:00:14. > :00:20.This is Points West. The headlines... A helicopter crash.
:00:20. > :00:24.The luxury aircraft comes down after taking off from Bath. The
:00:24. > :00:32.people inside escape allied it. Officers accused of racial abuse
:00:32. > :00:37.after a disagreement with a doorman at a party. 1066 and all that. The
:00:37. > :00:41.MP that wants children to study history until they are 16. The
:00:42. > :00:51.Bristol team restoring this steamer which saw action in the evacuation
:00:51. > :00:56.Good evening. A helicopter has crashed in Wiltshire shortly after
:00:56. > :01:01.taking off from Bath. The pilot and passengers all survived the impact,
:01:02. > :01:05.which wrecked the aircraft. It crashed near Salisbury on an
:01:05. > :01:15.industrial estate. The pilot appeared to be making an emergency
:01:15. > :01:18.
:01:18. > :01:23.The emergency call came just after 9:30am. People nearby watched the
:01:23. > :01:28.helicopter in trouble. It looked like he was going to land in the
:01:28. > :01:32.field at the back and all of a sudden, the tail end came up and it
:01:32. > :01:38.went down and it counteracted and came back down had disappeared and
:01:38. > :01:44.the engines cut out. Kidd flicked end over end and nosedived into the
:01:44. > :01:51.ground. I did not understand how he managed to pull the nose up again.
:01:51. > :01:55.It came back up, not horizontally. Then it crashed to the ground.
:01:55. > :02:00.pilot and passengers had taken off from an airfield in Bath this
:02:00. > :02:08.morning. Witnesses from the industrial estate clambered through
:02:08. > :02:14.the woodland to help. There was one man on the tour. He was unconscious.
:02:14. > :02:22.The Twitter to help each other out of the aircraft. -- the other two.
:02:22. > :02:30.One had a gash to the head. People were shouting fire! I got a fire
:02:30. > :02:33.extinguisher and I did my best to put it out from the engine. Two men
:02:33. > :02:37.were airlifted to Southampton General Hospital and the third was
:02:37. > :02:42.taken to Salisbury Hospital in an ambulance. The pilot has a head
:02:42. > :02:47.injury and all of them had injuries to heads and backs. It is
:02:47. > :02:51.remarkable nobody was killed. has been extensively damaged and we
:02:51. > :02:57.are amazed anybody has escaped but we are delighted all three people
:02:57. > :03:02.are alive and not seriously injured. I can still smell the fuel which
:03:02. > :03:06.has saturated the ground. Investigators have been at the
:03:06. > :03:14.scene all day but what we do not understand his way it was heading,
:03:14. > :03:18.who was on board and what caused it The police are keen to trace a
:03:18. > :03:25.convicted paedophile that has escaped from a secure hospital unit
:03:25. > :03:29.near Taunton. David Marker has been detained since 1965 after being
:03:29. > :03:33.convicted of indecently assaulting a seven-year-old girl. He is
:03:33. > :03:39.thought to be in Weston-Super-Mare and anybody with any but
:03:39. > :03:44.information is urged to call 999. - - any information. Jobs are under
:03:44. > :03:49.threat because the company running TV licensing operations in Bristol,
:03:49. > :03:53.Capita, wants to move to Lancashire to say the costs with just a small
:03:53. > :03:56.number of jobs remaining in the West. The Communication Workers
:03:56. > :04:03.Union will challenge today's announcement, which it said left
:04:03. > :04:10.people stand. People came out of the announcement visibly shocked by
:04:10. > :04:16.what had been said and the callous manner in which it was communicated.
