:00:01. > :00:04.Welcome to South East Today, I'm Rob Smith.
:00:04. > :00:06.And I'm Polly Evans. Tonight's top stories:
:00:06. > :00:10."I still miss my daughter," the mother of Hastings heroin victim
:00:10. > :00:20.Amy Pickard says she still has questions at the end of an inquest
:00:20. > :00:22.
:00:22. > :00:27.into her death. I loved Amy then, and I love her more and more each
:00:27. > :00:29.day. And I miss her. Miss her so much.
:00:29. > :00:32.Plans for a new Thames Crossing linking Kent with Essex are
:00:32. > :00:35.condemned as shockingly ill-advised by a campaign group. We are live
:00:35. > :00:38.with the details at the Dartford Crossing.
:00:38. > :00:41.Also in tonight's programme: An invitation to tend the grave of
:00:41. > :00:46.someone else's loved one, inspired by a Kent woman's mission to keep
:00:46. > :00:54.her grandmother's memory alive. Rarer than a Siberian tiger - the
:00:54. > :00:58.farm animals being kept alive by a dedicated Sussex insurance broker.
:00:58. > :01:08.And fighting for the top spot - the Kent soldiers battling it out to be
:01:08. > :01:18.
:01:18. > :01:22.named as the best platoon in memory Amy Pickard lived more than eight
:01:22. > :01:26.years after she was found unconscious in a public toilet in
:01:26. > :01:30.Hastings following a Hove the does -- an overdose of heroin but died
:01:30. > :01:34.weeks after moving to a new care home. Today an inquest ruled an
:01:34. > :01:38.electrical malfunction in her heart was the cause of her death.
:01:38. > :01:42.Her mother has used the case to graphically warn others of the
:01:42. > :01:46.dangers of Class A drugs. She was 17 and heavily pregnant when she
:01:46. > :01:51.took the drugs into 1001. But tonight she says she still have
:01:51. > :01:55.questions over how Amy died -- in 2001.
:01:55. > :02:04.Amy Pickard was 17 when she was found collapsed from a heroin
:02:04. > :02:10.overdose. She lived until 2000 and -- until 2009. Today, the inquest
:02:10. > :02:15.said she died as a result of a arrhythmia. Her life would never
:02:15. > :02:19.have been the same, but she had spirit and fought for almost eight
:02:19. > :02:25.years. Every week, her condition was improving and we planned to
:02:25. > :02:30.bring her home by the end of the year. I loved Amy then, and I love
:02:30. > :02:37.her more and more each day. And I miss her. Miss her so much. Thank
:02:37. > :02:40.you so stop at today's inquest, Amy's mother heard pain for me
:02:40. > :02:44.information about the night her daughter overdosed on heroin.
:02:44. > :02:48.seems an acquaintance offered reducing boyfriend injected the
:02:48. > :02:53.substance into her veins. There was no evidence she was an habitual
:02:53. > :03:02.user. The coroner recorded a verdict of death by non dependant
:03:02. > :03:08.use of drugs. Come on, Amy, yes. Amy had taken the drugs with a 22-
:03:08. > :03:12.year-old boy friend and the father of her unborn child. The baby died
:03:12. > :03:15.days later and he died from a heroin overdose in the same toilet
:03:15. > :03:20.block later in the same year. Although he had smoked cannabis
:03:20. > :03:28.since he was 11, Amy was not a rated a user. Let me know if
:03:28. > :03:32.anything is going on, please. not a regular drug user. Her mother,
:03:32. > :03:36.Salma, has used her tragedy to deter others from the use of
:03:36. > :03:41.illegal drugs. She released photographs and has hit out at
:03:41. > :03:47.computer games that appear to glorify the buying and -- and
:03:47. > :03:52.selling of drugs. In 2007, Amy's conditions seemed to improve when
:03:52. > :03:58.she was part of a medical trial. Her progress was documented by a
:03:58. > :04:04.BBC film crew as she showed signs of awareness. Two years later, she
:04:04. > :04:08.died. Jon Hunt is live in Hastings for us.
