31/03/2014 Midlands Today

That's all from the BBC News at Six - on BBC One we

Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight: On the brink,

a famous old football club needing to find ?78,000 in a week to

survive. Devastating. We have been through

thick and thin with the club, but we have always survived with everybody

pulling together. We're talking to the chairman who's put hundreds of

thousands of pounds of his own money into the club.

Also tonight. As fresh inquests begin into the

Hillsborough disaster, it's an emotional day for the sister of a

victim from Worcestershire. Nervous. Cautious. But hopeful. We h`ve got

to be hopeful. Operation Spring Clean, a chty's

pledge to clear all 470 milds of its streets of litter in just a month.

Forget Kiki Dee, we've got White Dee, the Benefits Street resident

launches into song. As far as temperatures go, ht is a

fairly decent week. For everything else, we have warnings of hdavy

rain, find out if it will affect you later in the programme.

Good evening. Supporters of Hereford United Football Club have jtst seven

days to help save their club from financial disaster. The Bulls face a

winding up order next Mondax over an unpaid ?78,000 tax bill. Thdir

chairman has already admittdd they need ?300,000 to see out thd current

season and their latest accounts show losses approaching half a

million pounds. Formed in 1824, Hereford spent 31 years as `

Football League club, and achieved national prominence in 1972 when, as

a Southern League team, thex gloriously knocked top`flight

Newcastle United out of the FA Cup. But in the face of crippling debts,

can they survive this latest cash crisis? Dan Pallett reports. Will we

see this sight again? Hereford United were at home on Saturday but

their future is in doubt. The reality is a stark one for Hereford

United. They have one week to raise ?70,000 to pay a bill to thd Inland

Revenue. If they don't, the club could simply cease to exist. For

people like Ron Parrott, th`t hurts. He's the club's historian, `nd has

almost every match day programme since the club was formed in 19 4.

That 90 years of history cotld soon come to an end, though. Oh,

devastating. We've been through thick and thin with the club but

we've always survived. With everybody pulling together. We

could've done it this time hf we'd have known with more time to spare.

Edgar Street is on council owned land. But they can only do so much

to help. We can't offer cash, but we can offer help, advice, terls of

lease, negotiations on rent. And we are doing all of those things and

anything else we can do that doesn't involve direct cash supply we are

happy to talk about. More than ,500 fans attended Saturday's 1`0 defeat

against Grimsby. They care passionately. But does the rest of

the city? Most towns have got them, haven't they? And it is sort of a

loss if they haven't got it any more. And it is somewhere for the

kids to go, isn't it? Just really is a shame, I think. Someone should put

their hand in their pocket somewhere and supply them with some money

They are part of Hereford, the Bulls. It brings business as well,

of course. I think it's dre`dful. Time is running out for Herdford

United. Even if they do raise the ?78,000 tax bill, they will need

another ?300,000 to get through the summer. And the players are also

owed money. The Bulls are f`mous for their giant`killing in the FA Cup.

Now they must defy even gre`ter odds just to survive.

Earlier, I spoke via video`link to the chairman of Hereford Unhted

David Keyte and I began by `sking him how precarious the situ`tion

currently is. Well, we have got to say that it is still extremdly

precarious. We are all guns pointing towards the court hearing on Monday.

The winding up order that the HMRC have put against the club. So, our

first task that we are focusing on is raising seven the ?8,000. How

much have you raised so far? Well, following Saturday's match, we have

raised ?20,000 towards the taxman. And I say that because we h`ve

actually given a further sul to the players and staff, predomin`ntly

towards the taxman. In round figures, ?20,000. I underst`nd that

tomorrow our supporters Association have a further ?3000. With `verage

gates of 1600, do you worry if there is an appetite for football in

Hereford? Well, that has got to be a question raised every time. Every I

ask the question, you shot down in flames. We try not to blame the

fans, who turn up rain or shine but there does seem to be some `pathy

around Herefordshire in gendral towards the football club. How much

is this affecting you personally and financially? Well, personally, I

tend to be a person that puts on a face, a front to it. But it does eat

away. And, certainly, familx wise, home wise, and financially, maybe

too much money. But that sedms to get forgotten. And if it trtly is

the saving grace is that kedp orcs `` keep walks, I accept that. Do you

regret the day you bought the club? You've got to have some momdnts when

you think that! I had a figtre in my mind that I was prepared to put into

the club. What I haven't bedn able to account for is probably not being

able to walk away at that fhgure and going past it and double now in four

years. So that is what I have to grapple with from a family point of

view. We'll Hereford United be here season? Well, that is the plan. ``

will Hereford United? None of us on the board are working towards a

revamped Phoenix camp, that is not on the agenda, but if other people

want to dictate that, we have to listen.

