:00:03. > :00:08.Hello and welcome to Midlands Today, with Nick Owen and Suzanne Virdee.
:00:08. > :00:11.The headlines tonight. "They'll save lives". Fire chiefs
:00:11. > :00:20.call for sprinkler systems to be fitted in all new homes. Remember,
:00:20. > :00:27.years ago we had a campaign to get seatbelts fitted to all cars. This
:00:27. > :00:29.is a similar sort of thing in people's houses. Look at the
:00:29. > :00:33.difference that made. Four people arrested after reports
:00:33. > :00:37.of a shooting in a Warwickshire village. We have lived here for
:00:37. > :00:40.nine or 10 years and I haven't seen anything like it.
:00:40. > :00:43.Fears that hundreds of jobs could go, under plans to cut emergency
:00:43. > :00:53.surgery at Stafford Hospital. And vibrant at the Villa, as
:00:53. > :00:57.
:00:57. > :01:01.thousands of fans stream in for the Good evening, welcome to Monday's
:01:01. > :01:05.Midlands Today from the BBC. Tonight, "change the law to save
:01:05. > :01:07.the lives of hundreds of people killed in house fires". That's the
:01:07. > :01:10.appeal today from senior firefighters who want to see new
:01:10. > :01:14.legislation introduced to force builders to fit all new homes with
:01:14. > :01:20.sprinkler systems. 347 people died in house fires across the country
:01:20. > :01:23.last year. In the Midlands, 35 people were killed. The worst-hit
:01:23. > :01:29.part of our region was the West Midlands Fire Service area, where
:01:29. > :01:32.16 people died. The law has already been changed in Wales, but in
:01:32. > :01:35.England, developers are worried about the cost. The Government has
:01:35. > :01:40.also said it has no plans to change the law. Joan Cummins has this
:01:40. > :01:43.exclusive report. Two identical houses in Stratford
:01:43. > :01:49.Upon Avon designated for demolition, but now destined for a graphic fire
:01:49. > :01:54.demonstration. The house on the left doesn't have sprinklers. The
:01:54. > :02:04.one on the right does. Warwickshire Fire Service invited me to witness
:02:04. > :02:08.the devastating reality of a raging house fire. As you can see, it has
:02:08. > :02:13.been a matter of seconds is as the fire has taken hold and smoke is
:02:13. > :02:23.rising in the building. If you were living in this house, it could be
:02:23. > :02:23.
:02:23. > :02:29.potentially fatal. As the fire intensified, time for a quick exit.
:02:29. > :02:32.You saw how quickly this room filled with toxic smoke. There is
:02:32. > :02:36.every possibility that if you had been asleep on the sofa, you would
:02:36. > :02:40.not have woken up. Next door in house number two, the fire started
:02:40. > :02:41.in exactly the same way but ended abruptly and differently. When the
:02:41. > :02:46.temperature hit 68 degrees Centigrade, the sprinklers
:02:46. > :02:50.activated, the flames were quenched and a grey smoke filled the room.
:02:50. > :02:54.Fire fighters are still dealing with the fire in this house but you
:02:54. > :02:59.can immediately see that the level of smoke coming out of the windows
:02:59. > :03:01.is nothing compared to the earlier house. I think it is a no-brainer
:03:01. > :03:05.because I want the people of Warwickshire and the rest of the
:03:05. > :03:09.country to be the safest they can be. That is why we are trying to
:03:09. > :03:12.lobby for support and impress upon people the benefit of sprinklers
:03:12. > :03:15.because I think they should be introduced as standard,
:03:15. > :03:19.particularly in new houses and social housing. This should be on
:03:19. > :03:23.the start off the plans. Caroline Tucker, from Swansea, suffered
:03:23. > :03:25.life-changing burns when she was 11. Her four-year-old sister died. And
:03:25. > :03:34.23 years later, Caroline knows first-hand the emotional cost of
:03:34. > :03:44.fire. I wouldn't want my worst enemy to go what I went through.
:03:44. > :03:44.
:03:45. > :03:48.Nobody deserves that. You have people staring at you in the street.