:04:16. > :04:22.People have now got a very grim future and it has not been the best
:04:22. > :04:28.start to the year. A court has been told that two police officers and
:04:28. > :04:32.racially abused a doorman in Bath, and they claimed that he thought he
:04:33. > :04:36.was Polish. The officers were on a night out with colleagues last year
:04:36. > :04:46.when it is alleged that they verbally insulted an Italian
:04:46. > :04:51.Peter Lawson and Philip Upton arrived in court this morning to
:04:51. > :05:00.hear the allegations against them are. In 20th December 10 they were
:05:00. > :05:05.drinking at his bar in Bath with colleagues --. In December, 2010,
:05:06. > :05:10.they were drinking had. The doorman was called in to insure they left
:05:10. > :05:14.after some problems. He was repeatedly racially abused, the
:05:14. > :05:19.court was told and told to go back to his own country and learn to
:05:20. > :05:26.speak English. He has a thick accent. The group thought he was
:05:26. > :05:32.Polish but he is in fact Italian. Hello bouncer Paul Owen testified
:05:32. > :05:37.that they refused to lead and one threatened to knock him out. --
:05:37. > :05:41.fellow bouncer. He maintains they were aggressive and threatening.
:05:41. > :05:51.The defence is expected to start tomorrow. Both men deny what is
:05:51. > :05:52.
:05:53. > :05:56.committed what is called a racially This is Points West. We have got
:05:56. > :06:02.plenty more to come. Coming up, plans to transform Bristol's bear-
:06:02. > :06:12.pit and breathe new life into this run-down subway. And all eyes on
:06:12. > :06:12.
:06:12. > :06:18.Gary Johnson for his first game That is coming later. First,
:06:18. > :06:22.welcome news for the struggling shopkeepers. After a terrible year,
:06:22. > :06:32.2011 ended with a surprisingly strong Christmas. That is according
:06:32. > :06:32.
:06:32. > :06:39.sales were up by 4% on last year. What did we buy and will it keep
:06:39. > :06:46.the high streets going? Here is our correspondent at Cribbs Causeway.
:06:46. > :06:52.What is the story? This is what the experts considered to be the
:06:53. > :06:56.barometer for shopkeepers, M and S. The engine room is the food hall.
:06:56. > :07:04.It is very up market and the strongest performing part of the
:07:04. > :07:10.stock. And their figures were out today and they tell the story. 0.5
:07:10. > :07:17.% great about the food doing much more strongly at a 3%. What else
:07:18. > :07:21.did well? Are there up market food retailers, Waitrose, for example.
:07:21. > :07:27.Times are tough and we are tightening belts but we would not
:07:27. > :07:31.let that spoil the Christmas party. It was tighter at Christmas but we
:07:31. > :07:36.spent on the children what we normally spend and less on
:07:36. > :07:43.ourselves. Simon and Penny said it all. Money is tight but the
:07:43. > :07:48.children must have Christmas. give them all money and that is it!
:07:48. > :07:55.We let them sort themselves out up. Did you give them less this year?
:07:55. > :08:00.We did not. Rising prices and falling wages have taken their toll.
:08:00. > :08:07.This company went bust and half of the stores will close. The computer
:08:08. > :08:12.games business is not fun either. Sales at Game fell by 12.9 %. But
:08:12. > :08:20.Bristol's we tell flagship is weathering the store -- storm. --
:08:21. > :08:26.retailing. Footwear has done surprisingly well. Jewellery and
:08:26. > :08:30.fashion have done very well and we are pleased. Part of the social
:08:30. > :08:35.element of coming out and doing something, it is getting the family
:08:35. > :08:41.together and enjoyment of that. We have got good offers and people
:08:41. > :08:46.come here for a day out and this is part of that. But prosperity is not
:08:46. > :08:51.just on the high street. The internet has been a roaring away in
:08:51. > :08:57.2011 with online purchasing up by 18 %. Smart events have done even
:08:57. > :09:03.better. Shopping on the mobile phone has gone from nothing to
:09:03. > :09:09.being worth �1.6 billion. A good December has not masked a miserable
:09:09. > :09:12.year but it is a matter of survival and you have got to adapt. We are
:09:12. > :09:18.always being told we are strapped for cash but the best performers
:09:18. > :09:25.have been the expensive but almost. His company sells chocolates at �30
:09:25. > :09:31.per box and sold out. People will spend up to �20 on chocolates and
:09:31. > :09:37.even more on food and you can make up the numbers. It is wonderful.