:04:08. > :04:12.Amis survived for eight-and-a-half years but died within days of being
:04:12. > :04:17.transferred to a new care home. Did the inquest shed light on how that
:04:17. > :04:22.came to be? The inquest heard that on the night that Amy died, the
:04:22. > :04:27.staff at the Merry House care home were struggling with a heating
:04:27. > :04:31.system and one of the nurses said temperatures had reached 29 Celsius.
:04:31. > :04:35.Also, we heard staff at the Kehoe had, for health and safety reasons,
:04:35. > :04:39.stopped performing a function of the care plan which involved
:04:39. > :04:45.turning Amy on her front so secretions in her away could be
:04:45. > :04:49.expelled. We also heard that when nurses found her body in 2009 she
:04:49. > :04:54.was slumped forward towards her pillow, which raised questions over
:04:54. > :04:56.whether there was a possibility she might have suffocated, but the
:04:56. > :05:00.coroner ultimately came to the conclusion that none of those
:05:00. > :05:04.factors were to blame and it was simply that her heart had stopped
:05:04. > :05:12.working, and electrical malfunction caused by that profound brain
:05:12. > :05:15.damage she had been fighting for so many year.
:05:15. > :05:18."Shockingly ill-advised". That is the reaction from the environmental
:05:18. > :05:20.group Protect Kent to Government plans to build a new Lower Thames
:05:20. > :05:23.Crossing linking Kent and Essex to ease traffic congestion at Dartford.
:05:23. > :05:26.The Chancellor indicated in his autumn statement that work on the
:05:26. > :05:29.project will now begin, but Protect Kent are starting a protest to stop
:05:29. > :05:36.the plans before they get going. Simon Jones is at the existing
:05:36. > :05:42.Dartford crossing now. Given that these campaigners accept
:05:43. > :05:47.that traffic is a problem there, what are they proposing instead?
:05:47. > :05:52.Protect Kent sa you do not need any crossing, they say get rid of that
:05:52. > :05:57.holes here and the traffic will run much more smoothly. -- get rid of
:05:57. > :06:01.that wholes. They say the government would concrete over the
:06:01. > :06:05.countryside to give the economy a boost.
:06:05. > :06:08.Bumper-to-bumper tonight, choking the economy and environment,
:06:08. > :06:16.critics say. But the environmental effect of a brand new crossing
:06:16. > :06:25.could be even worse according to environmental campaigners.
:06:25. > :06:30.There are three options being looked at, one is expanding the
:06:30. > :06:36.existing crossing, the second is a new one. The third, a crossing east
:06:36. > :06:42.of Gravesend. Many motorists say, get on with it. Like all motorists,
:06:42. > :06:50.I hate traffic queues. My philosophy is, the quickest way
:06:51. > :06:57.from to B. Coming from Gravesend takes normally 10-15 minutes, it is
:06:57. > :07:02.one hour today. It is a good idea. But the best idea is to take the
:07:02. > :07:06.toll out. Kent County Council says a new crossing is vital for growth.
:07:06. > :07:09.It cannot be very environmentally friendly having hundreds of
:07:10. > :07:13.thousands of heavy goods vehicles waiting in queues and traffic jams
:07:13. > :07:18.to get through the existing Thames Crossing. I think if we get the
:07:18. > :07:24.location right, it will free up traffic flow and it will be
:07:24. > :07:28.environment because it. But it could see the carpeted against the
:07:28. > :07:31.environmental campaigners if it gets the go-ahead.
:07:31. > :07:35.Apologies for the loss of sound and part of my report but the
:07:35. > :07:38.government told us it believes a new crossing is vital. They are
:07:39. > :07:42.looking at the technical details of the three they have proposed an say
:07:42. > :07:46.there will be a consultation by 2013, and then it could be built
:07:46. > :07:50.within 10 years. The question, where is the money going to come
:07:50. > :07:53.from? The government says it needs to come from private sources.
:07:53. > :08:03.In a moment, the political row brewing over plans to expand
:08:03. > :08:03.