:03:48. > :03:51.You have got children running a wear from you. Caroline
:03:51. > :03:53.successfully lobbied the Welsh Assembly this year to introduce
:03:53. > :03:56.legislation in 2012 that insists that sprinklers are fitted to new
:03:56. > :04:06.homes. She can't understand the reluctance to extend this
:04:06. > :04:09.
:04:09. > :04:13.legislation throughout Britain. Could she look me in the eye and
:04:14. > :04:17.say, it is not worth that. I don't think so. Fitting sprinklers to a
:04:17. > :04:19.new house can cost around �2,000. The Home Builders Federation, who
:04:19. > :04:23.represent private developers, say they'll abide by law changes but
:04:23. > :04:25.say the cost of the long list of requirements is making many sites
:04:25. > :04:32.non-viable. In other words, it's all about cost, something that
:04:32. > :04:35.gives social housing providers a similar dilemma. There's lots of
:04:35. > :04:40.pressures on our funding and we have lots of different priorities.
:04:40. > :04:44.Once we have finished building the properties, we don't have much
:04:44. > :04:48.money left. We are not private developers and we do not make a
:04:48. > :04:51.profit. In a statement the Government said:
:04:51. > :04:54."There are no plans to force builders to fit sprinklers in new
:04:54. > :04:59.homes. Extensive analysis has shown that this is neither necessary nor
:04:59. > :05:09.cost-effective". Joining us now is Nadhim Zahawi,
:05:09. > :05:10.
:05:10. > :05:16.the Conservative MP for Stratford- upon-Avon. His constituency covers
:05:16. > :05:21.the Warwickshire Fire Service area. This seems like a great idea. Are
:05:21. > :05:28.you disappointed your government says it has no plans to change the
:05:28. > :05:33.law and make sprinklers compulsory in all new homes? It is a good idea.
:05:33. > :05:39.You heard from the people in that film and Caroline is a very
:05:39. > :05:46.powerful advocate for the sprinkler system. We saw the effects on those
:05:46. > :05:52.two houses in Stratford. Legislation is not felt to be the
:05:52. > :05:56.be-all and end-all of what needs to happen. The minister things using
:05:56. > :05:59.the Localism Bill and a Big Society agenda, working with the planning
:05:59. > :06:03.authority and the housing associations, with builders and
:06:03. > :06:11.developers, you can actually get a real movement together. If you
:06:11. > :06:18.think about it, if the new-build builders use this as a way, and a
:06:18. > :06:24.selling point, it can... But it will be a lottery. Some new homes
:06:24. > :06:28.will have it and some won't. That seems unfair? Only if you only get
:06:28. > :06:35.certain people doing it. But if we are to get real movement, I think
:06:35. > :06:37.it has to come from bottom-up, rather than top-down. More
:06:37. > :06:41.legislation is not necessarily a good thing when you are trying to
:06:42. > :06:49.get more houses built and the economy working again. For us to
:06:49. > :06:53.add to the great big line of rules and regulations that already hamper
:06:53. > :06:57.companies, it is not necessarily the right thing to do. Some of the
:06:57. > :07:01.people we saw in our report might disagree with you. One lady was
:07:01. > :07:08.very badly disfigured and she says a sprinkler would have saved her
:07:08. > :07:14.years of agony? Absolutely, and as I said, Caroline is a very powerful
:07:15. > :07:21.champion for the use of sprinkler systems and she has run a very
:07:21. > :07:24.powerful campaign. The deputy chief and all of Warwickshire Fire
:07:24. > :07:29.Service want to see more sprinklers but legislation is not the only way
:07:29. > :07:35.we can go about it. We need to work together, using the Localism Bill,
:07:35. > :07:42.and with society to make sure this can happen. We have run out of time.
:07:42. > :07:45.Thank you for joining us. And you can see more from that
:07:45. > :07:48.report from Joan Cummins on the BBC Coventry and Warwickshire website.
:07:48. > :07:52.Thanks for joining us. You're watching Midlands Today, from the
:07:52. > :07:55.BBC. Later in tonight's programme, sell-out concerts for Take That at
:07:55. > :07:59.Villa Park tonight and tomorrow, but you wouldn't want to be soaked,
:07:59. > :08:02.now, would you? Find out what weather's doing later on.
