:00:00. > :00:08.Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight: Who cares
:00:09. > :00:11.about us? The residents of a Worcestershire
:00:12. > :00:21.village cut off by the floods for nine days. Sometimes you can be
:00:22. > :00:23.funny about it and get through with it that way, but sometimes you cry
:00:24. > :00:29.on your wife's shoulders. We'll be live in Severn Stoke with
:00:30. > :00:32.the head of the village's flood action group. Also tonight: Trying
:00:33. > :00:35.to keep their business afloat ` the boating firm trapped in sediment
:00:36. > :00:37.caused by flooding. We would like to see a lot more dredging. In our
:00:38. > :00:42.opinion, they have neglected it over the last ten or 15 20 years. Plans
:00:43. > :00:47.for 2,000 jobs to go at Wolverhampton City Council ` a third
:00:48. > :00:50.of its staff. These are not going to be easy decisions and it's going to
:00:51. > :00:51.have an impact on every area of services.
:00:52. > :00:55.Honoured at last, a first look at a memorial to commemorate the work of
:00:56. > :01:03.the Land Girls. This could have been the picture
:01:04. > :01:07.anywhere today, so if you're hoping for something as inspiring for the
:01:08. > :01:10.rest of the week, it might be worth watching the forecast later when I
:01:11. > :01:17.will outline both the good and the bad.
:01:18. > :01:25.Good evening. Residents in a tiny Worcestershire village are asking
:01:26. > :01:28."Who cares about us?" As the River Severn floods have left them cut
:01:29. > :01:30.off. This photograph taken from a police helicopter graphically
:01:31. > :01:34.illustrates the current problems in Severn Stoke, seven miles south of
:01:35. > :01:37.Worcester. Midlands Today visited the village nine days ago as the
:01:38. > :01:41.water levels started to rise dramatically. Today, our reporter
:01:42. > :01:44.Joanne Writtle returned to find a village still surrounded by water,
:01:45. > :01:46.with emergency services on hand to protect anxious residents. What's
:01:47. > :01:59.the general mood there, Joanne? Well, people are absolutely sick of
:02:00. > :02:03.this water now. The levels are going down, but it's going to take a long
:02:04. > :02:07.time. The water has been here for well over a week now. We are
:02:08. > :02:11.standing on the edge of the village, because behind me is a
:02:12. > :02:17.swathe of water, and behind the swathe of water are a collection of
:02:18. > :02:24.houses, and a flooded village pub. Floodwater has cut off part of the
:02:25. > :02:28.community of seven Stoke. This roadside is on a track leading to
:02:29. > :02:36.the River Severn. Recycling bins are almost submerged on the village hall
:02:37. > :02:41.car park. Now a specialist team of paramedics are making their way into
:02:42. > :02:47.the village. Hello, my love. I you all right? Their job is to check on
:02:48. > :02:52.the welfare of people in flood stricken areas like this. We've made
:02:53. > :02:57.the decision not to head any further into the flooded village. As you can
:02:58. > :03:00.see, the paramedics are wearing dry suits and using wading poles to
:03:01. > :03:06.check for unstable ground and open drains as they edged forward. We are
:03:07. > :03:10.making sure that people are well and managing in their own homes, and
:03:11. > :03:17.that people have long`term chronic in this `` illnesses have access to
:03:18. > :03:19.medication and when pronouncing. And also the people aren't hiding
:03:20. > :03:27.illnesses because they don't want to leave home. Next stop, the Rose and
:03:28. > :03:31.Crown. It's been under water for ten days now, and the landlord did try
:03:32. > :03:36.to protect it with his own version of flood barriers, but the water got
:03:37. > :03:45.in. It is still two feet deep down stairs. It sure live, itch your
:03:46. > :03:48.pension fund. You have moments. Sometimes you can be funny and get
:03:49. > :03:53.through it that way, and sometimes you have a cry on your wife's
:03:54. > :03:59.shoulders. You really want to hope that the environment agency and the
:04:00. > :04:06.county council can eke out this money the government have promised
:04:07. > :04:11.to protect us. Caroline and Tim's 400`year`old home is not cut off but
:04:12. > :04:17.it did flood ten days ago and now they are waiting for loss adjusters.
