28/02/2014 Midlands Today

military activity in the area tonight. That is all from us,

contemporary cinema comes to the Marches.

Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight: join the

organ donor register, a plea to ethnic minorities from transplant

patient and Birmingham MP, Khalid Mahmood. It is just a huge

commitment when somebody is prepared to donate an organ. We'll be asking

the British Kidney Patient Association, what being a living

donor involves. Also tonight: A life changing

operation for a nine`year`old boy cancelled because of a change in NHS

funding guidelines The starlings creating a spectacle at dusk in

Hereford but leaving behind a spectacular mess. It is really

painful. Starlings creating a spectacle at

dusk but leaving behind a spectacular mass.

The moving story of Beauty, the Shropshire grocer's horse

commandeered by the Army in the First World War. There wasn't a dry

eye when she went on the train to war.

From Northern Lights, to chilly nights, as we head towards the

meteorological spring things are ironically getting colder. But will

we escape the rain this weekend? Your full forecast is coming up

later. Good evening. There's a call tonight

for more people from ethnic minorities to join the organ donor

register. It comes from the Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood who's

just had a life`saving kidney transplant. Last year over 6,000

people were on the waiting list for a new kidney. 30% of those were from

black, Asian or other minority ethnic communities. On average,

patients from these groups will have to wait a year longer for a

transplant, than white patients. As he prepares for a return to

politics, Khalid Mahmood has been talking to Ben Godfrey.

Khalid Mahmood is used to pounding the streets of Birmingham. But he's

making a steady return to politics on the advice of doctors.

Quality`of`life and the changes already have been absolutely

tremendous. Five weeks ago, the 52`year`old Labour MP had a

life`saving kidney transplant after a live donor came forward. This is

his first interview since the operation. The real sacrifice that

has been made as by the donor. It is a huge commitment, you see, when

someone is prepared to donate an organ whilst they are living. At a

loss to find the words to say thank you. Khalid discovered he had

chronic kidney failure in 2008. He spent four hours a day on dialysis.

What impact has it had on your professional life and on your family

life in Birmingham? It has been very difficult for them to see me go

through that trauma. But I took it in my stride. It was all the more

poignant for the family because his twin brother Arshad died from Kidney

disease. It was a huge loss personally to me and family and

still is a great loss to the whole family. Yesterday, we joined the

father`of`two at the QE Hospital where his consultant was ready with

his latest test results. Hello. How are you doing? Here, you can see

when the kidney was transplanted and you can see the chaotic spikes that

were there before have been replaced by this smooth curve and that is a

demonstration that the new kidney is functioning beautifully. I think

there is quite a lot of misunderstanding about who can be a

living donor and who cannot. Tissue typing isn't as important, blood

grouping isn't as important. What is most important is a willingness to

do this for someone you care for. Khalid Mahmood says he won't reveal

who donated the kidney but he owes them his life. He hopes to return to

the House of Commons next month. Joining me now is Fiona Loud from

the British Kidney Patient Association. Why do you think there

is a shortage of donors from ethnic minorities? Actually, I would say

there is a shortage of donors anywhere really. You've heard the

numbers, 6000 people will be on the organ donor waiting list and hoping

to get a kidney. Of those, at least one will die every day while they

are waiting. That doesn't include the many others on dialysis.

Particularly, in the black and ethnic minority communities, that is

a series of different communities with different cultures and faiths.

I think from the work that we have done in mosques and talking to

people from those different areas, some of it is simply not knowing,

not knowing who to ask or understanding perhaps that you can't

go forth and give this fantastic gift of donating a kidney while

alive as well as giving the gift of life after you have passed away. You

receive one of your husband's kidneys, didn't you? Our children

were very young at the time. I'd been on dialysis for five years and

I have never been called from the waiting list. We had to take a

decision and say, what are we going to do in the future? Am I going to

live a long and full life as a transplanted person? Keith told me

he was going to give me his kidney. We are both very well. This happened

seven years ago. He completely recovered from the operation. He was

out of hospital within three days. He has a checkup once a year and

carries on his life doing absolutely that he used to do. Now, I'm there

to be with him and look after our family and do all the other things

that I do. Coming up: A five match ban for

Anelka for this gesture. Now the club parts company with its

technical director. A nine`year`old boy with cerebral

palsy has been told he can't have an operation that would help him walk

more easily, because of new NHS funding guidelines. Ben Baddeley

from Newcastle, is just one of a number of children around the

Midlands who have had potentially life`changing surgery cancelled.

Sorry. I will do it as quickly as I can. Every day, Ben is strapped into

this contraption for half an hour to stretch his legs. It helps the

spasticity but it hurts and he hates it. It means I could do a lot. What

sort of things do you want to do? Write a skateboard. Selective dorzal

rhizotomy cuts certain nerves causing the spasticity in the spine.

