Browse content similar to 18/03/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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worth up to ?2000. That is all from us, | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight: | :00:00. | :00:07. | |
An apology to Jeff Astle's widow from the Football Association for | :00:08. | :00:10. | |
the way she's been treated since the footballer died from brain damage. | :00:11. | :00:16. | |
We feel very let down. The tpset we've felt I think is reallx | :00:17. | :00:20. | |
starting to turn to anger. Laraine Astle also tells us she | :00:21. | :00:23. | |
still wants the FA to carry out research into brain injuries among | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
players. An investigation's under wax into | :00:28. | :00:29. | |
why 86 miscarried and abortdd foetuses were kept for up to four | :00:30. | :00:36. | |
years at Walsall Manor Hosphtal Abandoned and neglected ` a surge in | :00:37. | :00:39. | |
the number of horses rescued from appalling misery. It is beyond bad. | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
Every year it's got worse btt this has been the worst year ever. | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
Making a bit of twit of himself ` the tawny owl recovering from a | :00:52. | :00:54. | |
325`mile journey clinging to the front of a train. Tawny owls are | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
very funny owls, and they'rd very hardy owls, so, again, I thhnk it | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
just got on there, clung on, and that was it! | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
And it's all looking calm rhght now, deceptively so. In fact, if | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
anything, tomorrow could be warm. But by the time we get to Thursday | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
and the rest of the week, that's quite a different story, whhch I'll | :01:16. | :01:17. | |
have for you later. Good evening. The Football | :01:18. | :01:28. | |
Association today apologised to the widow of Jeff Astle for the way | :01:29. | :01:31. | |
she's been treated since he died from brain damage caused by heading | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
heavy leather footballs. Laraine Astle says there's been virtually no | :01:37. | :01:39. | |
contact since a landmark inpuest 12 years ago into the death of the West | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
Bromwich Albion legend. Although the dry weight of footballs has remained | :01:46. | :01:48. | |
unchanged, the old leather balls became far heavier when wet, risking | :01:49. | :01:55. | |
serious injury. Here's Ben Godfrey. To West Bromwich Albion supporters, | :01:56. | :01:58. | |
Jeff Astle was known simply as the King. He was a prolific goal`scorer | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
for the Baggies and won fivd caps for England. His death in 2002 at | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
the age of 59 sent shock waves through football. We have h`d no | :02:09. | :02:16. | |
closure with it. There's bedn no closure because the FA won't accept | :02:17. | :02:19. | |
what killed him, you see. Tdsts showed that Jeff Astle died from a | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
catastrophic brain injury c`used by years of heading leather balls. The | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
Football Association told L`raine Astle they would conduct a decade of | :02:27. | :02:29. | |
research into the effect on players but it hasn't been done. Ond of my | :02:30. | :02:37. | |
daughters said, do they just not think my dad's life was worth | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
anything? Two of my daughters have suffered, you know, in the last 12 | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
years. One of my daughters had a nervous breakdown. In a statement, | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
the Football Association sahd: We deeply regret any upset caused to | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
the Astle family due to our lack of contact during this period, and we | :02:55. | :03:00. | |
apologise to them for this". We understand the FA did begin a | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
research project but it has not been completed because the youngsters | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
selected to take part droppdd out. This is after failing to make it as | :03:09. | :03:13. | |
professionals. Then surely hf it is going to help and save lives and | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
front all these problems in later life, that has got to be worthwhile. | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
This neurologist says even though today's footballs don't get heavier | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
in wet conditions, they could still cause injury. Even mild injtry is a | :03:29. | :03:38. | |
risk factor these days. Jeff's family, including his 14`month`old | :03:39. | :03:41. | |
grandson, Joseph, are going to West Bromwich Albion's match at Hull City | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
on Saturday. They're asking supporters to honour the Baggies | :03:45. | :03:46. | |
legend by applauding after nine minutes to recognise their campaign | :03:47. | :03:56. | |
for justice for Jeff. Coming up later in the programme, | :03:57. | :03:59. | |
the peril of potholes. A former world cycling champion says the | :04:00. | :04:02. | |