:09:37. > :09:44.Everybody loves food at Christmas. It is also happening in fashion
:09:44. > :09:50.areas. The high end and named products are genuinely doing better
:09:50. > :09:57.than at the other products. It is Easter already in Marks and
:09:57. > :10:00.Spencers. They are doing cranberry and orange hot cross buns. Even in
:10:00. > :10:04.austerity, we like a little bit of something special and that goes
:10:05. > :10:10.across the board. Internet sales are doing well and chocolate is
:10:10. > :10:17.doing well. The best business might be a fancy, chocolate online shop.
:10:17. > :10:27.I met a lady doing just that until -- and until the crash, she was a
:10:27. > :10:28.
:10:28. > :10:31.What are you like on dates? One MP has been leading a debate in
:10:31. > :10:37.Westminster, where their history should be compulsory for all
:10:37. > :10:42.schoolchildren up to the age of 16. Kingswood's Conservative MP Chris
:10:42. > :10:45.Skidmore is a historian concerned the subject is dying out. We will
:10:45. > :10:51.catch up with him in Westminster but first we have been finding out
:10:51. > :10:55.what students have to say about the subject. GCSE history is a chance
:10:55. > :11:00.to take a journey through time and stopping at significant moments on
:11:00. > :11:06.the way. We have got traditional topics like the world wars but we
:11:06. > :11:13.have also got things like the American Civil War and a history of
:11:13. > :11:18.medicine. But what is the point for most of us? It encourages people to
:11:18. > :11:25.learn about democracy and political participation and positive roles in
:11:25. > :11:31.society as well as fitting into a diverse and changing Britain. It
:11:31. > :11:35.helps their part in that. I think they can learn from that. Currently
:11:35. > :11:40.less than one-third of students study history beyond the age of 14
:11:40. > :11:47.and in Bristol, just 14 % achieved a grade C or above at GCSE and A-
:11:47. > :11:56.level last year. But this academy in Bristol seems to know its staff.
:11:56. > :12:04.Especially when it comes to King Henry VII. The third died. The
:12:04. > :12:07.second what bare-headed. The last one survived. -- was executed.
:12:07. > :12:14.can learn from the past and what you have come from in your origins
:12:14. > :12:18.and that is brilliant. A New York journalist said that a page in
:12:18. > :12:23.history is what a book of mathematics and I think that is
:12:23. > :12:27.really true. A debate in Westminster has called for history
:12:27. > :12:37.to be compulsory for all schoolchildren up to the age of 16.
:12:37. > :12:38.
:12:38. > :12:42.A chance perhaps to learn instead Chris Skidmore is the MP had part-
:12:42. > :12:49.time lecturer in history that is keen for be subject to go put -- to
:12:49. > :12:52.become compulsory up to GCSE. We have heard these young people and
:12:52. > :12:59.they are very enthusiastic but a lot of people think it is a bit old
:12:59. > :13:05.hat. A lot of people, less than one-third of pupils are taking
:13:05. > :13:11.history in Bristol. Just 14 % up passing jet. We are the only
:13:11. > :13:15.country apart from Albania that is doing that and we must change.
:13:15. > :13:20.it more important than geography, computer studies or French?
:13:20. > :13:26.have got to have mathematics, science, English and languages but
:13:26. > :13:30.history makes us what we are today and create a national identity.
:13:30. > :13:34.can understand if you are the great leader of a nation. You might want
:13:34. > :13:39.to learn about the foreign policy of the first Queen Elizabeth. But
:13:39. > :13:45.how does that impact on ordinary life today? A broad sweep of
:13:45. > :13:48.history should be from them or to the modern age. That helps people
:13:48. > :13:53.to understand about democratic institutions and the freedoms that
:13:54. > :13:59.men and women have a won. Learning about slavery and that is an
:13:59. > :14:06.important topic. History helps us to learn these important lessons.
:14:07. > :14:13.Campaigners have taken their fight against plans for wind turbines in
:14:13. > :14:15.the Berkeley Vale to a public inquiry today. The company that
:14:15. > :14:18.wants to put them up is arguing their visual impact on the
:14:18. > :14:27.landscape is not enough of a reason to turn the plans down. Chris James
:14:27. > :14:31.reports. Wind turbines. A blot on the
:14:31. > :14:38.landscape or a green and efficient way to generate electricity?
