:00:02. > :00:05.Welcome to South East Today. I'm Polly Evans, and I'm Rob Smith.
:00:05. > :00:08.Tonight's top stories: Kent war hero Colonel Tim Collins
:00:08. > :00:17.outrages the Police Federation by saying he would only want to be
:00:17. > :00:22.Police Commissioner part-time. suggest that one person could do
:00:22. > :00:25.that on a part-time basis is nonsense. It is a full-time job.
:00:25. > :00:28.Intensive support for mums of intensive care babies - a self-help
:00:28. > :00:31.group set up by a Sussex mother terrified by her experiences.
:00:31. > :00:33.Also in tonight's programme: What the Dickens is going on in
:00:33. > :00:37.Kent to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the great man's
:00:37. > :00:40.birth? Keeping kids safe on the internet -
:00:40. > :00:49.the Sussex office monitoring one of the most popular websites for
:00:49. > :00:52.children in the world. And defending our shores - an
:00:52. > :01:02.unremarkable radar station with a remarkable history in World War Two
:01:02. > :01:13.
:01:13. > :01:18.Iraq war hero Colonel Tim Collins has outraged the Kent Police
:01:18. > :01:23.Federation by saying he would only do the role of Police Commissioner
:01:23. > :01:27.part-time. 11 people have put themselves forward for election.
:01:27. > :01:37.The Police Federation, representing rank and file officers, it says
:01:37. > :01:39.
:01:39. > :01:45.this is insulting. He is the former army officer at
:01:45. > :01:49.famed for his rousing battle speech during the first Iraq war, the
:01:49. > :01:53.first to throw his hat into the ring for the role of Police
:01:53. > :01:58.Commissioner. But Tim Collins says he will only do the job if he can
:01:58. > :02:04.do it part-time. It would be a part-time role for me. Others might
:02:04. > :02:09.see that different a. But the reality is, we have got a very
:02:09. > :02:13.effective chief constable with a good team. They can do the policing.
:02:13. > :02:18.We need someone to listen to the public an interface with them.
:02:18. > :02:23.Please welcome to our conference Colonel Tim Collins. He was
:02:23. > :02:29.revealed as a candidate by the Home Secretary in October, but some say
:02:29. > :02:34.his desire to do the job part-time is an insult. We have got a police
:02:34. > :02:39.authority that comprises of 16 people. To suggest that one person
:02:39. > :02:44.can do that on a part-time basis is nonsense. It is a full-time job,
:02:44. > :02:49.and if he wants the job, he should commit to that full time. Police
:02:49. > :02:54.Commissioners will have a range of powers. They will decide policing
:02:55. > :03:00.strategy, said the budget, a point and dismiss the chief constable.
:03:00. > :03:07.Tim Collins is one of 11 individuals who have registered an
:03:07. > :03:11.interest in this role. Like all police forces, Kent is overseen by
:03:12. > :03:18.a police authority. But in November, that will change with the election
:03:18. > :03:23.of a single commissioner. There is not a single requirement that this
:03:23. > :03:28.should be a full-time job. It is a big role. But it will be up to
:03:28. > :03:36.local figures to say how they want to go about it, full transparency
:03:36. > :03:44.should they have other interests, and let us decide by local people.
:03:44. > :03:48.Match fit is the way Tom Collins describes the police. Police and
:03:48. > :03:54.crime commissioners, elected by the public, to serve the public, has
:03:54. > :03:58.got to be the way forward. The police authorities, wasting public
:03:58. > :04:04.money, have to go. And you can do this on a part-time basis?
:04:04. > :04:10.believe so. It is existing work commitments which Colonel Collins
:04:10. > :04:15.says limits his availability. Baker Police Commissioner is a decision
:04:15. > :04:25.the public will face in November. - - Bay Police Commissioner.
:04:25. > :04:29.Let us speak live to the Conservative MP, Mark Reckless. He
:04:29. > :04:36.is so enthusiastic supporter. Thank you for joining us. As we heard
:04:36. > :04:43.there, this is a role being done by 16 people. Is this a part-time job?
:04:43. > :04:47.It is a serious role and a big commitment. I used to be on the
:04:47. > :04:54.Police Authority, and I think it will be different having an elected
:04:54. > :04:58.Commissioner. You have got one person with a mandate. He or she
:04:58. > :05:02.can collect a deputy. It will be a different way of managing this
:05:02. > :05:08.situation, and will bring the police closer to the public. But it
:05:08. > :05:14.is a big role. We heard Nick Herbert saying it is a bigger role.