:04:18. > :04:25.They judge the value of the house and it is set to go, eventually. Not
:04:26. > :04:31.that we wanted, but it's a flooded house. A campaign to get flooded ``
:04:32. > :04:37.flood defences here is gathering momentum, the people like Carolina
:04:38. > :04:40.can't come soon enough. I am joined now by Colonel Tim Weekes, who's in
:04:41. > :04:44.charge of the Flood action group. We've just seen you in your flooded
:04:45. > :04:50.home with your wife. What do you want to happen now in terms the
:04:51. > :04:54.defences? There are several schemes out there which have always been
:04:55. > :04:58.denied to us because of sheer cost against proportion of population.
:04:59. > :05:02.But I think now is the time, surely, for David Cameron to put his money
:05:03. > :05:06.where his mouth is, as it were, and start looking afresh at communities
:05:07. > :05:12.like ours that suffered so badly in the situations. Do you feel you have
:05:13. > :05:19.been forgotten about up until now? Frankly, yes, the community is too
:05:20. > :05:22.small, but actually, the number of people that are affected by this
:05:23. > :05:28.flood in this village are far greater than those physically with
:05:29. > :05:32.water in their homes. The whole community suffers. The village hall,
:05:33. > :05:36.the community centre, the church all, the pub, they are lost for the
:05:37. > :05:43.future. How much briefly would it cost for flood defences here? It
:05:44. > :05:46.depends on the scheme. Between 800000 and ?1 million would give is
:05:47. > :05:52.complete protection from any of this that you see for evermore. Thank you
:05:53. > :05:55.very much be joining us. People here are absolutely desperate for flood
:05:56. > :05:59.defences. That really is gaining momentum. They are campaigning hard
:06:00. > :06:01.with their local MP, and as we have heard, the defences could cost up to
:06:02. > :06:06.?1 million. The owner of a narrow boat holiday
:06:07. > :06:09.firm is calling for widespread dredging of the River Severn. Lee
:06:10. > :06:13.Porter says rising river levels have already cost him ?5,000 in lost
:06:14. > :06:14.trade, because his boats are trapped in sediment deposited downstream.
:06:15. > :06:25.Ben Godfrey reports. Lee Porter's family business is
:06:26. > :06:28.losing hundreds of pounds a day. His narrow boats are marooned on an
:06:29. > :06:31.island of silt, deposited by the River Severn near Worcester.
:06:32. > :06:41.Ironically, the only way to reach them is by boat. We would have had
:06:42. > :06:45.them all out in February and we have had to put off the clients, people
:06:46. > :06:48.wanting to take them out cannot. Holiday`makers would normally access
:06:49. > :06:52.the river for pleasure trips under a bridge. As you can see, it's not
:06:53. > :06:59.here, it's now five metres below the water line. We would like to see a
:07:00. > :07:03.lot more dredging. In our opinion, they've neglected it over the last
:07:04. > :07:05.15 or 20 years. Dredging is proving controversial. It involves using
:07:06. > :07:10.heavy machinery to deepen the channel, to reduce deposits of silt.
:07:11. > :07:14.But independent experts have said it could offer businesses like Lee's
:07:15. > :07:20.false hope, and make some areas more susceptible to flooding. The
:07:21. > :07:25.responsibility for dredging the river for navigation falls to the
:07:26. > :07:30.River trust, but they say they cannot act until the water levels
:07:31. > :07:32.for. `` four. Dredging to reduce flood risk is the Environment
:07:33. > :07:35.Agency's remit. While they've recently bought ten excavators for
:07:36. > :07:38.this purpose, they say dredging on the River Severn would have little
:07:39. > :07:44.impact because of the sheer quantity of water. In my opinion, the
:07:45. > :07:47.millions they are spending on the flood defences is not curing the
:07:48. > :07:51.problem. It will just shove the water further downstream to the next
:07:52. > :07:54.town. Lee's not sure who to turn to for help. He's surrounded by water,
:07:55. > :08:01.waiting until someone, somewhere arrives to dig his business out.