:08:02. > :08:05.Four people from Coventry have been arrested after reports that a man
:08:06. > :08:08.was shot dead. The victim, who hasn't been named, was killed just
:08:09. > :08:12.yards away from a Methodist church hall in the Warwickshire village of
:08:12. > :08:17.Bulkington. Detectives believe that he was deliberately targeted by his
:08:17. > :08:21.killers. This report from Sarah Falkland.
:08:21. > :08:23.Just a few doors down from the Methodist church, and at a time
:08:23. > :08:32.when everyone else was enjoying the blazing sunshine yesterday, a man
:08:32. > :08:37.was murdered in an outbuilding at the back of this house. The police
:08:37. > :08:41.arrived just before 4pm yesterday afternoon and found a man inside
:08:41. > :08:44.with very serious chest injuries. They have described this as a
:08:44. > :08:50.violent murder and say the victim had been specifically targeted.
:08:50. > :08:55.Neighbours say this is a shared house occupied by a group of men.
:08:55. > :09:01.They are a mysterious bunch. But they never bothered us at all. In
:09:01. > :09:05.fact, they often come and borrow some of my tools. They borrowed a
:09:05. > :09:08.wheelbarrow and some stores and a hammer because they have been doing
:09:08. > :09:12.a lot of work on their property. Witnesses inside the house managed
:09:12. > :09:18.to escape through windows. They're said to be deeply traumatised.
:09:18. > :09:23.Roads in the village were sealed off for much of the day. It was so
:09:23. > :09:28.surprising for Bulkington. We have been here for 10 years, we came up
:09:28. > :09:33.from Kent. And it is lovely here, nice and quiet. I have never seen
:09:33. > :09:37.anything like this before. It is very unexpected to see the police
:09:37. > :09:41.like this. The minister at the Methodist church said the murder is
:09:42. > :09:47.a shocking reminder of how society has disintegrated. It is a sad
:09:47. > :09:50.reflection of the fact that, in a sense, the church, although it is
:09:50. > :09:58.hello ground in itself, it's reached doesn't necessarily go very
:09:58. > :10:08.far beyond. -- its reach. A gang of four men were seen running from the
:10:08. > :10:10.house. Police are keen to hear from anyone who saw them.
:10:10. > :10:13.The BBC has seen confidential documents which suggest all
:10:13. > :10:16.emergency surgery could be taken away from Stafford Hospital. It's
:10:16. > :10:19.feared this would add to the financial pressures on the Trust,
:10:19. > :10:22.which needs to save �42 million over the next three years. Almost
:10:22. > :10:26.�31 million of savings are needed because of inflation and the fact
:10:26. > :10:29.the hospital's income is being frozen for certain treatments. A
:10:29. > :10:32.further �7.5 million drop in income is forecast because the Trust is
:10:32. > :10:37.seeing fewer patients. It'll also lose an additional �4 million, when
:10:37. > :10:41.it stops providing services such as complex surgery. The hospital is
:10:41. > :10:45.currently at the centre of a public inquiry into poor standards of care.
:10:45. > :10:48.Our health correspondent, Michele Paduano, reports.
:10:48. > :10:51.Stafford Hospital has been the focus for all the difficulties in
:10:51. > :10:56.the NHS. A series of catastrophic reports about poor care and
:10:56. > :11:05.committed campaigning have severely dented its reputation. It now faces
:11:05. > :11:09.serious financial challenges, as services are taken away. This
:11:09. > :11:13.confidential document is a work in progress but it suggests all
:11:13. > :11:17.emergency services should be moved from Stafford to Stoke-on-Trent.
:11:17. > :11:25.That complex surgery should be done on a shared rota and that children
:11:25. > :11:28.should only be operated on during the daytime for minor surgery.
