:00:00. > :00:00.looking pretty good. Dry in most parts with sunshine around.
:00:00. > :00:30.Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight: On htnger
:00:31. > :00:34.strike and locked into a warehouse, a florist fears her business will be
:00:35. > :00:38.repossessed because of rent arrears. We'll be asking a retail expert `
:00:39. > :00:44.how tough is it to make a slall business a success? Also tonight:
:00:45. > :00:47.Unlocking more secrets reve`led about the Staffordshire Hoard, as
:00:48. > :00:50.all 4,000 fragments are brotght together for the first time.
:00:51. > :00:52.Dredging the Avon in Stratford, to help keep the ?335 million tourism
:00:53. > :00:55.businesses afloat. Molineux history books rewritten, Wolves set a new
:00:56. > :00:58.record with a ninth successhve league victory. And what a
:00:59. > :01:02.difference two weeks makes ` this was the spot at Ironbridge hn
:01:03. > :01:14.Shropshire that was under w`ter back then ` now look at it. Will it
:01:15. > :01:19.continue? Find out later. Good evening. A businesswoman from
:01:20. > :01:25.Coventry is tonight refusing to leave her warehouse. Dupe Adeoye
:01:26. > :01:29.claims to be on hunger strike after City Council bailiffs removdd stock
:01:30. > :01:32.in a row over unpaid rent and rates. She has been fighting evicthon for
:01:33. > :01:38.six days and says council officials have acted unfairly. But thd council
:01:39. > :01:42.claims she owes them more than ?36,000. Bob Hockenhull reports A
:01:43. > :01:48.warehouse on the outskirts of Coventry is now Dupe Adeoye's chosen
:01:49. > :02:05.home. She runs her florist business from here but has barricaded herself
:02:06. > :02:08.in indefinitely. The reason ` she's facing eviction for failing to pay
:02:09. > :02:12.?36,000 in rent and rates. She admits she owes money but claims she
:02:13. > :02:16.needs more time to pay the City Council after a series of sdtbacks.
:02:17. > :02:22.If this is what I have to do to get some sort of justice and fahr and
:02:23. > :02:35.unbiased investigation to what actually happened, I will c`rry on
:02:36. > :02:39.doing it. Dupe, who says shd's on hunger strike as part of her
:02:40. > :02:42.protest, set up Faith and Flowers three years ago. She says she's got
:02:43. > :02:45.into financial difficulties after being burgled and is asking the
:02:46. > :02:53.council to help her. And fortunately she seems to have been the victim of
:02:54. > :02:56.a number of crimes against the business and the council nedd to
:02:57. > :03:06.work with the police to get to the bottom of this issue. The police and
:03:07. > :03:12.council came here yesterday to try to persuade her to leave but it
:03:13. > :03:22.seems they were unsuccessful. Bailiffs did seize some property
:03:23. > :03:29.from the warehouse last year. But the council says the value didn t
:03:30. > :03:31.cover the arrears. We cannot allow her to continue an occupation
:03:32. > :03:41.without contributing anything to the rent and upkeep of the building But
:03:42. > :03:44.Dupe is determined to carry on occupying the warehouse and says if
:03:45. > :03:48.she's allowed to continue hdr business it will create at least
:03:49. > :03:50.nine jobs in the city. I am joined now by Michael Weedon from the
:03:51. > :03:57.British Independent Retailers Association. This may be an extreme
:03:58. > :04:04.case, how common is it for small businesses to fall into rent
:04:05. > :04:11.arrears? It is quite a big sum but you often find people struggle with
:04:12. > :04:15.rents and most are paid up front on what is so stretched that whll
:04:16. > :04:38.accompany and cash flow is accompanied was my livelihood. Temp
:04:39. > :04:42.`` a company's livelihood. Independent retailers have been
:04:43. > :04:48.telling us that the overdraft is a thing of the past and where it used
:04:49. > :04:59.to pay for things like rent that has largely disappeared. West Bromwich
:05:00. > :05:02.West MP Adrian Bailey, who's the chairman the Commons Business Select
:05:03. > :05:04.Committee, told us recently soaring business rates are "the biggest
:05:05. > :05:09.single challenge" facing retailers. Do you agree? We have been talking
:05:10. > :05:14.about business rates for several years and quite a few of our members
:05:15. > :05:18.pay more in business rates than in rent and we think that long`term and
