:00:12. > :00:17.First tonight, a historic d`y of commemoration has seen young and
:00:18. > :00:22.old come together to remembdr what history hopes we will never forget.
:00:23. > :00:29.Choristers from Cambridge s`ng for Prince Charles and world le`ders
:00:30. > :00:39.While closer to home, children learned the skills
:00:40. > :00:42.of war their forebears had to master to head off foreign invaders
:00:43. > :01:00.veterans at Bayeux Cathedral today, those who could only imagind the
:01:01. > :01:04.sacrifice stood alongside those who were remembering those who would
:01:05. > :01:11.fall in. Among them, the choristers from St John's School in Calbridge.
:01:12. > :01:16.And across the Channel near Kettering, youngsters were being
:01:17. > :01:21.given a taste of wartime drhlls American troops were stationed here
:01:22. > :01:25.in the days running up to D`Day And these recruits realise the
:01:26. > :01:31.significance of the Day that changed the war. It is why great wrhtten is
:01:32. > :01:38.a free country, because if we didn't win this, then Germany would be ..
:01:39. > :01:41.Just doing the activities they have set out for us is hard, but they
:01:42. > :01:45.would have to do it with he`vier guns and more equipment. Ond of
:01:46. > :01:50.those veterans was born in Northampton. James Peake lidd about
:01:51. > :01:56.his age to enlist, and landdd at Normandy. But he couldn't travel to
:01:57. > :02:01.today's commemorations becatse his son`in`law misspelt his namd on his
:02:02. > :02:06.passport. But today, veterans on both sides of the Channel wdre
:02:07. > :02:20.united by memories history will never forget.
:02:21. > :02:25.A protest has taken place in Milton Keynes calling
:02:26. > :02:28.for changes to council tax and the so`called bedroom t`x.
:02:29. > :02:31.It's more than a year since new rules on benefits were brought in.
:02:32. > :02:35.But with a change in power at the local council, protestors
:02:36. > :02:37.are calling for a better de`l for low income families, worried
:02:38. > :02:42.A reduction in the number of prison officers at a jail
:02:43. > :02:46.in Milton Keynes may have ldd to the death of an inmate.
:02:47. > :02:48.21`year`old Sean Brock commhtted suicide in his cell at
:02:49. > :02:52.Today the prison governor told the coroner cuts in staff
:02:53. > :02:55.in the past five years have had a negative impact on inmates.
:02:56. > :02:59.The coroner will now write to the Secretary of State.
:03:00. > :03:02.It's promising 1,500 jobs and a ?20 million
:03:03. > :03:09.A new Center Parcs holiday resort opened in Bedfordshire todax,
:03:10. > :03:12.but will it give the county the tourist boost it needs?
:03:13. > :03:18.Our business correspondent Richard Bond reports.
:03:19. > :03:22.An even bigger splash for Center Parcs.
:03:23. > :03:26.The swimming complex alone cost ?20 million, the whole of Woburn Forest,
:03:27. > :03:33.Plenty for the first paying guests to get stuck into today.
:03:34. > :03:37.Including the Aycock family from Tamworth.
:03:38. > :03:40.We've been coming to Center Parcs since the early 90s,
:03:41. > :03:44.so we have been to them all, and we just wanted to come `nd try
:03:45. > :03:48.There are 625 lodges, a 75`bedroom hotel and a full range
:03:49. > :03:55.Center Parcs already has fotr holiday villages in England,
:03:56. > :04:04.It is been ?250 million, two years in construction.
:04:05. > :04:07.It is going to inject about ?20 million per annum to
:04:08. > :04:15.As you will know, we have generated 150 jobs 0500
:04:16. > :04:19.jobs, permanent jobs, and a great news is that 90% of these pdople
:04:20. > :04:24.Among the workers, Rosemary Oakton, who's just had her second child
:04:25. > :04:29.I do ten hours a week, within the hours that I need to pick
:04:30. > :04:32.up my children from nursery, Monday and Friday only.
:04:33. > :04:35.The hope is Woburn Forest whll beef up tourism in Bedfordshire
:04:36. > :04:39.The fact is, Bedfordshire h`s an underdeveloped tourist industry.
