Browse content similar to 30/04/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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rain. rain. | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight: Building | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
success ` recovery in the construction industry at its highest | :00:07. | :00:09. | |
for 20 years, but there's still a skills shortage. It is a constant | :00:10. | :00:19. | |
challenge for us to get good quality people into the industry, both at | :00:20. | :00:25. | |
professional levels and in trades. There are warnings we are on the | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
building half of the houses in the Midlands that we need. | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
Also tonight: We've been under Birmingham City Centre to find out | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
why two major road tunnels will be closed again this summer. These are | :00:38. | :00:39. | |
the huge extractor fans that bring polluted air out. They are being | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
replaced by new jet fan system this summer. | :00:44. | :00:46. | |
The wait goes on. We visit the Shropshire village struggling with | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
one of the slowest connections to the web in the country. When you are | :00:50. | :00:52. | |
looking at something interesting and stops on you, you need to sit and | :00:53. | :00:55. | |
twiddle your thumbs, it is not very pleasant. | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
Blues on the brink. Birmingham City face relegation after 18 home games | :00:59. | :01:06. | |
without a win. Absolutely terrible. Rubbish. Going down there for years, | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
hopeless. And blue skies, fields of gold, the | :01:13. | :01:15. | |
ideal combination for a brilliant Bank Holiday Weekend. But how likely | :01:16. | :01:18. | |
is that when there are already Met office warnings for heavy rain to | :01:19. | :01:20. | |
come? Find out later. Good evening. Construction firms | :01:21. | :01:32. | |
across the West Midlands fear a lack of skilled workers could hamper the | :01:33. | :01:34. | |
revival in the house`building market. Companies are reporting the | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
fastest growth in building work for 20 years. But the feel`good factor | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
comes with concern about a skills shortage. More than 60,000 | :01:44. | :01:46. | |
construction jobs are expected to need filling in the next 12 months. | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
Giles Latcham reports Rising up ` another site well on the way to | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
completion, and evidence, says a new survey, of growth in construction | :01:56. | :02:06. | |
over the first quarter of the year. The Royal Institution of Chartered | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
Surveyors says it is the building of private housing like this which is | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
driving a recovery right across the construction sector. This | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
development, eight out of ten homes yet to be completed, have already | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
been sold off plan. The boss says turnover is almost | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
back to what it was before the crash six years ago, a corner well and | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
truly turned. I think the corner came about 12 months ago, and it | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
must be delightful and pleasurable if there has been steady growth. | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
Last year we bought a company down in Shrewsbury, that again is a | :02:44. | :02:49. | |
company which has been dormant and sleeping. That will be more | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
employment for local people. So bring out the bunting? Well, not | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
just yet. There is a problem, says this property consultant, a shortage | :02:59. | :03:01. | |
of skills, from bricklayers to quantity surveyors. Good people | :03:02. | :03:07. | |
coming into the industry, to the universities, that has shrunk by | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
probably 20%, which means it is a constant challenge for us to get | :03:14. | :03:16. | |
good quality people into the industry, both at professional | :03:17. | :03:19. | |
levels and in trades. They're taking up that challenge at this Birmingham | :03:20. | :03:22. | |
college where they train 1,500 students a year in construction | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
skills. And for Hannah it's all paid off. Last week I had an interview | :03:27. | :03:33. | |
with a big company and I got a job with them today. I am over the moon. | :03:34. | :03:40. | |
We have already seen lots of new building programmes, lots of housing | :03:41. | :03:43. | |
projects going on, so there is already jobs for people now. There | :03:44. | :03:49. | |
is certainly going to be a very big upturn and an awful lot of jobs | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
around. The people coming up now will definitely be getting jobs. | :03:54. | :03:56. | |
Everyone on this site's got more work to go to. With over two million | :03:57. | :03:59. | |
unemployed this is an industry which can't get the staff. | :04:00. | :04:02. | |
So where does this increase in construction leave the housing | :04:03. | :04:05. | |
market? The National Housing Federation represents housing | :04:06. | :04:06. | |