:05:19. > :05:23.fundamental reform is absolttely necessary. One in seven of `ll
:05:24. > :05:30.companies in this country wdre summonsed for late payment or
:05:31. > :05:38.nonpayment of rates. We hear that the economy is recovering btt do you
:05:39. > :05:47.think this is not working for independent retailers? In the last
:05:48. > :05:54.year, idiots related to housing such as furniture and floor coverings and
:05:55. > :06:07.DIY did quite well but most other areas suffered quite badly. Coming
:06:08. > :06:25.up later in the programme, to bring history alive. Detectives at
:06:26. > :06:33.investigating the shooting of a man in a Warwickshire village. The
:06:34. > :06:36.victim is understood to havd received facial injuries. Otr
:06:37. > :06:44.reporter Giles Latcham is in Keresley End, near Coventry. Giles,
:06:45. > :06:48.what other details can you bring us? The 32`year`old, who is belheved to
:06:49. > :06:51.have been in a car, is being treated in hospital following the shooting
:06:52. > :06:56.at Keresley End, near Coventry. There were dramatic scenes this
:06:57. > :07:02.afternoon as armed police officers in full body armour went into a
:07:03. > :07:10.property close by. There has been a large police presence in thd village
:07:11. > :07:19.throughout the afternoon. What have police been seeing? They sax this is
:07:20. > :07:24.a fast moving enquiry would be a lot going on and a short while `go the
:07:25. > :07:36.chief officer gives this update I would like to reinsure parlx`mac
:07:37. > :07:44.reassure people that instances like this are extremely rare. We are
:07:45. > :07:54.seeking information on a male aged in his 20s running away. I'l led to
:07:55. > :08:00.believe that the victim has been operated on in hospital but there is
:08:01. > :08:21.no work on his condition. It seems clear that this was a targeted
:08:22. > :08:24.attack and not a random one. A 23`year`old serving soldier has been
:08:25. > :08:26.remanded in custody by Telford magistrates charged with murdering a
:08:27. > :08:33.corporal found dead at their barracks. Lance Corporal Richard
:08:34. > :08:36.Farrell, who's 23, is accusdd of killing Corporal Geoffrey McNeill,
:08:37. > :08:39.of the First Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment, after his body was
:08:40. > :08:42.discovered at Clive Barracks in Tern Hill, on Saturday. Lance Corporal
:08:43. > :08:50.Farrell was remanded in custody to appear at Wolverhampton Crown Court
:08:51. > :08:54.on Friday. Experts have unlocked more secrets about the Staffordshire
:08:55. > :08:57.Hoard, the UK's largest ever find of Anglo`Saxon objects. Discovdred in
:08:58. > :09:00.2009 in a field near Lichfidld, the treasure has been brought together
:09:01. > :09:02.in a clean state for the first time for a two`week`long research
:09:03. > :09:13.exercise. Our Arts Reporter Satnam Rana reports. Each fragment of
:09:14. > :09:15.Anglo`Saxon treasure has bedn meticulously cleaned up, catalogued
:09:16. > :09:19.and analysed since 2012. Now, for two weeks only, all 4000 fr`gments
:09:20. > :09:31.in the Stafforshire Hoard h`ve been brought together. 600 fragmdnts have
:09:32. > :09:34.been joined together and new discoveries have been made hncluding
:09:35. > :09:36.this decorative animal mount. This reasearch exercise has allowed
:09:37. > :09:46.experts to test their throehes about what fits together physically and
:09:47. > :09:50.stylistically. Here we have a group of pieces that we think makd up one
:09:51. > :09:59.sword handle, for example. H've got a picture here. Here are decorative
:10:00. > :10:13.pieces that fit around the handle and these more elaborate pidces but
:10:14. > :10:18.there is one complete sword handle. This is one of the very large number
:10:19. > :10:29.of instances where we have been able to join pieces together. It was in
:10:30. > :10:33.2009 that the Staffordshire Hoard was discovered in this field near
:10:34. > :10:41.the village of Hammerwich bx a metal detector. A further find followed in
:10:42. > :10:46.2012, much to the amazement of the landowner. It was only when I saw
:10:47. > :10:51.the archaeologist digging that I realised that was something and even
:10:52. > :10:58.then it took a while to realise the significance of this. From the
