21/04/2017 Midlands Today

and on BBC One we now join the BBC's news teams where you are.

Tributes to a gentle giant - the footballing world in shock

as former Villa defender Ugo Ehiogu dies from a cardiac arrest.

At 44, it's quite shocking news, and a tragedy.

There will be a minute's applause in memory of him before the big local

derby against Birmingham city. The tenant farmer with

no idea of his future - as Herefordshire Council

put his farm up for sale, Have to have a farm sale

at some point, and that will be the end

of our farming career. Our livelihood as farmers

will be finished. Something to cheer about in Telford.

I knew what other most up-and-coming cheerleading academies in the

country. -- I am with one of the most up and coming.

how a break-in at a community hall ended in a comic clean-up.

And the weekend is within touching distance,

Well, with more sunshine on offer, it's certainly not bad news.

I'll be back with a full forecast later.

Ugo Ehiogu was a "gentle giant off the field

Just one of the tributes to the former Aston Villa defender,

who's died of a cardiac arrest, at the age of 44.

Ehiogu, who started out as a trainee at West Bromwich Albion,

played more than 200 games for Villa.

He helped them win the League Cup in 1996.

Ian Winter reports on the life of a player

who inspired devotion among his team-mates.

Reflecting the sentiments of so many.

The single bunch of flowers that said thanks for nine years

Ugo Ehiogu's career began as a talented teenager

And that's where he caught the eye of the Villa boss, Ron Atkinson.

It proved to be one of the most astute signings of his career.

The first game he ever played for the Villa

was a friendly with Witney Town, a pre-season friendly.

who had seen a few good centre halves, by the way,

and the first challenge he made, Cowans almost went white.

He looked at me and went, "Oh, he is awesome!"

Ugo soon became a favourite with Aston Villa fans.

In 1991, he joined the club from West Bromwich ?40,000.

Nine years later, he was sold to Middlesbrough

During his time at Villa Park, Ehiogu scored a dozen goals,

but his real forte was preventing them.

In 1996, he helped Villa win the League Cup at Wembley.

So did team-mates like Ian Taylor, Lee Hendrie

and the England manager, Gareth Southgate.

He had a passion for the club that you don't see these days any more.

Just, yeah, a brilliant player, a brilliant player.

The picture on there, you know, in '96, when we won the League Cup.

Today's media conference at the Villa training ground

Suddenly, the second city derby on Sunday

didn't seem quite so important after all.

At 44, it's quite shocking, it's a tragedy.

Someone has lost their life, which is just terrible news.

Only six months ago, Ugo Ehiogu travelled to Telford

for the funeral of his former Telford team-mate, Dalian Atkinson.

Now family and fans across the country will mourn

his own premature death at the age of 44.

A man who loved football, love music and love life.

There have been so many tributes throughout the day on social media.

Former villa player Stan Collymore tweeted:

"One of the good guys. Truly broken."

The former Villa and West Brom manager, Brian Little posted:

"You always strived to be 'the best'.

On West Bromwich Albion's official Twitter account

"The thoughts of everyone at #WBA are with the family

who started his career at The Hawthorns.

Our sports editor, Nick Clitheroe, is at Villa Park now.

Nick, the club tweeted of their support for Ugo's family

You got to know him during his time at the club.

I was lucky enough to start covering Aston Villa at the time he was

breaking into the first team and got to interview him several times. He

was the epitome of a gentle giant, he was so softly spoken, it seemed

odd coming from such a big man when you came to interview him. He also

likes to look after himself. It was much easier to get interviews with

players, you were told that he would have do wait a bit, he was always

the last out of the dressing rabbit is had plenty of lotions and

moisturise as to put on. Gareth Southgate said poignantly that, I

probably played more aims with Ugo than anyone else in my career. In

many ways he was a gentle giant away from football, he was a colossus on

the pitch. It felt like a true partnership because we were prepared

to put our bodies on the line for each other. That is a testament to

the sort of player he was mad that is why the fans loved him so much as

well. He just got stuck in so hard. Plenty of goals as well from

headers, and a big part of the 1996 league cup winning team. Ian Taylor

said, devastated, lost a great team-mate and a friend.

We will be back with Nick later to look ahead at the derby game between

the and Birmingham City. -- between Villa and Birmingham City.

A farmer who faces losing his home and livelihood

says he has no idea what the future holds for him.

Steve Clayton is a tenant farmer in Herefordshire.

But next week the council will put Steve's farm and 42 others

The sale's expected to raise around ?40 million.

Steve Clayton's always lived and worked on farms,

building his 200-strong flock of ewes from scratch.

