Browse content similar to 03/02/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight... | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
125 years of history comes to the end of the road. Dunlop Motorsport's | :00:07. | :00:09. | |
Birmingham factory to close, with the loss of more than 240 jobs. | :00:10. | :00:21. | |
Absolutely dismayed. Goodyear Dunlop are treating the city and country | :00:22. | :00:25. | |
with contempt. Local MP Jack Dromey tells us it's a | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
disgrace and the company has gone back on its word. | :00:30. | :00:30. | |
Also tonight... More rain on the way ` are we | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
sacrificing farmers to save our towns and cities from flooding? This | :00:35. | :00:37. | |
is their business. They work to maintain it and they have one | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
chance, generally, to get a crop off the land. | :00:42. | :00:42. | |
Wolverhampton says a final goodbye to Steve Evans, who inspired | :00:43. | :00:45. | |
thousands with his battle with stomach cancer. | :00:46. | :00:47. | |
A first league win over Manchester United in 30 years means a happy | :00:48. | :00:54. | |
Monday in the Potteries. Couldn't believe it. Thoroughly deserved it. | :00:55. | :01:00. | |
Amazing. Both my sons are over the moon. | :01:01. | :01:02. | |
And yesterday, this was the first sign of any real sunshine we've had | :01:03. | :01:05. | |
for days, but by the looks of things, I doubt it'll last. As | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
though we need reminding ` there's more rain on the way. Full details | :01:10. | :01:17. | |
for you later. Good evening. 125 years of tyre | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
production by Dunlop in Birmingham is coming to an end, with the | :01:22. | :01:24. | |
closure of the company's motorsports plant. It had been hoped a deal | :01:25. | :01:30. | |
could have been struck to save the factory and more than 240 jobs. | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
Workers believed they were safe until September at least, but today | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
the US`owned tyre maker said it was pulling out of the City. Here's Bob | :01:38. | :01:43. | |
Hockenhull. A famous manufacturing name leaves | :01:44. | :01:46. | |
the West Midlands after a proud history in the region. And it's a | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
case of what a difference five years makes. This was what Dunlop | :01:52. | :01:54. | |
Motorsport had to say about its factory in Erdington in 2009. The | :01:55. | :02:07. | |
factory is full to capacity. With new business and new championships | :02:08. | :02:10. | |
around the world, and new teams in car and motorcycle racing, it is a | :02:11. | :02:16. | |
good news story for the automotive industry. That demand for good | :02:17. | :02:18. | |
quality motor sport tyres continues, but Dunlop is ending its long | :02:19. | :02:21. | |
association with Birmingham. Its American owners, Goodyear Tire and | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
Rubber Company, will switch the work to existing sites in France and | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
Germany. The company's Birmingham factory had been leased from a | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
commercial property company. That lease ends in September. And the 11 | :02:33. | :02:37. | |
acre site has already been sold to Jaguar Land Rover, who want to | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
expand their neighbouring factory. The unions say workers have been let | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
down. They've accused the company of not being genuine in the search for | :02:47. | :02:52. | |
an alternative site. It was not a case of what was wrong with the | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
existing site, it was a case of we have two factories within the group | :02:58. | :03:04. | |
that have capacity and capability to make motorsport hires and in the | :03:05. | :03:07. | |
timescale we had, we were not able to build a new factory. Despite | :03:08. | :03:09. | |
personal intervention by Business Secretary Vince Cable, it seems | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
Dunlop is adamant it will leave Birmingham. | :03:13. | :03:20. | |
Earlier this afternoon I spoke to Jack Dromey, the MP for Birmingham | :03:21. | :03:23. | |
Erdington. He gave me his reaction to the news of the closure. | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
It is outrageous. Goodyear Dunlop is treating our city and our country | :03:30. | :03:38. | |
with contempt. For days ago, they agreed they would examine all | :03:39. | :03:41. | |
options for the future to remain in Birmingham. Four days later, they | :03:42. | :03:47. | |
have torn up the pledge they made. It is absolutely wrong that a | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
decision made 3600 miles away in a high old `` in Ojai office | :03:54. | :03:56. | |
threatening Birmingham workers with redundancy. A lot say they have | :03:57. | :04:03. | |
worked closely with local authorities and agencies to identify | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
a local site but unfortunately, no other site was available. Is that | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
your understanding? Not true. Six months ago, an alternative site was | :04:14. | :04:20. | |
identified three miles away. Dunlop said at the time it is a good side. | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
They have been offered financial assistance to relocate to that | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