:08:03. > :08:09.Brighton's Amex stadium by another A Kent newspaper has printed its
:08:09. > :08:12.final edition after more than 150 years. The owners of the East Kent
:08:12. > :08:15.Gazette have shut it down, along with its sister publications the
:08:15. > :08:17.Medway News and the Sheppey Gazette, after plans to sell the titles
:08:17. > :08:20.ended in failure. With regional newspapers in many
:08:20. > :08:23.areas struggling to stay in business, the closure means a loss
:08:23. > :08:33.of 38 jobs in Kent and leaves 68,000 readers without their local
:08:33. > :08:34.
:08:34. > :08:38.paper. Robin Gibson reports. The final edition is on the street
:08:38. > :08:44.and these journalists have made their last deadline. There were a
:08:44. > :08:50.few tears when we archived the last page, the last front page. This
:08:50. > :08:53.paper has had a splendid history, it has been a wonderful paper of
:08:53. > :08:58.record and it is a shocking, shocking day for newspapers in
:08:58. > :09:02.general. There have been papers produced in this series since the
:09:02. > :09:07.1850s when papers were the sole source of news. But in the digital
:09:07. > :09:11.age, it is impossible to compete. think people were genuinely shocked
:09:11. > :09:15.by the speed at which this happened, and that think it suddenly made
:09:15. > :09:19.them realise just what a local newspaper means to them. It is the
:09:19. > :09:22.old scenario, you don't know what you have got until it's gone, and
:09:22. > :09:27.the comments we have had from readers have been in those lines.
:09:27. > :09:31.What will we do on a Wednesday without the Gazette? It is the loss
:09:31. > :09:36.of a local business, the loss of local jobs, with all of the issues
:09:36. > :09:40.that presents, but the readership of a paper is a community, a sort
:09:40. > :09:46.of family. Do they feel something wider is going? Have they lost a
:09:46. > :09:53.voice? I like the paper because I live on my own, so the newspaper is
:09:53. > :10:01.a godsend. It is a sign of the Times, I'm afraid. More advertising
:10:01. > :10:05.in it, not enough news. Everyone knows if someone is in that paper.
:10:05. > :10:09.I don't read it, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. It has been
:10:09. > :10:13.good for the town and local area, good for local news. Anything that
:10:13. > :10:19.goes that has been going for a long time like that, it is sad, isn't
:10:19. > :10:25.it? So what has gone? The series has a history dating back over 150
:10:25. > :10:31.years. Its readership of 68,000 has lost their local newspaper. 38
:10:31. > :10:34.staff have lost their jobs. Local papers are in trouble.
:10:34. > :10:38.advertising model that has subsidised local newspapers for the
:10:38. > :10:42.last 200 years has changed dramatically. The three pillars of
:10:42. > :10:47.advertising, jobs, motors and property, have moved online and
:10:47. > :10:55.they cost nothing. It is the day the paper made its own headline.
:10:55. > :11:00.The last headline. That was Robin Gibson reporting and
:11:00. > :11:06.he is live for us now. What is the impact on local democracy when
:11:06. > :11:10.local newspapers for old reds it in providing news, they are providing
:11:10. > :11:13.a public service. They are a proving ground for
:11:13. > :11:18.journalists to get to know the community at grassroots level. The
:11:18. > :11:21.argument runs that if stories do not pan out to the wider media, it
:11:21. > :11:25.could be good news for people who do not want to subject themselves
:11:25. > :11:28.to public scrutiny and bad news for voters, particularly at local
:11:28. > :11:31.election time when they want to make an informed judgment about
:11:31. > :11:33.what is best for them. Thank you.
:11:33. > :11:36.When Jenny Barsby-Robinson's grandparents died, she was
:11:36. > :11:39.determined their grave should be kept well-tended. But a 200-mile
:11:39. > :11:43.round trip from Kent to the churchyard in Suffolk made that
:11:43. > :11:46.increasingly difficult. So she came up with a plan - a
:11:46. > :11:56.website to link those in similar situations so they could help each
:11:56. > :11:56.
