:00:00. > :00:11.earlier this evening. There will be more on that and any
:00:12. > :00:16.Last week he was a star on the pitch when Sunderland took on Chelsea.
:00:17. > :00:18.Last night he was a guest of honour at the BBC's
:00:19. > :00:21.Sports Personality of the Year event.
:00:22. > :00:24.Bradley Lowery is the County Durham boy with a rare form of cancer who's
:00:25. > :00:27.received lorryloads of Christmas cards from wellwishers.
:00:28. > :00:30.The five-year-old from Blackhall was diagnosed
:00:31. > :00:37.Our first report is from Ian Reeve reports.
:00:38. > :00:40.Bradley Lowery's story has seen an outpouring of affection.
:00:41. > :00:44.The five-year-old with a rare cancer, a
:00:45. > :00:47.guest at last week's Sunderland match and today more evidence of how
:00:48. > :00:53.Tens of thousands of cards and parcels
:00:54. > :00:57.passing through Hartlepool's sorting office.
:00:58. > :00:59.A wave of warmth destined for Bradley.
:01:00. > :01:11.Bradley has 200,000 and it has added to the
:01:12. > :01:23.It has been really good and he has reached everybody's
:01:24. > :01:31.We have had them from all over the world, from China,
:01:32. > :01:33.On top of the cards, ?850,000 has been raised.
:01:34. > :01:37.Its original aim was to send Bradley to America for treatment.
:01:38. > :01:40.That may yet happen but the New Year will see
:01:41. > :01:44.him start a new course of treatment here in the UK and if his tumour
:01:45. > :01:48.shrinks, he could yet be America bound.
:01:49. > :01:52.For now, it is a Christmas like any other for Bradley.
:01:53. > :01:54.Born up on a compassion that transcends the
:01:55. > :02:10.A message willing him to be in festive good health and beyond.
:02:11. > :02:25.Thank you everybody for the cards and presents. Merry Christmas.
:02:26. > :02:28.Olivia and Georgia have written countless songs together but Bradley
:02:29. > :02:38.has inspired them to write an extra special tune for Christmas.
:02:39. > :02:51.Christmas Eve, stands next to the fireplace. Somehow it just all came
:02:52. > :03:00.together and it felt right. It was about Bradley and super heroes. He
:03:01. > :03:05.inspires us. He's so brave. And the sisters will perform their song for
:03:06. > :03:19.Bradley live at the Middleton Grange shopping Centre on Thursday between
:03:20. > :03:23.12 and one. # because you are the definition of a superhero. When it
:03:24. > :03:28.came into the charge we were so excited. The nation is behind badly.
:03:29. > :03:30.We could get him to number one if everybody downloaded it.
:03:31. > :03:32.Newcastle University says it will investigate the death
:03:33. > :03:36.of a 20-year-old student who died after drinking too much alcohol.
:03:37. > :03:39.Ed Farmer, who was in his first term at the university,
:03:40. > :03:44.died in the Royal Victoria Infirmary on Wednesday.
:03:45. > :03:47.Police say he arrived at the hospital in a life-threatening
:03:48. > :03:50.condition after drinking an excessive amount of alcohol.
:03:51. > :03:53.The University says it's saddened by the news and says once
:03:54. > :03:57.the Coroner establishes the facts, it'll take any appropriate action.
:03:58. > :04:00.Four people are being held by police investigating the murder
:04:01. > :04:06.He's been named as 29-year-old Mark Shaw.
:04:07. > :04:09.His body was discovered in a house in Grange Villa
:04:10. > :04:13.near Chester-le-Street on Saturday night.
:04:14. > :04:15.Four people in their late teens and early twenties were arrested
:04:16. > :04:20.in connection with his murder, all of whom knew the victim.
:04:21. > :04:23.Today's the last day of consultation on drastic changes to health
:04:24. > :04:27.More than three thousand people have had their say on controversial
:04:28. > :04:29.proposals which could see a downgrading of services
:04:30. > :04:33.at the West Cumberland Hospital, and changes to the running
:04:34. > :04:40.It's been a year of firey meetings, public protests and fear
:04:41. > :04:46.about the future of health care in Cumbria.
:04:47. > :04:49.This has to be everybody's number one priority in fighting those
:04:50. > :04:53.changes because it is going to cost lives.
:04:54. > :04:56.This document is at the centre of the debate.
:04:57. > :05:01.With a focus on making services safer, most of the preferred options
:05:02. > :05:05.would see a downgrading of services at the West Cumberland hospital.
:05:06. > :05:07.Services like childrens and maternity, meaning some mums
:05:08. > :05:15.could have to travel 40 plus miles in labour.
:05:16. > :05:26.with the loss of inpatient beds suggested in Alston,
:05:27. > :05:31.We are in dire circumstances and our lives matter
:05:32. > :05:32.as much as anybody in
:05:33. > :05:35.Penrith or Carlisle or Manchester or London.