:11:28. > :11:32.Labour supporter Diana Smith runs a blog. She fears the constant attack
:11:32. > :11:38.on the hospital has damaged its long-term future. We have had over
:11:38. > :11:41.three years now of very negative publicity, so people will make the
:11:41. > :11:45.assumption, this is a bad hospital and we can do without it. That is
:11:46. > :11:48.not necessarily helpful to the people of Stafford. Over 100 people
:11:48. > :11:51.have been involved in drafting the report. The hospital's medical
:11:51. > :11:56.director says the changes to surgery are in the best interests
:11:56. > :12:02.of patients. Some of the major cancer surgery is already done in
:12:02. > :12:05.Stoke, so we are building links with all of our partners. It will
:12:05. > :12:09.be up to the public to decide how we provide the service but the key
:12:09. > :12:13.message is that this is good news for the patients, which will give
:12:13. > :12:16.us the outcomes we want. At the cafe where the campaign to expose
:12:16. > :12:22.the failings of Stafford began, there were concerns as to how cuts
:12:22. > :12:26.of �42 million could be achieved. What we are hoping from the inquiry
:12:26. > :12:32.is that he will identify some of this money that can be saved, and
:12:32. > :12:37.yes, I do think money can be saved is safely, but where that amount of
:12:37. > :12:42.money can be saved, I don't know. The MP for Stafford Hospital
:12:42. > :12:46.recognises finances are tight. think it will be extremely
:12:46. > :12:50.difficult, but I would also point out that other hospitals are in the
:12:50. > :12:55.same position. We're going to have to face up to the reality that they
:12:55. > :13:04.are expensive, and with an ageing and growing population, the needs
:13:04. > :13:07.are greater. A public consultation will now find out how people react.
:13:07. > :13:10.Increasing numbers of companies in China want to do business in the
:13:10. > :13:13.West Midlands. That's the message following the visit of Chinese
:13:13. > :13:16.Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to the region yesterday. A total of 16
:13:16. > :13:19.firms from south-west China alone are known to have investment plans
:13:19. > :13:25.in the pipeline. The news comes on the day Britain secured major trade
:13:25. > :13:30.deals with China worth �1.4 billion. Cath Mackie reports.
:13:30. > :13:33.They lit the Beijing Olympics and are hoping to do the same in London.
:13:33. > :13:43.NVC is the biggest lighting company in China, and when they looked to
:13:43. > :13:45.
:13:45. > :13:49.expand, they came here to Rubery, near Birmingham. Birmingham is the
:13:49. > :13:55.centre of this sort of industry and it gives us easy access to the
:13:55. > :13:59.whole of the United Kingdom. It also has a very high quality of
:13:59. > :14:05.labour force. 80 people work here and the site's being extended to
:14:05. > :14:09.create around 140 jobs within three years. What they want to do his own
:14:09. > :14:15.a lighting Company in this country but with it UK management and a UK
:14:15. > :14:18.feel. We sell UK products and it helps us in the UK but also to
:14:18. > :14:20.export to other countries like Africa. According to the City
:14:20. > :14:25.Council, Birmingham has attracted more Chinese investment than any
:14:25. > :14:30.other city in the UK, since 2003. 600 jobs have been created and it
:14:30. > :14:34.looks as if more are in the pipeline. China is not only
:14:34. > :14:37.pursuing economic development... Lindsay Li's job is to help Chinese
:14:37. > :14:42.businesses invest in the UK, and more of them want to come to the
:14:42. > :14:47.West Midlands. From a region, south-west China, we now have maybe
:14:47. > :14:51.16 active projects in the pipeline. So we are helping them to get to
:14:51. > :14:54.the UK. But there remains the thorny issue of human rights in
:14:54. > :14:57.China. A small protest group greeted the Chinese Premier at the
:14:57. > :14:59.Chinese-owned MG Rover at Longbridge yesterday. But Downing
:15:00. > :15:03.Street rejects suggestions trade is being secured at the expense of
:15:03. > :15:11.human rights. Jeffrey Yap set up his laundry company in Birmingham
:15:11. > :15:16.26 years ago. He hopes closer trade will lead to more openness. When
:15:16. > :15:23.you let the cat out of the bag, you cannot put it back in. It is good
:15:23. > :15:26.that China is now expanding, and engaging the West. And if that
:15:26. > :15:34.opens the door to a potential market of over a billion people,
:15:34. > :15:43.West Midlands businesses will be hoping to clean up. You were going
:15:43. > :15:47.to speak as well, when -- weren't you!