roads he rides have become potential death traps. | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
An investigation's under wax after miscarried and aborted foettses were | :04:10. | :04:13. | |
kept in storage at Walsall Lanor Hospital. They were retained because | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
paper work wasn't filled in properly. There are around 700 | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
miscarriages or abortions every year at the hospital and it's now emerged | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
that 86 foetuses were kept for up to four years. Of those, 73 were under | :04:26. | :04:31. | |
12 weeks old. Here's our he`lth correspondent, Michele Padu`no. | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
At 12 weeks, the foetus is `round six centimetres long and wehghs just | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
14 grams. The vast majority of embryos, 73, were smaller than this. | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
This is a foetus at 20 weeks. Some remains were as late as 21 weeks' | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
gestation. Walsall Manor Hospital has admitted that embryos wdre kept | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
up to four years in two casds because forms weren't compldted or | :04:56. | :05:03. | |
were incorrectly completed. We are sincerely sorry for any distress or | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
concern we might have caused. We have had a problem with our internal | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
process which has meant that in a small number of cases, the | :05:13. | :05:20. | |
authorisation to dispose of what is remaining after miscarriages and | :05:21. | :05:23. | |
terminations has not happendd as it should have done. Around 700 embryos | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
from abortions and miscarri`ges in Walsall are cremated here at the | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
Streetly Crematorium. The mhssing embryos only came to light following | :05:31. | :05:33. | |
a Freedom of Information repuest asking how many foetuses were kept | :05:34. | :05:40. | |
more than a month. Once the paperwork is completed, the | :05:41. | :05:43. | |
remaining 86 foetuses will be brought here for cremation. Some | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
with their parents present. The hospital says it has reviewdd all of | :05:49. | :05:50. | |
its other procedures and thdre are no other problems with the lortuary. | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
In a statement, the Human Thssue Authority said: "We are currently | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
reviewing how this happened at Manor Hospital in Walsall, includhng | :05:59. | :06:01. | |
inspecting next week. It is important that the issues are | :06:02. | :06:03. | |
investigated thoroughly, action is taken, and lessons are learned by | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
Walsall and others to avoid similar incidents happening again". | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
No`one has been disciplined for the error but the hospital has | :06:11. | :06:12. | |
commissioned an investigation into why this was not discovered sooner. | :06:13. | :06:19. | |
And the hospital has set up a dedicated information line for | :06:20. | :06:22. | |
people who think they may bd affected by what's happened ` the | :06:23. | :06:24. | |
number to call is 0345 835 7626 It's the Budget tomorrow, and | :06:25. | :06:34. | |
companies will be looking for further incentives to boost the | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
region's economy. Although there are signs of recovery, particul`rly in | :06:39. | :06:40. | |
manufacturing, unemployment remains stubbornly high. Our business | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
correspondent Peter Plisner is in Aston in Birmingham tonight. Peter, | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
what are the key things bushnesses will be looking out for frol the | :06:50. | :06:58. | |
Chancellor? I think as you said they are looking for reasons or | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
incentives to grow. This colpany no exception. Here they make plastic | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
mouldings for a variety of things. This is a wheel arch for a | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
Caterpillar and this is somdthing for a JCB. And this is for ` wheel | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
arch of an Aston Martin! With me is the managing director. You have | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
expanded quite rapidly and paid the price in increased business rates | :07:23. | :07:25. | |
and presumably you don't want the Chancellor to be putting opdrates | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
any more? Absolutely. The r`tes really have not gone down. For the | :07:31. | :07:36. | |
last five years, really. It is quite a deprived area and obviously we | :07:37. | :07:39. | |
want to employ more people `nd that has prevented us from doing that. | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
Energy costs are quite high because basically you are warming lots of | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
things up so you possibly w`nt the Government to do something on the | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
increase in that? Very much so. We are spending about ?12,000 ` month | :07:54. | :08:00. | |
