10/05/2014 East Midlands Today

With your news now for the East Midlands, I'm Maurice Flynn.

First tonight, a new report claims the closure of two pits, including

Nottinghamshire's Thoresby Colliery, will cost the taxpayer up to ?75

million. UK Coal wants to shut Thoresby in 18

months' time, to avoid bankruptcy. More than 500 people would lose

their jobs. But the TUC says the Government ought to take a

longer`term view, after refusing a bail`out for the firm.

It'll be terrible news for the miners, their families, their

communities, but Her Majesty's Treasury will lose ?75 million in

lost income tax, national insurance, there will be we reckon about ?1

billion of damage to the local economy because of supply chain

impacts ` frankly there is no economic case for closure. It would

be completely the wrong thing to do. The RSPB is offering a reward for

information leading to a conviction, over the death of a goshawk.

The 11`year`old female was found with two broken legs on the

Chatsworth Estate. The charity believe she was caught in an illegal

spring trap. They say goshawks have been repeatedly targeted in the

northern Peak District, and are now on the brink of disappearing from

the area completely. Onto sport, and the final day of the

league season in rugby union's Premiership.

With their place in the end`of`season play`offs already

confirmed, Leicester Tigers beat Saracens 31`27.

Derby County are getting ready for their biggest game of the season so

far. They take on Brighton tomorrow in

the home leg of their play`off semifinal. The winners of the tie

will head to Wembley. Derby go into the game with a 2`1 advantage from

the first leg. We'll approach it like we have done

for pretty much every game this season, especially at home, we've

got a very good home form heading into it, and I think that'll stand

us in good stead because we'll have near on 30,000 cheering us on, and

hopefully they can will us to a victory.

Now, if you didn't know, there's a huge singing contest this weekend.

No, not Eurovision ` though more on that in a moment.

No, this is about the Sweet Adeline International Contest in Nottingham.

Derbyshire's Dale Diva decided to perform on the tram on the way to

it. They're among more than 1,500 women taking part, for a chance to

represent the UK Netherlands at the World Championships in America

next year. What did you make of their singing?

It was good. Did you expect to see that on a tram? No, not really.

What did you make of the singing? Fabulous! Brightened everybody up.

Everybody was smiling. It was good. Very good. Did you expect to see

that on a tram ever? No, never ` and it brightened the journey up. It

were wonderful. Now to that other song contest `

Eurovision! Less than two hours now until it kicks off in Copenhagen.

Close friends and family of Leicestershire's Molly

Smitten`Downes are with her in Denmark. They're supporting the

Rothley singer who is representing the UK. She's performing last

tonight, singing a song she wrote herself.

THEY CHEER. I'm so pleased for her. She's worked

so hard over the years to get somewhere, and now it looks like

she's taking full advantage of it. Terrific. It's been amazing support.

It's just been a real buzz around Leicester.

And also live ` and already on air tonight from Copenhagen ` is The

Beat, the very show that helped discover Molly; that's on your local

BBC radio station already. Beat, the very show that helped

discover Molly; that's on your It started at 6:00, so see if you can

watch one and listen to the other for a great insight from behind the

scenes. A little closer to home, it's been a

proper spring day full of sunshine and showers. Let's check your

weather now for the rest of the weekend. Sara has our forecast.

and showers. Let's check Good evening. Well, the showers

finally arrived and they are certainly going to stay with us as

well through Sunday. It will be quite a cool day tomorrow, and in

between those showers though we're still likely to see a little bit of

sunshine. Now, they're continuing throughout the evening and

overnight, one or two heavy ones still remaining into the early

hours, and still a blustery night with that west`south`westerly wind

and night`time temperature of nine Celsius. Throughout tomorrow morning

though, the wind remains quite strong and gusty, the showers

continue to filter in as well. The odd heavy one's still likely into

the afternoon, with a chance of some thunder, but the temperatures

reaching a maximum of 14 Celsius tomorrow. It is going to be a little

bit cooler, certainly feeling fresh outside, but high pressure is

building in to finish of the week. Simon Ward will have your updates

tomorrow; the first of those at 18:50.

Good evening. We have seen plenty of showers scattered across the country

today. There will be drier and brighter spells in between. Low

pressure is sitting across the country, with some tightly packed

isobars to the south. That indicates some strong winds. They will

continue throughout the night, going up to gale force at times. The main

focus of the wettest weather across parts of West Wales is this rain. It

will not be a particularly cold start to Sunday. Showers, not

everywhere, some of us will see drier weather weather window of

sunshine around, but be prepared for those showers if you're stepping out

in the morning. Throughout the day on Sunday, a bit of an improvement

across parts of south-west England