:11:56. > :11:59.other out. Sara Smith has more. Kevin Webster tens the grave of
:11:59. > :12:02.much loved Grand parents in Bury St Edmunds, but they are not her grand
:12:02. > :12:07.parents, she does it to help someone out who lives more than 100
:12:07. > :12:11.miles away. It gives the opportunity for people who do not
:12:11. > :12:15.live anywhere near the area to be able to come and know that their
:12:15. > :12:20.graves are being cared for by volunteers. It was such a struggle
:12:20. > :12:23.to find someone to look after her grandparents grave that Jenny
:12:23. > :12:27.Barsby-Robinson set up a website. People are so to attend grades
:12:27. > :12:31.close to them and ask others in different parts of the country to
:12:31. > :12:35.do the same for their loved ones. To know that my grandparents grave
:12:35. > :12:40.is being looked after and cared for means a great deal. I might feel
:12:40. > :12:45.them around me all the time but to know that everybody can see these
:12:45. > :12:51.people were loved and we still love them is important. Those who sign
:12:51. > :12:54.up can offer to place a wreath one senior or water flowers every week.
:12:54. > :12:59.I think it will give a sense of comfort to many families who are
:12:59. > :13:03.unable to get a cemetery's or churchyards to attend to graves and
:13:03. > :13:09.know that it will be maintained by having fresh flowers put on it, or
:13:09. > :13:14.the grass cut. At this cemetery, Reg Bailey attends his wife's grave
:13:14. > :13:18.each week. He could not bear the thought of it being neglected.
:13:18. > :13:23.fortunate I could get down, but some of these graves, nobody comes
:13:23. > :13:28.down at all, whether they have got a reason, they cannot get down,
:13:28. > :13:32.they are disabled, things like that. It is a great idea. As more people
:13:32. > :13:42.signed up, Jenny hopes no one will be left worrying that the grave of
:13:42. > :13:44.a loved one many miles away will be left to decay.
:13:44. > :13:47.The Immigration Minister and Ashford MP Damian Green is warning
:13:47. > :13:50.shoppers to be vigilant about the dangers of buying counterfeit goods
:13:50. > :13:53.in the run-up to Christmas. It comes just days after Trading
:13:53. > :13:55.Standards officers in Kent seized 9,500 dangerous toys at the Port of
:13:55. > :14:02.Dover. The Border Agency campaign is urging consumers not to be
:14:02. > :14:05.tricked into thinking they are getting a bargain.
:14:06. > :14:15.A row has broken out over plans to expand Brighton and Hove Albion's
:14:16. > :14:22.
:14:22. > :14:24.Amex stadium in Falmer. Are you OK? Just having a cost! -- a cough. The
:14:24. > :14:27.heated exchange took place on the social network Twitter between
:14:27. > :14:32.Green councillor Jason Kitcat and the former leader of Brighton and
:14:32. > :14:36.Hove city council Lord Steve Bassam. It has made me cry!
:14:36. > :14:38.The two locked horns over proposals for an extra 8,000 seats at the new
:14:38. > :14:41.stadium. Lord Bassam is accusing the Green council of scuppering
:14:41. > :14:46.expansion "by the back door". Lynda Hardy explains.
:14:46. > :14:50.Here is what the debate is about, the expansion of the Albion's new
:14:50. > :14:55.Amex stadium, with plans to build extra 1,000 parking spaces and
:14:55. > :14:59.community centre near by, parking that might have helped football
:14:59. > :15:03.fans at the weekend. Having those extra spaces would be an important
:15:03. > :15:09.part of the club's application to increase capacity at the stadium by
:15:09. > :15:13.a further -- by a further 8,000. On Twitter, the former Labour leader
:15:13. > :15:17.of Brighton council accuses the Green Councillor Jason Kitcat and
:15:17. > :15:22.current Green council of trying to block the expansion plans by
:15:22. > :15:27.stopping the extra parking space is being built. Lord Bassam says, I
:15:27. > :15:31.sense a climbdown or U-turn and a bit of panic if, by exposing or
:15:31. > :15:36.hidden agenda, we get a result. Happy for that. Jason Kitcat
:15:36. > :15:42.replies, we have concerns about locations. We were never against
:15:42. > :15:45.the stadium in principle, though you like to suggest it was so. Lord
:15:45. > :15:50.Basson replies, we need fan power to get them to backtrack on this
:15:50. > :15:55.daft decision. Brighton and Hove Albion has been a major success
:15:55. > :16:01.story, it has a new stadium, it wants to expand -- expand capacity
:16:01. > :16:05.by 40% and if the car park spaces are blocked, it means the option of
:16:05. > :16:08.expanding the stadium is much more difficult and complicated.