on electricity alone and th`t prevents us from entering a global | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
market, so any help on that would be very welcome. What else werd July to | :08:05. | :08:08. | |
see the Chancellor give you? We would like to see him keep or raise | :08:09. | :08:14. | |
the annual investment allow`nce We are looking at investing in | :08:15. | :08:18. | |
machinery because our custolers are asking us to do that and we need | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
help in being able to do th`t. `` what else would you like to see The | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
Chancellor will deliver his speech at lunchtime tomorrow and tomorrow | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
night we will be back to find out if Dave and the company he man`ges | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
actually got what they were asking for. It will be interesting to see. | :08:38. | :08:40. | |
Thank you. A Birmingham woman has been jailed | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
for life in Pakistan after being convicted of trying to smuggle drugs | :08:45. | :08:47. | |
out of the country. 26`year`old Khadijah Shah, seen here attending | :08:48. | :08:50. | |
court with her two children, was arrested at Islamabad Airport in May | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
2012. She was carrying 63 khlos of heroin worth nearly ?3 millhon. | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
She's always denied the charges The children have since returned to the | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
UK. Charities are warning that the | :09:05. | :09:07. | |
number of abandoned horses hn the Midlands is reaching critic`l | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
levels. Rescue centres say irresponsible breeders and rising | :09:12. | :09:14. | |
costs are behind a surge in the number of animals being neglected. | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
The RSPCA wants tighter controls to keep track of owners. BBC Hdreford | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
and Worcester's Pam Caufield has been investigating. | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
Hello, scruffy lot! Dumped on roadsides, car parks and fidlds | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
These are some of more than 120 horses rescued by one small | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
Worcestershire charity. It has reached crisis point. It is beyond | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
bad. Every year has got worse but this has been the worst year ever | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
that I've experienced in 30 years. I'm having to turn horses away. Sue | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
picks up animals like these almost every day. Cheap to buy but | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
expensive to care for, many suffer appalling neglect, are abandoned and | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
left for dead. Don't buy it if you can't afford to keep it. Don't | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
advertise it free thinking someone else will want it, because ht'll be | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
like the Christmas puppy, end up on the heap six weeks later. The RSPCA | :10:12. | :10:16. | |
blames the problem on years of overbreeding by irresponsible owners | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
who graze them illegally on different plots of land. It wants | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
tighter controls to keep tr`ck of who owns each animal. Every horse | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
should have a passport, it should be traceable and it should be | :10:30. | :10:32. | |
microchipped. Unfortunately this isn't enforced, so it's hard if we | :10:33. | :10:36. | |
do have a neglected animal or a group of fly`grazed horses to | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
actually trace the owner, and that's one of the big issues. In W`les | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
there's a new law to target such breeders ` the Control of Horses | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
Act. It allows local authorhties to seize horses which are eithdr | :10:48. | :10:50. | |
abandoned or left grazing on land without permission. That's great for | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
Wales but it's going to import the problem into England a lot lore | :10:56. | :10:58. | |
because the same legislation isn't being brought into effect over here. | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
Now, this young lady is called Whisper. It's taken us four months | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
to get through to her that nobody's going to hurt her. Whisper nearly | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
starved to death. Her owner was convicted of cruelty to anilals | :11:12. | :11:14. | |
Charities want more punishmdnts and tougher laws, but until that | :11:15. | :11:16. | |
happens, they'll carry on the struggle to find good homes for | :11:17. | :11:18. | |
horses like Whisper. Helen Gough is an agricultural | :11:19. | :11:30. | |
solicitor who is campaigning to get the law changed to protect horses. | :11:31. | :11:37. | |
She joins us now. Good evenhng. What's the current law? How often | :11:38. | :11:43. | |
are people prosecuted? Therd are three principal pieces of | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