associations and campaigns for affordable housing. A little earlier | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
I spoke to Jenny Allen and asked for her reaction to the recovery. Yes, | :04:13. | :04:20. | |
it is great news that we're seeing more homes getting built and the | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
construction industry recovering. We need to make sure we are building a | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
whole range of homes, including for those on low to middle`income 's. | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
What is the state of the housing market? Until recently we have not | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
been building the homes that we need, which means we are facing | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
higher house prices, we have been facing challenges to get onto the | :04:43. | :04:46. | |
housing ladder, to find a home they can afford to live in. Can people | :04:47. | :04:54. | |
for their own properties now? No, it is still incredibly difficult. Last | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
year, we only built half of the homes that we need to build to keep | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
ace with demand. Although we may be seeing encouraging signs, it is by | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
no means sure that we are there yet. Plenty more to come tonight | :05:10. | :05:11. | |
including: A testimonial match with added meaning. Ex`footballer Jody | :05:12. | :05:14. | |
Craddock raising funds for his son's cancer unit. | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
Plans are being finalised to once again close two road tunnels in the | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
centre of Birmingham City Centre, which carry 85,000 vehicles a day. | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
The A38 St Chad's and Queensway tunnels are 40 years old and need to | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
be brought up to modern European standards. They'll stay shut for six | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
weeks. Here's our transport correspondent Peter Plisner In the | :05:38. | :05:40. | |
middle busy road junction, this virually unseen building contains | :05:41. | :05:42. | |
that reason that the tunnels are being shut yet again. | :05:43. | :05:49. | |
We descended deep under the streets of Birmingham into a secret cavern | :05:50. | :05:52. | |
that contains what contractors say is the beating heart of the city | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
famous tunnels. But the equipment here dates back to when the tunnels | :05:59. | :06:04. | |
open and badly needs replacing. We are just above the main tunnel, you | :06:05. | :06:11. | |
can probably hear the traffic in the distance, these are the huge | :06:12. | :06:13. | |
extractor fans that bring polluted air out. They are being replaced | :06:14. | :06:20. | |
with a jet fan system this summer. This system, it is 40 years old, it | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
will be replaced as well during the summer shutdown. Close by, another | :06:25. | :06:27. | |
secret plant room houses yet more outdated equipment. According to the | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
man in charge it's vital the tunnels are brought up to a modern standard. | :06:32. | :06:39. | |
This is phase two of a two year project. We did the heavy | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
engineering work last year, but this year we will be putting more of the | :06:44. | :06:45. | |
electric or mechanical equipment into it, ventilation equipment and | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
control and communication equipment. Last year although there was some | :06:51. | :06:53. | |
congestion it wasn't as bad as many had originally predicted. But | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
lessons were still learned and officials say that should mean fewer | :06:57. | :07:03. | |
delays. We were expecting that they were probably going to do exactly | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
what they did last year. Nobody has been complacent about the fact that | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
it didn't go well last year. We want the public to do what they did last | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
year and look at alternative forms of transport and alternative ways to | :07:17. | :07:18. | |
come into the city. But while commuters coped, businesses close | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
saw a big loss of trade and they're already worried about what might | :07:23. | :07:28. | |
happen this year. It is an absolute dread, really. Last summer we were | :07:29. | :07:34. | |
75% down in that period. It has never picked up again after that. | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
Overall we were down about ten or 15% in sales, not just myself but | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
the other retailers I have spoken to have had a similar loss. They only | :07:45. | :07:51. | |
took 30, 40% there as well. Those affected are now calling on the city | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
council to reduce business rates while the tunnels are close without | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
it many say they might struggle to stay afloat. | :07:59. | :08:01. | |
And Peter is in the city centre now for us, overlooking one of the | :08:02. | :08:04. | |
tunnels. Peter, it did appear to be relatively stress free for commuters | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
last summer. What's your hunch? Is it going to be as stress`free? It | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