:08:02. > :08:07.And tonight the government is being urged to fund a second road bridge
:08:08. > :08:10.in the centre of Worcester. The only road bridge in the city was closed
:08:11. > :08:17.twice by the recent flooding, causing traffic disruption. The
:08:18. > :08:21.leader of Worcester City Council, Councillor Adrian Gregson, is asking
:08:22. > :08:24.the Prime Minister for the money to pay for the bridge, to help business
:08:25. > :08:28.and traders who're affected by the regular flooding. And there'll be
:08:29. > :08:30.more on this on our late news from 10:00pm. You're watching Midlands
:08:31. > :08:33.Today. Still ahead tonight: Do`it`yourself on a grand scale. The
:08:34. > :08:35.housing association estate built by its own staff, saving thousands of
:08:36. > :08:39.pounds. And the Staffordshire farm hoping
:08:40. > :08:45.more of us will develop a taste for goat.
:08:46. > :08:51.Wolverhampton City Council has announced plans to cut up to 2,000
:08:52. > :08:55.jobs. The Labour`run council is raising council tax by 2%, but said
:08:56. > :08:58.it had no choice but to shed a third of its staff. Last month, the
:08:59. > :09:10.council revealed it needed to make savings of ?123 million over the
:09:11. > :09:12.next five years. The staff in Wolverhampton have worked extremely
:09:13. > :09:23.hard for the Council. Many of them for decades or more and the impact
:09:24. > :09:26.and the impact of the service conditions will have an impact on
:09:27. > :09:29.people who have worked loyally for the authority. It's not where we
:09:30. > :09:33.want to be. Councillors are blaming a big increase in the numbers of
:09:34. > :09:35.children being taken into care for the huge financial pressures facing
:09:36. > :09:39.Wolverhampton. The number has doubled in five years, and at the
:09:40. > :09:42.end of last year, there were 734 children under the care of the
:09:43. > :09:47.city's Children's Services. It's thought each child costs the council
:09:48. > :09:49.around ?40,000 a year. Recent high profile murders, like four`year`old
:09:50. > :09:53.Daniel Pelka in Coventry, are also thought to have led to a spike in
:09:54. > :09:56.numbers of children removed from their parents. Our special
:09:57. > :10:03.correspondent Peter Wilson reports. More children are going into care
:10:04. > :10:04.across the Midlands nearly 9,000 are being looked after by local
:10:05. > :10:13.authorities. It's expensive. And in Wolverhampton
:10:14. > :10:17.they say a doubling of their numbers has played an important part in the
:10:18. > :10:27.big budget cuts they're making today. If you think that one child
:10:28. > :10:33.can cost in the region of ?40,000, and ten children cost 400,000, it is
:10:34. > :10:36.a lot of money and a big pull on resources so what we are having to
:10:37. > :10:39.do is cut other services so we make sure the children are safeguarded.
:10:40. > :10:43.So what do the figures actually show? Well, across Wolverhampton in
:10:44. > :10:47.July last year there was a total of 686 children in care. In September
:10:48. > :10:50.alone, 40 children were taken into care, double the previous month's
:10:51. > :10:51.total. By the end of 2013, the number of looked after children
:10:52. > :10:57.stood at total of 743. What about other councils? Coventry
:10:58. > :11:14.saw a similar spike in numbers. In October, 43 children coming into
:11:15. > :11:17.care, just a month after the Serious Case review into the death of
:11:18. > :11:21.Coventry schoolboy Daniel Pelka killed by his parents but ignored by
:11:22. > :11:29.the authorities. So is it these high profile cases that are making social
:11:30. > :11:33.workers play safe? It is not only social workers being extra cautious.
:11:34. > :11:36.We like to think we are always very cautious, but it's the reporting
:11:37. > :11:40.through cases to social workers or the duty teams to make sure that
:11:41. > :11:46.people identify something they're worried about in the community, and
:11:47. > :11:50.report back, and social workers will intervene. It heightens the public
:11:51. > :11:52.awareness as well as how social workers look at cases. Across the
:11:53. > :12:02.West Midlands 1,000 foster parents are needed in 2014. In Wolverhampton
:12:03. > :12:06.James Montero's family have fostered 15 children in the last six years.
:12:07. > :12:11.Kids have had to come to us in an emergency. Unfortunately it's
:12:12. > :12:15.difficult and awkward for the children, carers and everyone
:12:16. > :12:19.involved. But all we can do as a team, United team, is make sure that
:12:20. > :12:22.these children are looked after, cared for, as they should be, and
:12:23. > :12:31.treated with lots of love and guidance. The budgets for caring for
:12:32. > :12:34.children are huge but local authorities everywhere know that
:12:35. > :12:37.children have to be protected whatever the cost.