Ben was due to undergo the first stage last week, but it was

cancelled. NHS England stopped routinely funding the operations

last April. The hospital in Nottingham didn't know and carried

on so it is treating patients who started the process, but not Ben.

For every parent that is out there, they know that seeing your childhood

constantly hurts you. It hurts your heart and it messes with your head.

How can I take that away from him? I just don't understand. I don't

understand why they've done it. At nine, Ben is in a race against time.

After nine there's less benefit from SDR. He's not alone. A Coventry

child has also been cancelled. This operation has been done in places

like Oswestry since the mid`90s. Mice looked at this in 2010 and said

there was moderate evidence that it significantly improved movement with

physiotherapy after 12 months. `` NICE. But NHS England says it is not

cost`effective. In a statement, NHS England said the current evidence

base does not sufficiently demonstrate relative cost or

clinical effectiveness. As further trials take place, NHS England's

clinical experts will keep the policy under review. We recognise

that both patients and clinicians feel this is a promising area of

research. But a year on, NHS England hasn't sponsored any research. Ben's

mother is fighting on and looking to raise the ?20,000 needed.

The two men attacked in Hereford by the serial killer Joanne Dennehy

have spoken of their massive relief after she was given a whole life

sentence today. Robin Bereza and John Rogers were both stabbed at

random by Dennehy, as they were out walking their dogs in separate

incidents in Hereford City Centre last April. She'd earlier pleaded

guilty to their attempted murders as well as killing three other men in

Peterborough. She's only the third woman in England to be sentenced to

die in prison. There's a significant political

development tonight in the wake of the Government's decision to wind`up

the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust. Conservative and Labour MPs in

Wolverhampton and Stoke`on`Trent will be raising concerns about the

knock`on effects on hospitals in their areas, following the transfer

of some services from Stafford and Cannock. Our Political Editor

Patrick Burns has more on this. What exactly are they worried about?

What we are seeing now, Mary, is the other side of the coin. We have

become accustomed to hearing some campaigning hang onto many

services. Now come the concerns for those other hospitals at the

receiving end of this. Think of Wolverhampton New Cross Hospital.

Already, they are fudgy `` fully stretched. There has been a lot of

discussion about mid`Staffs. We are going to have to look at how this

comes out in the war. There are issues in terms of how this might

have a knock`on effect. I'm not the expert on that. I'm going to meet

those at the coal face and speak to the Prime Minister about the

knock`on effect. I see you have Tristram Hunt there. How does he see

the position of the University Hospital `` Hospital of North

Staffordshire? The general perception is that the

bulk of those services which are being switched will go up the road

to Stoke. Tristram Hunt shares many of the concerns. We face the same

challenges. We are making the same representations to the Secretary of

State. We can take the flag. We've got the skills and the capacity. We

can grow the hospital. We need to make sure that local people's health

provision in Stoke`on`Trent is not adversely affected. It looks as

though the political fallout from mid`Staffs still has a way to go.

Campaigners are still threatening legal action and with a general

election around the corner, we can be sure that defending MPs and

aspiring candidates will all be fighting hard for the best deal for

their own local communities. There's a long way to go yet.

And Patrick will be back with more on this in Sunday Politics at 11

o'clock on BBC One, plus the towns and cities bidding for a new ?20

million college to train engineers for high`speed rail.

This is our top story tonight: Join the organ donor register, a plea to

ethnic minorities from transplant patient and Birmingham MP, Khalid

Mahmood. Your detailed weather forecast to

come shortly from Rebecca. Also in tonight's programme: from delivering

groceries in Shropshire to facing enemy fire, the story of one of

thousands of war horses and the largest rural film festival in the

country, contemporary cinema comes to the Marches Thousands of

starlings have been enthralling Thousands of starlings have been

enthralling people in Hereford with their daily displays of aerial

acrobatics. But not everyone's impressed, as they're leaving behind

a bit of a mess. Ben Sidwell is there for us tonight. How many are

there? We have a rest `` rough estimation,

possibly up to 20,000. They are now all in the hedges and trees. They've

done their flight fortnight. But it is what they are leaving behind

which is the real problem for residents around here, the mess on

the floor, as I've been finding out. It's one of nature's most

spectacular displays. As the sun sets, the skies above Hereford are

teeming with birds. A truly magical sight, unless that is, you happen to

live right below their flight path. You can put your washing out. I've

got wash my car every morning. It's a nuisance. It may seem a bit

extreme to have this up but when the starlings, the head, it's like a

light rain shower and that is the problem that these residents have

been facing for the last five or six weeks. Every day, having to come out

and clean their cars, because of the bird mark. And that is becoming a

real pain. Estimates put the number of birds at around 20,000, all

congregating in trees behind the house. But being a protected

species, the options for dealing with the starlings are limited.