probably will be, certainly better than things are in the city centre | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
this evening. This is the summer holiday, so there will be reduced | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
traffic, but the key again as public transport. There is going to be more | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
park`and`ride sites to reduce parking in Birmingham International | :08:29. | :08:31. | |
station. They are going to extend the car park in south Birmingham to | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
give access to the cross city line. Public transport is the key. An | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
extra 200,000 journeys were made by public transport during this six | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
week course. Every car off the road is one less car to worry about in | :08:47. | :08:49. | |
terms of congestion around the tunnels. And once the six weeks are | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
up is that the end of it or can we expect more disruption? No, that's | :08:55. | :09:01. | |
it, the job is done as far as Birmingham City Council are | :09:02. | :09:04. | |
concerned. There will be a need for routine maintenance but there will | :09:05. | :09:07. | |
be two weeks of closures before the six`week closure. There could be | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
four weeks of overnight closures as well. There is a special dedicated | :09:13. | :09:19. | |
website that has all the details. Thank you. | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
Prime Minister David Cameron has paid tribute to the five servicemen | :09:26. | :09:28. | |
who died in a helicopter crash in Afganistan at the weekend. Amongst | :09:29. | :09:31. | |
those killed was 26`year`old Lance Corporal Oliver Thomas from Kington | :09:32. | :09:33. | |
in Herefordshire, and Flight Lieutenant Rakesh Chauhan, who was | :09:34. | :09:36. | |
29 and from Birmingham. The Ministry of Defence has said the crash near | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
Kandahar air base appears to have been an accident. These tragic | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
deaths remind us of the continued commitment and sacrifice of our | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
Armed Forces. And I know that our deepest sympathies are with their | :09:52. | :09:54. | |
families at this very, very difficult time. | :09:55. | :09:56. | |
A former Premier League footballer whose young son is being treated for | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
leukaemia is donating part of the proceeds from his testimonial game | :10:01. | :10:02. | |
next week to Birmingham Children's Hospital. Jody Craddock's son Toby | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
was diagnosed two years ago. He's being looked after by staff in the | :10:06. | :10:09. | |
hospital's cancer unit, where it's hoped a ?4 million appeal will | :10:10. | :10:13. | |
transform the 30`year`old centre. Ian Winter reports Two years ago, | :10:14. | :10:16. | |
Jody and Shelley Craddock heard the news that every parent dreads. | :10:17. | :10:22. | |
But now they could not be happier if they were walking out to play at | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
Wembley. Toby Craddock loves nothing better than a kickabout in the | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
garden with his dad. But it was not always like this. Two years ago, | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
doctors told his appearance to be `` that Toby was suffering from | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
leukaemia. It was every parent's worst nightmare. When you learn | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
about it and you realise the success rate for this type of cancer is | :10:46. | :10:52. | |
extremely high. Today I phoned the proof, four years old and full of | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
beans. After two years of chemotherapy on steroids, Toby is | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
testimony to the skill of staff on the cancer unit at Birmingham | :11:03. | :11:09. | |
Children's Hospital. It has been amazing. Without them we would not | :11:10. | :11:12. | |
have got through it. There have been some really dark days, it is a long | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
road, it is really tough. The staff pick you back up and keep you going | :11:17. | :11:22. | |
again. Toby's dad happens to be the Will captain. Jody Craddock was a | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
firm favourite, and now he is a very accomplished artist. He was so | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
grateful to the staff at Birmingham Children's Hospital that he is | :11:34. | :11:36. | |
donating a substantial sum from his testimonial match on Monday towards | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
a ?4 million appeal for a new cancer unit. I lost my first child to cut | :11:42. | :11:49. | |
death. It does emphasise how important families. We have had | :11:50. | :11:56. | |
visits from many football players across the region, and it all helps | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
to get the message out there that we need to fund raise. We are aiming | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
for a really world`class children's centre. Toby faces another 12 months | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
of treatment but he is making great progress. A healthy crowd will be | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
helping to fight the disease that affects one in 500 children. | :12:14. | :12:20. | |