:10:59. > :11:01.intricate workmanship to thd gold wealth of the ruling warrior class,
:11:02. > :11:04.the hoard is offering an insight into the sixth and seventh
:11:05. > :11:10.centuries. But the next stage of conservation work hopes to discover
:11:11. > :11:16.even more. It's going to be tricky. We do not have all the object. Lots
:11:17. > :11:20.of the joins are not perfect so we will have to use supports. Ht will
:11:21. > :11:24.be tricky but worthwhile in the end to finally see the shape and form of
:11:25. > :11:27.these objects. Some of thesd objects will go back on display at the
:11:28. > :11:30.Potteries Museum and Birmingham Museum and art gallery as wdll as
:11:31. > :11:36.Tamworth Castle and Lichfield Cathedral. This is a gatherhng into
:11:37. > :11:58.recognisable groups of material and people will start to recognhse
:11:59. > :12:01.things. With over one million visitors across the four venues so
:12:02. > :12:05.far, the public appetite for this find continues to grow. I'm joined
:12:06. > :12:07.now by Simon Cane, deputy dhrector of Birmingham Museums. How
:12:08. > :12:12.significant is this research work? It is very important becausd without
:12:13. > :12:15.it's it is just a pile of gold. We will use the research to help
:12:16. > :12:25.visitors interpret and understand what we have found. Were yot
:12:26. > :12:36.surprised by what you've fotnd? It is surprising in itself and there
:12:37. > :12:42.are two items such as the oldest piece and the newest ones so when
:12:43. > :12:52.some of this was buried it was already old. That is unique in this
:12:53. > :12:55.sort of archaeology. We saw in that report how much public interest
:12:56. > :12:59.there is, what impact has the hoard had internationally? When it was
:13:00. > :13:05.discovered, it went absolutdly global and we have had a huge amount
:13:06. > :13:10.of interest from around the world with people who come specifhcally to
:13:11. > :13:14.Birmingham to see the horde and it is amazing people make that
:13:15. > :13:23.journey. We have had an exhhbition in the USA and there is a htge level
:13:24. > :13:38.of interest right around thd globe. It is great for tourists coling to
:13:39. > :13:48.the Midlands? Absolutely. What next for the hoard? We are opening a new
:13:49. > :13:59.gallery dedicated to the horde and a lot of these fines and secrdts will
:14:00. > :14:04.be revealed to the public. We want the world to come and see it. It is
:14:05. > :14:13.important that they will have the opportunity to do this. Thank you
:14:14. > :14:16.very much. The River Avon is one of the biggest attractions in
:14:17. > :14:22.Stratford, for the first tile in over a decade work is underway to
:14:23. > :14:25.dredge the river. Each year, nearly five million people visit Stratford,
:14:26. > :14:33.ploughing ?335 million into the local economy. Nine barges of
:14:34. > :14:47.sediment a day is being removed from the river bed, to reduce thd risk of
:14:48. > :15:02.flooding. Joan Cummins reports. Silt has built up here making it
:15:03. > :15:12.difficult for boards to navhgate. `` for boats to navigate. People come
:15:13. > :15:17.here for all reasons, not jtst the Shakespeare and architecturd but
:15:18. > :15:29.Stratford is about the whold river environment. A specialist dredger
:15:30. > :15:38.works with no harm to the environment. People sit and quite
:15:39. > :15:47.happily watch the boats go by. The river is very important to
:15:48. > :15:55.Stratford. The dredging has cost millions of pounds but is ddscribed
:15:56. > :16:14.as routine maintenance. 2000 tonnes have already been brought up river
:16:15. > :16:30.and spread on farmland. One strand `` once dried it can be used
:16:31. > :16:33.agricultural. This is our top story tonight: On hunger strike and
:16:34. > :16:36.barricaded into a warehouse, a florist fears her business will be
:16:37. > :16:39.repossessed because of rent arrears. Your detailed weather forec`st to
:16:40. > :16:42.come shortly from Shefali. @lso in tonight's programme Wolves on a
:16:43. > :16:46.record run, the Molineux men make it nine league wins in a row and a
:16:47. > :17:01.unique history of Worcester ` the changing face of the city over 30
:17:02. > :17:04.years brought together. Mord than 100 volunteers have come forward to
:17:05. > :17:07.help keep a stately home in Staffordshire open to the ptblic.
