20/04/2014 Midlands Today

the Queen, whose 88th birthday it is Good evening. Two months after the

devastating floods, shops and businesses in Worcester are hoping

the Easter Holiday weekend will provide a much`needed boost to the

local economy. Some businesses had to close after the River Severn

burst its banks. Kevin Reidd reports.

Worcester looks a totally dhfferent place than it did just two lonths

ago, with riverside venues well and truly open for business. It's a far

cry from when the River Sevdrn burst its banks. The Quay restaur`nt was

one of the worst affected. We had the initial flood just after

Christmas. We started getting prepared to open again and then we

got hit worse than the first time. Luckily, we kind of prepared for it.

It's been two`and`a`half months of redecorating, cleaning... Gdtting

everything back up to open `gain. Downstream, and the Diglis Hotel is

also welcoming the start of the tourist season. It survived the

worst of the flooding but whtnessed the overall downturn, and it's one

of a number of businesses which has benefited from a financial relief

fund, receiving around ?5,000. But it's not just hotels and restaurants

hoping for an Easter boost, also shops and businesses in the city

centre just a short distancd from here. The shopping areas have long

been back to normal ` and this department store says signs are

good. Easter trade has started brilliantly and we're reallx

encouraged by that. We're not where we'd like to be but we're m`king

headway. Back down at the Sdvern and although it was a foe in thd winter,

it's fast becoming a friend for the spring and summer. The medi`

coverage did actually put Worcester back in people's minds. Somd came

for flood tourism and perhaps want to see it when it's not flooded

We're getting busier and busier and all of the work that the agdncies

are doing is helping that. @nd what's more, the Severn will be

celebrated in August with the announcement of the revival of the

city's River Festival. Police have launched a murddr

inquiry after a man who was injured in a fight outside a West Mhdlands

pub died in hospital. The 27`year`old victim, who's bden named

locally as Paddy Woodhall, was punched to the floor during disorder

outside the Deer's Leap in Streetly on Friday. Four men, all in their

20s, have been arrested. The head of Ofsted is to le`d the

investigation into allegations of a hardline Muslim takeover plot at a

number of Birmingham schools. Sir Michael Wilshaw will visit the city

next week to meet those dirdctly involved in the inspections. Ofsted

has assessed more than a dozen Birmingham schools in the w`ke of

the so`called "Trojan Horse" allegations.

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury has used his Easter

Sunday address to speak out against moves to legalise assisted suicide.

The Right Reverend Mark Davhes told worshippers that the sanctity of

human life is at risk. Ahead of a Bill going before Parliament next

month, he warned against ch`nging the law, saying he believes it would

"weaken" the protection givdn to vulnerable people. It's a moment

when we have to be ready to speak for something so fundamental as the

sacred value of human life htself. We're also concerned with how we

care for those at the end of life, and to breach the very sanctity of

human life with this change of the law is going to leave those people

more vulnerable. While Christians in the reghon have

been celebrating Easter, melbers of the Sikh community have been holding

celebrations of their own today to commemorate Vaisakhi. In Coventry,

local non`Sikh Charities also benefitted from the event, `s Nadine

Towell reports. The streets of Coventry were filled with noise and

colour as hundreds of Sikhs joined today's Vaisakhi procession. Because

of what we believe in we're supposed to be identifiable in crowds of

hundreds of thousands. So the colour, the turban... There goes a

Sikh! At the time there was persecution and tyranny, a Sikh

couldn't hid back in the crowd. You had to do your duty and help. The

festival is one of the most important in the Sikh calendar,

marking the founding of the religion. For local Sikhs, ht's

important to celebrate in ptblic as one large community. It brings a lot

of pride to us, to see the Sikh community join in and walk the

streets. It's emotional. It makes you proud to be a Sikh when everyone

is out on a day like this, hn unity. It's very important. Everyone looks

forward to it and the community love to get together. Everyone fdels

united. The celebrations brought other residents on to the streets,

too. While some were happy to watch, others were keen to join in. As part

of the procession, all along the route members give out free food and

drink. Basically to keep those walking along full of energx!

Non`Sikhs have also benefitdd from today's celebrations, as thd

community donated to a numbdr of local charities.

Let's check on the weather now with Charlie Slater. Good evening. Happy

Easter. Watch out for some rain as we go through the next few hours.

You can see from the colour it is quite heavy for a time, particularly

through the counties of Herefordshire and Worcester.

Thankfully through the night it does dry out and we're looking at seven

or eight Celsius. Tomorrow, we might see brightness. But also thd odd

shower. Mild temperatures btt maybe not feeling quite that mild when you

factor in the rain. Probablx a good idea to keep the umbrella close at

hand over the next few days. That's all for now; I'll be back

just after quarter past ten tonight. Until then, enjoy your evenhng.

Hello. Well, it was another lovely sunny day across the north of the

UK. What a difference over the south. The rain set in for the

course of the afternoon. There's more of that to come. It has been

getting heavy across southern England. A narrow band for