:15:47. > :15:50.You're watching Midlands Today from the BBC. Thanks for joining us this
:15:50. > :15:53.Monday evening. Still to come, one day this car could drive itself.
:15:53. > :15:56.It's under development at a new �10 million centre, which opened today.
:15:56. > :16:06.And heading towards their centuries but still going strong. We'll be
:16:06. > :16:08.
:16:08. > :16:12.meeting the cricketing stars of Worcestershire's over-70s side.
:16:12. > :16:14.Tens of thousands of pounds worth of trade is being lost in the
:16:14. > :16:18.Midlands because of the ongoing conflict in Libya. The conflict has
:16:18. > :16:20.now been underway for 100 days and one company has been forced to
:16:21. > :16:23.abandon a growing export market to the North African country. Bob
:16:23. > :16:25.Hockenhull reports. Business with Libya was expected to
:16:25. > :16:28.double for this Birmingham wholesaler this year. Awan
:16:28. > :16:31.Marketing exports goods ranging from chocolate to cleaning products
:16:31. > :16:34.to the North African country. But it was forced to abandon a �150,000
:16:34. > :16:39.order from Libya earlier this year when no shipping was available
:16:39. > :16:44.because of the troubles. We were stuck with this product and they
:16:44. > :16:49.thought it may have been temporary. This lasted a few months and
:16:49. > :16:55.eventually we had to liquidate the stock. We took a �25,000 loss. But
:16:55. > :17:02.we see this as a short-term loss. Although it is painful, we hope the
:17:02. > :17:07.climate will change. With it Europe struggling economically, this was
:17:07. > :17:15.seen as a potentially good export market. That is until the trouble
:17:16. > :17:20.started. I think the situation in Libya has undoubtedly depressed the
:17:20. > :17:25.trade flows between our countries. If you are not getting the money,
:17:25. > :17:29.you will go elsewhere. So it is not helpful. There is one thing the
:17:29. > :17:31.Midlands is still exporting to Libya, though. Aid. The Birmingham-
:17:31. > :17:34.based charity Islamic Relief has already sent �2 million worth of
:17:34. > :17:37.medicines and food supplies. This recent footage shows the charity's
:17:37. > :17:46.aid workers helping refugees on the Tunisian border. Moustafa Osman has
:17:46. > :17:50.just returned from there. The more the war intensify his, the more we
:17:50. > :17:54.will get refugees coming out of the country, so we have to prepare for
:17:54. > :17:57.that and be prepared all the time. But with an arrest warrant now out
:17:57. > :18:00.for Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi, the hope is this conflict will end
:18:01. > :18:10.soon so that business and not charity can be our main export to
:18:11. > :18:16.
:18:16. > :18:19.the troubled country. Around 50,000 Take That fans will
:18:19. > :18:22.pour into Villa Park tonight for the first of two sell-out shows by
:18:22. > :18:25.the pop superstars. For Stoke-on- Trent boy Robbie Williams, it's
:18:25. > :18:27.almost a return to home turf. Our arts reporter, Lindsay Doyle, has
:18:27. > :18:30.been following the build-up of excitement. Lindsay, Take That fans
:18:30. > :18:35.have had a lot of publicity lately for being, well, rather exhuberant?
:18:35. > :18:39.They certainly have a reputation and the guys here at Villa Park
:18:39. > :18:42.have certainly been living up to that reputation. We have had
:18:43. > :18:48.singing, flamboyant outfits and even screaming, and that was before
:18:49. > :18:58.the doors opened. And the loss of the excitement seems to be down to
:18:59. > :18:59.
:18:59. > :19:03.a certain lad from Stoke. band's attendance records is
:19:03. > :19:11.breaking other records. Are you going to come to the concert with
:19:11. > :19:19.these masks? Yeah! We are. We have come from southern Ireland. It is a
:19:19. > :19:25.long way. It is tiring. We cannot believe we are here. Are you going
:19:25. > :19:30.to be screaming? Yes! The new show promises to be even more
:19:30. > :19:40.spectacular than they show in 2008. With Robbie Williams touring with
:19:40. > :19:41.