You're watching Midlands Today. Good to have you with us this evdning.

Still to come later in the programme. Back home at long last,

the stranded rower who spent three months in the middle of the

Atlantic. The sister of a football fan who

died at Hillsborough says she hopes a fresh inquest will finallx give

her answers into how her brother died. Andrew Brookes, who c`me from

Bromsgrove, was among 96 football fans who died at the FA Cup semi

final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in 1989. @ndrew's

sister Louise buried their father just ten days ago and says she alone

will now carry on the fight for justice. Cath Mackie reports.

She started on this path a puarter of a century ago. This mornhng,

arriving at her brother's inquest in Warrington, Louise Brooks is hoping

she has reached journey's end. How are you feeling this morning?

Nervous. Cautious. But hopeful. It's been a long 25 years. Her brother,

Andrew, loved football and Liverpool. St the family hole in

Bromsgrove, Louise recalls their childhood together. I remember his

room was full of Liverpool posters. And scarves. There was a big age

gap. I saw him more than a brother. I really, really respected him

because he had a completely different personality, from me,

completely. You know, he was so quiet. Hardly spoke two words. Which

is not me. He was just a very, very quiet person. Andrew went to

Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield in April 1989 to watch Liverpool play

Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup semifinal. He never came hole. He

was 26. One of 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster. My mtm.. My

parents were never the same again. Never. Her parents are now both

dead. Louise's last words to her dad who died less than a month `go was a

promise to keep fighting for answers. I don't just have ` duty

now to my brother. I have a duty to my mum. But more importantlx now

I've promised a dying man on his deathbed that... I will nevdr.. And

I won't give up, anyway, I won't ever give up. And it is that promise

that has brought her to Warrington. With 96 victims, such is thd scale

of these inquests, that this building has been adapted into a

purpose`built courtroom, thd biggest in England and Wales. It'll pretty

much be the second home for the families, at least until Christmas,

as the hearings are predictdd to last for up to a year. We'rd just

going to have to keep travelling up there, you know. I'd walk to the

moon and back for my brother. I really would. It is only me who can

fight for my brother. There is nobody else to do it. I've got to do

it. Not that I've got to do it, but I want to do it as well.

Wolverhampton Council today launched Operation Spring Clean with a pledge

to clear all 3,390 streets hn the city of rubbish. That's a total of

472 miles for the city's 60 street cleaners to cover in a month. Each

year the council receives around 5,000 calls from residents

complaining about street cldaning issues, and the authority collects

800 tonnes of rubbish a year. So can the war on litter ever be won? Kevin

Reide reports. The age old problem of littdr, an

eyesore in many of our towns and cities, discarded bottles, fast food

wrappers, and empty cigarette packets making our streets ` mess.

But in Wolverhampton they'vd launched operation spring clean the

aim being to clean the whold city. All 3,000 streets in Wolverhampton

are getting this spring cle`ning treatment. By the summer, the whole

city should be looking cleaner and brighter. Today workers werd

concentrating on Duke Street and the surrounding area. There are certain

roads you can do a certain time of the day, and certain roads xou have

to do early. Because of the traffic. Somewhere for people to be

happy to live in, that is the aim. The buzz is unbelievable. It is

clean and tidy. But there are some messes these workers can't touch,

like this fly`tipping in Penn, that's because it's on priv`te land.

But even so residents are bding asked to report it to Environmental

Health officers who may be `ble to force a clean`up. Meanwhile back at

Duke street the work is nearly done, and it's been noticed. It is cleaner

than it usually is. They have done a great job down here. All thd

cleaning of the road and thd sides as well. It looks a lot cle`ner

brilliant! The council admits it's a bit like painting the Forth Bridge

but say normal street cleanhng will continue after Operation Spring

Clean. Live now to Wolverhampton, `nd

Councillor John Reynolds, C`binet Member for City Services. Good

evening, Councillor Reynolds. Sounds a big job this! What's prompted it?

Well, we came up with a verx clever idea. What do you do in your house

this time of year? Let's look at spring cleaning. We have rescheduled

over spring cleaning we are doing to make sure that we get every street

in Wolverhampton as clean as we can. And it is very high profile,

can you keep it up? Well, it is something we will try