:04:40. > :04:43.It has just 7% of the staying visitor market in the East.
:04:44. > :04:45.That compares with 26% for Norfolk, 21% for Essex.
:04:46. > :04:48.Well, Bedfordshire does reasonably well from the tourism perspdctive,
:04:49. > :04:54.but of course, a lot of people pass through the county,
:04:55. > :04:58.and we need to create reasons for them to stay in the county,
:04:59. > :05:04.And the Center Parcs development is exactly the right thing
:05:05. > :05:10.Woburn Forest is expected to draw most of its visitors from
:05:11. > :05:13.London and the south`east, `nd with that part of the world boomhng,
:05:14. > :05:16.today's's launch of a major new tourist attraction could be very
:05:17. > :05:25.Let's look at how much monex our region makes through totrism.
:05:26. > :05:29.Out in front, no surprise, is Cambridgeshire with ?1.2 billion
:05:30. > :05:32.a year, boosted by huge numbers of overseas visitors to Cambridge.
:05:33. > :05:35.Hertfordshire makes ?773 million a year followed by Northamptonshire
:05:36. > :05:47.Bedfordshire has a much smaller share, making ?317 million.
:05:48. > :05:51.So will the county be able to catch up with the opening
:05:52. > :05:57.Earlier I asked Sally Everett, a tourism expert.
:05:58. > :06:01.There has been some research in the past, and I've reallx looked
:06:02. > :06:04.at it, looking at, OK, how many times does someone go out
:06:05. > :06:09.Once, probably about 20 or so percent, twice is quite rare
:06:10. > :06:12.I think there is real importance to making sure that the visitors and
:06:13. > :06:17.the tourists who to go to Cdnter Parcs do go out, and I hope that
:06:18. > :06:20.there will be a lot of job creation, using local suppliers and local food
:06:21. > :06:23.and the things that they bux in different resources
:06:24. > :06:30.Villagers have been giving their views about plans for a new
:06:31. > :06:34.The site at Rookery Pit had been earlarked
:06:35. > :06:37.for a giant incinerator, but those plans have now been shelved.
:06:38. > :06:42.Instead a gas`fired power station is planned near the villages of
:06:43. > :06:45.Marston Moretaine, Stewartbx, Millbrook and Lidlington.
:06:46. > :06:48.Before we go on this special day of remembrance,
:06:49. > :06:53.let's go to the weather centre and Dan Holley with the fordcast.
:06:54. > :07:02.Good evening. Some very heavy downpours in places, but
:07:03. > :07:05.temperatures not dropping too far. The Met Office do have a yellow
:07:06. > :07:10.weather warning out for the rain tomorrow. We will have some storms
:07:11. > :07:15.during the morning on Saturday, and then it comes prior. The risk of
:07:16. > :07:19.further thunderstorms through the afternoon working their way
:07:20. > :07:26.northwards, possibly with h`il and gusty winds. It will feel r`ther
:07:27. > :07:31.humid. Your national forecast coming up, but your outlook back hdre:
:07:32. > :07:32.improve to some extent. The showers move away and a fresh appeal to
:07:33. > :07:41.things. Good evening. The good news is,
:07:42. > :07:44.there will be some decent dry on a sunny moment to come through the
:07:45. > :07:49.weekend. But over the next 24 hours, the threat of thunderstorms
:07:50. > :07:53.looms large. The ingredients have been coming together today - warm
:07:54. > :07:57.air pushing northwards out of Iberia, cooler air from the Atlantic
:07:58. > :08:01.trying to pushed away. In between the cloud has been building with a
:08:02. > :08:04.lot of energy in the atmosphere sparking off some nasty
:08:05. > :08:07.thunderstorms across parts of northern Spain and south-west
:08:08. > :08:13.France. They will produce most of the rainfall tomorrow. Ahead of it,
:08:14. > :08:16.the cloud is starting to produce thunderstorms itself. We've seen in
:08:17. > :08:20.Cornwall. A few sporadic thunderstorms across central and
:08:21. > :08:21.southern areas and towards Northern Ireland through the