08/04/2017 East Midlands Today

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

A passenger ferry that dates back 800 years has today been relaunched,

linking a Nottinghamshire village to its Leicestershire counterpart.

The service from Normanton on Soar disappeared for around a decade,

but this weekend officially reopened - along with a new boathouse.

And as Carolyn Moses reports people were only too keen to try it out

Something that's been missing on this stretch for several years.

One side, Nottinghamshire, the other side, Leicestershire,

The chain ferry, one of just a few left in the UK

There were hopes to restore this service

two years ago but unfortunately the covers of the ferry proved

The ferry house, a shelter for it and its passengers.

It's history, and it's history that we can all use,

we can't lose it, it's something special.

And I think for it just to fall by the wayside

People come from one side, they can come from the other,

they can get across, they can go to the pub.

It's just great, it's just a fantastic thing to have back in

In fact, Stuart and other village volunteers spent over

Now with a regular weekend service beginning its hope to boost tourism

And among those enjoying the boat launch today,

a woman who ferried it herself in the 1940s.

So this ferry across the Soar is now in service,

the floating link to times past but with buoyant hopes

for its future.

Volunteers who usually deliver vital blood to the NHS made another

hospital delivery today - Easter Eggs.

Around 100 riders joined the Leicestershire and Rutland Blood

Bikes to take the chocolate from Coalville to poorly children

It's the first egg run the group's held, and It's hoped it'll also

raise money for improvements to the children's emergency ward.

The blood bike itself is a completely volunteer charity, so

we don't get any money from the NHS or anything, or it's

The money that we raised today will go

to fuel for the blood bikes and it's going

children's emergency board and what they

are looking to do with the money

we raised today is buy sensory equipment for the equipment.

Visitors to the Royal Derby this weekend are being warned

about the closure of one of the entrance's

From just after eight tonight, Entrance B on Uttoxeter Road

will close for the rest of the weekend.

It's as the Trust creates a new one-way hospital loop road

It's hoped the new system will ease congestion on-site and nearby roads.

Onto today's football - starting in the Championship

A Tom Ince goal in the ninetieth minute saw Derby County beat

Brimingham City 2-1, while Nottingham Forest beat

In League two, Notts County beat Carlisle 2-1; while Mansfield lost

And in rugby, the Leicester Tigers have been at Twickenham

this afternoon - playing Bath in the Aviva Premiership

Two late tries saw Bath came from behind to beat Leicester 27-21

in a fixture switched by Bath to the home of rugby

Let's check the weather now - Kay has the forecast.

Tomorrow's headline is much the same as this gorgeous day today.

Temperatures higher with warm spells of sunshine. Through the evening

staying dry, not as cold as it was last night, temperatures down at

seven and 9 degrees, seven is 45 Fahrenheit. The cool start tomorrow,

but chilly, fine spell of sunshine and a sparkly day and a bit warmer,

still coming in from south, highs of 20 degrees. Further north, a bit

cloud falling income sunshine a little bit hazy towards the end of

the day, that cloud continues to the day, that cloud continues to

build, bringing fresh air and next week more typical for the time of

year. The Beat is on-air already

on your local BBC Radio. Tonight, Nottingham singer Rob Green

launches his new single; X Factor winner Louisa Johnson drops

by and Circa Waves are in session. That's with Dean and the team -

on-air and online at More from me and the team,

here, at 6.40, tomorrow. What a spectacular day to day.

Hardly a cloud in the