05/01/2012 East Midlands Today

This is East Midlands Today. Our top story tonight, the first big

storm of the year. Roads were closed and power supplies were cut

as high winds buffeted the region. There are relieved that it did it

hot -- did not hit anyone and it came at a time of Wight -- time of

night when there was little traffic. Or so a family's discussed as and

87-year-old woman was forced to lie here in the cold and wet for two

hours, waiting for an ambulance. Plus action stations - engineers

begin a military-style operation to replace a motorway flyover.

And making a big splash, the event Good evening. Welcome to tonight's

programme. We begin with the first big storm of the year to hit our

region. Severe winds sq caused major disruption today with gusts

of up to 60 mph. Hundreds of homes were left without power and

motorists were hard hit as trees and branches fell on to roads. Our

reporter Geeta Pendse is at the Highways Agency control room where

they have been monitoring the situation. Yes, the strong winds

have meant it has been a busy couple of days here Abbey Highways

Agency control room. All these screens might at the major routes

in our region and they had to deal with an overturned lorry this

morning and cars spinning on the carriageway. It seems more

disruption has occurred on minor routes with trees falling. Simon

hare has been looking at the polls scale of the clearance operation

across the region. It had stood tall for around 120 years. But for

much of today, this large beech tree lay blocking the A608 in

Derbyshire. It was simply operated by the strong winds in the early

hours of this morning. It was at a time of the night when there was

very little traffic so if it had been now, it would have been a

major disaster for somebody. If that tree had hit them, it would

have been deadly. But it also leads to a windfall of a different kind.

Somebody has got a benefit out of this. A lot of people are

collecting locks which will help them with their fuel bill and also

collecting money for Derbyshire Wish. And at Woodthorpe in

Nottingham, one family could not get out of their front door after a

tree fell in front of it. Electricity engineers have also

been busy restoring power to homes. Tonight, an estimated 500

households are still cut off in the The wider clear apple storm damage

is expected to last several days -- clear-up of storm damage. Lots of

trees across the whole of the county. It normally happens in the

North or south of the county. 30 odd trees fallen on the highway, a

dangerous situation. But at Chaddesden in Derby, the clean-up

of a different kind was required. The city council's new bags for

recycling cardboard were blamed for As we understand it, the majority

of incidents have now been cleared up. The advice of the Highways

Agency to drivers is to be prepared and tune into your local radio

station for any disruptions. just how strong was the strongest

gust? And can we expect a quieter time tonight?

We had many gusts in excess of 60 mph but the good news is things

seem to be settling down. I will Before that, friends and family of

and 87-year-old woman have described how she was left for

nearly two hours lying on the ground in the wet and cold awaiting

an ambulance. Elsie Hubbard broke her hip after falling in the back

garden. Her friends say it is disgusting she had to wait that

long. Elsie Hubbard is now recovering in

hospital. Be it is seven-year-old broker hip falling outside her home

in Leicestershire. She was lying on the concrete out here in the White.

Family friend John Straw found her. He immediately rang 999. We told

her help was on its way. In fact it was another two hours before the

ambulance took her. It was over an hour before a paramedic turned up.

It was cold and wet last Friday. Neighbours rushed round with duvets

and blankets, laid them over her to try to keep her warm. We were

trying to keep her dry but she was already wet because she had been on

wet ground exposed. She was getting cold. She says her treatment at the

Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham has been fantastic. But

filmed on a phone, she had strong words about her weight for an

ambulance. I was disgusted. You don't treat animals like that.

Midlands Ambulance Service told us a paramedic arrived after 53

minutes and an ambulance was dispatched within another 20

minutes. They said they were busy dealing with immediately life-

threatening incidents on that day but they were sorry for any

distress caused. Not good enough, says brother, Peter, who she lives

with. Ridiculous, isn't it? They reckon they do it within so many

minutes, it is all bunkum. It is disgraceful. This is and 87-year-

old woman who is vulnerable at the best of times. A great deal of

distress lying in the cold in a huge amount of pain. She has had an

operation and is now recovering well.

A firefighter had to be taken to hospital this morning along with

the man he had rescued from a burning building in Nottingham.