legislation that eel with horses being abandoned. Over the p`st two | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
years there has been a signhficant increase in the number of | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
prosecutions, nearly double. But the RSPCA have been berated for that aim | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
to many when I don't think ht is nearly enough. If people ard being | :12:00. | :12:07. | |
prosecuted, why do we need to change the law? We have the passport | :12:08. | :12:12. | |
regulations which were introduced in 2009 but they are not being complied | :12:13. | :12:15. | |
with and they are not being enforced, so non`compliance is | :12:16. | :12:22. | |
becoming a real issue. But the real problem is in actually getthng the | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
horses removed from land whdre they have been abandoned, so it hs the | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
1971 animals act which is l`cking. What changes do you want? Do you | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
want to keep the tubing and passports in place or make sure they | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
are in force? That is cruci`l because we have to have a mdthod of | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
identifying the owners. We `lso need to have a centralised unit so that | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
each local authority has responsibility for somewherd so we | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
can have the area monitored, how many horses we have there and where | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
they are going, and the cost implications of this absolutely | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
huge. It could be severely `nd significantly reduced if we just | :13:04. | :13:06. | |
worked together on this but everybody takes the attitudd that it | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
is not their problem, somebody else will deal with it. How big ` problem | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
is it? We saw examples in that report but how widespread is it It | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
is all across the country. @ll of the century is fit to burst and they | :13:21. | :13:23. | |
really have no more capacitx to take in any more horses. `` all of the | :13:24. | :13:30. | |
centuries. We know many havhng problems and that is another issue | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
with the animals act of 1970. It does not enable us to deal with the | :13:37. | :13:39. | |
welfare issues being caused here in being able to get the horses removed | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
sooner rather than later. Thank you for your time. | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
Our top story tonight ` an `pology to Jeff Astle's widow from the | :13:49. | :13:51. | |
Football Association for thd way she's been treated since thd | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
footballer died from brain damage. Your detailed weather forec`st to | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
come shortly. Also in tonight's programme, the | :14:00. | :14:02. | |
race to get Worcester's grotnd ready for the start of the cricket season | :14:03. | :14:05. | |
after flooding that left it with more than a soggy outfield. | :14:06. | :14:13. | |
And find out how this littld owl survived to journey of more than 300 | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
miles clinging to the front of a freight train! | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
A widow who won a legal battle to preserve her late husband's sperm | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
wants a change in the law so other women don't have to go throtgh what | :14:29. | :14:32. | |
she did. Beth Warren's husb`nd died of a brain tumour two years ago | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
They'd always planned to have children. But she had to go to the | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
High Court to overturn Human Fertilisation and Embryologx | :14:41. | :14:42. | |
Authority rules, which would have meant the sperm was destroydd. She's | :14:43. | :14:49. | |
been talking to Joanne Writtle. Heading to the gym where shd | :14:50. | :14:52. | |
teaches, Beth Warren is looking to the future. Think about your | :14:53. | :15:00. | |
posture... Think about your breath. And people there are delighted she's | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
won her case. I think it is absolutely fantastic. I'm so happy | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
for her. Seeing her so happx afterwards is amazing. At the | :15:11. | :15:13. | |
Birmingham apartment she sh`red with her husband, Beth still somdtimes | :15:14. | :15:16. | |
feels down. But she hopes hdr fight to preserve his sperm withott time | :15:17. | :15:19. | |
limits will save others frol the two`year legal fight she's had. To | :15:20. | :15:25. | |
me it feels amazing that I've not only won this for myself and it s | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
given me back my future and that choice Warren left me, but H'll also | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
know it will force changes hn the law that will stop this happening in | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
the future. Beth and Warren were soul mates. He wanted to give her a | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
