04/05/2014 Midlands Today

That is all the sport, back to you. That is it from

That is all the sport, back to you. Good evening.

Just two days after being released from hospital, Stephen Sutton, the

Staffordshire teenager with incurable cancer, joined hundreds of

friends and supporters as he attempted to break a world record

and tick another item off his bucket list. Ben Sidwell was there to see

if he could do it. It was a moment nobody dreamed would

ever happen. Two weeks ago, 19`year` old Stephen Sutton from Burntwood

posted a goodbye message on Facebook.

Thank you all for coming. It is good to be here.

But after seeing a miraculous improvement in his health, this

afternoon Stephen was well enough to join in his own world record.

Incredibly positive. More than anyone I have ever met. Look at what

he has achieved. Who else has done that?

Hundreds of people, most of who had never met Stephen, gathered at his

old high school to help get him in the world record books.

I've come along to help try and break the world record for him.

People want to support him, because he is one in a million.

To break the record more than 500 people needed to make a heart shaped

hand gesture at the same time for two minutes.

What is going on here is not about raising money, this is about helping

Stephen tick off an item on his bucket list. He wanted to get his

name in the world record books, and hopefully he will.

And, after a nervous ten minute wait, the news everyone wanted to

hear. 554, a brand`new world record. To

think that two weeks ago he had been taken into hospital and we thought

we would have two do this by himself `` we would have to do this by

ourselves. And now he is here. Stephen's now raised well over ?3

million for the Teenager Cancer Trust and today this inspirational

young man, with a bit of help from some friends, achieved the 34th item

on his bucket list. With just over two weeks to go to

the local elections, there's concerns that main party conferences

may no longer be held in Birmingham. The Conservatives event in the city

in September could be their last because it is heavily subsidised.

95% of Marketing Birmingham's budget is spent on hosting party

conferences. Speaking on Sunday Politics, Lynette Kelly says the

cost needs to be spread out. 95% of their marketing budget going

on one conference does seem a bit disproportionate, and, if the return

to the local economy is as much a ?20 million, then perhaps there

needs to be a balancing act, whereby a percentage of the Birmingham

Council marketing budget is used to attract party conferences, but the

local businesses that benefit should also be putting some money in to

attract these ventures. A ?70,000 sculpture which has taken

17 years of planning has finally been unveiled in Tewkesbury. Two oak

horses representing a key stage in the 1471 battle the War of the Roses

were commissioned by the Battlefield Society. The organisation is also

involved in a lengthy bid to buy a field of historical importance in

the town, as Amy Cole reports. Commemorating one of the most

crucial battles in the War of the Roses, these two oak sculptures were

officially unveiled in Tewkesbury, and were attracting quite a crowd.

Be blessed in the name of Jesus. The work has been commissioned by

the Tewkesbury Battlefield Society, which raised ?70,000 to fund the

project. It was from this site that the Yorkist forces had their first

glimpse of their Lancashire opponents before the battle. The

Yorkists are represented by this knight. The Lancastrians are

represented by this riderless horse. As you can see, its head is bowed,

and that is to symbolise the defeated Lancastrian army.

The site is also involved in another big`ticket project. That is trying

to acquire this field, very much part of the 1471 battle. It wants to

build a visitor attraction and make the area a magnet for tourists, but

the land is owned by a charitable trust linked to a school, and it is

valued at around ?120,000. We have got ?130,000, but we want

not only to buy the field but work on the field as well. Hopefully, we

will know within two weeks. Roy Smith has lived in Tewkesbury

for 24 years and is proud of the town's historical connections.

We have always been on a map because of the battle and a glorious Norman

abbey, but now we are on the map again for different reasons. I think

it is fantastic. With the roundabout taken care of,

it is now a tense wait before the Battlefield Society can see if it

can work its magic on the field as well.

One football result ` West Bromwich Albion were beaten 1`0 at Arsenal.

The rest of the Bank Holiday weather now, here's Sara Blizzard.

Good evening. The Midlands had the best of the sunshine today and with

the outlook for the next few days, make the most of the next couple of

days. Things are going to turn quite showery. It will be a breezy

outlook, but in between those showers there will be some sunshine

as well. Under those clearer skies, the coldest temperatures are likely

to be across Herefordshire and Worcestershire, a minimum of five

Celsius. It is going to be a dry night. It will be a lovely, sunny

start to Bank Holiday Monday. Again, quite a lot of sunshine through a

good percentage of the day, but through the evening, if you have a

barbecue planned, this weather front will move its way eastwards. But it

will be warm ahead of that rain, with highs of 17 Celsius.

That's it from me. I'll be back with the late bulletin just after

10:15pm. Bye for now. Good evening. Today we have had the

sunniest skies in the South whereas in the north it has been quite

cloudy. Tomorrow, we switch things around. In the east we will have

warm, hazy sunshine. In the west we will have the biggest cloud.

Tonight, there will be some rain across parts of Scotland. The rain

easing across Northern Ireland. For many will be a dry night. For many

across the south it will be cold. Maybe not quite as cold as last

night. We should start with quite a bit of sunshine across central and

eastern areas. The sunshine will turn quite hazy of the cloud spills

in from the west. The wind is also starting to pick up and we will see

rain. For Northern Ireland, the rain spreading across a good part