:12:38. > :12:43.I'm joined now by BBC WM's political reporter Kathryn Stanczyszyn. We
:12:44. > :12:48.knew the level of the cuts last month, but has this 2,000 jobs
:12:49. > :12:52.announcement come as a shock? We always knew that the bulk of the ?65
:12:53. > :12:56.million savings for this financial year were going to come from job
:12:57. > :12:59.losses. That was something the council has always been frank about,
:13:00. > :13:03.but it's the scale of the redundancies that has shocked some
:13:04. > :13:08.people ` a third of the workforce gone by 2019. Members of staff that
:13:09. > :13:12.I've been speaking to have been upset and angry, and say they're now
:13:13. > :13:18.just waiting to find out who'll leave first. The leader of the
:13:19. > :13:22.Labour`run council, Roger Lawrence, says they have no choice in this.
:13:23. > :13:25.They've lost a huge amount ` pretty much half ` of their government
:13:26. > :13:28.funding. What has the union reaction been? There has been union support
:13:29. > :13:31.for staff being briefed throughout the day at Wolverhampton Civic
:13:32. > :13:39.Centre. I've been speaking to Unison reps who say this is devastating.
:13:40. > :13:41.They're concerned that plans to outsource certain services and they
:13:42. > :13:45.say despite the council claiming it's hoping for a decent amount of
:13:46. > :13:48.take up of voluntary redundancies, most people will be forced out. And
:13:49. > :13:55.even the staff who keep their jobs face changes to their conditions and
:13:56. > :13:58.a pay cut. Unison is holding a meetings with members tonight to
:13:59. > :14:04.discuss further action. And what's been the reaction from Conservative
:14:05. > :14:13.councillors in Wolverhampton? Well, a fairly strong one. Tory Councillor
:14:14. > :14:17.Wendy Thompson has said her party 'is sick to death of hearing the
:14:18. > :14:20.council blame the government. She accused her counterparts of
:14:21. > :14:22.overspending, and you ask if you stand in the middle of the city
:14:23. > :14:28.centre, you would have to ask yourself, where has the money gone?
:14:29. > :14:31.More than 10,000 people have registered their interest to work
:14:32. > :14:35.for West Midlands police. The jobs were only advertised a week ago and
:14:36. > :14:38.the force has been overwhelmed by the response. West Midlands police
:14:39. > :14:41.is recruiting 450 new officers after a five year recruitment freeze.
:14:42. > :14:44.A Midlands housing association has unveiled a revolutionary estate
:14:45. > :14:51.that's been designed and built by its own staff, rather than outside
:14:52. > :14:54.contractors. The Accord Group reckons doing everything 'in`house'
:14:55. > :14:56.has saved almost ?500,000. It's latest project also features some of
:14:57. > :14:59.the group's most environmentally friendly timber framed homes. Here's
:15:00. > :15:00.our Business Correspondent, Peter Plisner.
:15:01. > :15:06.Looking round her new home, Lisa Cook is one of the first tenants to
:15:07. > :15:08.move into a new estate on the outskirts of Wolverhampton. Even
:15:09. > :15:18.she's noticed how revolutionary they are. They are all made out of wood.
:15:19. > :15:22.I'm used to see houses being built of brick and taking a long time, but
:15:23. > :15:26.these have been done quite quick. And this is part of the reason. Five
:15:27. > :15:32.miles away, a factory in Walsall producing timber frames. The raw
:15:33. > :15:35.materials coming here, they are cut, ready for the FrameMaker, and then
:15:36. > :15:42.once they boarded, they move through the process ready for installation.