site. They said that they would seriously examined dooming it `` | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
doing it for days ago. Now they want to work away from Birmingham. Is it | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
a done deal, is there any chance the jobs could be kept in Birmingham? We | :04:42. | :04:44. | |
will not allow Goodyear Dunlop to terror up the pledge `` to terror up | :04:45. | :04:51. | |
the pledge they made four days ago. It would be trade the pledge they | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
made but also the commitment they made two generations of Birmingham | :04:57. | :04:59. | |
workers who have built the success of the motor sport business. They | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
deserve better now. What can be done? It sounds as though the | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
company has made its mind up and the jobs will be transferred to Europe, | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
which suggests they feel the jobs would be more effectively carried | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
out in Europe? The company has a history of closing factories here in | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
Britain and moving production to continent. We intend to step | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
pressure up on Dunlop over the coming weeks and months. We're not | :05:30. | :05:32. | |
going to allow them to walk away from the city. They owe Birmingham a | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
commitment, because it was Birmingham workers that built the | :05:38. | :05:39. | |
success of the business. Well our business correspondent | :05:40. | :05:42. | |
Peter Plisner is outside the Dunlop factory now. Peter what's been the | :05:43. | :05:54. | |
reaction there today? There is anger here as well. Unions and workers are | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
devastated. The unions have accused Dunlop of walking away from its | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
obligations. They have accused the company of not being honest. They | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
have referred to the meeting last night between Vince Cable `` last | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
week between Vince Cable and the company. They say that they gave a | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
commitment to look more seriously at sites in Birmingham and four days | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
later, they decided to announce the closure. They seem to have capacity | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
elsewhere in the network, in France and Germany. The factory site will | :06:27. | :06:29. | |
be redeveloped pretty quickly, within? That is certainly the | :06:30. | :06:37. | |
understanding. I spoke to Jaguar Land Rover. They said there are | :06:38. | :06:40. | |
plans for the site are under development and that there are a | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
number of options being considered. They are expanding in all directions | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
from the Castle Bromwich factory. They have taken over the side of the | :06:50. | :06:57. | |
cinema, a cat had `` and a car park is being developed. New models are | :06:58. | :07:01. | |
coming out all the times of the capacity is needed. What are the | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
prospects for the Dunlop workers who will lose their jobs? It seems | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
unlikely that many will transfer to Germany or France. Some may be | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
redeployed within the Dunlop factories in the UK. There will be a | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
three`month consultation period, which point some options may be | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
available. I think the majority face a redundancy, it has to be said. | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
Coming up later in the programme... The legal drug guaranteed to burn | :07:27. | :07:29. | |
fat, but it raises the body temperature so much it can have | :07:30. | :07:36. | |
fatal consequences. There are 23 flood warnings and two | :07:37. | :07:39. | |
severe flood warnings across the region tonight. And today there was | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
a stark warning that we could be forced to choose between protecting | :07:45. | :07:47. | |
the countryside or protecting towns. Farmers say that could cost them | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
dear. Our reporter Cath Mackie is in Worcester for us tonight. Cath, how | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
concerned are farmers you've talked to today? | :07:56. | :08:03. | |
I spoke to one earlier whose land has been underwater since before | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
Christmas, so he is very concerned. There is a pilot scheme in | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
Shropshire between farmers and the Environment Agency, looking at the | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
best way of maintaining waterways across farmland. It is hoped it will | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
offer a national solution. Steven Watkins drives through | :08:21. | :08:22. | |
floodwater at his farm at Severn Stoke in Worcestershire. A quarter | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
of his land, 400 acres, is underwater. The boat on the horizon | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
is sitting on top of the swollen River Severn. The farmland is | :08:31. | :08:39. | |