He's been tenant here at Rowlestone in Herefordshire for 14 years.

But, on Monday, the council will put the farm up for sale -

But now it's here, it feels really horrible.

if they're sold to someone else who wants to farm the farm.

So we will have a sale, and that will be the end

of my farming livelihood as a farmer.

Steve and his partner, Joyce, were both born on farms in Wales.

This is their home, and entire way of life.

Very, very sad, because we were assured

that we would be here the rest of our days.

Herefordshire Council declined to request for an interview

and said it had to find ways to fund essential services

and prioritise which activities it could support.

A spokesman said selling its smallholdings

was the best value for money for taxpayers.

Some farmers with lifetime tenancies will be allowed to stay.

But those like Steve can only hope that buyers may want them to remain.

that someone will come along as an investor and buy the estate

and leave us as tenants in here to go on farming.

This farm at Fromes Hill is where Steve and Joyce used to be tenants.

The more recent occupants have moved to a tenancy

It is certainly a turning point for tenants, but many of them

are seeing ways through that will give them advantages

and give them a new opportunity in the future.

In Staffordshire, plans to sell farms were overturned.

The NFU says tenancies are vital to provide opportunities.

and the colleges are full of young people, aspiring farmers.

The principle way into agriculture for them is through county farms.

So, you know, we just don't want to see them going.

In Rowlestone, Steve dreads the day his farm is sold.

He'll also have to sell his cows and sheep.

The cows will be sold individually with their calves,

But it looks like it's going to happen now.

Offers for Steve's farm, and the others,

A Coventry firm which supplies car parts for Jaguar Landrover

The 350 people who work at Coventry Press Assembly have been told

even though the company has a ?40 million a year turnover.

Our business correspondent, Peter Plisner,

has been following this story and is here now.

This must be a worrying time for the workers?

Certainly is, but the good news is there are no immediate redundancies.

This company makes parts for a variety of automotive companies. The

administrator says that for the last couple of years, the efforts to grow

have not generated the anticipated profitability will stop they add

that the company had been seeking a potential buyer, but this was

unsuccessful. As a result, there is no alternatives but to call in the

administrator. Hopefully there will be a swift sale on this. It has to

be said, it is often easier to sell a company once it has gone into

administration because a lot of the depth and liabilities have been

wiped away, making it more attractive.

What happens now? The company is on sale. Its sister company went into

administration last year, it was bought by a Company called liberty

international. That has bought a lot of companies out of administration,

including a Black Country steel company. It is interested in buying

this company. The likelihood of a quick sale is there, and of course

that bodes well for the majority of the workers whose jobs will

hopefully be saved. Some encouraging news, we hope. Thank you.

Nine hospitals in our region are to benefit from just over

?5 million of extra government money,

designed to help struggling A departments.

NHS Trusts in Dudley, Worcestershire and the George Eliot Trust

are the biggest beneficiaries - each getting ?100,000.

The cash is designed to help them meet the 95% accident and emergency

target for seeing patients within four hours.

A West Midlands trade unionist has failed in his challenge

to take over the leadership of the Unite union.

Gerard Coyne lost out, by just over 5,500 votes,

It emerged yesterday Mr Coyne has been suspended from his role

After today's result, he said it wasn't a fair fight.

During this campaign, I felt that the weight of

the union machine has definitely been behind the incumbent.

Even up until the last minute, in terms of recent events,

that has been a pressure on me during that campaign.

The Shropshire trust at the centre of an investigation

into the avoidable deaths of babies during labour was told by the NHS

regulator a decade ago that it's maternity services had to improve.

The Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust was told

by the Healthcare commission in 2007 there were problems with fetal heart

monitoring, training and learning from clinical errors.

This evening, the trust re-iterated its unreserved apology

Birmingham City Council has confirmed that it's a step closer

to bidding to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The Government said today it's ready to work with cities

The South African city of Durban is no longer in the running,

after failing to meet conditions set out by the ruling body.

A feasibility study has shown a successful bid

We have 95% of the facilities already in place,

so we wouldn't have to spend huge sums of money

on new facilities, so we can keep our costs down

and, of course, avoid building new facilities

that might become white elephants in the future.

Firefighters are likely to spend several days

at a distribution centre in Worcester,

where a major fire broke out yesterday morning.

More than 100 firefighters were needed to bring the blaze,

Crews need more time to deal with asbestos at

When windows of All Saints Community Hall in Stoke on Trent

were broken, it was an act of senseless vandalism.

Fortunately, the vicar was there to clear up the damage -

with a little help from Freddie Mercury.