There is not much we can do. We are not allowed to harm them. People can

choose to chop down the hedge. That is allowed. Or you can sit it out. A

lovely display to watch but it is not very nice for people living

here. HP Bulmers, whose land the trees are on, told us they

sympathise greatly with the residents, but they must also do all

they can to respect and protect the wildlife of the area. If you come

out and said in my back garden, it is shocking. We would like to see

them go because it's a nuisance. Last night, for the first time, a

starling distress caller was used to try and move the birds on. They have

spent the last half hour trying to scare the birds off. It hasn't had a

lot of effect, apart from what you can see on this car. This is what

the residents are facing all the time. It is not just the mess. The

smell as well as getting pretty bad around here. You can hear them now.

The birds are being chased along the hedge and they are going to a

different part of the hedge. We might relieve the pressure on these

people here. That might not be a bad thing. We would be putting it on

someone else. As weeks turn into months, sadly for the residents, it

seems like they'll just have to wait until the starlings take flight

themselves. They have been plenty of people

coming down to the street today to see these birds. One of them was

Gerard from the ornithological club. A lot of people want to know, why

are they doing it? The starlings are gregarious. They flocked to feed and

to roost. This roost is used by the starlings because they need warmth

in the conifers. They use it as a means of safety from predators and

they also probably communicate overnight to decide where they are

going to feed the next day. People are suffering. How long are they

going to have to put up with the birds? It rather depends what this

flock is composed of, whether it is a lot of winter visitors, which it

probably is, or whether it is a resident copulation. `` population.

It almost certainly will be a large number of migratory birds in this

flock. And so they will, depending on their country of origin, be

returning fairly shortly, in the next few weeks. We've had a lot of

comments and many have been interested. Sally said, what a shame

they think this is spectacular display is a nuisance. It doesn't

last for long. Esther says, we need natural beauty. Humans, please share

this planet. We have been told this carer was distressing the birds too

much so they are not going to use it any more and these will leave in

their own accord. `` scarer. As part of our First World War

commemorations the BBC has teamed up with the Imperial War Museums to

tell the story of the War at Home. Tonight Cath Mackie has the story of

Shropshire's very own War Horse who was commandeered by the Army to

serve on the Western Front. Like memories, the black and white

photo of the grocer's horse is fading. Beauty was snapped in the

Shropshire village of Minsterley, a moment in time before the gunfire

began. QT used to deliver the groceries. He went all around, to

the bog and the grit and a big circle. But then the First World War

intervened. In the beginning of August, the army had 23,000 all

boxers and they need more. `` horses. If horses were not brought

forward, they could requisition horses, anything from hunters to

working horses. Historians believe the film War Horse captures the

emotional heartache in market squares across the country as horses

were either offered up or commandeered by the army. I solemnly

swear, we will be together again. Wherever you, our, I will find you.

There are recollections which are terribly emotional. There was a

farmer who was patting the horses and crying. For the most part, they

never did see them again. Beauty was taken to war. There wasn't a dry eye

when she went on the train. They were taken to depots to get them

trained up, because they were going to have to get used to things they

were not used to, gunfire, galloping altogether in charge and learning

life in the Army, the same way that human recruits would have to do. The

impact was felt at home. At the outbreak of the war 800,000 horses

were used on the land. The bigger breeds stayed behind to keep the

home front ticking over but as food shortages increased, more help was

needed. The women's land Army was formed, in 1915 to help on the land

but they still didn't think that was an officer mechanisation does seem

to speed up tractors. War brings about technological advances and

that went beyond the home front as well. We can only imagine what the

atmosphere must have been like that day will stop ``. Men, women and

children coming along to give the horse one final pat. And it was

goodbye because Beauty didn't survive the war. The grocer's horse

was one of 1.2 million horses commandeered by the army. Just

65,000 made it home. Anne Lewis's father served in the veterinary

corps. He didn't talk very much because I think he had a green time

in the war. To see his horses, you know, being damaged and killed as

well, I think it was not a nice time. I once said to him, why didn't

he go to the Armistice service? He said, I don't have to go to the war

memorial to remember the war. We can only guess at what Beauty endured.

But at least now, 100 years on, the story of Minsterley's warhorse has

come home. Time for sport. Ian's here and

Birmingham City fans were expecting to learn the outcome of the Carson

Yeung money`laundering trial today. But they're still waiting, why is

that? Quite simply, the court ran out of

time. Today's judgement against Carson Yeung runs to 112 pages, and

the judge was less than half`way through, when he adjourned

proceedings until Monday. Stand by for some flash photography. Because

there was a real media scrum as Carson Yeung left the court in Hong

Kong. Remember, he denies five charges of money`laundering,

totalling more than ?50 million pounds. He no longer holds an

official title at Birmingham City. But he is still a major shareholder

in the club's parent company, Birmingham International Holdings

Ltd. And their six monthly accounts show a pre`tax loss of just under ?5

million. It's been a difficult week for West

Bromwich Albion. Speculation that Nicolas Anelka may have played his

last game for the club. And also the future of Pepe Mel as manager.