:05:14. > :05:19.Can there be done part-time? It is not for me to answer that question.
:05:19. > :05:25.It is the people of Kent to get to decide. Tim Collins has said what
:05:25. > :05:31.his commitment will be. He has set out his stall, and all be for the
:05:31. > :05:35.electorate to decide. But it is a technical role with
:05:35. > :05:39.responsibilities. With all due respect, are the electorate the
:05:39. > :05:44.best placed people to decide what a Police Commissioner should be
:05:44. > :05:48.doing? I believe they are. The chief constable will be in charge
:05:48. > :05:53.of operations, but the Police Commissioner will probably set the
:05:53. > :05:59.budget, and the policy and priorities for Kent Police. You
:05:59. > :06:08.will need skills like finance, IT, knowledge of the police. You will
:06:08. > :06:13.collaborate with other commissioners. What you want to see
:06:13. > :06:17.the police are going. It is crucial the public get a voice in what they
:06:17. > :06:25.want their priority is to be a. That is what we will get through
:06:25. > :06:30.these elections. I am really looking for to the vote in November.
:06:30. > :06:35.A mother, who had to cope alone after her daughter was discharged
:06:35. > :06:38.from intensive care, has set up a support group for women in a
:06:38. > :06:48.similar situations. Michelle Foreman says looking after her
:06:48. > :06:48.
:06:48. > :06:53.daughter alone was "terrifying". Kyeira was just a six-week called
:06:53. > :07:00.when a condition started causing her breathing difficulties. -- six
:07:00. > :07:04.weeks old. She was transferred to intensive care in London. A week
:07:04. > :07:11.later, she was home, but for her mum it was not the end of her
:07:11. > :07:16.concerns. That your child has been critically ill. When you get home,
:07:16. > :07:21.they are ready to go home. As a parent, you do not know where to
:07:21. > :07:27.pick up again. You do not know everything it your child does. You
:07:27. > :07:32.become anxious and worried. group she set up aims to support
:07:32. > :07:38.other parents. It will also have a website, offering advice from
:07:38. > :07:45.doctors. It is an amazing idea. Having a sick child is very
:07:45. > :07:50.traumatic for any parent, and when their child is ill, the staff's
:07:50. > :07:56.priorities... While we try to support parents as much as we can,
:07:56. > :08:04.sometimes, energies are diverted to that child. Michelle cannot praise
:08:04. > :08:09.and of the medical care Kyeira received in hospital.
:08:09. > :08:19.In a moment: The Army chaplain still working after 67 years'
:08:19. > :08:27.
:08:27. > :08:33.Parents of children who spend time on the computer need to know their
:08:33. > :08:41.child is in a safe environment. Experts in online computer safety
:08:41. > :08:45.gathered in Westminster to discuss the issue. Club Penguin has 150
:08:45. > :08:53.million users worldwide, and a European monitoring team is based
:08:53. > :08:58.in Brighton. Back home in Brighton, and straight
:08:58. > :09:06.into a fantasy world of games and chat, where each child is a penguin,
:09:06. > :09:12.chatting online. Let us go to the Plaza and see if any up our friends
:09:12. > :09:19.are there. But how do their parents know that one of those friends is a
:09:19. > :09:28.grown man? The children don't know it, but there chap is being
:09:28. > :09:34.monitored. And what filters are so strong. -- and were failed to us.
:09:34. > :09:42.Illegal words are flagged up in red numbers. This was staged for us to
:09:42. > :09:49.illustrate the point, but as we were filming, a real incident
:09:49. > :09:54.happened. A child just mentioned drugs, so we removed him from the
:09:54. > :10:02.server. Other children's website claims similar protection. They are
:10:02. > :10:10.after all businesses with profits to make. Upstairs, the Germans are
:10:10. > :10:17.hard at work. But can they global team of 200 really monitor hundreds
:10:17. > :10:22.of thousands of online chat? one thing we say to parents is -
:10:22. > :10:27.make sure you instil in your children not to share personal
:10:27. > :10:33.information online. That is impossible to do within a Club
:10:33. > :10:37.Penguin. That is quite a claim. and we are very confident in our
:10:37. > :10:40.moderation tools. The most important thing for parents is to
:10:40. > :10:48.make sure that if children are online, particularly at this young
:10:48. > :10:51.age, they are not unsupervised, and you are involved in what they are
:10:51. > :11:01.doing. That is assuming you can tear them away from it for a few
:11:01. > :11:07.minutes, of course. John it joins me now from Brighton.