:16:09. > :16:14.stadium's original application had provision for parking in some areas
:16:14. > :16:17.which did not workout, some at the Falmer Academy who decided not to
:16:17. > :16:21.provided, and less spaces at the university campus as well, so they
:16:21. > :16:26.are looking and we are working with them to find alternative ways to
:16:26. > :16:30.deal with its. Fans say expansion is needed at this dim. It has been
:16:30. > :16:34.a sell-out pretty much every league game this season and there is a
:16:34. > :16:40.waiting list of about 2000 people already. This debate comes before
:16:40. > :16:45.any plans for more seats have been submitted. The club hope to do that
:16:45. > :16:50.before the end of the year. We can join Lynda Hardy in Brighton
:16:50. > :16:57.now. Despite the talk of parking, the club can boast it is one of the
:16:57. > :17:01.greenest in the country when it comes to transporting fans?
:17:01. > :17:04.Clearly we have got some problems with the sound, as well as me
:17:04. > :17:11.coughing this evening! Let's move on to the headlines, then.
:17:11. > :17:14.Our top story tonight: At the end of an inquest into the death of a
:17:14. > :17:19.teenager who slipped into a coma after taking heroin, her mother
:17:19. > :17:23.says she still has answers -- still has questions over her death.
:17:23. > :17:25.Amy Pickard spent eight years needing round-the-clock care after
:17:25. > :17:28.she was found collapsed in a toilet cubicle.
:17:28. > :17:31.Also in tonight's programme: Hoping to avoid a mud bath - why
:17:31. > :17:34.Maidstone United are opting to play on a plastic pitch.
:17:34. > :17:44.And the Kent soldiers fighting to be in the top platoon in memory of
:17:44. > :17:45.
:17:45. > :17:49.Princess Diana. By day, he is a busy London
:17:49. > :17:52.businessman working in insurance. But Roland Horton, with his wife
:17:52. > :17:58.Jane, devotes his spare time to a running a smallholding in Sussex
:17:58. > :18:00.for rare breeds of farm animals. It is not just attracting customers,
:18:00. > :18:04.but also keeping breeds alive, maintaining genetic diversity for
:18:04. > :18:07.our food of the future. At least one breed of farm animal is made
:18:07. > :18:12.extinct every month across the world. In the last century, 26
:18:12. > :18:14.breeds of livestock and many more breeds of chicken disappeared.
:18:15. > :18:18.Among those that are still struggling are the black Norfolk
:18:18. > :18:25.turkey and Soay sheep, both of which are on the Hortons' farm. Our
:18:25. > :18:29.environment correspondent Yvette Austin has this report.
:18:29. > :18:33.For Roman and Jane Horton, living the good life is their hobby. When
:18:33. > :18:37.they are not at work, they look after their animals, which are
:18:37. > :18:43.special because pretty much all of them are rare breeds. It started
:18:43. > :18:49.with six chickens, and we now have about 100 so it keeps us quite busy.
:18:49. > :18:52.These are the blacks are six chickens here. In the 1920s, a
:18:52. > :18:57.Sussex hen came to he failed and as we live in the locality we thought
:18:57. > :19:02.it would be lovely to keep them going. They are a rare breed, yes.