:14:38. > :14:42.Whatever your thoughts, they are increasing in numbers. This one in
:14:42. > :14:48.Gloucestershire for example. The owner of the company wants to push
:14:48. > :14:55.up more but local residents do not see his point of view. The North
:14:55. > :15:03.Sea has just about run out of the oil and gas. It is a really big
:15:03. > :15:13.deal how our children are going to keep the lights on. Wind energy is
:15:13. > :15:14.
:15:14. > :15:19.ours and we should be using it. This is the Vale of Berkeley.
:15:19. > :15:23.Original E the company wanted to put eight wind turbines here but
:15:23. > :15:26.they submitted a planning application for just four. So the
:15:26. > :15:30.bail would have looked something like this. But those plans were
:15:30. > :15:35.rejected by the council so the company called for a public inquiry
:15:35. > :15:40.and that began today. More than 40 protesters packed the council
:15:40. > :15:44.Chamber in Stroud to give evidence. They say they will fight to protect
:15:44. > :15:47.the countryside. John Barclay own spark the castle and is concerned
:15:47. > :15:55.that tourists will stay away because the terrorists will blight
:15:55. > :16:00.the landscape. I'm horrified -- the tourists. It is the wrong place to
:16:00. > :16:10.put these large turbines. There will stand out like a sore thumb. I
:16:10. > :16:11.
:16:11. > :16:17.feel very strongly about it, spawning a lovely part of England.
:16:17. > :16:21.I do hope we win this fight. public inquiry only began today and
:16:21. > :16:30.will hear evidence from both sides in the next week. A decision, which
:16:30. > :16:34.will be final, it is now expected in the spring.
:16:35. > :16:40.The aircraft company Airbus has refuted claims that its A380 fleet
:16:40. > :16:45.is not safe after reports of cracks on the wings of civil aircraft. The
:16:45. > :16:48.models are assembled in France with part spilled across Europe
:16:48. > :16:52.including Felten. The company is concerned that minor cracks were
:16:52. > :16:59.found on some Phnom critical wing attachments and repairs will be
:16:59. > :17:02.carried out as part of maintenance checks. In the meantime Airbus said
:17:02. > :17:04.the safety and the fleet is not affected.
:17:04. > :17:06.Wiltshire is to get a mobile chemotherapy unit. It's being
:17:06. > :17:09.funded by the charity Hope for Tomorrow, which has already set up
:17:09. > :17:11.mobile units in Somerset and Gloucestershire. It'll bring
:17:11. > :17:13.specialist cancer care to rural areas of the county, meaning
:17:13. > :17:23.patients will no longer need to travel long distances to get
:17:23. > :17:23.
:17:23. > :17:26.treatment. It will treat up to 60 patients a week.
:17:26. > :17:32.It's known as the bear pit - a run down, concrete underpass in the
:17:32. > :17:36.middle of Bristol's busiest roundabout. For years it's been a
:17:36. > :17:39.place you'd only walk through if you had to. But now it's getting a
:17:39. > :17:45.one million pound make-over that could see it turned into a
:17:45. > :17:52.continental style plaza. Here's Jules Hyam.
:17:52. > :17:57.1977. Welcome to Bristol. This was the lot -- the memorable view that
:17:57. > :18:03.greeted visitors to the historic city in the Queen's jubilee year.
:18:03. > :18:08.This part of the city now has no offices and housing, a new bus
:18:08. > :18:12.station and a whole new shopping centre. But this, they bear pit
:18:12. > :18:16.inside the Roundabout, it has stayed exactly the same. It is
:18:16. > :18:23.unloved, and welcoming, unused urban space but campaigners who
:18:23. > :18:27.have set up a company want to turn it into an urban oasis. They point
:18:27. > :18:32.to festivals which show that it can be a welcoming venue. Now the
:18:32. > :18:38.council is backing their proposals to the tune of �1 million was DUP
:18:38. > :18:42.it is an area of the city in which a lot of people like to avoid.