protected by a man`made flood defence. It was put in in the 1960s | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
to protect the villages along this stretch of the river. At that time, | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
the river was dredged frequently to allow the tankers to get up. 20 | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
years ago, we had no more maintenance and no more dredging of | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
the river and we are seeing the effects. We spend a reasonable | :09:00. | :09:06. | |
amount every year on dredging but a lot of this is the responsibility of | :09:07. | :09:09. | |
the owners of the rivers themselves. We have tried to make it easier for | :09:10. | :09:12. | |
them to carry out the work themselves. This is a field of | :09:13. | :09:26. | |
Swedes that were destined for the supermarket, but it is not going | :09:27. | :09:28. | |
anywhere. It's completely waterlogged. Now, it's not the first | :09:29. | :09:32. | |
time this field has been flooded, it is after all by the river, but what | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
the problem is now is it's happening more often and the water is hanging | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
around far longer than it used to. As it is in Somerset, where people | :09:41. | :09:43. | |
trapped by floodwater are being helped by amphibious vehicles sent | :09:44. | :09:46. | |
by a Staffordshire firm. But back at Sheepcote Farm, a gauge alerts the | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
locals to any threat of flooding. So, the Red Line is danger? | :09:51. | :09:52. | |
Absolutely. So what's the answer? The head of the Environment Agency | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
says a stark choice may be needed between protecting the town or the | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
country, prompting calls for more co`operation. Members do not want to | :10:00. | :10:01. | |
see householders flooded. They do not want to see their farmland | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
flooded. This is their business, they work to maintain it. They have | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
one chance to get a crop off the land. It is about working together. | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
In the meantime, it's an anxious wait. At Minsterworth in | :10:13. | :10:15. | |
Gloucestershire, the flood banks have been breached three times in | :10:16. | :10:18. | |
three days. But there's some respite ` in Ironbridge, the flood barriers | :10:19. | :10:25. | |
have been taken down. Tonight along the River Severn, in Shrewsbury the | :10:26. | :10:33. | |
barriers are in place. In Bewdley, they are staying put. The | :10:34. | :10:36. | |
Environment Agency say they will review it in the mooring. The flood | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
barriers at Ironbridge maybe up before the end of the week. | :10:40. | :10:46. | |
We will have the full forecast later. | :10:47. | :10:54. | |
Road tunnels will shut again this summer in Birmingham, it has been | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
confirmed. The A38 tunnels will be shut from 10pm on Friday the 18th | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
July until 6am on Monday the first September. The city council says | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
it's to allow the second phase of essential repairs to take place. | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
A Staffordshire MP has described a newspaper article about him as | :11:10. | :11:11. | |
despicable journalism. Aidan Burley, seen here at a Nazi`themed stag | :11:12. | :11:14. | |
party, was last month found by his party to be stupid, but not | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
anti`semitic," for his role in the evening. The Cannock Chase MP made | :11:19. | :11:21. | |
the comments after a Mail on Sunday article suggested he hadn't faced | :11:22. | :11:24. | |
fair scrutiny from the Conservative Party. | :11:25. | :11:26. | |
The online retailer Amazon says 330 workers at its Rugeley distribution | :11:27. | :11:29. | |
centre have been switched from temporary to permanent contracts | :11:30. | :11:31. | |
since October. The company has created almost 1,000 permanent jobs | :11:32. | :11:34. | |
across the country in the last three months. | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
Visiting restrictions are in place at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital | :11:40. | :11:42. | |
and Alexandra Hospital in Redditch following an outbreak of norovirus | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
over the weekend. Anyone who's had sickness or diarrhoea in the last 48 | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
hours is being asked not to visit patients. | :11:51. | :11:56. | |
The family of a student who died after taking a fat`burning drug want | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
tougher action from the government. DNP raises the body temperature so | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
much it can be fatal. Telford's former world champion boxer Richie | :12:05. | :12:07. | |
Woodhall knows a lot about keeping his weight down and keeping fit. For | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
tonight's Inside Out, he's been looking at the use of DNP by | :12:13. | :12:15. | |
slimmers, but also by body`builders in the Midlands. | :12:16. | :12:25. | |
Chris took DNP, Sarah was losing weight. Now their families are | :12:26. | :12:32. | |
living life without them. Luke is a Midlands teenager and fitness | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
fanatic. He has been using DNP behind his parents' back. After the | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