All the best to Toby and the Craddock family. High`speed | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
internet, or the lack of it, is a frustrating problem for rural | :12:27. | :12:29. | |
communities and businesses. One street in a Shropshire village has | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
been named as one of the worst five places in the UK for broadband | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
speeds, although there is an assurance that 93% of Shropshire | :12:36. | :12:38. | |
will have high speed broadband within two years. Joanne Writtle is | :12:39. | :12:41. | |
here with more. Joanne, you've met some very frustrated people today. I | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
really have. Today I visited Maple Crescent in Alveley. The average | :12:47. | :12:49. | |
internet speed across the UK is 17.8 megabits per second according to | :12:50. | :12:52. | |
Ofcom. But a survey from price comparison website Uswitch claims | :12:53. | :12:55. | |
speeds in Maple Crescent are as low as 0.91 megabits per second. Just | :12:56. | :13:02. | |
around the corner is the local village school and teachers and | :13:03. | :13:05. | |
pupils are unimpressed by the speeds they're seeing. Lessons are slower | :13:06. | :13:13. | |
than they should be, and children's progress must be slower because we | :13:14. | :13:19. | |
are not able to access things that we should be able to at the speed we | :13:20. | :13:24. | |
should be able to. It is really slow at both school and at home, and it | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
takes ages to load when we are playing games or watching something. | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
I would like it if it was speeded up because we could get on with our | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
lessons. It disturbs the lesson and gets really annoying. | :13:40. | :13:42. | |
So what are Shropshire Council doing about the broadband speeds? The | :13:43. | :13:45. | |
council's working in partnership with BT on a programme called | :13:46. | :13:47. | |
Connecting Shropshire, with around ?16 million of public money being | :13:48. | :13:50. | |
invested to improve the broadband network across Shropshire. `` ?24 | :13:51. | :14:00. | |
million. It's been going on for a year so far and progress is clearly | :14:01. | :14:03. | |
being made. In addition the government is offering Shropshire a | :14:04. | :14:07. | |
further ?11 million but they have to match fund that sum, a challenge in | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
the face of ?80 million of cuts or savings. We need to look at any | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
opportunities where we can actually bring in pound for pound match | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
funding. We are looking for opportunities, whether through | :14:21. | :14:22. | |
European funding streams or the Local Enterprise Partnership. But at | :14:23. | :14:25. | |
least some positive news tonight. Remember those children in Alveley | :14:26. | :14:28. | |
and the residents of Maple Crescent? The village will start to get faster | :14:29. | :14:31. | |
fibre broadband by the Spring of next year, all part of the | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
Connecting Shropshire programme. Some good news, thanks very much. | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
This is our top story tonight: Building success. Recovery in | :14:40. | :14:41. | |
construction industry at its highest for 20 years, but there's still a | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
skills shortage. Shefali will be along shortly with | :14:47. | :14:48. | |
your weather forecast. Also in tonight's programme: | :14:49. | :14:51. | |
Celebrating 40 years of illustration, art and cartoons. But | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
why is Geoff regretting not spending ?150? | :14:57. | :15:08. | |
And join me at the allotment where they have dug up a World War I | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
medal. Here about the memorial garden they are building to pay | :15:15. | :15:17. | |
tribute to the soldier it was awarded two. | :15:18. | :15:20. | |
The Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips has opened a | :15:21. | :15:22. | |
state`of`the`art horse therapy centre in Warwickshire. The unit at | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
Morton Morrell offers a water treadmill for injured animals. Joan | :15:27. | :15:35. | |
Cummins has the story. It is not an equine spa treatment, | :15:36. | :15:38. | |
but the latest technology to help rehabilitate horses. You really | :15:39. | :15:44. | |
cannot get horses to do things they don't like doing, you can very much | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
tell from the body language that she is absolutely adoring it. So you can | :15:49. | :15:58. | |
lead a horse to water? Yes. The technology was created by an | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
Icelandic fish processor. We had to do something, step out of the box. I | :16:05. | :16:13. | |
remain profession `` our main profession is food processing, so we | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
had to do something new. Warwickshire College prides itself | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
on its equine training facilities. They believe this therapy centre | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
will make students work ready. This whole facility is about | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
complementing the physio world, it takes a lot of people to keep horses | :16:35. | :16:37. | |
