28/12/2016 Midlands Today

The parents of murdered soldier Lee Rigby are setting up a respite

centre for bereaved families veterans in Staffordshire.

Lyn and Ian set up the Lee Rigby Foundation after their son Lee

was killed in a machete attack in Woolwich, London in 2013.

Work's now started on two properties that have been donated

Here's our Staffordshire reporter Sian Grzeszczyk.

This is one of the properties that's being transformed into a retreat

for beareaved families and veterans, and today was a chance

for the Rigby family to see how work is progressing.

If you are not next of kin you don't get any support.

There is nothing like the retreat place where we could go and

get away from the cameras and the stress and have

25-year-old Lee was murdered by two Islamist extremists outside

worked hard to set up the foundation in his name to try

The site at Oakamoor is owned by the Kendo Nagasaki foundation

who already run a retreat of their own here, they've donated

Now the family needs to raise the funds

to renovate, which will be quite a job.

We need, windows and doors for this place.

Everything which would go to a normal house built, this thing

If there is anybody out there who can help, we'd love them

This used to be a former care home but it has been

Once it is transformed, they will be able to house 13 families here.

What do you think Lee would make of this?

He would be loving it because he was really

upset the way some of the

bereaved families were treated so that is why we have to do it.

Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a man

The 33-year-old, who was sitting in a stationary car

on Dartmouth Street, died from a gunshot

Police arrested the two local men, aged 19 and 24, a short time later.

Investigations have been continuing today at the scene.

Hospitals are receiving more money than ever from car park charges,

with the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust

89 of the 120 NHS Trusts across England responded

Heart of England which runs Solihull, Heartlands

and Good Hope Hospitals, made ?4.8 million in the last

But the Trust says it doesn't profit from them -

the funds go towards providing safe and cost-effective parking

The cause of a huge gas explosion - which destroyed a home and left

a pensioner with serious injuries - may never be known.

It happened in Penn in Wolverhampton on this day last year.

The blast caused considerable damage to surrounding properties.

Here's our Black Country reporter Ben Godfrey.

Daljit Uppal has been out of the family home

After a gas blast which destroyed his

When it fell, part of it fell against the side of

my house and took the side of my house.

We had one side of my house demolished and it was rebuilt.

I would like to have been back in the

Unfortunately it has taken a lot longer than we

A pile of rubble - and fractured gas pipes -

it's the ever present reminder that the explosion could have

injured Daljit's wife who was in the kitchen at the time.

Where she had been standing, the TV just thrown across,

Wendy Ayoub, the owner, who's in her seventies,

Incredibly, emergency services said her life may have been saved

by a tumble dryer which protected her from falling masonry.

Wendy says the explosion is still too raw for

She is hopeful of moving back here and plans of an

Daljit has finally finished his extension -

now the inside is being furnished with the family moving

We haven't had a full explanation as to what exactly happened

National Grid investigated the Penn Road gas explosion

and said none of its pipes or meters were faulty.

The cause of the blast may never be known.

Ben Godfrey, BBC Midlands Today, Wolverhampton.

Phil Taylor says he's determined to win a 17th world darts title this

week because the time's approaching for him to retire from the game.

It's four years since Taylor, who's from Stoke-on-Trent,

He's been telling Laura May McMullan he thinks the sport has changed and,

in the next year, it's time for him to "slow down".

Yes! He's done it.

You're only as good as your next one that was my mother and my dad.

Shut up about that, if you're any good people will tell us.

Since then he's gone on to make history.

16 world titles, 15 match-plays and too many more to mention.

This year he beat World number one Michael Van Gerwen at the inaugural

And stages don't come much bigger than the BBC

You can't win that, you've got to be voted for it.

Gary Linekar saying you must be mental you are, you haven't won it.

Trust me, coming runner up is winning it.

He's become a legend and the word Legend is often misused in sport.

In Phil Taylor's case it's very well deserved.

Now though the Power plans to retire in the next year or so.

You're giving your best shot and it does not click.

You're just missing the odd double by a millimetre.

After a 30 year career in the sport, his legacy

In so on as well. It was an dealer start to the day. High pressure to

the south-east. It will pull away and allow this front to push down

from the north. That could threaten the New Year's Eve celebrations.

but our immediate concern is more fog for tonight and tomorrow morning

with this warning in place for some fairly widespread dense patches

in places With the clearest skies out to the east -

that's where it'll be more widespread.

And frosty again tonight with temperatures falling to below

Lingering fog tomorrow is likely to pin temperatures down

to three celsius in parts with a maximum of five

But it'll be dry and settled a little cloudier though

I'll be back at 10.40 with your late bulletin

Good evening, the weather is proving hazardous and the fog now becoming

more extensive and causing disruption overnight tonight. There

is a warning from the Met office and you can stay in touch on the website

with all the latest details. For