first few days my temperature really went up. I started sweating | :12:40. | :12:53. | |
constantly. Your breathing is rapid. You can't sleep because you | :12:54. | :12:59. | |
are constantly sweating. The Food Standards Agency has already been | :13:00. | :13:02. | |
talking tough. It can't prosecute anyone selling DNP to burn fat. We | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
still managed to get hold of DNP. Is the law working? We have closed or | :13:09. | :13:14. | |
altered 40 websites around the world to stop this industrial chemical | :13:15. | :13:19. | |
coming in and being used by people. Jeff and Jean Houston said that is | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
not enough. Their daughter died after taking DNP and likely's | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
parents, they did not know she was taking it. We found out after she | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
died. The police found the pills in her room. It was only about three | :13:33. | :13:39. | |
months later that we found out they were DNP capsules. We realised that | :13:40. | :13:45. | |
there was nothing they could do to help in hospital. Once you taking it | :13:46. | :13:52. | |
`` once you have taken it, it is irreversible, there is nowhere to | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
go. It is horrendous. It is what killed our daughter. We loved her | :13:57. | :14:02. | |
very much. They want the Home Secretary to listen. It raises the | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
metabolic rate and is incredibly dangerous and therefore, should be a | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
controlled substance. While changes to the law will take time, the | :14:13. | :14:18. | |
meeting with Luke has made a difference. I will stay away with | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
it. It seems Luke has learned his lesson. They users have not been so | :14:23. | :14:27. | |
lucky. `` other users. Also on tonight's Inside Out | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
programme, I'm asked to down a large glass of wine and then get behind | :14:32. | :14:34. | |
the wheel. With nearly half of drivers admitting to being | :14:35. | :14:37. | |
distracted by their phone, we tested whether I was safer driving after a | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
drink, or with a phone in my hand. It was a simulator, not a car on the | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
road. You can find out how I got on tonight at 7.30 here on BBC One ` | :14:47. | :14:52. | |
the results might surprise you. Our top story tonight... | :14:53. | :14:55. | |
125 years of history comes to the end of the road. Dunlop Motorsport's | :14:56. | :14:58. | |
Birmingham factory is to close, with the loss of more than 240 jobs. | :14:59. | :15:02. | |
Your detailed weather forecast to come shortly with Shefali. Also in | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
tonight's programme... The future of professional | :15:06. | :15:08. | |
basketball in Birmingham is on a knife edge, the Knights desperate to | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
end a run of 19 defeats. And Wolverhampton says its final | :15:13. | :15:15. | |
goodbye to Steve Evans, who shared his fight with cancer with thousands | :15:16. | :15:26. | |
online. We always knew he was who he was, how he acted and how he | :15:27. | :15:29. | |
played, that was him. If you have a story you think we | :15:30. | :15:32. | |
should be covering on Midlands Today, we'd like to hear from you. | :15:33. | :15:45. | |
We are also on Facebook and Twitter. Let's turn to sport. Stoke City fans | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
still basking in the afterglow of victory ` not just any old win. | :15:50. | :15:56. | |
Good things come to those who wait. For 29 years, Stoke City have waited | :15:57. | :15:59. | |
patiently for this moment. The moment they finally won a League | :16:00. | :16:02. | |
game against Manchester United. Two goals from Charlie Adam clinched | :16:03. | :16:06. | |
their famous victory. So it was no surprise to learn the Potteries were | :16:07. | :16:09. | |
still buzzing with excitement today, as Ian Winter reports For the past | :16:10. | :16:12. | |
seven years, Ann Johnson has been selling the Sentinel in the centre | :16:13. | :16:26. | |
of Stoke. Red hair, red scarf, red Herring! How happy does the score | :16:27. | :16:34. | |
make you feel? not very happy. You never are! I am a man United fan. | :16:35. | :16:54. | |
She supports Man United. Charlie Adam scored two goals. His first | :16:55. | :17:00. | |
might have been deflected but his second was the perfect stride. It | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
left Stoke celebrating a league win over United for the first time since | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
Boxing Day, 1984, when Mark was 21 and a striker with the red Devils. | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
There comes a point when we expect Charlie to score goals like that. I | :17:16. | :17:21. | |
see it in training every day. He has got a clean strike. I am pleased | :17:22. | :17:33. | |
that Stoke one. I like to see the little guy come out on top. What did | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
you make a? Amazing. My husband and my sons are over the moon. Really | :17:39. | :17:45. | |
thrilled. Villa were taking the lead at | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
Garrison Park, but the first`half goal was not good enough. Edison | :17:50. | :17:57. | |
Park. As for West Brom, they seized on a howler to win a draw against | :17:58. | :18:04. | |
Liverpool. Back in Hanley, Sir Stanley smiled. | :18:05. | :18:13. | |