Our Staffordshire reporter, Liz Copper, explains.

A boarded-up window at All Saints Community Hall in Hanley,

the result of vandalism over the Easter weekend.

The culprits might have broken the glass,

but they couldn't break the spirit of the vicar.

This was the Reverend Geoffrey's response.

He's posted this video on social media, of him cleaning up.

I think, in a way, to be quite frank, it was just fun.

It was wonderful, authentic, real, bona fide Stokey fun.

And this was the inspiration for that fun -

Freddie Mercury's performance in one of Queen's most famous videos.

All Saints' hall is used by lots of community groups,

and it was parishioners who helped to make the vicar's video.

Geoff is always up for a laugh, so that was it.

My headband came off, went around his head,

and the music was played, and Geoff did his news.

He just danced, and we were actually laughing so much that the camera

was shaking and we had to stop because we were laughing.

Then we just posted onto social media

and everybody was talking about it.

Already, the Reverend Geoffrey's antics have helped to raise funds

to repair the damage to this listed building.

It's a place which has joined people together.

It's been here for just over 100 years, and we want to make sure

for the new and next-generation that it is here

The video has been watched more than 20,000 times.

This has become an uplifting tale of a vicar who took on the vandals

Thanks for joining us on Midlands Today.

If you're planning to be outdoors this weekend,

you'll want to know how the weather is shaping up.

Rebecca is on the balcony this evening.

Yes, Mary, I'll have a full forecast later.

Think about sunkissed vineyards and the West Midlands

but it's already home to several successful wine producers.

With huge investment planned in the industry,

it's now one of the fastest growing agricultural sectors,

but is it good news for our local growers?

Over the last 34 years, the land at Halfpenny Green vineyard has gone

from growing crops to producing award winning English wines.

making it one of the biggest vineyards in the country -

and what started as a hobby has certainly been successful.

We've always grown fruit in this country, it's just another fruit.

It does need a lot more attention, it's a bit more weather sensitive,

and you need the right varieties, but it's not difficult to grow them.

The trick, really, is in ripening the grapes fully

English wines are now proving to be so popular that even

French Champagne houses are planting on British shores.

more than 1 million vines will be planted this year.

I think some people would be worried about competition.

We are still tiny in terms of volume.

The more English wine that is in the trade,

the more impact it's going to have, and we will all benefit from that.

Each year, we Brits drink 1.6 billion bottles of wine.

60,000 of those come from here in Staffordshire.

But, with more investment in the industry,

Recent weather has helped, with the last few years producing

some of what Martin says are the best tasting grapes ever -

I like it to be local wine, and it's a good taste.

We've had wine from the continent and wine from here,

and I find it tastes very nice indeed.

He's now hoping for a frost-free end to April to ensure 2017

is another vintage year for the English wine industry.

and rejoin our sports editor, Nick Clitheroe.

The death of former Villa defender Ugo Ehiogu will clearly dominate

thoughts at the important local derby between Villa

There will be a sombre atmosphere before kick-off, no doubt. The fans

wanted to pay tribute to Ugo Ehiogu as they arrive, and there will be

one minute's applause before the gig off, and both teams will be wearing

black armbands, as will the two teams in the final at Wembley on

Saturday. When the game kicks off, there is so much at stake on Sunday,

not particularly for Aston Villa, there season is petering out, but

for Birmingham City, they are in a relegation battle, just three points

above the validation zone with three points to go. Their manager resigned

on Monday and was replaced by Harry Redknapp on Tuesday. Just two wins

from 22 league matches, and depending on other results, they

could kick off in the bottom three. There is no doubt that the two

managers have great respect for each other.

I'm sure he will do a great job in the long term at Villa,

but Birmingham is another big club as well.

This is a club that should be up there,

pushing to get into the Premier League,

With his experience and his know-how,

then they might be a different proposition.

He couldn't have wished for a better start,

and I'm sure he's quietly confident that he will get them a win.

We've already seen Coventry City relegated this season, Nick.

How critical is this weekend for the other teams

Let's start in the Championship. Burton Albion after some decent

results recently, beating Birmingham City on Monday, have got a chance of

guaranteeing their safety this weekend if they win, but they have

got a tough home game against Leeds if they are going to do that. In

League One, there is a sense of danger hanging around Port Vale in

particular, they are still in the relegation zone at the moment, two

points adrift of safety heading into the final week of the season, and a

tough game against Bolton this weekend. They do have a match in

hand against Walsall, which could be the life-saver for them. Shrewsbury

Town, they are not in trouble, they are above the allegations as they

take on Southend tomorrow. -- above the relegation zone.