:17:08. > :17:10.Shugborough Hall, which was once the home of the Queen's cousin Lord
:17:11. > :17:15.Lichfield, but Staffordshird County Council budget cuts put its future
:17:16. > :17:22.at risk. Joanne Writtle reports The hall sits in 900 acres but the
:17:23. > :17:27.upkeep of such blender is h`rd work. The volunteers are invaluable know
:17:28. > :17:34.the number of paid staff has nearly halved to 35. We are looking to make
:17:35. > :17:41.the estate more efficient and we were costing the County Council on
:17:42. > :17:48.4p which we have brought down to ?800,000 which is largely thanks to
:17:49. > :17:52.our volunteers. Some of the library books here date back to the 150 s
:17:53. > :17:59.and every year they have to be checked for signs of lukewarm and
:18:00. > :18:09.mould. This conservation officer is training this semi retired lan to
:18:10. > :18:17.have an informed look at thdse books. We are looking at volunteers
:18:18. > :18:27.to upgrade their skills at working with books in the library. This is
:18:28. > :18:33.something you do not see as a visitor and how it is made sure that
:18:34. > :18:42.all artefacts go on display. This lady is 80 years old. I do not think
:18:43. > :18:45.it would get on very well if it did not have volunteers because it is a
:18:46. > :18:57.big space and a lot of work for gardeners. There are newborn animals
:18:58. > :19:01.on the farm to be fed. Is it sustainable, relying on voltnteers
:19:02. > :19:09.to run a huge place like thhs? I think it is. We will hopefully
:19:10. > :19:20.encourage more people and wd hope to get 300 people to supporters. It is
:19:21. > :19:30.largely thanks to the volunteers that is bring cleaned hall will open
:19:31. > :19:33.to the public very shortly. They've got reason to be celebrate `
:19:34. > :19:36.Molineux history books were rewritten last night as Wolves won a
:19:37. > :19:39.ninth successive league gamd, for the first time in the club's
:19:40. > :19:43.history. Kenny Jackett's te`m won four`one at Swindon to stay at the
:19:44. > :19:46.top of League One. Ian Wintdr reports. Some old records gdt
:19:47. > :19:49.scratched, others get hidden away in the loft, the rest are treasured by
:19:50. > :19:52.collectors. It's taken Wolvds 2 years to break this particular
:19:53. > :20:19.record... Which they set back in November, 1988, when Robin Beck was
:20:20. > :20:22.Top of the Pops. # First tile.. # In years to come, two thousand
:20:23. > :20:25.travelling fans will say I was there, at Swindon to see Wolves
:20:26. > :20:29.re`write the record books. Bakary Sako and Nouha Dicko are on fire
:20:30. > :20:33.right now.. The hottest shots in League One... The first half was as
:20:34. > :20:44.good as anything we have done on the second half is poor as we h`ve
:20:45. > :20:47.been. And together they scored three times without reply to kill the game
:20:48. > :20:50.by half`time. With the notable exception of Leon Clarke's first
:20:51. > :20:56.goal for his new club in thd 90th minute. Not only Wolves ninth
:20:57. > :21:04.straight victory... Anything less and we would have been behind. He
:21:05. > :21:12.has made a real difference. You have waited 25 years for this. And it is
:21:13. > :21:29.not about to stop. How long can this continue? At least to the end of the
:21:30. > :21:33.season. Record players may be dead but footballers never lose the
:21:34. > :21:41.ability to surprise their supporters. It's taken five years of
:21:42. > :21:44.hard work but finally a unipue and enormous archive detailing the
:21:45. > :21:48.changing face of Worcester has been restored, and will be opened up to
:21:49. > :21:52.the public. It's the biggest single collection ever put together of the
:21:53. > :21:55.city ` and it all began 50 xears ago when two brothers started t`king
:21:56. > :21:58.pictures of where they lived. Cath Mackie reports. That was thdn, this
:21:59. > :22:04.is now. The changing face of Worcester captured over the past 130
:22:05. > :22:07.years. I was born in Worcester and I believe walking around Worcdster is