:18:42. > :18:46.has had problems in the past with graffiti. We want to improve it and
:18:46. > :18:50.make it a lot more friendly for pedestrians and make it an access
:18:50. > :18:55.to the city centre we're proud of. There are dozens of ideas in this
:18:55. > :18:59.document all based around changing this from a place that people walk
:18:59. > :19:03.through to a space that people would come to. Key to all that is
:19:03. > :19:08.putting in pedestrian crossings at street level, freeing up the
:19:08. > :19:11.subways for kiosks and market stalls and could even create a
:19:11. > :19:17.space for performances and events. As well as those street level
:19:17. > :19:21.crossings, at street level walkway could be built. Creating a kind of
:19:21. > :19:26.continental-style plasma. Albeit one insider Roundabout. If the
:19:26. > :19:33.council gets a good response when it puts forward its plans, then it
:19:33. > :19:37.could become more of a well-dressed arena within 18 months.
:19:37. > :19:39.People thought it was sold modern when it opened!
:19:39. > :19:42.In football, Gary Johnson will tonight take charge of Yeovil Town
:19:42. > :19:44.for the first time since he returned to the club as manager.
:19:44. > :19:47.His appointment was announced yesterday and his first task will
:19:47. > :19:53.be to get Yeovil out of the relegation zone at the bottom of
:19:53. > :19:55.league one. Today the team has been training in Sheffield ahead of
:19:55. > :20:02.tonight's game against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane. Alistair
:20:02. > :20:08.Durden has been with them. How quickly can Gary Johnson work
:20:08. > :20:12.his magic again? Including tonight against Sheffield United, he has 22
:20:12. > :20:17.games to get Yeovil Town out of the relegation zone and into a more
:20:17. > :20:22.comfortable position. The squad travelled up yesterday, staying in
:20:22. > :20:25.a nearby hotel. They had their pre- match meal at around 4:30pm this
:20:25. > :20:32.afternoon and a team meeting after that. Garry Thompson has picked the
:20:32. > :20:39.team tonight but after just one day, only one training session, I asked
:20:39. > :20:42.him how much of an impact he has been able to make?
:20:42. > :20:47.As far as the technical side of things are concerned you cannot
:20:47. > :20:51.make much of an impact but you can make an impact on the mental side
:20:51. > :20:55.of things. The lads looked quite bright yesterday. I was pleased the
:20:55. > :21:00.way they understood how the management team was going to pan
:21:00. > :21:06.out. If we could get that bit of spark than I think the players will
:21:06. > :21:10.look even better. We need to get a couple of wins on the trot. The
:21:11. > :21:16.game tonight, it is not one you would choose to have as your first
:21:16. > :21:20.game, but if we win then it will be down to me. If we lose it is down
:21:20. > :21:25.to Terry! Quite an unforgiving first game for the new management
:21:25. > :21:30.team. Sheffield United are 4th in the table. But Yeovil have been
:21:30. > :21:35.hard to beat at home and the arrival of Gary Johnson will give
:21:35. > :21:37.them just that little bit extra as they look for the 5th win of the
:21:37. > :21:39.season. Also tonight, Bristol Rovers travel
:21:39. > :21:42.to Hereford. Caretaker manager Shaun North continues in charge as
:21:42. > :21:47.the club try to appoint a new manager after last week's sacking
:21:47. > :21:49.of Paul Buckle. And Swindon Town, fresh from their FA Cup success in
:21:49. > :21:57.knocking out premier league side Wigan, play Barnet in the first leg
:21:57. > :22:00.of their southern area final in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.
:22:00. > :22:06.A historic ship that made her name during the Dunkirk evacuations of
:22:06. > :22:08.World War Two is being restored in a Bristol dockyard. The Medway
:22:08. > :22:13.Queen is a paddle steamer that rescued more than seven thousand
:22:14. > :22:16.troops and brought them back to Britain. Now, after two years of
:22:16. > :22:23.work, she's beginning to look more like her old self, as Will Glennon
:22:23. > :22:29.found out. It's taken a lot of hard work and
:22:29. > :22:31.skill and the Medway Queen is steadily heading towards completion.