:15:43. > :15:45.`` then they are insulated, and they have got the site ready. This
:15:46. > :15:48.factory, set up and run by the Accord Housing Association makes
:15:49. > :15:52.enough panels for one house every day. We used to import them from
:15:53. > :15:56.Norway, but we decided we would manufacture them ourselves. We have
:15:57. > :16:03.our own design practice, and we build them here. Houses built of
:16:04. > :16:07.timber frames like this are normally the preserve of how `` countries
:16:08. > :16:10.like Norway but they are becoming more popular here, and part of the
:16:11. > :16:15.reason is they are eco`friendly. A house made of eight timber frame is
:16:16. > :16:18.said to be 50% cheaper to heat. `` a timber frame. Back on the estate and
:16:19. > :16:22.more homes are nearing completion. Most contractors here are ` yes, you
:16:23. > :16:25.guessed it ` also part of the Accord Group. Doing everything in`house has
:16:26. > :16:35.saved around ?400,000 making here, so each home is roughly ?18,000
:16:36. > :16:38.cheaper to build. But for Accord cost savings aren't the only benefit
:16:39. > :16:42.coming out of the new project. Because we are closer to the supply
:16:43. > :16:45.chain, we can work with local contractors and suppliers and we
:16:46. > :16:48.make sure the investment we spend goes into the local community and
:16:49. > :16:51.create local jobs. And that means these new houses aren't only helping
:16:52. > :16:54.the environment, but also the local community.
:16:55. > :17:04.Lambing is well underway for many of our farmers. But in Staffordshire,
:17:05. > :17:07.one farm has started its first "kidding". That's producing young
:17:08. > :17:10.goats for the meat trade. It's one of just a handful of commercial
:17:11. > :17:14.goat`meat farms in the country. These farmers hope more of us can be
:17:15. > :17:14.convinced to try it. Our Rural Affairs Correspondent David
:17:15. > :17:19.Gregory`Kumar reports. Driving through Stone towards
:17:20. > :17:22.Uttoxeter you might have noticed this space aged building. Currently
:17:23. > :17:29.home to a herd of goats and this farm's first large scale "kidding".
:17:30. > :17:39.This is our first year, yes. A big production. How has it gone? Very
:17:40. > :17:43.good. A slow start with the kidding, and we should have started a week
:17:44. > :17:46.ago, but there was nothing till Tuesday of last week and now they
:17:47. > :17:50.are popping out as we speak. Lambs are born at any time of day or
:17:51. > :17:54.night. Goats tend to arrive at dawn or dust. But otherwise kidding and
:17:55. > :18:01.lambing are quite similar. Farmers are aiming for twins, although it
:18:02. > :18:05.doesn't always work out like that. Seven, and also triplets. Just like
:18:06. > :18:09.a sheep farm, it's all about producing meat for consumers. There
:18:10. > :18:13.is not a lot of commercial goat meat in the UK and they reckoned if
:18:14. > :18:15.everybody who did grow it got together they could only really
:18:16. > :18:20.supply a supermarket about a week. Much of the goat meat on sale in the
:18:21. > :18:24.UK comes from older goats that have also been used for milking. It can
:18:25. > :18:30.be tough and is often used for curries. The meat from these younger
:18:31. > :18:36.animals will be very different. You can roast it, you can casserole it,
:18:37. > :18:39.you can dice it. There's lots of interesting recipes which can be
:18:40. > :18:48.done with it. And it's a very filling meat. It is high in protein,
:18:49. > :18:51.high in IM and low in fat. `` IM. As well as traditional Asian and
:18:52. > :18:53.Afro`Caribbean markets meat from this farm has already appeared on a
:18:54. > :18:58.local Michelin`starred restaurant menu. They are not kidding around.
:18:59. > :19:03.So if you're wondering what a goat sausage tastes like, wonder no more.
:19:04. > :19:08.You'll find the answer on David's blog at bbc.co.uk/davidgregorykumar.
:19:09. > :19:13.Our top story tonight: Who cares about us? The residents of a
:19:14. > :19:17.Worcestershire village cut off by the floods for nine days. Your
:19:18. > :19:18.detailed weather forecast to come shortly.
:19:19. > :19:28.Also in tonight's programme: The first look at a new addition to the
:19:29. > :19:33.National Memorial Arboretum, a tribute to the Land Girls.
:19:34. > :19:37.Untold stories, local traditions and memories are being rediscovered as
:19:38. > :19:41.part of a soundscape being put together in Stratford`Upon`Avon. The
:19:42. > :19:46.Listening Project will form an oral history for future generations.