What's the latest? Well, Pepe Mel's position has

probably been weakened by the departure of David McDonough, as the

club's Technical Director. He played a significant role in bringing Pepe

Mel to the Hawthorns. He could speak Spanish, and was helping the new

manager to get his message across in training. But McDonough has now left

West Brom. And Pepe Mel must be wondering what the future has in

store. Albion's next game is at home to Manchester United a week

tomorrow. By which time, Nicolas Anelka will have decided whether or

not to appeal against the FA's five`match ban over his

controversial quenelle gesture in December. Meanwhile, Anelka has been

suspended by the club and he may well have played his last game in a

West Brom shirt. As you mentioned, Albion don't play

this weekend. But two very big games for Stoke City and Aston Villa Yes,

Stoke have 27 points, just three points above the relegation places,

tomorrow they're at home to Arsenal. On Sunday, Aston Villa play Paul

Lambert's old club Norwich City. And they're both on 28 points. All the

action on your BBC local radio station.

Over the next 17 days people living in Herefordshire and Shropshire will

be given a taste of contemporary British and world cinema as part of

the 12th Borderlines Film Festival. The event has become the largest

rural film festival in the UK. But why is it important for communities?

Our Arts Reporter Satnam Rana has been finding out.

Everybody knew everybody else. Memories from Hereford's old

livestock market, now the subject of Chewing the Cud. You had every rank

and type of society coming through that market. It's a film put

together by a local production company using local people. And

it'll premiere at this year's Borderlines Film Festival. It's just

really nice to be able to show a film about the local area, the

cattle market that was situated here. It's lovely to have a local

audience for that kind of film. There is nothing better in a way.

But some rural audiences often live miles away from a cinema. Here in

puddleston near leomster the village hall is the cinema. Epic of Everest

will be shown here as part of the festival a rare chance to see a

restored film of the 1924 attempt to climb Everest. It brings world

cinema and new footage, new films, to a very remote rural area. People

would possibly have to go to London to see something like this. This

year, 32 venues will be taking part in the Borderlines Film Festival,

including the Regal Cinema in Tenbury Wells. This Art Deco 1930s

building was restored in 2012 and is now run by volunteers. The festival

offers them a vital business opportunity. We are hoping that with

the extra exposure, it will make those films more viable because

we've only just recently restarted. We didn't want to take too many

financial risks because we cannot afford to do that. The borderlines

film Festival `` Borderlines Film Festival is now in its 12th year. It

is a chance for these communities to celebrate film`making in the region.

Were you lucky enough to see the northern lights last night? Some of

you did. Rebecca has some of your pictures, along with the forecast.

Unfortunately I didn't see it. Thankfully, some of you did and

you've been sending in your pictures. The Northern lights are

normally seen much fall `` further north but they were spotted last

night in Gloucestershire. Aurora borealis to, to give its official

title, this caused when electrically charged particles are rejected from

the sun. By the time they reach our atmosphere, they cause the gas atoms

to glow. Unfortunately, I cannot promise you more of the same

tonight. We have some clear skies to come. It is going to be cold with

brightness to come through the day tomorrow. There is clear skies

already making an impact. Temperature is already public thing

a day. Dash away. A widespread frost tonight. Temperatures will plummet

to `1 or `2. We will get some fog patches developing as well. That fog

will be lingering around for much of tomorrow morning. The sun will

eventually burn through. It is increasing intensity because it is

the 1st of March tomorrow. We will get some good spells of brightness

through the day. Temperatures are going to range from between seven

and nine Celsius with lighter winds. It will feel pleasant. The cloud is

starting to build and we've got rain moving in tomorrow night. It will

fall across the North of the Midlands and then we will see

showers right the way across the region. That will help temperatures

little bit. Even though it is going to be cold into Sunday, it will not

drop as low as it was night. So, we start of our Sunday with plenty of

more rain moving in. The winds will start to pick up. We will get some

brightness through mundane sash `` Sunday morning but then there would

be drizzle forming. Temperatures were rain `` range between eight and

12 Celsius. As he starts the new week, it is staying unsettled. I

will leave you with a bit of good news. By the middle of the week,

things look like they are starting to become milder.

Spring plastics? Before we go, are you interested in

the BBC and its programmes and services? If so, the BBC Trust's

Audience Council England, is looking for people here in the West Midlands

to join its regional audience panel. The panel meets three times a year.

It isn't paid but you do get expenses. The easiest way to find

out more, and to get an application pack, is to go to the website.

That was the Midlands Today. I'll be back at ten o'clock, have a good

evening.