08/07/2014 BBC Points West

The last time the Prince of Wales came to Muchelney, he had to get

here by boat. You see that field over there? That was two metres deep

in water when we were last here. It is very different today. This is a

wedding venue that I am talking to you from now and it was a venue

badly affected by the flooding. It is now bone dry, as indeed the whole

of Muchelney. The village is open for business. Prince Charles came

here this afternoon and visited this wedding venue. He met the people who

ran it and we will be talking to them in a second. He met a lot of

other people as well making good his promise that he would come back to

see how they were coping, to see how the village had recovered and to see

what was being done to make sure that flooding didn't happen again.

He wasn't just Muchelney that the Prince of Wales came to. It has been

a busy day. Earlier today he was in Glastonbury helping to fly the flag

for Somerset tourism. The royal visit coincided with market day in

Glastonbury. A chance for an informal walkabout and maybe pick up

a bargain. Organic veg much cheaper than yours. She didn't make the

sale. There was largely a warm welcome for the future King. He is,

says this man, one of us. We like him as a person and we like what he

stands for. He is an alternative royal family member. Among those

introduced was the founder of Glastonbury Festival. There has been

much talk of Prince at Glastonbury but not this one. Did you invite

this to the festival `` did you invite him to the festival? He has

already been. Camilla is coming next year. Let us hope she remembers her

wellies. There was a business edged this visit to help boost tourism

which was why he was shown around Glastonbury Abbey, a hidden jewel in

the heart of Somerset. They tried to bring history to life here `` they

try to bring history to life here. It attracts thousands of visitors a

year but it has suffered due to the floods. We lost around 25% in the

first quarter of 2014 due to the floods. This is a royal dog? Am most

definitely. Royalists came today in all shapes and breeds. Future King.

We have to come and see him. Then it was onto a railway station where the

Prince met a royal mother who had good reason to remember her train

journey during the floods. My waters had broken. This little guy was

eager to appear but not so eager that he appeared on the train. He

hung on until we made it back to Bristol. Prince Charles left on the

train to Paddington and yes, it was bang on time. That wedding venue

that was badly affected is back in business. Angela, it was a torrid

time. What did it mean to you today to have him here? It was a boost to

everybody and he kept his promise. It was lovely to have him and he is

a charming man. Do you feel he was pushing for things to be done? He is

concerned about everything that was happening here. Paul, you help run

the business. It was a terrible time for you. You lost weddings. It was

hard times but we are back on the road to recovery and we are hoping

that messages for people to come back to some set and come and see

how nice the places. We wish you well. That was the message from the

Prince of Wales today, not just for this venue but for the whole of

Somerset. It is dry now. Somerset is back in business and open for you.

The inquest into the death of a teenager from Wiltshire who was

killed by a polar bear on a school trip to the Arctic Circle has been

Michael Reid said he'd tried to shoot the bear

as it attacked Horatio Chapple but the rifle wouldn't fire.

Our correspondent Sarah Ransome has been listening to the evidence.