Crews were called to the three storey home in Carlton Road in

Sneinton. The firefighter has since been released and is expected to

return to duty. Day 39-year-old man arrested in connection with the

fire remains in police custody. More than �300,000 is to be spent

in Nottingham helping rough sleepers from Eastern Europe. The

homeless charity Framework received the money from the Government and

the City Council. So are -- staff say the problem has been rising

with one man dying in November. Cash will be spent on health

programmes and helping people to return to their own countries.

This weekend, a flyover which joins two of our major motorways is being

demolished. The Catthorpe Interchange, from tomorrow, where

the M6 meets the M1, is being closed for 36 hours. It will mean a

lengthy diversion. Preparing for the demolition -

above and by the side of two of England's busiest motorways. With a

new viaduct complete and already in use, this weekend, the race will be

on to remove the old one. This is in the old fast-lane of the M6. The

job now is to demolish the old viaduct and that is what will

happen over the next three days. Costing more than �20 million, the

new viaduct was needed because quite literally the old one was

falling down. For more than one decade, props like this have kept

its standing. Just under 5,000 tonnes of concrete were taken away

in the demolition waste and we have got about 10-12 machines excavating

the bridge during that time in a very co-ordinated operation. This

bridge demolition also on the M1 shows what will happen over the

weekend. Instead of blowing it up, contractors will nibble away at the

concrete until it has been completely removed. But the

demolition will mean a lengthy diversions for some drivers. There

diversions for some drivers. There of the closures of the M1

northbound between junctions 19 and 20 and southbound between junctions

19 and 18. Drivers wanting to join the M6 from the place for -- M1

Are you confident you can do it? Absolutely, we have got a good team

on board. It is meticulously planned. And if it is, both

motorway should be fully opened by We look next at the challenges

facing the NHS over it coming years. With the Government keen to push

through the biggest reforms in the history of the service, it is

likely that health will never be far from the headlines. There is

talk of the NHS budget being protected but the charges are huge.

The ageing population, the obesity problem and the concern that the

money is not keeping pace with The NHS is undergoing the biggest

reforms in its 64 year history. Way back in 1948, it had a budget of

�437 million. That works out at about �9 billion in today's money.

Over the next year, the budget to the front line in England will be

10 times that at �91 billion. But there's concern that funding is not

keeping up with demand. I have been to Derby and Derbyshire to see how

there's pressure there to make money got a lot further.

You could not miss the wind in Derby today and people also seemed

well aware of the winds of change sweeping the NHS. Many have their

own ideas of improvement this year. They should get rid of the middle

management would get everywhere in any government thing. Personally I

think a lot of people come over to be subsidised by the NHS in the UK.

I know it is not as good probably 12 months ago. I made a GP who

fears that with money tied, waiting lists will go up. Something has got

to give up. It's a question of which Park will give up first. I am

not sure what the answer is when money is tight across the whole

nation. This frontline GP in Darley Dale is one of those leading

radical change taking over the purse strings of the NHS. But with

financial pressure, is the timing of these changes terrible? Quite

the contrary. I think it makes us even more important that clinicians

are involved in the decisions for stops to James is the chief

executive of the Royal Derby Hospital, a 3% rise in funding lies

ahead in April but she doubts that will keep pace with demand. She has

to make the money go further. you look at a frail, elderly person,

they can pop in and out of hospital particularly if they live in a

nursing home. We are working to keep those patients in their normal

place of residence. The workforce in Derby hospitals is expected to

go down by 200. If nursing posts go because we are closing wards or

whatever, we hold vacancies so that we have got vacancies for those

nurses to go into. So the pressure is increasing and if winter gets

harsher, then it will be harder for the NHS to save money.

Staying with health, and a woman who spent years battling at an

eating disorder says doctors need to intervene in cases like her as

much earlier. Catherine Thomson from Derby had anorexia though

thankfully she is getting better. So much so that she is now 15 weeks

pregnant. Katherine said she only found the help she needed after she

lost several stone and was rushed to hospital.