:11:07. > :11:12.There is a big push to promote online safety. That is right. The
:11:12. > :11:15.BBC has done research that suggests boarded the centre of young people
:11:15. > :11:21.are unaware that when they put their details online, there are
:11:21. > :11:31.there for good. So the BBC has launched a campaign this week:
:11:31. > :11:32.Share take care. You can find out more details on our BBC Sussex News
:11:32. > :11:34.website. Thank you.
:11:34. > :11:38.A motorcyclist and pillion passenger have been badly injured
:11:38. > :11:40.in Brighton after they hit a lamp post and collided with a bus. The
:11:40. > :11:43.incident, on Ditchling Road, happened just before 4pm, causing
:11:43. > :11:45.long traffic delays in the area while the emergency services were
:11:45. > :11:47.on the scene. Figures released today show that
:11:47. > :11:50.Kent's town centres are continuing to suffer in the downturn. The
:11:50. > :11:53.Local Data Company's report shows 36% of shops in Margate are vacant
:11:53. > :11:57.for the second year running - that's the second highest rate in
:11:57. > :12:03.the country. The figure for Dartford is 27%, and in Chatham,
:12:03. > :12:06.it's 24%, up 3% in the last six months.
:12:06. > :12:09.Work has begun this morning to deal with the aftermath of the closure
:12:09. > :12:11.of the Thamesteel plant in Sheerness. A Kent County Council
:12:11. > :12:17.task force is meeting for the first time, bringing together MPs,
:12:17. > :12:20.councils, central Government and educationalists. But the council
:12:20. > :12:26.says it's still hopeful a deal to bring a multi-million pound wind
:12:26. > :12:30.turbine factory to the island could come to fruition.
:12:30. > :12:35.Today is the two hundredth anniversary of Charles Dickens
:12:35. > :12:40.birth, widely regarded as one of the most brilliant and influential
:12:40. > :12:45.writers there have ever put pen to paper. And his outlook on life was
:12:45. > :12:51.very much influenced by his upbringing in Kent. The Kent Film
:12:51. > :12:55.Office says and the last five years, Dickens inspired programming has
:12:55. > :13:01.brought in over one Point �7 million. 60,000 people came to the
:13:01. > :13:05.Rochester summer Dickens Festival, and 80,000 to the Christmas
:13:05. > :13:15.Festival. Sara, 200 years on, and he is still hugely fallible to
:13:15. > :13:18.
:13:18. > :13:25.Medway? Yes, he is. -- valuable. Much of it inspired by his times in
:13:25. > :13:31.Kent. A survey for the BBC shows that brand Dickens brings then over
:13:31. > :13:41.to London million pounds a year in films, and books. He is worth more
:13:41. > :13:43.
:13:43. > :13:47.At this church, his 200th anniversary is marked with flowers.
:13:47. > :13:51.But it is Rochester, Chatham's neighbour, which has benefited most
:13:51. > :14:00.from its connection with him. Around every corner is a reminder
:14:00. > :14:03.of the inspiration he took from the town's buildings.
:14:03. > :14:08.This group of French students is one of many tours making its way
:14:08. > :14:12.through the streets here. There is everything here, almost
:14:12. > :14:17.intact. And the more you look around, the more you find. You have
:14:17. > :14:22.the impression that you live in another century. You could believe
:14:22. > :14:27.that you're actually in his steps. The biggest crowd-pullers are the
:14:27. > :14:31.festivals, one in the summer and one at Christmas. The streets
:14:31. > :14:37.throng with different nationalities. But the 200th anniversary is also a
:14:37. > :14:42.draw. A New York arts programme has been visiting today.
:14:42. > :14:48.We check that all the spot where he rode Star of his greatest works,
:14:48. > :14:52.Great Expectations, where he started to work on other pieces as
:14:52. > :14:56.well. Rochester may be awash with
:14:56. > :15:00.charming architecture, but there is little doubt it is the Dickens
:15:00. > :15:04.connection which brings in the visitors.
:15:04. > :15:10.Dickens is the great magnet to Rochester. Without the tourists, I
:15:10. > :15:15.think it would die completely. The shops survive entirely on the
:15:15. > :15:22.Dickens trade. Inspiration for scenes in the
:15:22. > :15:26.Pickwick Papers were taken from here. A reading that marked the
:15:27. > :15:30.occasion. This town may have inspired Dickens, and today it gets
:15:30. > :15:37.to thank him for helping keeping it alive.