The expedition leader told the coroner 's Court this morning what

happened on that morning of the 5th of August three years ago when the

polar Bear rampaged through the camp that they had set up on this remote

glacier near the Arctic Circle. He said he woke early to a bear attack

in the tent nearby. He picked up the rifle and rushed out of the tent and

when he got outside he saw a polar bear mauling one of the group who

was still in his sleeping bag. He said he tried repeatedly to shoot

the rife `` the animal but the rifle didn't work. The bear turned on him

and it tried to gouge his eyes out. Eventually the pair turned away and

he managed to shoot it. The court heard from the other leader who was

also attacked by the bear. He said he was thrown to the ground by the

bear and he came face to face with it as its paws on his shoulder and

its claws were swiping across his face. Both of them also talked about

the safety precautions around the camp and Michael admitted he knew

the camp had been supplied with a faulty tripwire system but said he

was very happy with the modifications the group had made

using a paperclip and said if he wasn't he wouldn't have gone to bed

the night before and after he checked it. The inquest is due to

last until the end of the week. A Somerset MP has been talking

about how she was sexually abused Tessa Munt, who represents Wells,

says she's gone public to try to help other victims,

after the government announced it She is rarely without a smile

but this was different as Tessa Munt talked on camera for the first

time about what she had suffered. This was something to happen to me

in my teenage years over a period of years but it is something I

didn't speak about until I was in my early 30s when I was expecting

my first child. I understand, absolutely, how

difficult it is to live with that It is immense pressure and you can't

live with yourself because you feel Elected in 2010, she has campaigned

on child protection issues and once worked with ChildLine and hopes her

openness will help others. It is something in my history and I

hope it makes me a better MP, I hope it makes me more able to

understand how people feel I understand what it is

like to feel like a victim. I don't feel like one now and that

is the thing that I can offer, that there is hope to come out of that

state and become yourself again. Yesterday, MPs were told there will

be two reviews investigating child abuse and whether

the authorities covered it up. I was a child

and it took me 20 years to actually speak out about what has happened

but this is not about me, it is about the victims of what

happened over the loss of documents, the shredding of evidence,

the destruction of evidence. That is important that

the independent panel focuses If not, testament won't hesitate

to once again speak out. You're watching Points West,

nice to have you with us. And there's plenty still

to share with you.We meet the athlete from Bath hoping

to fire her way to European glory. And maybe it's always been rather

British to talk about the weather ` the diary of

a west country vicar who had a thing People living or working in and

around Weston Super Mare are in for a bit more disruption on the roads

at the busy junction with the M5. Work to improve and re`surface the

area went on for most of last year. But now, it seems, there's

a problem with the new surface and It was expensive and it caused a

headache. The ?15 million Western package involved a whole load of

improvements to make it easier for people to get in and out of the

town. Now everyone agrees the destruction and the cost was worth

it. Those long jams here are a thing of the past. Now bits of it need to

be redone. It is not something you would noticed just driving around

the roundabout and the slip roads but there was a problem with the

road surface here. The council have known about the problem since the

work was finished back in February but they have been waiting for the

better weather in the summer to have it put right. The problem seems to

be that the surface was laid in June the appalling wet and cold weather

of last winter but it will now be put right with the contractors, not

the council footing the bill. It is not embarrassment at all. We will be

criticised if we didn't expect `` inspect the roadworks and finish the

job properly. We have won a major award from the Institute of civil

engineers last Friday for our work on the Western package. It has been

a huge success. Resurfacing work will be carried out over night this

week to avoid too much destruction to motorists and by the weekend it

is hoped it would be over and done with and the road problems can

finally be laid to rest. Warnings about the use

of a drug which is prescribed for back pain are being changed

following a 20 year campaign Ron Sheppard developed chronic

problems after being given And he's finally convinced

the world's biggest pharmaceutical company,

Pfizer to change their guidance. Here's our

Health Correspondent Matthew Hill. Even feeding the birds is

a challenge for Ron Shepherd who suffers

from severe pain throughout his body, a condition which he claims

was caused by a series of epidural injections for back pain that he was

given almost 30 years ago. I was screaming out in pain and the

doctor told me to stop being a baby. The drug should be used

for joint pain but it is not Mr Shepherd says over 2 million

people have his condition and many of them develop the symptoms after

being given the spinal injection. It is something he says he warned

the government about 20 years ago. It was just ignored,

which is a shame because more people have had this because of that

and it has cost the country It is not licensed

and that is a tragedy for people who are going into

hospital to have these injections Mr Shepherd recently discovered that

guidance has changed in New Zealand to say that it must not be used

at all of epidurals. He then told the Royal College

of Anaesthetics about this and they recently changed their

guidance in line with New Zealand. In a statement,

Pfizer have confirmed they have submitted label changes to

the regulatory authorities. This drug has never been licensed

for epidural use but doctors do have the clinical freedom to use it

if they think it will help. Mr Shepherd used to manage Norman

Wisdom, a career which came to an He now hopes,

with the change in labelling, others Great Britain's modern pentathlon

team has made its way from Bath to Hungary for this week's

European championships. While the limelight might be on the

former world champion Mhairi Spence, or the Olympic silver medallist

Samantha Murray, there's one name we should all be looking out for,

as Jenna Hawkey's been finding out. Being good

at one sport is hard enough but Kate French represents Great Britain

in a sport that comprises five French is the rising star of modern

pentathlon, something she has been I started shooting

when I was five years old Since then, the 23`year`old who

trains at the University of Bath has become the highest

ranked pentathlete in the UK. You won't hear her shouting

about it. She is known among her teammates

as the shy and quiet one. A lot of people say there is

good and bad things from it. Because I am chilled, I can stay

relaxed, especially for the shoot. Modern pentathlon involves running,

swimming, shooting, fencing and showjumping

and having Olympic medallist Samantha Murray in the squad makes

training even more intense. It gets tough sometimes because you

are fighting for the same spot but it keeps everyone on the edge

and it keeps the standard higher. She has strength in her mindset

and she works hard. I think she will be one of

the athletes aiming to get qualified Great Britain's women will be

defending their 2013 team title at the European Championships which

starts on Thursday but with Olympic qualification up for grabs, French

will have their sights set on individual glory

and making that first step towards done much of this before? Some of

the team had not done mountaineering before so it was a training period

that we have gone through to get some experience up to one and a half

years before we went. We had a rehearsal expedition. That looks

like bright sunshine. One of the two days when the sun was shining. What

does it leave you with having done it? Is there a gap where the sense

of adventure used to be? We have been back ten days now and back into

the normal training within the army. We are pretty busy from now on. Has

it added something to your life? It has been a huge experience in terms

of leadership and all the way through. It is thoroughly enjoyable.