Catherine Thomson A is on the rate to recovery. It was not always the

way. She spent the past seven years fighting food. Towards the end it

was going from a spoon of yoghurt to a smaller spin of yoghurt to a

teaspoon of sugar free jelly and and that became too much. I did not

eat for weeks. I could not sleep because of hunger pains and because

all my bones were sticking out. Catherine shared a staggering five

stones dropping from a healthy size 12 to smaller than a size six. But

she says she wished doctors had taken her condition was seriously

earlier will stop the went to the doctors and was based at the fobbed

off with go and eat some biscuits. My mind said was so controlling and

I think there's not enough help out there for people who are suffering

but might not be hugely overweight or underweight. In fact it was when

her trip to hospital after collapsing that she said she found

the help she needed. It came from consultants and an eating disorder

charity. I a lot of people have to hit critical points before they get

intervention. We are working to get training to NHS staff and

clinicians. We have been going into GPs' surgeries across the county.

Even now, 18 months on and pregnant, Catherine admits she still finds it

hard. The voices are still there and probably will always be there

to a certain extent and it gives me that extra help to battle them

every day. It is possible to recover, it is just hard. But you

A college is going ahead with a massive installation of solar

panels, even though the subsidy paid by Government for solar energy

is being cut. The project at Bilborough College in Nottingham is

one of the biggest in the country. Simon Ward reports.

It was a windy day to be making preparations to capture the power

of the sun but 400 solar panels are to be fitted to the Sports Centre

at Bilborough College. These students are studying environmental

issues and are fully behind the project. The majority of the energy

used here will be going towards the college and saving money and

obviously the more energy produced by the solar panels, the less

carbon emissions the colleges producing. We're running out of

things like oil and if we don't switch to swerve -- solar power and

wind power, we will struggle to keep up the lifestyle we got.

college would have got about 19p p Mirabella Tuesday but that is due

to be cut to around 13p by April although the government is facing a

legal challenge. It is hoped the solar panels will generate around

10 % of the energy needs of the sports hall and despite a

government trying to cut the subsidy, the colour -- the college

still feels it is worthwhile. the management team first look at

this, we were looking at the original tariffs but having done

that a lot of work on the long-term benefits, we feel it is clearly

worth doing. We have looked at the other drivers that make this

appealing to them. We did glimpse the Sun today but everybody at the

college is hoping to see more this year.

And now a tale about the philanthropy of philately, or how

the gift of more than a million used stamps has left charity

volunteers speechless. The stamps arrived packed into 24 sacks. The

money raised will be used to help soldiers in Afghanistan. As Carol

Hinds reports. Alex Wyndham and her aunt get to

grips with one of the biggest donations they have ever received.

A 10-year-old from Leicester was left speechless at the sight of 24

bags full of used stamps. When I walked in, I could not believe it.

We have found some old ones since 1973 and 1937. It could be worth

over �1,000. It is the biggest stamp donation I have ever seen.

Money raised by a stamp appeal helps the Leicester branch of the

support our soldiers at charity to send welfare parcels to those

serving in Afghanistan. I run a family support group for people

whose loved ones are away. There are 24 sacks and it will take

months to go through every single stamp. Mind you, any valuable ones

means more money to the charity. They have already found some

interesting stamps and the sax. Alex plans to boost the numbers she

collects this year with help from the public. I am making a box to

put some stamps in and giving it out to companies so they can

collect stamps. Anyone wanting any of the boxes of send stamps should

contact the charity's website. A lot of people will be doing that

now. Time for some sport and it's time to look at the transfer window.

Yes, it's January, so transfer talk is the order of the day. But Forest

manager Steve Cotterill says he wishes there wasn't a transfer

window at this point in the season. The Reds have already turned down

bids for several key players. never want to buy anybody in this

window because the price is inflated. If you want to do

anything, you want to sell them but you don't want to sell your best

players. I don't understand and the transfer window really. It puts

managers and the immense pressure. Meanwhile, Notts County are making

the most of the chance to boost their squad. Damion Stewart has

signed on loan until the end of the season. The defender has joined

from Bristol City and has 55 international caps with Jamaica.

The Leicester City manager, Nigel Pearson, has told us he's resigned

to losing Sol Bamba for this weekend's FA Cup tie with Forest.

Pearson would have liked to have played the defender, but the Ivory

Coast FA are insisting he joins them for a training squad ahead of

this month's Africa Cup of Nations. On to rugby and Leicester Tigers

take on Wasps this weekend. It's usually a clash between two of the

top teams, but this season, while the Tigers have climbed the table,

Wasps are still struggling. But one thing is the same, George Chuter

will be in the Leicester line-up after clocking up his 240th

Premiership game for the club. No- one in the division has played more

Premiership games. Jeremy Nicholas reports.