:22:31. > :22:38.Built in 1924, she was a paddle steamer, a pleasure boat, then
:22:38. > :22:40.World War II saw her pressed into action. Her finest moment came when
:22:40. > :22:48.she made seven crossings to the beaches of Dunkirk, helping rescue
:22:48. > :22:58.thousands of soldiers. Men like Kit Reed. He says he wouldn't be here
:22:58. > :23:07.was it not for this ship. She saved thousands of lives. We
:23:07. > :23:16.were being bombed all the time. I love her. It is marvellous to be
:23:16. > :23:22.here. And to have a small part in the rebuild. It sort of belongs to
:23:22. > :23:24.you, this ship. I'm glad she's being rebuilt. It is marvellous.
:23:24. > :23:27.In later years she fell into disrepair, meaning a full
:23:27. > :23:30.reconstruction was needed. The hull has been made by riveting plates
:23:30. > :23:39.together instead of welding. It's the way they would originally have
:23:39. > :23:43.done it. Each piece of the Medway Queen has been rebuilt or
:23:43. > :23:47.refashioned using the traditional techniques. This is her original
:23:47. > :23:53.engine. That will be put back in. And this is one of the paddle
:23:53. > :23:57.wheels. The green part in the centre is original, the rest is
:23:57. > :24:00.being hand-built to match. Take a look at this - the size of that
:24:00. > :24:06.bolt and there are dozens of them in this part of the wheel. Each one
:24:06. > :24:11.custom-made in Bristol. This project is even more special
:24:11. > :24:16.because there is that side of it and then the human side to it. All
:24:16. > :24:20.the people that this ship touched in such dramatic circumstances. It
:24:20. > :24:22.just makes it special, really special.
:24:22. > :24:25.The whole project's been funded thanks to a lottery grant of almost
:24:25. > :24:35.two million pounds. When she's finished, The Medway Queen will be
:24:35. > :24:38.
:24:39. > :24:44.going on show in Kent. A lot of hard work there. Let's
:24:44. > :24:50.A lot of hard work there. Let's take a look at the weather.
:24:50. > :24:56.Well it is going to be cold it later on in the week. Not as cold
:24:56. > :25:05.as it was this day back in 1982. Thanks for these marvellous archive
:25:05. > :25:15.pictures. It was a similar story in other parts of Gloucestershire and
:25:15. > :25:17.
:25:17. > :25:25.more widely. We have the all-time record of minus 27.2. Temperatures
:25:25. > :25:30.will fall away below average at the end of the week. But for the time
:25:30. > :25:40.being it is mild and dry and tomorrow will bring more in the way
:25:40. > :25:43.
:25:43. > :25:49.of brighter spells. As we get to tomorrow, it is a dry story for all
:25:49. > :25:53.of us. But later on the cold front just makes an appearance and starts
:25:53. > :26:01.to influence the weather with colder air. For the rest of this
:26:01. > :26:08.evening, we have lost those earlier showers. Some mist in a few spots.
:26:08. > :26:12.Some cloud around as well and just a moderate breeze. By tomorrow
:26:12. > :26:19.morning temperatures will have dropped to around four or five
:26:19. > :26:24.degrees in parts of the countryside around dawn. Tomorrow starts on a
:26:24. > :26:31.quiet night. Some cloud around but that starts to break up and as the
:26:31. > :26:40.day develops, 0 in the wake of the sunny spells. -- more in the wake
:26:40. > :26:49.of. Little chance of seeing any rain whatsoever it through the
:26:49. > :26:57.course of the day. Temperatures around nine, 10 or 11 degrees. Into
:26:57. > :27:07.the tail end of the week, that cold front approaching. Some frost
:27:07. > :27:08.
:27:08. > :27:13.overnight into Friday. Friday is a crisp winter's day. Sunday will be
:27:13. > :27:21.a tricky one because by Saturday, we are still into chilly and clear
:27:21. > :27:24.conditions. But Sunday is still uncertain, it could be fine and dry,
:27:24. > :27:31.it could be something different, it could be something different,
:27:31. > :27:39.possibly some snow. The gardens across the West think