Are these things worthwhile doing? You are not likely to meet and Emily

up the mountain `` an enemy of the mountain. It tests the rifle man

right down to the basic skills of looking after yourself. Also there

is teamwork and it is a great experience to enhance the way we do

our job. Adam has had to sit in arctic gear in our studio. It is

pretty warm. Now you see what we have to go through every day! You

can sympathise. Now there was a rather unusual

awakening for people living South Singers,

violinists and even a brass section climbed aboard hot air balloons and

filled the morning sky with music. Our reporter Scott

Ellis joined them. A dawn chorus with a difference

near Chew Valley Lake. The Avalonian Free State Choir

in tune on terra firma. But what about hitting

the high notes airborne? Can you sing and fly at the same

time? We will find out soon. We will sing as well as we will fly. I am

worried that it might fall off and be lost forever. I hope my boat

doesn't catch fire. Local balloonist Rob Bayly

and conductor Charles Hazelwood Will the music continued to cohere

when they start to go adrift. Probably not. It may be magical.

Music and a view. What more could you want? I played much better than

I have ever played before. Leaving pilots hankering

for a big band. It would be great. Maybe we could

have a band at the balloon Fiesta. This is all part of a rehearsal

for an opera at the Bath and West Raising money

for Somerset flood victims. Mind you, that didn't stop the odd

amateur from bursting into song. That is a wake`up call. Better than

an alarm clock. Ian will be here with

the forecast in a moment, but do you know what the weather was

like in Bath 250 years ago? Well a new diary has been discovered

which chronicles the city's forecast It was written

by a little known Rector of This is an unusual notebook. An

unlikely history of back from 250 years ago. We think the weather

diary was kept by the Rector of Bath at the date the diary was kept. The

reason we think that was if we turn the volume around, this end contains

a record of the income of Bath Abbey at the same date. We think he was

keeping a record of the income at one end and using it for a weather

diary at the other end. Very little is known about the author of this

notebook. No picture has so far been discovered of the reverend but his

words have left are valuable mark on Bath's historical canvas. It was a

cold, wet and disagreeable day. Very heavy rain which began very early in

the morning and continued almost the whole day. It would be lovely to

know more about his circumstances and find out a bit more about his

life. We know so little about him. 1759, the weather for this week past

as being uncommonly severe, occasioned by a strong, sharp

north`east wind which has Rover `` frozen river so hard that the people

have walked over it in great numbers for three days past. Reverend Taylor

kept a journal from 1756 to 1761 and it is now being rediscovered in Bath

in North East Somerset Council's archives. Painting a picture of the

skies above Bath 250 years ago. My late father did that for 20

years. Every single day. I think we will keep that now because one day

it might be a thing of history. In those days, the weather was even

more important. When did records begin?

It demonstrates the things that are described there. The extremes are as

norm as we see now. Some of you have seen some lively

weather today. Thank you to my crew took this beautiful picture of the

sudden thunderstorm over Weston`super`Mare earlier today. We

are not going to see that tomorrow. It will be a dry day throughout,

breezy through the afternoon but noticeably warmer than today. The

radar as some intense echoes of the Northern Somerset. The shells have

been fading through the evening. `` the showers. It leads us into a dry

night and as we had through the night, high`pressure develops and

you shouldn't see any showers tomorrow. This warm front will

introduce more higher Josh Moffett I Clyde tomorrow and for Thursday it

will introduce some rain. `` this warm front will introduce more

higher cloud tomorrow and for Thursday it will introduce some

rain. Temperatures tonight around tensile see us. Tomorrow, really it

sets up a story of light winds through the morning which will get

brisker as the afternoon wears on. Generally a fair amount of sunshine

around with variable amounts of cloud. Strong UV levels with a

moderate pollen count. Temperatures up on today. It will turn more

unsettled towards the end of the week.

That picture was phenomenal. That is it from us for now. Things are

changing a little bit later because of the football. The late news is on

very late. If you can stay up for that. I will see you at lunchtime

tomorrow. This is the first example we know of

of infrared communication. Imagine if you could

talk to the animals. Zoologist Lucy Cooke

is going to show us how. This is the first example we know of

of infrared communication. This is amazing.

So this is a dolphin greeting? Are you telling me we're really

going to speak to a firefly?