26/10/2016 Midlands Today

The families of those killed in the Birmingham pub bombings have

The independent human rights organisation

Liberty has recognised their ongoing campaign for justice.

182 people were injured and 21 killed when two devices

exploded at two pubs in the city centre in 1974.

Kevin Reide was at the ceremony in London.

Accepting the award tonight on the half of

the campaigners, Julie Hambleton started by reading each and every

name of the 21 young people who died in the Birmingham pub bombings.

She ended with her own sistdr, Maxine, whose life

21 people's lives slain in cold blood.

The award is entitled Walk the Long Road and is in recognition

of their successful fight for a fresh

This is a poignant evening for us because it's not so much we are

receiving a reward for what we've done, this award is for all our

supporters who have achieved, with the painful road we walked down

Tonight's awards at the Royal Court Theatre in

London have been well received by the campaigners but they know they

still have a long way to go before they can achieve justice for their

Earlier this year they won the right to a fresh inquest but

they are still fighting for the government to pay for proper

And a parliamentary debate has been held tonight on the issue of legal

aid for the families of the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings.

They're still waiting to find out what kind of financial assistance

they'll get ahead of a new inquests into the deaths.

The families are campaigning for parity with the

Birmingham MP Jess Phillips called the debate.

Hundreds of my constituents and thousands of Brummies have signed

petitions and written letters to support these families.

Without the certainty of parity how can any of

them and in fact any citizen in this country ever believe that

if the worst were to happen to their

relatives that those responsible would ever face justice?

Thousands of train passengers are facing disruption,

with the temporary closure of the line between

The new ?24 million station at Bromsgrove only

Network Rail is closing the route to upgrade the line.

Here's Our Transport Correspondent Peter Plisner.

Not exactly the train traveller s favourite way of getting to work.

You have to get up earlier to get into work later.

But for passengers using Bromsgrove this morning, buses were taking

the strain on the first of 12 days of disruption.

An extra half an hour, 45 mhnutes, something like that.

This closure's happening just three months after

If there are things we can do to improve,

In addition to bus replacemdnt services from Bromsgrove to nearby

stations, Cross Country trahns from the South West

and Cheltenham are being diverted via Kidderminster, adding up

There are also longer journdys for passengers from Hereford

and Malvern, with many having to change trains in Worcestdr.

And this is the cause of all that disruption - engineering to upgrade

track and signalling and to make a start on a project to electrify

the line and then extend the Birmingham's cross city line.

This is the site of what usdd to be the old station.

The platforms have completely disappeared.

Network Rail say the sequencing of this work means they can only do

it once the old station had been demolished, hence the reason

the new station has closed so soon after it opened.

The closures are happening just as the leaf fall

Last year there were scores of complaints

about overcrowding after tr`ins didn't stop at certain stathons and

with roadworks still happenhng on the M5 it all adds up to even

The Telford MP, Lucy Allan, is calling for an independent

inquiry into child sex offences in the town.

She claims there's still an unacceptably high

Seven men were jailed in 2002, after a major police investhgation

into a child prostitution ring in Telford.

Youngsters enjoying themselves on a night out in Telford

During a Commons debate, MP Lucy Allan called

for an independent inquiry to child sexual exploitation

She said Telford has the highest recorded rate of offences

and it's still increasing, according to Home Office figures.

We need to be sure that we have put right mistakes and that culture has

changed and it isn't about blame but it is about acknowledgelent that

Seven men were given long prison sentences in 2012 for groomhng

Young women we spoke to tod`y agreed an inquiry should be held

If a review is going to bendfit the girls of Telford,

There should be enough power to stop people like that

Because Telford is popular for young people to go out

A similar inquiry into child sex abuse in Rotherham in 2014 condemned

the authority's failure to react and led to several

But a street pastor who goes out in the town centre every wedkend

doesn't believe an inquiry in Telford is necessary.

He says a targeted campaign against the abusers is workhng.

My one concern is about those historical victims and their

families and I really believe money would be better spent on providing

appropriately qualified professional help to them in some way.