:19:41. > :19:45.Take That for the first time since 1995. We are happy because the
:19:45. > :19:49.hotel is full and so are many of the others, but the key is to offer
:19:49. > :19:55.competitive rates to make sure the price of a concert ticket is not
:19:55. > :20:00.going to be outweighed by the price of a hotel. Take That's popularity
:20:00. > :20:06.has come a long way since the early 90s, to this. Back at the Villa
:20:06. > :20:10.Park, there was decided confusion over the queue. It is an absolute
:20:10. > :20:18.shambles in terms of the officials doing the queues. They are letting
:20:18. > :20:26.people in the back. We have been waiting for three hours. Throughout
:20:26. > :20:30.the day, fans were warned not to fall for fraudsters selling for
:20:30. > :20:33.counterfeit goods. The quality of the T-shirts is poor, the money
:20:34. > :20:40.does not go to the band and the money is likely to end up in the
:20:40. > :20:44.pockets of criminal gangs. There will be selling drink inside the
:20:44. > :20:48.stadium, so that is a concern. I think a planning we have done with
:20:48. > :20:52.the club prior to this arrangement will make sure things pass safely
:20:52. > :20:57.and I have made sure we have got sufficient resources on to achieve
:20:57. > :21:00.that. Finally, the doors open for what is bound to be a great night.
:21:00. > :21:05.This is a big concert, isn't it? When is the last time Birmingham
:21:05. > :21:10.played host to such a big show? am told Villa Park has not played
:21:10. > :21:16.host to such a show of on this scale since Bruce Springsteen last
:21:16. > :21:20.played here, 16 years ago. They have to be up-to-date on current
:21:20. > :21:24.police practices and they travel to Sunderland and Manchester, where
:21:24. > :21:28.Take That have already played, and they took advice from police forces
:21:28. > :21:32.there to ensure a smooth night tonight. In Manchester there were
:21:32. > :21:41.reports of trouble involving some of the fans. What is the police
:21:41. > :21:47.presence like there tonight? There are a lot of police. The trouble in
:21:47. > :21:49.Manchester was slightly exaggerated by a tabloid, I have to say. There
:21:49. > :21:54.was arrested for drunken and disorderly behaviour and a few were
:21:54. > :21:57.rejected from the gig, but the police are confident. There are
:21:57. > :22:01.enough officers here and the mood is fantastic. The crowd just seem
:22:01. > :22:07.to want to have fun. I think they're going to have a great time!
:22:07. > :22:10.Had lots of women, more than men. The region's motor industry
:22:10. > :22:13.received another boost today with the opening of a new �10 million
:22:13. > :22:16.test track. It will help companies like Jaguar Land Rover develop
:22:16. > :22:19.technologies which could one day see the creation of cars which can
:22:19. > :22:22.literally drive themselves. Satellite systems could also be
:22:22. > :22:25.employed in congestion charging schemes. Our transport
:22:25. > :22:28.correspondent, Peter Plisner, has more.
:22:28. > :22:33.Driving forward to deliver a step change for automotive research and
:22:33. > :22:35.development. This new road network is designed to replicate a city
:22:35. > :22:45.centre environment where a whole host of new emerging technologies
:22:45. > :22:46.
:22:46. > :22:51.can be tested safely. This is about testing and demonstrating the new
:22:51. > :22:55.generation of systems, where road vehicles will talk to each other
:22:55. > :23:01.and talk by the infrastructure to each other, to deliver benefits in
:23:01. > :23:05.terms of reduced congestion, safer driving, and so on. One of the cars
:23:05. > :23:10.driving round the track today virtually drives itself. If your
:23:10. > :23:13.car has got cruise control, you will probably be used to driving
:23:13. > :23:17.without your foot on the accelerator. But this car knows
:23:17. > :23:20.what the road looks like a head and what the speed limits are. By
:23:20. > :23:26.taking control of braking and acceleration, the car delivers more
:23:26. > :23:30.than 10% more miles to the gallon. The basic technology is quite
:23:30. > :23:36.applicable to Electric and hybrid vehicles. As the numbers of those
:23:36. > :23:39.increase in the marketplace, there's a push to get this out
:23:39. > :23:41.there. Other technologies that could be tested here include
:23:41. > :23:48.systems designed to work with congestion charging or road tolls,
:23:49. > :23:54.and crash avoidance systems. That is part of the vision as well, but
:23:54. > :23:59.to do that, you have to be able to have somewhere that you can have
:23:59. > :24:03.cars put in a crash situations, and see whether they behave correctly
:24:03. > :24:06.and don't have those crashes. might be a few years yet before we
:24:06. > :24:15.get the car that never crashes, but chances are, it'll have been tested
:24:15. > :24:25.here. Impressive stuff.