:19:47. > :19:50.It'll also be used to inspire art work produced by people living in
:19:51. > :19:58.the town as our Arts Reporter Satnam Rana has been finding out. Working
:19:59. > :20:06.on the boats, what we now call the six weeks holiday, I love that. My
:20:07. > :20:09.father designed the gardens here. When various kings and queens were
:20:10. > :20:13.crowned, this was the streets used as the party Street. A small sample
:20:14. > :20:15.of the memories being recorded and rekindled by people living and
:20:16. > :20:22.working in Stratford`Upon`Avon. Amongst them Sam Gee, who's worked
:20:23. > :20:27.on the River Avon since 1937. For 22 years he was known to locals and
:20:28. > :20:30.tourists as the ferry man. I think people who come as a tourist to
:20:31. > :20:35.Stratford, they hardly ever meet a local. They might meet a shop
:20:36. > :20:38.assistant or a chambermaid, but to actually chapter somebody who has
:20:39. > :20:47.been to where they have come from, and to get a conversation going, I
:20:48. > :20:53.would take them on a quick 20 minute to around Stratford. `` tour around.
:20:54. > :20:55.Stories like Sam's are being collected for The Stratford
:20:56. > :20:58.Listening Project, a joint venture between the Town Trust and the
:20:59. > :21:02.Stratford`Upon`Avon Arts Festival. I wish I had recorded my grandad's
:21:03. > :21:05.stories, and unfortunately they've gone, but this gives us a real
:21:06. > :21:10.opportunity to capture the stories of the people of Stratford and
:21:11. > :21:14.archive them. The project is bringing in a lot of production
:21:15. > :21:19.companies in the town as well. So, for instance, once we collected the
:21:20. > :21:23.recordings, they will be passed on to a community arts group who will
:21:24. > :21:28.do visual representations with local school groups throughout Stratford.
:21:29. > :21:33.But it's not just older residents who're sharing their stories. Newer
:21:34. > :21:37.ones are too. If I had the actual possession as the Vicar of this
:21:38. > :21:41.church, and Shakespeare was in it, I would talk about Shakespeare. At the
:21:42. > :21:44.Holy Trinity Church lie the remains of Bard, William Shakespeare. Here,
:21:45. > :21:49.the newly appointed vicar reflects on his new home. There is a sense in
:21:50. > :21:53.which I am the custodian of Shakespeare's remains, which is
:21:54. > :21:58.quite a responsibility. It could keep me awake at night if I wanted
:21:59. > :22:01.to let it. But it is a real joy, because it means the church is
:22:02. > :22:04.constantly visited by people and we consider ourselves to be a parish
:22:05. > :22:07.that the world. Shakespeare once wrote, 'There's place and means for
:22:08. > :22:14.every man alive". And this project is celebrating both Stratford as a
:22:15. > :22:17.place and its people. The stories shared will modest form part of the
:22:18. > :22:22.Stratford`upon`Avon arts Festival, they will also go online, a
:22:23. > :22:23.permanent archive of the memories shared by the people of Stratford,
:22:24. > :22:31.old and new. This is the Armed Forces Memorial at
:22:32. > :22:34.the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, which recognises the
:22:35. > :22:41.sacrifice of 16,000 men and women killed in the line of duty since
:22:42. > :22:44.1948. Each year more than 300,000 people visit the Arboretum at
:22:45. > :22:49.Alrewas to pay their respects, but Britain's centre of remembrance is
:22:50. > :22:54.not just dedicated to the military. It's also home to more than 300
:22:55. > :22:58.other memorials. And later this year the work of the Land Girls, young
:22:59. > :23:02.women like this who left their homes to work on farms and feed the nation
:23:03. > :23:05.during World War Two, will be commemorated with a memorial. Liz
:23:06. > :23:06.Copper has been talking to the women from Staffordshire who spearheaded a
:23:07. > :23:19.major fundraising drive. We were a band on our own. We were
:23:20. > :23:23.special. They were hard times, but I wouldn't have not done it. We were
:23:24. > :23:29.the forgotten army, won't we, really? `` weren't we. Members of
:23:30. > :23:32.the Women's Land Army, reminiscing about their service 70 years on.
:23:33. > :23:38.These are the women who volunteered to work in the farms, market gardens
:23:39. > :23:44.and forests of England. Being in the field at 11 o'clock at night,
:23:45. > :23:50.finishing haymaking, then coming back 7am next morning. Yes, it was
:23:51. > :23:54.good. Thousands of young women became Land Girls. They signed up to
:23:55. > :23:57.serve for the duration of the Second World War. And at the end of the
:23:58. > :24:04.conflict, their skills were still needed. The Land Army was only
:24:05. > :24:12.disbanded in 1950. It put women in the foreground. We could do a man's
:24:13. > :24:17.job. There weren't many available, so women got on and did it. `` men
:24:18. > :24:20.available. And to mark that contribution, this is the sculpture
:24:21. > :24:23.being fashioned from clay. Eventually it'll be cast in bronze.
