28/12/2011 East Midlands Today

Now the news for the East Midlands. I'm Quentin Rayner. Good evening.

It's hoped that a major new contract for the troubled train-

builder Bombardier could provide work for many of the people

recently laid off by the company. And it's thought the multi-million

pound deal could help to keep the firm's plant in Derby. But Labour

says the government should rethink their whole approach to major train

building contracts. Simon Hare reports. The future just got

brighter for Bombardier's plant in Derby. It has won an order worth

�188 million. Work on the 130 carriages for Southern Railway is

will start in the second half of next year. This could mean work for

a further 12 to 18 months. It is of course one contract of a couple

that Bombardier of bidding for at the moment. We are delighted they

have won this one and we are in discussions with them about a

further contract. It is excellent news for British jobs as well.

campaigner hopes that there for 200 people laid off in recent months

will now be able to return. -- the 1400 people. They were a

fundamental part of the workforce and it would be great for them to

come back. Hopefully if we could get some more work, then they could

be full-time workers. Obviously I am like everybody else, eager

really. I would like to get back if possible because I did enjoy

working there. It is thought that the deal today will mean that

Bombardier will keep its Derby plant open in the hope of winning

the �1 billion order for the new CrossRail route. After six months

of bad news for Bombardier, the year is ending on a high and it has

led to renewed hope that Britain's last train builder is here to stay.

A 60 year old man has appeared in court charged with stabbing a

neighbour in the street in Nottinghamshire. Harry Tindall, who

was 70, was found injured at Pearl Close in Rainworth on Boxing Day.

He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. The accused, Jeffrey

Burton, is expected to make an application for bail at Nottingham

Crown Court within the next few days. A 54-year-old woman arrested

in connection with the incident has been released on police bail

pending further enquiries. A man has appeared in court after

being charged with the murder of his wife on Christmas Day. Gillian

Woodward, who was 56, was found dead at her home in Bosden Close in

Bilborough on Sunday afternoon. She'd been stabbed. Her husband,

Stephen Woodward, appeared before Nottingham magistrates and was

remanded in custody to appear at the city's crown court on Friday.

Protesters who've set up their own tent city in the heart of

Nottingham's Market Square have no plans to leave in the New Year.

It's now three months since Occupy Nottingham supporters set up their

camp, in protest at the financial system. Here's our Political Editor

John Hess. Bargain hunters drawn into

Nottingham for the sales have another attraction to catch the eye.

It is now 75 days since protesters against the global banking system

set up camp in the market square. After three months and with the new

year approaching, is it time to pack up? I think they were like an

excuse to move us on but at the moment they are not going to and we

have the right to be here because this particular land is owned by

the citizens of the city of Nottingham. Nottingham City Council

and some shoppers are beginning to run out of patience. They should

have the right to be here. They have been here for quite some time.

They should move on. They should move on, yes, it is an I saw. They

should definitely move on. support them. They are doing a

grand job. The council has a dilemma. While they sympathise with

the reasons for the protest, they are hinting that they would rather

the protesters would move out of the market square. The flag is

still flying, but will it still be there to marquee -- to mark Occupy

Nottingham's first 100 days? An East Midlands authority says

it's on track to make efficiency savings this year. Leicestershire

County Council needs to save �57 million over four years. Some of

the measures include having fewer and better offices, which will lead

to a saving of almost �1 million, and cutting the council's

streetlighting energy bill, resulting in a saving of �800,000.

A textile firm which has invested half a million pounds in new

knitwear machinery is planning to expand, bucking the economic trend.

David Nieper, currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, employs 200

people at its factory at Alfreton in Derbyshire. The company says it

hopes to continue to expand and is determined to keep all production

in Derbyshire to provide more local jobs. This investment has allowed

us to increase the work force recently here and over the last two

months we have recruited and trained an extra 10 people here. We

have expanded the company every year for the last 25 years and we

are even growing today during the recession.

Good for them. Most people like a challenge, but a

woman from Castle Donington is setting herself quite a task. She

is going to the Arctic, with a team of husky dogs. As she hasn't

perfected the art of dog sledding yet, she went to Sherwood Forest to

have a go. Kylie Pentelow reports. There would normally be a few more,

but for this training run, just two will do. Amanda Halliday is off to

the Arctic in April and it all came about because her mother was

diagnosed with skin cancer. I have watched her suffer a lot this year.

It has not been a pleasant experience for her. Hopefully we

have got rid of the full-blown cancer now but she is still

undergoing treatment for another disease. She is raising money for a

skin cancer charity based in West Bridgford. In the Arctic, the dogs

will not do all the work. When it is to stick, there is no other

option but to get off and push. It is going to be culled. I think we

will struggle with the overnight temperatures the most. It will get

down to minus 30. We will be tucked up in our nice warm sleeping bags.

Even though it will be hard work, she hopes it will be fun as well.

That was just amazing. It takes the It has been another mild day today

but it might be trying to feel more wintery tomorrow. Temperatures will

not be minus 30, will they? Thankfully, none of that in the

forecast tonight! But it will feel cooler than what we have been used

to. Thank you very much to James for this beautiful photograph. The

cloud has increased already deceiving and is pushing in over

the next few hours, bringing some spots of rain. -- this evening.

Leicestershire will remain mostly dry with clearer spells. Minimum

temperatures of four, so colder, and with the strong westerly winds

it will feel breezy and quite cold. Winds and rain will push in through

the morning. There will be outbreaks of rain in the afternoon