01/08/2017 London News

A family desperate to bring their ill mother home

after she suffered a suspected heart attack on holiday

say they're facing huge medical bills because of what they say

was an innocent mistake when taking out travel insurance.

The 62-year-old is currently is on life support in Turkey,

For ten days now, 62-year-old Heather Pyke has been in a coma in a

hospital in Turkey following a suspected heart attack while on

holiday with her two daughters and granddaughter.

It was horrible, me and my sister just broke down.

My poor niece was outside, with one of

We had to put our sunglasses on, because I did not

They discovered that their mother did not have travel insurance.

She had what is known as a European health insurance card, which gives

access to state provided health care in EU countries, but Turkey is not

The money will just get higher and higher.

About one quarter of British travellers go

abroad without insurance and today, experts warned of the need for

Am afraid it isn't unusual, people go away

EHIC card or do not understand that cover that the card provides.

Wherever you go, it is worth checking that

you have a EHIC, everybody should have

won, it is applicable in the

place you are going to but you should underpin it with travel

While a EHIC card provides valuable health insurance

cover, it does not provide the rest of the benefits proper travel

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office do not pay

medical bills or the costs of flying people home by air ambulance.

The family set up a Just Giving page to raise money.

it, another reason we have to get her home.

If anyone is going abroad, make sure you have travel insurance.

It was their first family holiday together

and one they will now remember for all the wrong reasons.

More and more young people are seeking advice about what to do

in the event of an acid attack - that's according

It comes after the recent spate of incidents here in the capital.

St John Ambulance already run an education over, giving advice on

things like knife and gun wounds. This is the first time they've

included anything on acid attacks. It is driven by young Londoners,

evidently they have more and more been approaching first a desert

festival is on that type of thing and asking what they should do in

the event of an attack. I teach in schools every single day and hear

about lots of different things happening to our young people. This

is the biggest shocker, I believe. We do a lot around gunshot and knife

wounds but the acid attacks are so very damaging. This type of attacks

do seem to be on the rise. Yes. We have had 12 alleged attacks in the

last month. Police believe that is due to tougher legislation around

nice. They believe there should be an outright ban on carrying

corrosive substances. These classes are all about educating. You could

be selected because you are the first person at the time because it

is random makes it scary. What she said can be quite useful. It is

unfortunately had to learn about bad and could possibly potentially have

to implement it. If it does happen, and hopefully it does not, I would

know how to help them. Community leaders we have spoken to say they

believe outright bans are short-sighted and do not tackle the

cause of this worrying kind of trend. They think more social

policies are needed. Until then acid attacks are real, live issues. St

John Ambulance say it is responding from young people for calls for

practical advice about how to deal with an acid attack. Hanky. That is

what this thank you. A special opera performance has

taken place in Holland Park this evening - to raise money to help

support those affected The production company behind it,

which is mourning the loss of one of its own, has been criticised

in the past for being Birdie's Requiem is often used in

memoriam. Tonight in Holland Park it is being performed for those who

lost their lives and homes a couple of miles up the road in Grenfell

Tower. It directly affected one of their own, a member of staff, Debbie

Sample, who lived on the 16th floor, missing, presumably dead. It is

difficult for me to talk about. The last time I saw her was sitting at

this bench on the night of the fire. You're listening to the end of the

opera we were performing that night. We said good night at the end of it.

It was lovely and that was it hit helps the feeling about why we

wanted to make such an impact on why we wanted to do something. Grenfell

lies to the north of Kensington, the poor part of Kensington. The part of

the borough the council has been accused of neglecting. Until two

years ago, the opera in Holland Park with the council service, the same

as any other council leisure facility like Jim Morrison mean

pool. That has led to criticism about those who have questioned the

authority of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. They have

misspent government and council taxpayers funds on countless vanity

projects and hand-outs as we have heard while underfunding essential

services. Those who run the opera insist that there's is the

accessible opera company in the country. It has had direct

involvement with the community. When you pitch it as opera is not as

important as homes and living standards in the borough but that is

not an argument I would ever have with you or anyone else. They spent

millions on what sort of other services. It is the word, opera,

that is clearly a problem for people. Perhaps if we were straight,

theatre company, it would not be as controversial. In this country opera

generally as this stereotype that people tend to hold. Stereotype or

not, tonight was my one-off performance was a sell-out with all

proceeds going to help the victims of Grenfell Tower.

They go back hundreds, if not thousands of years as a way

of preserving the image of a loved one.

Beethoven, Oliver Cromwell and Napoleon were all rendered

Now death masks seem to be making a come back.

So you've got the guy laying here dead and I literally just

pour it out of the bowl, and the whole of his head

is literally covered in this thick blue moulding substance.

This was the former manager of a Soho club.

The mask was commissioned by his friends.

That's exactly how he looked when he died.

And as you can see, it picks up every detail.

Nick Reynolds says he's now made almost 100 death masks.

And in the kitchen, which is Nick's workshop,

One so recent, we've been asked to hide the face,

But Nick says a death mask helps some people deal with their grief.

Some people take the death mask to bed with them.

They wake up in the morning, roll over and bingo,

But they are tremendous cathartic tools and they help people come

I have had moments of, you know, of just talking to it, you know.

Joe Corre, who runs the company Agent Provocateur, commissioned Nick

to make a death mask of his father, the artist and performer

A copy of the mask is now in Highgate Cemetery.

It was made while his body lay in a morgue in Chalk Farm.

My exact thought, I walked in, wow, that's Malcolm,

Nick's masks can cost upwards of ?2,000.

The Highgate Cemetery Trust says if more death masks

are more being made, it would be good to

Time for me to say goodnight and as August begins I'll leave

you with Wendy for a look at the weather.

It was not too bad today. There were some decent spells of sunshine once

again but there were tell-tale signs in the sky that things were about to

change that there is a bit more cloud and some rain on the way at

the moment. It is out in the Atlantic that the low pressure

system developed. A beautiful swirl of cloud you can see that it has

been pushing its way towards us. There is cloud in the sky at the

moment and the rain is about to come onto the shores of Cornwall. For the

time being, we do have a bit of high cloud around which is keeping the

warmth of the day came. Temperatures not much lower than 13, 15 tonight.

It will feel muggy in the morning. A bit of brightness. The cloud begins

up. The rain will be on and off throughout the afternoon. Some of it

will be heavy. The brutal pick-up and temperatures will struggle

between 17 and 19. Something heavier through the evening. On Thursday it

is back to sunshine and showers to end the week. Fewer of them

is back to sunshine and showers to end the week. Fewer of them over the

weekend. Hello. We have changed the month but not the weather. You will

know that if you got caught in a heavy downpour. The Met Office says

July was wetter than average in the UK. Perhaps when it comes to

sunshine, in one of the few yellow areas that you have more sunshine

than average. It continued today on the first day of August with blue

sky on view at Lerwick. Some cloud in Cornwall. A funnel cloud, a

tornado that has not touched the ground. Quieter overnight but not

for long. Low-pressure is about to come in. It will be wet and windy