:05:36. > :05:38.Those in charge say they've listened to the views expressed
:05:39. > :05:40.they insist decisions haven't been made and the changes discussed
:05:41. > :05:45.Instead we're told this is about making sure services
:05:46. > :05:51.The public consultation hasn't been a referendum,
:05:52. > :05:57.There are some underlying problems with the
:05:58. > :06:01.The inability to recruit specialist staff.
:06:02. > :06:06.That problem is not going to go away.
:06:07. > :06:08.It is a national problem affecting lots of
:06:09. > :06:10.parts of the country and we have to look
:06:11. > :06:14.services as well as the immediate opinion of the public.
:06:15. > :06:17.online with postal submissions being accepted until Friday.
:06:18. > :06:20.The decisions will be announced in March next year.
:06:21. > :06:27.The bells at York Minster will remain silent this Christmas,
:06:28. > :06:30.despite last ditch attempts by the church authorities to recruit
:06:31. > :06:36.The thirty bell ringers at the Minster were sacked
:06:37. > :06:39.in October and told they had to re-apply for their jobs -
:06:40. > :06:41.over concerns about safeguarding issues.
:06:42. > :06:50.The bells have been heard since 1361.
:06:51. > :06:54.In October, the Dean stopped its 30 volunteer workers from
:06:55. > :06:59.working over concerns about safeguarding and vetting procedures.
:07:00. > :07:01.The BBC understands bell-ringers from elsewhere
:07:02. > :07:05.were asked to stand in, and that finding trained
:07:06. > :07:09.It depends on the willingness of other
:07:10. > :07:12.ringers to come forward when they have their
:07:13. > :07:14.own responsibilities to
:07:15. > :07:18.fulfil at their own churches and how the Minster approaches it and
:07:19. > :07:22.whether they are willing to get some of their own ringers back in as part
:07:23. > :07:31.One experienced bell-ringer told look
:07:32. > :07:34.North it is likely anybody would take up what he described as a
:07:35. > :07:42.They are not commenting about the latest developments in
:07:43. > :07:50.they would be prepared to come in and ring the bells if the Minster
:07:51. > :08:24.Unless there is a quick resolution to the dispute, it seems the
:08:25. > :08:27.Minster's famous appeal will not be heard over the city for the first
:08:28. > :08:34.That's it from me, and it's time for our Christmas Week weather
:08:35. > :08:40.Less than a week to go until the big day and the question on everyone's
:08:41. > :08:42.lips is whether we have a white Christmas or not.
:08:43. > :08:49.We'll get to that, but this week is looking unsettled.
:08:50. > :08:52.It's going to be a breezy weaker times.
:08:53. > :08:55.We are going to see some spells of rain.
:08:56. > :08:58.Overnight tonight it is cloudy and dull.
:08:59. > :09:01.We start tomorrow morning on a fairly chilly note with no
:09:02. > :09:10.That cloud is going to break up and we see Sunny spells,
:09:11. > :09:19.A strong southerly winds picking up so it will turn
:09:20. > :09:25.As we go through Tuesday and into Wednesday we start seeing
:09:26. > :09:27.the cloud thickening from the West ahead of a weather front
:09:28. > :09:30.which is going to bring smart bricks of rain overnight.
:09:31. > :09:35.By the time we get to Wednesday that should have cleared away.
:09:36. > :09:39.Temperatures dropping down to around four or 5 degrees.
:09:40. > :09:42.So for Wednesday this is how things are looking.
:09:43. > :09:45.You can see those isobars are still squeezed together.
:09:46. > :09:50.So Wednesday look something like this, we start off on a breezy
:09:51. > :09:54.note, but we have some bright sunny spells.
:09:55. > :09:57.Between those sunny spells we are going to see a fair
:09:58. > :10:01.Some of the showers could be on the side with wintry
:10:02. > :10:05.Further into the week, Wednesday and Thursday,
:10:06. > :10:10.once we've got those fronts out of the way we see a ridge of high
:10:11. > :10:19.Thursday looks dry and settled before the next area of low
:10:20. > :10:26.Some showery rain, but things brighten up later on in the day.
:10:27. > :10:29.Winds will be lighter and temperatures around
:10:30. > :10:35.Friday, things look windier and more unsettled.
:10:36. > :10:38.Lots of cloud to start with, rain is going to be
:10:39. > :10:57.There will be plenty of rain and it is going to be very windy.
:10:58. > :11:02.Stay tuned for the forecast over the next few days.
:11:03. > :11:04.The rest of the weekend, some rain around, windy, but with dry and
:11:05. > :11:16.bright spells. Heavy weather is brewing, it will
:11:17. > :11:21.not reach us just yet. It will take a good few days before the stormy
:11:22. > :11:25.weather reaches us. At the moment, it's just potential, nothing is
:11:26. > :11:26.certain, but it will be different to what we've had over