:19:02. > :19:06.It is difficult to get hold of good breeding stock and bloodlines. You
:19:06. > :19:11.need to make sure you are looking at local shows to see what birds
:19:12. > :19:16.are available. From chickens in the beginning, Turkey's Nynex and the
:19:16. > :19:19.smallholding group. They are not full Christmas, they are breeding
:19:19. > :19:24.flock. If he were to buy a commercial bird for the table it
:19:24. > :19:32.would be about �40. If you were to buy one of mine, it would be about
:19:32. > :19:36.�70. But we are trying to keep the breed alive. They take a third
:19:36. > :19:42.longer to mature than commercial birds, but they say the flavour, as
:19:42. > :19:47.a result, is far better. Similarly with the ship. Soay sheep lambs are
:19:47. > :19:51.smaller, but it is argued the sheep are tastier. Soay sheep are the
:19:51. > :19:56.most primitive in the country. We have been farming them since the
:19:56. > :20:02.Bronze Age. It is genetic diversity. Where do you think the Commercial
:20:02. > :20:06.Farmers'' sheep came from? It came from sheep like these. And the pigs
:20:06. > :20:11.are a perfect example of the point of the project's. These are amongst
:20:11. > :20:17.the rarest pigs in the country. They are rarer than the Siberian
:20:17. > :20:21.tiger. There are 800 Siberian tigers, 400 of these. The World
:20:21. > :20:26.Wildlife Fund is trying to save the Siberian tiger, and it is up to
:20:26. > :20:30.people like myself to look after the pigs. Whilst some of the
:20:30. > :20:34.animals here do reach the table, the idea is to keep the breeds
:20:34. > :20:44.going. Eventually they may be needed to cross into commercial
:20:44. > :20:51.
:20:51. > :20:54.animal production for our future We have dosed you up, haven't we?
:20:54. > :20:57.He is feeling better now! It was all about teamwork, physical
:20:57. > :20:59.fitness and military skills in Folkestone today, when 400 soldiers
:20:59. > :21:01.took part in an inter-platoon competition.
:21:01. > :21:04.Some 400 soldiers of the 2nd Battalion The Princess of Wales's
:21:04. > :21:08.Royal Regiment are taking part in the Spencer Trophy in memory of
:21:08. > :21:18.Princess Diana. It is no easy task - the competition lasts for four
:21:18. > :21:18.
:21:18. > :21:23.days. Peter Whittlesea reports. It is as close to reality as
:21:23. > :21:30.possible. The soldiers have been attacked by unarmed men. Because of
:21:30. > :21:34.that, they can't shoot. Instead, the situation has to be contained.
:21:34. > :21:39.This is all part up and up into platoon competition which prepares
:21:39. > :21:44.troops for everyday combat situations. You have to decide what
:21:44. > :21:47.is going to be behind the dock. If you have a family with a mother and
:21:47. > :21:51.her children and you threw a grenade in every door, all you do
:21:51. > :21:56.is lose a battle against Hearts and minds because you are killing the
:21:56. > :22:01.people in the area. The decision for a soldier when he comes up to a
:22:01. > :22:06.door, what will be behind it? on a tour of duty, that stark
:22:06. > :22:10.decision has to be made daily. This scenario based training allows
:22:10. > :22:16.soldiers to learn from their mistakes without the obvious real-
:22:16. > :22:23.life consequences. Also, this is a competition, so everything is being
:22:23. > :22:27.marked. The best platoon wins the coveted Spencer Trophy. It is
:22:27. > :22:31.really in line with what we do one operations, quite relevant to what
:22:31. > :22:36.we are do ring. We have won it before as a petition and it would
:22:36. > :22:38.be nice to get it again, which is why we have so many of our guys
:22:38. > :22:43.left in the competition, because we are pushing hard because everybody
:22:43. > :22:49.wants to when it. It is not all about combat. Here, they have to
:22:49. > :22:54.assess and treat casualties. Because the trophy was given to the
:22:54. > :22:59.regiment by Earl Spencer after Lady Diana's death, the rent -- the
:22:59. > :23:09.winning petition has a real sense of honour and pride. -- the winning
:23:09. > :23:12.platinum. 30 years ago they were heralded as
:23:12. > :23:15.the way forward, a grand innovation brought in to avoid the traditional
:23:15. > :23:17.winter problem of more mud than grass on football grounds. But
:23:17. > :23:20.synthetic pitches soon fell out of favour and were banned.
:23:20. > :23:23.Despite that, Maidstone United believe it is the only way smaller
:23:23. > :23:26.clubs can prosper, and will soon become the first club in the
:23:26. > :23:30.country to have a purpose-built plastic pitch, as Neil Bell reports.
:23:30. > :23:33.They promise to deliver free- flowing football for the benefit of
:23:33. > :23:37.all. It was believed synthetic pitches would become the norm,
:23:37. > :23:47.bringing an end to the mudbath that players and spectators had endured
:23:47. > :23:48.