:24:25. > :24:28.
:24:28. > :24:31.Let's find out how the weather's Temperatures are high today. It is
:24:31. > :24:38.Warwickshire and Worcestershire that were the hotspots today.
:24:38. > :24:43.Temperatures ranging from 23 to 25 degrees. Showers were localised.
:24:43. > :24:47.But apologies to Take That fans, because this evening, we are going
:24:47. > :24:53.to see the peak in those showers. Some could be thundery, with
:24:53. > :25:00.torrential downpours with up to 20 mm of rain in some places. But
:25:00. > :25:04.there are shifting east, so things will turn dry. Still quite sticky
:25:04. > :25:10.tonight, but you can see those values compared to last night, and
:25:10. > :25:15.they are much cooler. The wind is easily as well, so a quiet start to
:25:15. > :25:20.tomorrow. Perhaps some early- morning brightness, and that cloud
:25:20. > :25:26.will set off sunlight breaks of rain, and then they die away. But
:25:26. > :25:30.some late sunshine and again, temperatures are cooler. Still
:25:30. > :25:37.quite a humid, but is due -- it is during the rest of the week it is
:25:37. > :25:41.Now, if you're worried you might be getting too old to play your
:25:41. > :25:43.favourite sport, you might want to think again. Today, a group of
:25:43. > :25:46.cricketers have been showing that age is no barrier to competitive
:25:46. > :25:49.sport. Dan Pallett went along to Malvern to watch Worcestershire's
:25:49. > :25:53.over-70s in action against Sussex. Every dressing room needs a
:25:53. > :25:57.sprinkling of experience. This is one that has it in abundance. Meet
:25:57. > :26:01.Worcestershire's finest, in the over-70 bracket. The only
:26:01. > :26:06.difference is now, we have put a spare coffin in their dressing room,
:26:06. > :26:11.in case it is needed! And we have some extra oxygen cylinders. We
:26:11. > :26:14.don't have a drink at half-time, we get out the oxygen. A nice gentle
:26:14. > :26:16.warm-up doesn't hurt. But these are campaigners who know just how to
:26:16. > :26:20.reach their peak with minimal effort. Players like 77-year-old
:26:20. > :26:26.Tony Neel. He played his first match in 1949. This week he's
:26:26. > :26:32.playing four times in eight days. How does your body feel the day
:26:32. > :26:38.after? Well, I don't seem to be expected to run very much in the
:26:38. > :26:41.field, so I am fine. I don't struggle. And it doesn't take long
:26:41. > :26:45.to see why he opens the bowling. The Sussex batsmen struggled to
:26:45. > :26:52.score off him. Of course, they don't move as well as they used to.
:26:52. > :26:57.But this was competitive, with both sides defending unbeaten records.
:26:57. > :27:00.16 overs gone, they have soon emptied this squash. Thirsty work.
:27:00. > :27:03.But if there's one thing that can inspire a senior cricketer through
:27:03. > :27:06.a tough session, it's the thought of those delicious teas waiting for
:27:06. > :27:10.them in the pavilion. What do you make of these fellows still playing
:27:10. > :27:15.cricket? I think it is absolutely wonderful. My old man loves it.
:27:15. > :27:19.am very pleased. It means they can carry on playing cricket from when
:27:19. > :27:28.they were young boys. It seems the launch of an over-80s league is
:27:28. > :27:34.only a matter of time. That looked delicious. And Sussex
:27:34. > :27:37.are on the verge of victory, incidentally. Just one wicket left.
:27:37. > :27:40.A look at tonight's main headlines: Hundreds of thousands of public