:24:24. > :24:29.It'll take its place at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas in
:24:30. > :24:35.Staffordshire. It will be raised on a large piece of stone, so you will
:24:36. > :24:41.be looking slightly up at it, giving it a proud aspect, really. They
:24:42. > :24:47.should be proud of what they did, and we should be proud of what they
:24:48. > :24:49.did. This is a scale model of the sculpture. It's being funded
:24:50. > :24:52.following a campaign by the Women's Food and Farming Union in
:24:53. > :24:57.Staffordshire. I think this is absolutely essential, that future
:24:58. > :25:04.generations realise what we did, and to have that, I think it's a
:25:05. > :25:07.wonderful idea. It's hoped that the sculpture will be complete by Autumn
:25:08. > :25:09.this year. A tribute to the thousands of women whose endeavours
:25:10. > :25:12.will now receive national recognition.
:25:13. > :25:16.It seems bright skies are hard to come by, but what about dry days,
:25:17. > :25:25.Shefali? That is the tricky one, Mary. Today
:25:26. > :25:28.will be the closest you get to dry weather this week, but only in the
:25:29. > :25:33.sense that it won't be completely dry. That said, similar days to
:25:34. > :25:36.today ahead. Tomorrow is one of them. Friday is not too bad
:25:37. > :25:40.depending on which part of the region you are in. The West is
:25:41. > :25:45.wetter, the East is the best, and also the weekend holds plenty of
:25:46. > :25:49.promise. This is the sticking point this week, it will be Wednesday into
:25:50. > :25:55.Thursday as the warm sector passes through, and you will notice at the
:25:56. > :25:58.tail end of that we have a cold front which will pull the cold air
:25:59. > :26:00.in on Friday, only hampered by the fact we have the system rolling in
:26:01. > :26:05.from the west which will give impetus to any showers we incur.
:26:06. > :26:09.Other than that, from the first system, it looks like the majority
:26:10. > :26:13.of heavy rain will steer clear and stay in the North West but a slim
:26:14. > :26:16.chance it could slip further south. Let's not forget, no weather
:26:17. > :26:19.warnings in force at the moment, so that's always a great sign,
:26:20. > :26:24.especially in view of what we have had recently. Also there are flood
:26:25. > :26:28.warnings still in force, so it will take time for the waters to
:26:29. > :26:33.receive. This evening, this is what we have initially. Largely dry, a
:26:34. > :26:37.lot of clout, but it's breaking to begin with, jarring which time we
:26:38. > :26:40.will see temperatures dropping to about four or five Celsius, but
:26:41. > :26:44.otherwise later in the night we will see the cloud beginning to thicken
:26:45. > :26:49.from the West. That will lift the values to about seven up to nine
:26:50. > :26:53.Celsius. The cloud will introduce some showers but only a few here and
:26:54. > :26:57.there, but mainly across southern counties. Those will continue into
:26:58. > :27:02.tomorrow morning, but on the whole tomorrow is again a largely dry day.
:27:03. > :27:06.Perhaps a bit cloudier than today with glimmers of brightness popping
:27:07. > :27:12.in, and temperatures will rise across the board to about ten or 11
:27:13. > :27:15.Celsius. Again, fairly mild. It is tomorrow night into Thursday that we
:27:16. > :27:19.see the rain rolling in from the West. It will fragment as it goes,
:27:20. > :27:21.and a mild night, but followed by blustery showers on Thursday.
:27:22. > :27:25.Tonight's headlines from the BBC: Some welcome relief for squeezed
:27:26. > :27:28.household budgets. Inflation falls below the Bank of England target.
:27:29. > :27:31.And: Who cares about us? The residents of a Worcestershire
:27:32. > :27:32.village cut off by the floods for nine days.
:27:33. > :27:38.That was the Midlands Today. I'll be back at 10:00pm, with more on calls
:27:39. > :27:40.for Government funding for a second road bridge in Worcester. Have a
:27:41. > :27:42.great evening. Goodbye.