:23:48. > :23:53.After almost two decades away, Maidstone United will soon be back,
:23:53. > :23:57.but not playing on soil. The new ground will be based around a
:23:57. > :24:02.synthetic pitch. We had to inject some financial and commercial
:24:02. > :24:06.reality into this before we started and part of that comes by the
:24:06. > :24:10.laying off an artificial surface. We have children's teams,
:24:10. > :24:14.disability teams, the youth and reserve teams, they will all use
:24:14. > :24:18.this as a focal point for the community. But that decision could
:24:18. > :24:22.mean Maidstone never regain their place in the Football League, not
:24:22. > :24:29.that the long-suffering reporters - - supporters are too bothered about
:24:29. > :24:35.that. I have been waiting for the past 20 years, said it is a bit of
:24:35. > :24:39.a bind to have to travel for a home match 30 miles away. I used to be a
:24:39. > :24:44.runner in my younger days and you see how synthetic tracks have
:24:44. > :24:47.improved athletics. The standard of football has got to improve.
:24:47. > :24:51.footballing authorities still need convincing. Clubs like Preston,
:24:51. > :24:56.Luton and QPR tried them in the 80s but bounce, roll and injuries led
:24:56. > :25:00.to them being banned. That could be about to change. This type of pitch
:25:00. > :25:07.is ideal in terms of the number of teams, the number of youngsters,
:25:07. > :25:13.those coming through, the pitch can be used regularly. Unlikely though
:25:13. > :25:17.it may seem, Maidstone are confident they will be here playing
:25:17. > :25:21.on their artificial pitch in time for next season.
:25:21. > :25:26.It has been a lovely day, but the weather is at sixes and sevens,
:25:26. > :25:30.isn't it? Yes, and we have a big temperature
:25:30. > :25:35.look to go through in the next 24 hours. It will be mild tomorrow and
:25:35. > :25:39.then cold again, in fact, very cold. Cold enough that if we were to get
:25:39. > :25:49.some precipitation towards the end of the week, it would fall as nodes.
:25:49. > :25:52.But we are not do anything just yet The best way to visualise the
:25:52. > :25:57.changes over the next 36 hours is to see the pressure chart. At the
:25:57. > :26:00.moment we have got clear skies, said it is very cold, but through
:26:00. > :26:04.tomorrow we have a warm front coming through which will bring
:26:04. > :26:07.temperatures several degrees higher than at the moment, but quickly
:26:07. > :26:11.following that is a cold front bringing rain and then the colder
:26:11. > :26:15.air that will sit with us on Friday and Saturday daytime, with
:26:15. > :26:20.temperatures not much higher, about three or four degrees, so it is
:26:20. > :26:23.getting colder than over the last few days. It will certainly be
:26:23. > :26:28.chilly through this evening but with those clear skies and the
:26:28. > :26:34.lasting behalf of the night, I think temperatures should not get
:26:34. > :26:37.much lower than two or three degrees. Some of us will see a
:26:37. > :26:42.little bit of frost but it will tend to become a little bit milder
:26:42. > :26:46.towards the end of the night when the cloud arrives. Once that had
:26:46. > :26:50.arrives it will be with us through tomorrow, the winds picking up
:26:50. > :26:54.stronger than today, we could see gusts at 50 miles an hour and the
:26:54. > :26:58.cloud so thick it could give outbreaks of rain as well. Not the
:26:58. > :27:02.pretty, sunny day that we had today at all. In fact, it gets worse and
:27:03. > :27:07.the worst of that wet weather will probably be in rush-hour tomorrow
:27:07. > :27:13.evening, and that is when the strongest winds will be. From 5pm
:27:14. > :27:18.until 8pm, the strongest rain and winds. We are left them on Friday
:27:19. > :27:22.with some beautiful sunny skies but it will feel very cold indeed. So
:27:22. > :27:26.although we have got some milder air through tomorrow, it is not
:27:26. > :27:32.much consolation because it comes hand in hand with rain and very
:27:32. > :27:36.strong winds. Colder by the weekend. Website tomorrow is the date is