sound and competing and everything else. It is for students, teaching | :16:38. | :16:42. | |
and learning. Zara Phillips was there today and was happy to perform | :16:43. | :16:50. | |
the official opening. We treat our horses better than we treat | :16:51. | :16:53. | |
ourselves. The best possible treatment we can give them and to | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
prolong their career and keep them injury free, no one wants to see the | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
end of horses. These machines help prevent it as well as rehabilitate, | :17:06. | :17:11. | |
so a fantastic centre. The British Royal Family are not the only ones | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
who are interested in this kit. The crime of Brunei has ordered two of | :17:16. | :17:22. | |
the water treadmills. `` the Crown Prince of Brunei. | :17:23. | :17:26. | |
Birmingham City stand on the brink of relegation to the third tier of | :17:27. | :17:29. | |
English football after losing their final home game of the season. The | :17:30. | :17:33. | |
Blues were last relegated to that level 20 years ago. A catastrophic | :17:34. | :17:36. | |
run of 18 home games without a win means they remain in the bottom | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
three of the Championship. Their total of 14 home points is the | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
lowest in England's top four divisions. It leaves them needing at | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
least a point in their final game against Bolton on Saturday. And even | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
that may not be enough. Here's Nick Clitheroe. Please add up, I'm | :17:53. | :18:02. | |
begging you. Please release us and let us go. You have bought in a | :18:03. | :18:09. | |
fairly good and successful club, and run it into the ground. | :18:10. | :18:12. | |
Fearful for the club's very future, they'd turned out in force last | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
night hoping to see an elusive home win. But the biggest St Andrews | :18:17. | :18:19. | |
crowd since Christmas were quickly deflated as Wigan, who are chasing | :18:20. | :18:22. | |
promotion, took the lead through Callum McManaman inside three | :18:23. | :18:25. | |
minutes. This was a game of very few chances although Birmingham launched | :18:26. | :18:28. | |
a late surge which saw glimpses of an equaliser. The result means Blues | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
could win at Bolton and still go down although a point might be | :18:33. | :18:35. | |
enough with Doncaster visiting the champions Leicester on the final | :18:36. | :18:42. | |
day. We have got to keep fighting, keep fighting for these unbelievable | :18:43. | :18:48. | |
fans who took it to another level tonight, the numbers and support, I | :18:49. | :18:51. | |
didn't think they could do it any better. They never cease to amaze | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
us. It's 20 years since Birmingham were last relegated to the third | :18:56. | :18:59. | |
tier. They won on the last day that time but still went down as West | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
Bromwich Albion stayed up instead. You have to live in hope. I have | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
watched them for six to five years. And they won't lack for support on | :19:09. | :19:12. | |
Saturday. The club have already sold out their allocation of more than | :19:13. | :19:15. | |
3,000 tickets for Bolton. A memorial garden for a World War | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
One soldier is to be opened at a Birmingham allotment this weekend. A | :19:21. | :19:23. | |
medal given posthumously to Private William Richards of the Kings | :19:24. | :19:25. | |
Shropshire Light Infantry was found there, buried in the soil. Our | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
reporter Bob Hockenhull is in Great Barr now. What more is known about | :19:31. | :19:39. | |
the story of Private Richards? We know that he was killed in Ypres in | :19:40. | :19:46. | |
1917 in action. But we have not been able to find any living relatives, | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
despite a really exhaustive search both here in the Midlands and also | :19:51. | :19:57. | |
in South Wales. It was a chance find uncut toggle | :19:58. | :20:06. | |
plot 23 that unearthed a link to Private William Richards. How it got | :20:07. | :20:12. | |
here is a mystery, but a memorial garden to a soldier will ensure his | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
name lives on. The discovery of the medal, it seemed a natural | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
conclusion that we should honour Private Richards. Private Richards | :20:24. | :20:30. | |
could be one of the faces in this photograph, taken in 1915. Like | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
hundreds of thousands of men, he was recruited only to be killed in | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
action on the continent. Investigations by the allotment's | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
chairman, a former detective, have revealed the soldier was originally | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
from south Wales. I am desperate to find out if there are any living | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
relatives. I consider that Private Richards is a bit of a lost soul the | :20:56. | :20:58. | |
moment and it would be nice to repatriate the medal. The plan is to | :20:59. | :21:06. | |
establish some sort of lasting monument in this garden, a fitting | :21:07. | :21:09. | |
tribute to the young man who died violently and tragically 97 years | :21:10. | :21:16. | |
