cider,

potatoes and cheese.

Mid-July, the blossom has turned

to apples and it's the peak

season for customers.

Roger has become a legendary

figure in the Somerset landscape,

and visitors come from all over

the world to drink his cider

and have a good chat.

And for some, this been

their local for decades.

According to Roger,

40 years, he's got

a better memory than me.

It's the same as it is now,

when I first started coming here,

except Roger's dad was around,

but Roger used to do

all the running about,

well he was younger then.

He's also had a few famous faces

in to buy his cider.

That's Jamie Oliver there,

I did have Jonny Rotten in here,

that was about eight years ago

when he come in here.

Joe Strummer used to come

in regular from The Clash,

he come in here for 20

years, lovely man.

Lily Allen also had

some cider off me.

He's even had a visit

from a mysterious graffiti artist.

They asked me to turn

everybody out at eight

and could they put

a painting on me wall?

I went off delivering cider

and that's what were on the wall

when I came back, it's supposed

to be me, a few years

ago now, but I shall

never take it off anyway.

We've kept the prices

down, we haven't put

them up for three years.

But there's such a glut

of cider out there.

At the end of the day you've got

to be able to sell it,

it's no good making it

if you can't sell it.

Years ago proper cider

you could sell no trouble

at all but unfortunately now a lot

of the cider drinkers all want it

clear and fizzy and sweet, and weak.

40 years ago all the old boys

wouldn't have looked

at all this factory cider,

they'd have just tipped it down

the drain.

The apple season has just started

now, beginning of September.

I don't aim to shake any apples

at all, I always say the good Lord

put them up there the good

Lord will put them down,

and when the apples drop,

that's when the apple is ripe.

This is the hilly orchard

so we've got to pick

them all up by hand.

I used to pick up apples

before I left school,

when I was eight or nine years old.

Sixpence a bag, and that

were the big bags then,

the big hessian bags.

Years ago I used to carry them

all down on my shoulder,

bloody hard work but a lot of people

now walk away, they

don't want the work.

I had an old age pensioner up here,

and they said, oh, he's up

there picking up these apples,

I couldn't do that, and I said, well

he's happy as a little sand boy up

there in that orchard,

bloody lovely up there.

I'd rather be up there

than sat in an office

on a bloody computer, I said.

The harvest takes three months

but it's not all sunshine however,

as Roger will be working away

in the noise of his barn.

We cut the bags of apples,

we tip them into this

stainless steel hopper,

they go up the elevator.

At the top of the elevator

there is a high speed crusher,

it hits the apples just

like apple sauce you'd

eat for your dinner.

The apple sauce comes down

through this stainless steel hopper,

into these nylon cloths.

And that is roughly 100 weight

of apple pulp in each layer,

and when we've built up to 12

layers, we pull it out onto this

trolley, push it up

the rails under the press.

The press actually

presses it at 3,500

pounds per square inch,

its called a 100 tonne

press in 20 minutes.

Good stuff!

This year Roger also

celebrates his 70th birthday,

but how many years will

he keep cider making for?

I'm hoping me grandson

is going to keep doing it,

I'll keep doing it till I die

I won't stop working,

as long as I'm fit, I shall work

but when I die that'll be up

to they, but he's taken an interest

in it now so I'm hoping he's

going to take it over.

We feed all the apple

pulp to the beef

cattle so there's nothing wasted,

it's sweet as a nut

and the cows absolutely love it.

COW: Moo!

It'll be mad in later

here, when they all get

singing and dancing.

It's mid-January, and the night

of Roger's famous wassail.

It's an old tradition that's

supposed to be to get a good apple

crop to hunt all the

evil spirits away.

Leading the festivities this year

is a new old father time.

The Wassail is not a laughing

matter, you're not here to have fun,

you're here to make sure we get

a good harvest next year.

If you get it wrong,

the apple trees will fail,

and we'll have no cider next year.

We ain't having that now are we?

Then we'll have

to start doing stuff like burning

virgins in wicker men

and all sorts of stuff.

Sounds good to me.

Our queen will place toast

in the branches in the tree

to welcome the birds back

to our orchards.

And now he big finale to ward off

those evil spirits.

BANG!

As the dust settles

on the wassail, the question is,

has this year been a success?

It's a record

crowd this time I think,

more than we've ever had before.

I have come from Selby so 260 miles,

it's quite a long round trip.

It is quite unlike

anywhere you will find

in the West Country, it's amazing.

Roger is an

institution in Somerset.

It is what Somerset is all about.

That's it for tonight.

Thank you for watching.

We'll see you next week.

Cheers!

Tune in next week for

an after dark special.

This fox jumped out

from a neighbouring garden and

it squared up at me

and it was just eyeballing me.