29 years they have waited. He would have been the proudest man in the | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
Potteries on Saturday afternoon. Away from the Premier League, there | :18:20. | :18:22. | |
was a fans' protest at Birmingham City against the current owner. | :18:23. | :18:25. | |
The fans have lost patience with the current regime and the lack of money | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
at the club. The Blues Trust held a banner at Saturday's game which | :18:30. | :18:32. | |
read, "Delay no more." Their ultimate aim is for the current | :18:33. | :18:37. | |
owners to sell the club. And it's a big month for the club with an EGM | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
on Wednesday and the verdict in Yeung's trial on the 28th. On the | :18:42. | :18:52. | |
pitch, they were losing 3`1 to Derby but it finished 3`3 on Saturday. | :18:53. | :18:58. | |
The former Warwickshire director of cricket Ashley Giles is a leading | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
contender to take over as head coach of the England Test team. Giles is | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
already in charge of the one day and Twenty20 sides. He says he would be | :19:07. | :19:09. | |
"very interested" in replacing Andy Flower who resigned from the test | :19:10. | :19:12. | |
side after the Ashes. And today the chairman of the ECB confirmed Giles | :19:13. | :19:16. | |
was a "strong candidate" for the role. | :19:17. | :19:18. | |
Basketball, and the director of the Birmingham Knights says they'll fold | :19:19. | :19:20. | |
unless attendances rise. The club was formed last summer and is half | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
way through a first season in the top flight. But it's proving | :19:25. | :19:27. | |
tough... 19 defeats and no victories. So could they turn that | :19:28. | :19:30. | |
around against bottom club Surrey? I went along on Saturday night to find | :19:31. | :19:32. | |
out. These are nervous times for the | :19:33. | :19:35. | |
Birmingham Knights. They've yet to win a game this season. And the | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
finances are creaking. The message to basketball fans is clear. Back | :19:41. | :19:50. | |
them, or lose them. We really do need the city and local businesses | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
and new fans to start coming along and supporting us, or we won't be | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
here next season. We should be devastated for Birmingham. We've got | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
professional basketball back. The venue has been the biggest problem. | :20:05. | :20:07. | |
The Knights are based at North Solihull Sports Centre. It's in | :20:08. | :20:10. | |
Chelmsley Wood, and being away from the city centre makes it hard to | :20:11. | :20:14. | |
attract crowds. But those who do go are passionate ` especially when | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
they've got two sons in the side. They are competing, and that is all | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
we want. The fact that in the second quarter there was a good points | :20:27. | :20:38. | |
tally, that is nice in any sport. I am a huge fan of Birmingham Bullets | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
and I was disappointed when they disappeared so I was pleased when | :20:45. | :20:46. | |
basketball came back. Saturday's game against Surrey gave the Knights | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
a great chance of their first win of the season. But the Knights lost | :20:51. | :20:53. | |
again 89`80. Their coach is still optimistic about the future. The | :20:54. | :20:58. | |
results have not gone the way we wanted it to but when you have been | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
looking at the schools and universities, that is all positive. | :21:05. | :21:06. | |
Birmingham would love to follow the example of the league leaders, | :21:07. | :21:09. | |
Worcester Wolves. Worcester play at their University's new arena, and | :21:10. | :21:12. | |
Birmingham have an agreement with their university to move into a new | :21:13. | :21:15. | |
arena in 2016. But that's still two years away. And if the Knights can't | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
improve their finances, they won't last that long. | :21:21. | :21:30. | |
Zac purchase from Tewkesbury, the rower, has announced his retirement | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
today. He won medals in ageing and London. `` in Beijing. | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
Steve Evans shared his fight with terminal stomach cancer on radio, TV | :21:42. | :21:44. | |
and online, always showing "courage, humour and grace". In one of his | :21:45. | :21:47. | |
final tweets, Steve thanked all his followers saying, "You have helped | :21:48. | :21:51. | |
us get through some very dark and tricky times". His story touched the | :21:52. | :21:54. | |
lives of people from all walks of life and all over the world. The | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
Olympic gold medallist Matthew Pinsent described Steve as "funny | :21:58. | :22:00. | |
and dignified to the end". Mike Pearson tweeted from America that | :22:01. | :22:03. | |
Steve's journey was "truly the bravest thing I've ever heard," | :22:04. | :22:06. | |
while on Facebook, Louise Ransberry, who attended today's service, said | :22:07. | :22:09. | |
"what a fabulous send off ` funny, emotional, entertaining." Tributes | :22:10. | :22:12. | |
at today's service in Wolverhampton were led by the comedian and family | :22:13. | :22:15. | |
friend, Frank Skinner, as Ben Godfrey reports. | :22:16. | :22:22. | |