A review could be time-constming and very costly.

Whether there is an inquiry or not, Home Office staff are soon due

to meet officials in Telford to discuss progress

One hundred years ago on thd Somme, one of the bloodiest battles

of the First World War was at last nearing an end.

The British had advanced just seven miles -

among them eleven rugby players from Gloucester.

This is wartime Kingsholm, some of the earliest footage of the home

This is the old gymnasium, which the

players from the Great War would have been familiar with.

The full scale of the sacrifice made in battle by its players has now

emerged thanks to a player turned historian Martin Davies.

They became poster boys for the recruiting sergeants,

prompting a stampede at Shire Hall in August 1914.

Four rugby players went up onto the stage and signed

up, which immediately caused 300 or

Delving through old newspapdrs and archives Martin discovered no

fewer than 30 players were killed - 11 of them on the Somme.

One of the 11 who died, Harry Collins,

need not have been at the Somme at all.

He lost his trigger finger in

an accident and was classed fit only for light duties.

But he taught himself to shoot and bayonet using

One of Gloucestershire's town criers knew his granddad had died

on the Somme but only recently learned more of his story.

He did in fact play for Gloucester on nine occasions.

When John Price went to join up he was told the Gloucestershire s

were full and instead he was packed off to the 10th Worcesters to train

alongside men from Dudley and Halesowen.

He referred to them the Foreign Legion or the y`m yams.

I lived in the Black Countrx for ten years so I

have the greatest love for that Black Country people but he couldn't

As Remembrance Sunday appro`ches, those who swapped playing fheld

for battlefield live on as legends of Kingsholm.

A Wolves fan has raised thotsands of pounds for a charity,

with a book about his uniqud collection of the club's shhrts

Steve Plant started collecthng the jerseys when his father

Now, four years after his f`ther's death, Steve's book

featuring his collection is raising money for the Birmingham

If I'm honest I took a masshve gamble and if the book hadn't been a

success I would probably have had to sell the house. I took one chance

and it was on one track and thank goodness it has done well!

You can find more on Steve's story and the fund raising he's doing

for Birmingham Children's Hospital on our Facebook and Twitter pages -

Thank you. It was a chilly start. Things are starting to turn around

and today we saw temperaturds pushing 17 and 18 Celsius across

parts of the midlands. It h`s been a stunning entered day. It wotld cloud

The divide between North and south The divide between North and south

through the night and into tomorrow we keep that theme although it will

be mostly dry and there will be a thickening cloud. High pressure

sitting over the south of the country, dividing things up. Across

the south we are likely to see a few breaks in the cloud and when we get

those temperatures will fall away. Lows of five Celsius. Furthdr north

where we keep the blanket of cloud we will see temperatures hovering at

around about 11 Celsius. Thd breeze overnight but even so we ard likely

to see Mr unfold through thd early part of tomorrow. Further north we

see the cloud and it could squeeze the odd spot of drizzle. Pldnty of

breaks through the day and bright spells of sunshine. As the wind

direction changes to a westdrly it won't feel bad in the sunshhne and

we could see temperatures up to 15 or 16 Celsius. Or information on the

National forecast. I leave xou with the Outlook.

out the outlook. Temperatures are looking very promising indeed. Nick

Miller has the National forecast. If you like your forecast to include

cold weather, this is not for you. Temperatures have been heading up,

helped by sunshine showing off the autumn colours. 19 Celsius in

Cheshire. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales got to 16 or above. The

mild hour feeding around high pressure from the Atlantic will

continue for the rest of the week into the weekend, even the start of

next week. Not a huge amount of sunshine with it. Colder areas

lurking to the north, it will try to come away later next week, bringing

temperatures back close to average. We will keep you updated. A bit

chilly overnight in rural spots sheltered Scottish glens, for

example. For developing weather winds are right across southern

England, that will be dense into the morning. Stronger winds in northern

Scotland, another weather French bringing outbreaks of rain by the

end of the night. The fog in the morning, the Met

Office has a weather warning in