choice about whether to havd his children. He died two months after | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
her brother was killed in a car accident. At a time when I had just | :15:45. | :15:51. | |
lost my brother and my husb`nd, that is not a time when you have a broken | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
heart, you are feeling very lonely and emotional and you start having a | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
family, so it is about loving myself up and of course I know havhng a | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
child without a father isn't ideal but in a perfect world, my husband | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
and brother would not have died It is not a perfect world. For now | :16:10. | :16:12. | |
Beth adores her nieces, and is concentrating on her new | :16:13. | :16:14. | |
physiotherapy career after putting her studies on hold to care for | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
Warren. If I am to become a single parent, need to make sure I can | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
provide for that child as wdll, so that's definitely the main point, | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
but besides that it is just living life and loving life and not | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
fighting cancer like I was doing for two years, and then the next two | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
years with a legal battle. Ht is just about being a normal young | :16:36. | :16:38. | |
person and embracing what lhfe has to offer. Beth has countless happy | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
memories of her husband, who was a ski instructor. And life now is | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
about embracing the future whilst not forgetting the past. Thd main | :16:47. | :16:49. | |
reason she chose Warren's fhrst name as her surname? For EE is, ht was | :16:50. | :16:58. | |
Warren and Beth, Beth and W`rren, and I knew he was going to die | :16:59. | :17:01. | |
within days, weeks or months, and a new I would not hear his nale as | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
much, and that was really dhfficult so I spoke to him about it `nd asked | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
what he thought and that is why I took it on. I cannot remembdr now | :17:10. | :17:15. | |
being Beth Warren. It feels so natural. `` for eight years. And | :17:16. | :17:18. | |
staying with names, Beth revealed they'd even discussed what to call | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
their children. I would certainly never tell people the names because | :17:23. | :17:24. | |
we would with wanted to be ` surprise but we did discuss names. | :17:25. | :17:30. | |
A former world champion cyclist says potholes are making roads in the | :17:31. | :17:33. | |
Midlands among the worst in the world. There are three millhon | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
cyclists on Britain's roads. Last week, the Government said it was | :17:39. | :17:41. | |
giving ?140 million to councils to fix potholes caused during the wet | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
winter. But with 245,000 miles of road in Great Britain, the loney | :17:47. | :17:50. | |
will be spread pretty thinlx. Nadine Towell has been looking at how | :17:51. | :17:53. | |
dangerous our roads have become for those on two wheels. | :17:54. | :18:02. | |
He has won seven world cyclhng titles and covers more than 250 | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
miles a week in training around his home in Warwickshire. But Mhck Ives | :18:08. | :18:10. | |
says the road conditions here are now so bad, they are becoming | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
lethal. This one down here was a massive one. And you can sed it now. | :18:16. | :18:23. | |
I am just going to go around it At least three feet long. It is not | :18:24. | :18:26. | |
just standard potholes that drivers are used to which cause problems for | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
cyclists. Smaller holes and channels can be just as dangerous. You have | :18:32. | :18:36. | |
to take evasive action. If xou don't, this is what happens. We ll | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
end there, over the handleb`rs, formally finish up in the | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
middle`of`the`road. `` wheel in there. We all know what can happen | :18:48. | :18:52. | |
when we hit a pothole on tyres at speeds in your car. But imagine what | :18:53. | :18:56. | |
can happen when your tyre is only this wide. At this cycle shop and | :18:57. | :19:00. | |
repair centre, they deal with a constant stream of punctures, | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
buckled wheels and worse. All bikes damage on the region's roads. `` | :19:06. | :19:15. | |
damaged. Whether they are more sporting riders all leisure riders, | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
they are hitting potholes and it can create quite a significant hmpact on | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
the bike and rider. `` or ldisure riders. We have inspectors that go | :19:24. | :19:29. | |
out and they do everything to inspect the roads every year but we | :19:30. | :19:32. | |
do rely on people phoning up the council and telling us accurate | :19:33. | :19:38. | |
information about where the potholes are located. With more than 120 | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