At half past twelve, parts of Wolverhampton city centre fell | :22:23. | :22:28. | |
silent. 500 mourners gathered to celebrate the life of a man of many | :22:29. | :22:36. | |
talents. I have followed him through his journey, through sad times. He | :22:37. | :22:43. | |
was a good guy. I am showing my respect to day. He was | :22:44. | :22:46. | |
inspirational. Steve Evans touched people with his honesty and humour. | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
Here was a man revealing the hard truth about life with terminal | :22:52. | :22:54. | |
stomach cancer. The 52`year`old council building surveyor, part`time | :22:55. | :22:56. | |
comedian and magician, leaves behind his wife Septina, and their | :22:57. | :23:06. | |
daughters Meg and Lauren. The only thing we can do, and it does not | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
have to be a specific thing, is continued living the way he taught | :23:11. | :23:16. | |
us. If we do that, then his legacy lives on. Steve spent a decade | :23:17. | :23:19. | |
managing the acts at the Civic Hall. This was the first funeral service | :23:20. | :23:27. | |
in the venue's history. One of those paying tribute was the comedian, | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
Frank Skinner, a family friend. He said Steve was an amazing guy, a man | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
of great intelligence and cleverer than he looked. He added, he was | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
Wolverhampton through and through, but I forgive him that. Also among | :23:42. | :23:44. | |
the mourners were former colleagues at Wolverhampton City Council, some | :23:45. | :23:47. | |
of his 26,000 Twitter followers and those who'd helped Steve to tell his | :23:48. | :23:57. | |
unique story. There is a familiar play called Death Of A Salesman, and | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
the lead character judges people by how many turn up to his funeral. If | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
that is a good assessment of a man's life, this was an incredible | :24:09. | :24:12. | |
life. Steve asked for donations to be made to Compton Hospice because | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
of the support given to him at home by its nurses. ?15,000 has been | :24:17. | :24:23. | |
raised so far. Such a sizeable sum will go a long way to help provide | :24:24. | :24:26. | |
care in the future for families affected. The furthest away donation | :24:27. | :24:35. | |
was Zimbabwe. It shows love. Steve Evans called his fight against | :24:36. | :24:38. | |
cancer "a journey shared by loved ones". Today, it was apparent there | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
were many more of them than perhaps he realised. | :24:44. | :24:55. | |
Truly inspirational. Earlier we saw the continuing flooding problem, is | :24:56. | :24:58. | |
there any respite from the rain on the horizon Shefali? | :24:59. | :25:04. | |
There is some respite. Any respite is going to be welcome at this | :25:05. | :25:11. | |
stage, especially to those in flooded areas. We have got drier | :25:12. | :25:16. | |
days this week. They are interspersed with wetter periods. | :25:17. | :25:20. | |
For the first half of the week, the wettest and windiest period will be | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
on Wednesday. That is quite a wild day and there are warnings in force | :25:25. | :25:33. | |
at the moment for gusts of up to 50 mph. That will cause travel | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
disruption. There will be rain to come with that and it could amount | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
to 20 or 30 millimetres, about an inch of rain, on top of what we have | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
already got. Just to point out that we have numerous flood warnings in | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
force across the region. We have two severe flood warnings for | :25:53. | :25:54. | |
Gloucestershire. It is a changing picture so if you want to keep up to | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
date, the best thing to do is contact this phone number. This is | :25:59. | :26:04. | |
what is affecting us in the immediate future. There is a cold | :26:05. | :26:10. | |
front heading in from the west. It does not have the additional baggage | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
of low pressure, so it will not be as bad as this deep area of low | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
pressure heading our way on Wednesday. There is a lot of rain | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
along it. It is a narrowband heading in this evening from the West, | :26:25. | :26:33. | |
producing rain in some places. It heads off to the east, followed by | :26:34. | :26:38. | |
showers. We have got dry conditions to end the night and under those | :26:39. | :26:42. | |
clearer skies, temperatures near freezing in more reward areas and | :26:43. | :26:47. | |
over higher land. We could see a touch of ice and frost as well. For | :26:48. | :26:53. | |
towns and cities, temperatures above freezing. Tomorrow is also a day of | :26:54. | :27:00. | |
respite. Dry weather and showers, and sunshine as well. Temperatures | :27:01. | :27:04. | |
to about eight Celsius. The rain is going to arrive tomorrow night and | :27:05. | :27:06. | |
it will be heavy. Tonight's headlines from the BBC... | :27:07. | :27:12. | |
State schools as good as private ones ` that's the ambition, says the | :27:13. | :27:16. | |
Education Secretary. 125 years of history comes to the | :27:17. | :27:19. | |
end of the road ` Dunlop Motorsport's Birmingham factory to | :27:20. | :27:24. | |
close, with the loss of 240 jobs. Moore at ten o'clock. Goodbye. | :27:25. | :27:27. |