ago. Private Richards was killed in the third Battle of Ypres in 1917. | :21:17. | :21:22. | |
He was 26. One theory is that his family came from south Wales to work | :21:23. | :21:29. | |
in a nearby colliery, and then lost his medal. Whatever happened, it's | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
unearthing serves as a permanent reminder of the sacrifice Private | :21:35. | :21:40. | |
Richards made. The Private William Richards | :21:41. | :21:42. | |
memorial garden will formally be opened here on Saturday. It is being | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
seen as a great green always says next to the busy M6. A place where | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
people can come and reflect and enjoy the greenery around them. | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
Thank you. If you own UB40's first album then | :21:59. | :22:01. | |
you've probably seen work by the illustrator, artist and cartoonist | :22:02. | :22:04. | |
Geoff Tristram. Over the last 40 years he's worked on commercial | :22:05. | :22:07. | |
projects with little need to exhibit his work. Now though, he's put | :22:08. | :22:10. | |
together a solo show to celebrate his career as he turns 60. Here's | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
our Arts Reporter Satnam Rana. For 40 years Geoff Tristram has been | :22:15. | :22:18. | |
creating artwork. He works in isolation from inside his converted | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
garage in Stourbridge. But now he's come out to show off his work. The | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
exhibtion, 40 Years Watching Paint Dry, tells his story. I have got to | :22:27. | :22:34. | |
work here that has never been seen together before, and it will never | :22:35. | :22:38. | |
be seen together again, so it is very emotional for me. Some of these | :22:39. | :22:43. | |
things, it seems like yesterday, a portrait of my grandad, I was 11, | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
and it seems like yesterday. And so, at Himley Hall in Dudley, family | :22:48. | :22:50. | |
portaits, illustrations for jigsaws and cat conundrums adorn the walls. | :22:51. | :22:53. | |
Amongst them memories and moments in time are recalled. You have got a | :22:54. | :23:01. | |
lovely story about UB40 and the first two album covers. The first | :23:02. | :23:10. | |
one, Signing Off, it was designed in 1980 and cost them ?110, and it's | :23:11. | :23:16. | |
all done so many copies I was entitled to a gold platinum disc in | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
a frame. I have always wanted one. I said, yes please. As they said, | :23:22. | :23:31. | |
well, it is ?150 plus VAT. It was a lot of money at the time. Geoff | :23:32. | :23:34. | |
estimates he's produced 5,000 paintings and 100,000`plus | :23:35. | :23:36. | |
caricatures over the last four decades. With that comes many | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
stories! We used to get up on Saturdays to pretend to work so we | :23:42. | :23:43. | |
could watch Wolverhampton Wanderers from the top floor of the art | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
college, and this was a painting of Steve to celebrate his 306 and final | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
goal for them before he retired. This exhibition is as much about | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
Geoff as well as his artwork. Some beautiful sunshine around | :23:57. | :23:59. | |
today. How's May shaping up, Shefali? | :24:00. | :24:07. | |
After such a beautiful day, someone has flicked the switch and | :24:08. | :24:10. | |
everything is turning for the better as soon as May comes around. The | :24:11. | :24:14. | |
bank holiday weekend is still looking good, dry, largely sunny and | :24:15. | :24:20. | |
warm as well. But it is going to dip in temperatures for Friday. Things | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
will turn a little bit cooler for those temperatures start to rise. | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
Tomorrow will pose some problems. We have got a yellow alert is a heavy | :24:31. | :24:36. | |
thundery downpours from the south`west which could lead to | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
localised flooding. Most of that activity is centred on the western | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
half of the region. This front to the south will be creating all of | :24:45. | :24:48. | |
this rain. That is going to cradle those heavy downpours, share is | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
pushing in from the south west. After such a lovely day, we're going | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
to see things gradually going downhill through this | :24:59. | :25:28. | |
muggy and warm. We start off that way tomorrow, but there is a | :25:29. | :25:30. | |
constant feed of showers from the south west. They are starting to pep | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
up into some thunder in the middle part of the day, and we could see | :25:37. | :25:38. | |
fairly heavy ones cropping up anywhere. Most of that activity is | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
greatly centred across the western half of the region and the south is | :25:43. | :25:48. | |
getting quite clobbering from them. The temperatures should rise to | :25:49. | :25:57. | |
about 15 Celsius. These showers rumbling on into the evening | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
tomorrow, then gradually showing signs of fading through the early | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
hours of Friday morning, by which stage temperatures will dip to seven | :26:06. | :26:07. |