:22:08. > :22:10.like taking off the layers of an onion skin. Clive Haynes has been
:22:11. > :22:13.photographing the city sincd the 1960s along with his brother
:22:14. > :22:23.Malcolm. I can see it at various levels of experience. The brothers'
:22:24. > :22:26.own photos span 50 years. The public and city archives have added to the
:22:27. > :22:29.collection ` creating a unipue pictorial history of Worcester from
:22:30. > :22:32.the 19th to the 21st centurx. This is an interesting one, partly
:22:33. > :22:36.because it has a different format. A team of volunteers at the chty's
:22:37. > :22:39.Tudor House has spent five xears digitising and restoring thd 80 0
:22:40. > :22:43.images. We certainly hadn't realised how complex it was or how mtch work
:22:44. > :22:46.there was involved in cleanhng the slides, removing glass slidds and
:22:47. > :22:57.putting plastic ones on, th`t kind of thing. We've spent a while now
:22:58. > :23:01.walking around Worcester trxing to match up the old photos,which I ve
:23:02. > :23:05.got on my phone, with today's city. A lot of it does look simil`r, some
:23:06. > :23:08.looks the same, but some of it is unrecognisable and you do fhnd
:23:09. > :23:11.yourself wondering what on darth the town planners were thinking. When
:23:12. > :23:15.they widen the city Bridge hn 1 32, there were two really beauthful toll
:23:16. > :23:23.houses. They were simply taken away, demolished in that sense, and lost.
:23:24. > :23:26.I think that is one of the biggest mistakes they ever made. Thd city's
:23:27. > :23:30.library, a controversial new addition to the skyline, is now home
:23:31. > :23:37.to the originals. We will protect them for the future. We will
:23:38. > :23:46.catalogue them so people can search them and find interesting things
:23:47. > :23:50.that come out of the photographs. And it's a collection that will
:23:51. > :23:53.continue to grow, as Clive has no plans to put down his camer` just
:23:54. > :24:00.yet. Cath Mackie, BBC Midlands Today, Worcester.
:24:01. > :24:09.We have fog warnings that come in from two o'clock tomorrow morning
:24:10. > :24:15.and on till the end of the rush hour so take care if you're out on the
:24:16. > :24:23.roads as visibility will drop to 200 metres on the roads. Otherwhse, the
:24:24. > :24:32.going is good as far as racdgoers are concerned. The Cold Cup is on
:24:33. > :24:40.Friday. Sunshine will be largely dependent on how quickly thd fog
:24:41. > :24:44.lifts. The cloud is starting again tonight and so is the fog btt
:24:45. > :24:50.initially we will have clear skies which will attract that fog later on
:24:51. > :24:54.and it could be quite dense in places and quite widespread. Because
:24:55. > :25:03.of the clear skies, temperatures will drop to freezing in pl`ces
:25:04. > :25:07.There will be a light winds which will mean a misty and foggy start to
:25:08. > :25:13.the day tomorrow at the sunshine will burn through this fog `nd the
:25:14. > :25:17.cloud to dissolve it so that by the afternoon we will have some very
:25:18. > :25:26.pleasant spells of sunshine which will take temperatures of two highs
:25:27. > :25:33.of 11 Celsius in the north `nd 3 Celsius in the South. We will see
:25:34. > :25:37.fog developing quite widely tomorrow night and that will suppress the
:25:38. > :25:46.temperatures to three Celsits or four Celsius. The high pressure will
:25:47. > :25:51.pull away by Friday allowing different conditions by the weekend
:25:52. > :25:57.which will be cloudy with a touch of rain.
:25:58. > :26:05.Tonight's headlines from thd BBC. Labour says a referendum on the
:26:06. > :26:08.European Union is unlikely. On hunger strike and locked into a
:26:09. > :26:11.warehouse, a florist fears her business will be repossessed because
:26:12. > :26:15.of rent arrears. Police are looking for a gunman in the Midlands after a
:26:16. > :26:18.man was shot in the face Th`t was the Midlands Today. . I'll be back
:26:19. > :26:19.at ten o'clock. Have a