George is such a part of the Leicester team, it is easy to

forget he is a London boy. I'll always remember him from the

outside when I was at Saracens. We did not like Leicester but there

was always a respect about what they built appear. -- built at here.

Everybody has did Leicester because they were so successful. We were

bitter rivals at that time. I would have laughed in-your-face if you

had told me I'd be playing for Leicester to 12 years. He clocked

up his 240 of Premiership game for Leicester last week. To do it

consistently over a long time is hard to do and George has done that.

Does it make you feel good to have played so many games in the

Premiership? Just old. He will add to his tally this week against

Wasps. They will come appear full of fire. You have no idea what he's

talking about at any stage in his programme notes. He is a bizarre

man. As London 2012 draws ever closer,

time now for another look back at the last time we hosted the

Olympics. It was 64 years ago, but Kirsty Edwards has been to

Southwell to meet a former gymnast who remembers it well.

George may be 91 but he is still challenging himself as much as ever.

It is this kind of drive that saw him make the gymnastics team for

the 1948 London Olympics. It was awe-inspiring in one way. We had

not done it before and in those circumstances. I was doing

handstands and I used to do them on building boats and on my front gate

every day. I never fell off! These days, you'll find the elite

gymnasts practising in the gym under the watchful eye of coaches.

It is a world away from how George trained. It was freezing in the

winter in the gym. There was no heating. We went on the high bar

and my hands almost froze. We had coconut mats, like the doormats. In

the gym now, the gymnasts cannot work until they have 27 centimetres

of matting. Becky Downing has a great chance of making London 2012

and it will be different to the 1948 games. We were on the turf in

Wembley in the pouring rain. It was rather deflating. Did you go to

Beijing? Yes. Massive crowds and it was a phenomenal experience. The

whole atmosphere was amazing. is hoping that Becky will be

creating more amazing Olympic Mary -- memories.

Some things change but the sense of competitiveness remains the same.

Did you know that around one in five people, and that includes

adults and children, can't swim. Hopefully though, that number could

soon be dropping thanks to a new scheme aimed at getting more people

into the swimming pool. Today, local swimming stars, youngsters

and even our own trunks-clad reporter Paul Bradshaw, joined a

special training session in Leicester.

Learning from the professionals. These children and getting tips and

how to improve this winning technique. The event was in

preparation for the world's biggest fund-raising swim this spring.

great to have launches like this for the swimmer on. It creates a

lot of awareness and money for the charities. It gets kids involved at

the age. It is important to get everybody involved in swimming. It

is fantastic for East Midlands to get everybody involved. If we can

find the next great swimmer from Leicester, that would be fantastic.

With around one in five adults and children unable to swim, organises

a hoping this event will make a difference. It is a shameful

statistics but there are lots of plays -- things in place to change

that. Schools were men is important than trying to get centres to

increase adult swimming lessons but also to get children to encourage

their parents to come down as well. It is all for a good cause, raising

money for money Cury and Sport Relief. The summer fund will take

place on the 27th of 29th April, giving everybody the chance to take

the plunge. Were they Chancellor shot? I was

Were they Chancellor shot? I was It was the persistence of the

strong wins this morning causing all the damage. This photo was

taken this morning of fallen trees. The reason things are starting to

settle down is that we are seeing that area of low pressure pushing

away and those isobars getting further apart. Gradually, those

wins will ease. As we go through this evening, we do have a bit of

cloud around. But for most, it is a dry and clear night. The

temperatures will fall quite quickly, down to a minimum of one

degree Celsius. We do have some standing water on the ground and we

might see some icy patches. We still do have windy conditions

overnight but it won't be as guest beers what we've been having

recently. Tomorrow morning, a decent amount of sunshine and we

will notice the cloud bubbling up a bit as we go into the afternoon. It

should be mostly dry with a small chance of an occasional shower. The

winds are much lighter by the time we get a Friday afternoon. As we

going to Saturday, we will continue with these lighter winds and there

will be some sunshine around. Some cloud increase as we go through the

day and Sunday, a good deal of dry weather and a good deal of winter

sunshine. We are ending the week and a much quieter note. Looking at