race victories to his name, Mick won't allow potholes to put him off | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
the sport he loves, but he does know cyclists who have abandoned their | :19:49. | :19:51. | |
hobby because they feel ridhng on the region's roads has becole too | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
risky. I think I'll recognise some of those | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
roads as a keen cyclist mysdlf! I can certainly relate to that. `` I | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
recognise. Worcestershire County Crickdt Club | :20:06. | :20:07. | |
say they're confident they'll have New Road ready for the start of the | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
season, despite last month's floods. Pre`season games have been loved to | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
Kidderminster but the ground staff are working hard to ensure they can | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
host their first League gamd on 13th April, as Dan Pallett reports. | :20:18. | :20:21. | |
Blue sky overhead. But don't be fooled. Life's been anything but a | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
beach for Worcestershire. That's why, with 26 days until thehr first | :20:26. | :20:28. | |
home game, the New Road pitch looks like this. | :20:29. | :20:32. | |
It's a race against time to get everything ready but they'rd | :20:33. | :20:38. | |
confident it's one they can win We had an inspection from the DCB | :20:39. | :20:41. | |
yesterday just to see that they were OK with it and they're happx and | :20:42. | :20:45. | |
comfortable. A bit of warm sunshine, ironically a little bit of rain | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
might help as well, with sole warm weather to make the grass grow. | :20:50. | :20:52. | |
That's the key bit. Cleaning up is not a problem for us. But the | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
cricket ground was an island at the peak of last month's floods. Thanks | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
to the hard work of the grotnd staff here at New Road, everything's on | :21:02. | :21:04. | |
course to host league crickdt in just under four weeks' time. | :21:05. | :21:07. | |
Incredible, then, because four weeks ago, the water was lapping tp here, | :21:08. | :21:10. | |
above the guttering. Even the road outside was only passable bx bus | :21:11. | :21:14. | |
when the main bridge was closed to traffic. The water's now subsided, | :21:15. | :21:17. | |
but for the time`being, the squad have moved to Kidderminster for | :21:18. | :21:20. | |
pre`season. But that means dven more work for heads groundsman Thm | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
Packwood and his team. Todax's biggest problem was merely ` few | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
showers. This'll be my 25th season at New Road, so, yeah, when a flood | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
comes on, although people look at it and think, "oh, no, they must be | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
pulling their hair out", it happens all the time. We're used to it and | :21:35. | :21:40. | |
we mop up and go again. Thex tend to clean up as soon as a flood goes | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
down, and another one comes up and that means another clear`up | :21:45. | :21:47. | |
operation, and again they jtst get on with it, so the resilience of all | :21:48. | :21:51. | |
the staff to bounce back and just keep sorting things out is `mazing. | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
Worcestershire have done thdir bit to be ready in time. Now thdy just | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
need nature to work with thdm for a change, not against them. | :22:00. | :22:12. | |
That is a pretty impressive clean`up job! | :22:13. | :22:14. | |
As train journeys go, this one was high on excitement and pretty low on | :22:15. | :22:18. | |
comfort. But at least a tawny owl, who's now been named Lucky for | :22:19. | :22:21. | |
obvious reasons, survived over 00 miles clinging to the front of a | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
freight train. He's now recovering at the Nuneaton and Warwickshire | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
Wildlife Sanctuary. Ben Sidwell is there. A pretty incredible journey, | :22:31. | :22:39. | |
Ben! Yes, it is one heck of a journey, I have to tell you But to | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
be honest, many of the anim`ls here at the Sanctuary have had a tough | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
and long journey to get herd. Since they opened in 2001 they have looked | :22:48. | :22:54. | |
after 24,000 animals. There are owls, a goose behind me and | :22:55. | :22:58. | |
somewhere around there is a dear animal as well. But none of them | :22:59. | :23:01. | |
have faced quite the journex that Lucky had! He decided to go for a | :23:02. | :23:08. | |
rest on the front of a freight train in Glasgow. More than 300 mhles | :23:09. | :23:12. | |
later, clinging on for his life he arrived at a depot in | :23:13. | :23:15. | |
Northamptonshire where he w`s spotted. Thankfully, he is now | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
recovering here in this hospital unit. So let's go and meet this most | :23:20. | :23:28. | |
aptly named owl. First of all, what we want to know, how is he doing? He | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
is going to be fine. He had a bitter race brained wing but in ten days | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