There's a special live programme on BBC WM's Facebook page

previewing the Second City Derby at 7pm this evening,

and they'll also have full match day commentary.

The University of Birmingham hockey team will attempt

to win the women's Premier Division title this weekend -

and qualify for Europe in the process.

They finished fourth in the regular season.

That means they will face a Surbiton team in the playoff semifinals -

Surbiton have only lost once in three years.

It gives me goose bumps thinking about it.

It will be something that we've talked about,

certainly since I first came to Birmingham three years ago.

It's always been our aim at the start of the year.

I think it would be so good for the club,

and just to get that experience and that accolade

It's been given provisional recognition as an Olympic sport,

is one of the fastest growing participation activities,

but you might not actually consider it to be a sport.

We're talking cheerleading - and this weekend athletes

from Bridgnorth and Telford will fly out

to compete at the International Cheerleading Championships,

Nicola Beckford is with some of the team now.

Training has been going incredibly well. This is team England, and they

had been going for this afternoon. As you say, cheerleading is

incredibly popular. There are more than 250,000 competitive

cheerleaders across the UK, and here they train 200 athletes every week.

Joining me is Rachel, who is the head coach for team England. Why is

Telford so popular for cheerleading? Location wise, it is central. We

have a national team training here, and some of these goals from

Hartlepool and London, it is easy for them to get to being so central.

We have championships held here every year as well. What does it

take to be a champion? A lot of dedication, we meet goals from all

over the country, we train for eight hour sessions, submit video tasks

that were, stamina everyday so we can be in the best shape we can be.

Some people watching this might not think it is a real sport. How can it

not be? When I think of a sport, it is working towards something

competitively, and it being athletic, and cheerleading is all

about. Is it really that complex? It is a mix of gymnastics and

acrobatics, it is exhausting. The reward from it is sensational, it

feels incredible. Have you think you are going to do? I don't want to be

about how we're going to do, we will aim for the top ten. It is the first

national team that has been unified to represent the country, it is a

first for us, we are really excited. Who are your biggest competitors?

America, they are an inspiration. We have been working really hard, so we

might be the dark horses this year. Fantastic. Good luck, everybody.

Angus cross that they come home with a metal! -- fingers crossed that

they come home with a medal. Let's find out how the weather

is looking for the weekend. Rebecca is on the balcony

with the forecast. This weekend is that the much more

promising. Still some cold risk for gardeners, and that is into next

week as well. Certainly a cloudy day today, as these pictures will it

illustrate. Very limited brightness today. Temperatures did do a little

better in the brightness, but most of that came from the blossom and

the carpet of bluebells that we have got across the region. The weekend

is looking more promising, Mike I say. It will stay settled with high

pressure in charge. We will see some sunshine at times, there will still

be some cloud here and there, and also some chilly nights on the way.

Tonight, a cold front is draped across us, and that is working

southwards. It is making McLeod figure, providing some rain, and

also strengthening the breeze. Is that sinks southwards, the cloud

will thicken further to the south, but in the North it will be clear

skies and temperatures falling away, with lows of seven Celsius. A chilly

start for the North Midlands tomorrow. The possibility of a spot

of rain, but dry and bright through the morning. The cloud will melt

away and in the sunshine temperatures will do very well

indeed, getting up to around 15 Celsius. Still the risk of a spot of

rain here and there, mostly across the north-east, but that will melt

away by the overnight period with light winds, and temperatures could

reach two Celsius. We are likely to see a touch of frost again. A

warning for gardeners, but it will get worse. We are seeing a weather

front working across us. A chilly start but then temperatures up to 15

Celsius. As the cold front moves across us on Monday, that will

introduce a northerly wind which will come straight from the Arctic,

very cold indeed. Snow showers are not out of the question, a

widespread frost. A return to hats, scarves and gloves. Make the best of

it while you have it! Before we go, a quick look ahead

to this weekend's Sunday Politics. for control of

Warwickshire County Council. At the moment, the Conservatives

have a minority administration. But they're jousting with Labour

to take overall control when voters go to the polls

in just under two weeks' time. This weekend's Sunday Politics

is on at the later time of 3:10pm, after coverage

of the London Marathon. I'll be back with your

next news at 10:25pm. Why didn't we go

to the library today? Because we don't have

a library any more. Why? The school's had to make big cuts.

Cuts like with a knife, miss? No, it means that the school

can't afford to pay for things like the library any more or shows

or books or school visits. CHILDREN: Awww!

No more school visits? Miss, will every school

stop having school visits? Well, every school in England

will have to make big cuts. They'll probably have to lose

some staff, too.