time he will great. `` he h`d a sprained wing. He should have died | :23:39. | :23:45. | |
after this but it is a miracle where he happened to leap survived. It is | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
probably his plumage which kept warm. `` he happened to havd | :23:51. | :24:00. | |
survived. What about that phone call? You get it from the train | :24:01. | :24:04. | |
depot and it must be one of the weirdest you have had? Yes. I had to | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
ask the gentleman to repeat it twice. When he said and owl from | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
Scotland, I thought he was drunk! But he wasn't! What will happen to | :24:16. | :24:21. | |
Lucky? We will keep him for about ten days and then released him. And | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
the nice thing is, especially for Lucky here, he does not need to go | :24:27. | :24:29. | |
on a long journey back on the train, certainly not on the front of | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
it, anyhow! Because he will be released into the woods with other | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
tawny owls in Warwickshire, and I'm sure we will keep a check on him if | :24:39. | :24:47. | |
we can. We all wanted. `` wd all want to adopt him! The owl, not Ben! | :24:48. | :24:54. | |
A much cooler feel in the ahr today. A sign of things to come, Shefali? | :24:55. | :25:00. | |
Yes, we are in for a treat tomorrow, though, before thd windier | :25:01. | :25:08. | |
and cooler conditions set in on Thursday. This warm front whll be | :25:09. | :25:11. | |
followed by the cold front `nd that will bring in the rising | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
temperatures. After that, wd start to see this cold front on Thursday. | :25:18. | :25:23. | |
It turns into a cold front `nd slips southwards, bringing with it the | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
rain and the increase in winds. But you will notice those are a bit of a | :25:28. | :25:30. | |
feature throughout the next few days, with those tightening isobars. | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
Today, we saw a few showers, fairly well scattered, but also sole | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
sunshine developing through the latter part of the day, and that | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
will leave us with clear skhes overnight, said temperatures could | :25:46. | :25:50. | |
dip lower than they did last night, to around six or seven degrdes. That | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
will keep any frost at bay. It is because of the breeze that the | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
temperatures will stay well above freezing. However, because we have | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
the clear skies tonight, it will be quite beneficial to us tomorrow in | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
that we get to see quite a bit of sunshine first thing, but | :26:09. | :26:11. | |
particularly the further east you travel, and in the West, we could | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
hang onto more in the way of cloud. That will break through the day and | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
send temperatures up very nhcely to around 15 degrees in the sotthern | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
counties, maybe 14 elsewherd. I think we will reach 15 tomorrow | :26:25. | :26:31. | |
which is higher than most d`ys last week, where we saw 12 to 13. Quite | :26:32. | :26:38. | |
respectable for the time of year. But competing with that bredze so it | :26:39. | :26:41. | |
could feel cooler than that. Tomorrow night we are going to see | :26:42. | :26:46. | |
the cloud thickening up and this is a head of that frontal systdm | :26:47. | :26:49. | |
slipping southwards on Thursday So that cloud and the combinathon of | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
the winds tomorrow will, ag`in, hold the temperatures up to six or seven, | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
so at this stage, not seeing those night temperatures dropping by much | :26:58. | :27:01. | |
but they will do by the weekend That is when we could possibly see | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
some showers turning a bit wintry with night frosts returning. | :27:06. | :27:15. | |
Thursday, wet and windy, cooler with temperatures beginning to slip, and | :27:16. | :27:17. | |
that will be followed by lively showers and heavy ones on Friday. | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
Tonight's headlines from thd BBC: Russia formally takes over the | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
Crimea, the first time it's expanded its territory since the Second World | :27:26. | :27:27. | |
War. A new scheme to help working parents | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
with a child care subsidy worth up to ?2,000. | :27:32. | :27:33. | |
An apology to Jeff Astle's widow from the Football Association for | :27:34. | :27:36. | |
the way she's been treated since the footballer died from brain damage. | :27:37. | :27:39. | |
And an investigation's under way into why 86 miscarried and `borted | :27:40. | :27:42. | |
foetuses were kept for up to four years at Walsall Manor Hosphtal | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
That was the Midlands Today. I'll be back at 10pm, when we'll be | :27:48. | :27:48. |