:15:37. > :15:41.He arrived in here as a five-year- old. He came back as an adult and a
:15:41. > :15:45.writer, and it is said that he always regarded this as being his
:15:45. > :15:49.home. He may not have been born here, but the people of Medway
:15:49. > :15:53.claim him as they ran, and all the celebrations taking place over this
:15:53. > :15:58.week will show just what they do think of him.
:15:58. > :16:03.Thank you. On Friday's programme which will be
:16:03. > :16:09.live at Rochester Cathedral for our showing of David Lean's film, to --
:16:09. > :16:14.Great Expectations. Kent Police Federation have a lack
:16:14. > :16:18.-- reacted angrily to a claim that Colonel Tim Collins could do the
:16:18. > :16:25.job of police commissioner on a part-time basis. 11 people have
:16:25. > :16:29.said they will stand for election. Coming up, how Turner's inspiring
:16:29. > :16:37.children in the town that inspired him, Margate.
:16:37. > :16:42.If radar developed from experiments in England in 1935.
:16:42. > :16:52.At remarkable radar. How will the - - how these anonymous buildings
:16:52. > :16:52.
:16:52. > :16:57.played a vital role in protecting For some, after a lifetime of work,
:16:57. > :17:01.thought it might turn to retirement. But Canon Bill Peters is not. He is
:17:01. > :17:09.the only chaplain who served in the second world war to still be
:17:09. > :17:14.working. It is 67 years after he signed up. He has no plans to
:17:14. > :17:20.retire. 70 years ago, he was the country's
:17:20. > :17:28.youngest on a chaplain. Today, he is the last surviving. He was sent
:17:28. > :17:33.to North Africa just after Germany suffered heavy losses.
:17:33. > :17:42.The casualties, they were tremendous. If you were around
:17:42. > :17:49.there, there was just acre upon acre of men who had been killed.
:17:49. > :17:55.Can fighting ever be justified? Canon Bill Peters says it can be.
:17:55. > :18:03.War, of course, is always evil. But Walker -- but sometimes it is the
:18:03. > :18:07.lesser of two evils. Sometimes you are only faced with two evils and
:18:07. > :18:13.choose the letter of -- last surf, and if you have done this you have
:18:13. > :18:20.done no wrong. While in Sussex, the Queen would
:18:20. > :18:30.worship at the church he was in charge of.
:18:30. > :18:30.
:18:30. > :18:34.I used to order the Sporting Life for the Queen!
:18:34. > :18:40.A sports fan, he has supported Brighton and Hove Albion for more
:18:40. > :18:44.than 80 years. He even played a match for them, but broke his leg.
:18:44. > :18:50.He also played cricket for Sussex, but says his greatest achievement
:18:50. > :19:00.was his marriage and his family. My family are so dear to me, and
:19:00. > :19:11.
:19:11. > :19:16.The celebrated artist JMW Turner was 11 when he first set foot in
:19:16. > :19:20.Margate at the start of his creative life. Today, who more than
:19:20. > :19:24.100 children have been making their artistic debuts in the busy and
:19:24. > :19:28.that now bears his name. They are pupils from four schools
:19:28. > :19:31.in the town, but until now have had little contact with cultural groups.
:19:31. > :19:39.So they have been working with local artists to come up with their
:19:39. > :19:43.original pieces of art. And icy wind lashed Margate today.
:19:44. > :19:48.Hurrying to take refuge from the biting cold, the next generation of
:19:48. > :19:53.artists. They have worked for months on their sculptures, and
:19:53. > :19:59.today it is this kind of work they will be up against. But it is not
:19:59. > :20:03.quite ready yet. Finishing touches are being put on.
:20:03. > :20:07.For I cannot wait for them to see their work actually installed up
:20:08. > :20:11.here. Many of them will never have been to an art gallery, and it is
:20:11. > :20:16.great that we are giving them the opportunity to have a look at the
:20:16. > :20:20.art, and more than that, they get an opportunity to respond to it and
:20:20. > :20:24.become artists themselves. They seem committed to doing just
:20:24. > :20:27.that. Using the time left before their first show to find some
:20:27. > :20:34.inspiration for their next. For it is pretty hard for these
:20:34. > :20:39.children to emulate the master. But, to be honest, they do not need to
:20:39. > :20:43.go, because they have got their own body of the original work. They're
:20:43. > :20:48.all going to go through those doors and see their work on the walls for
:20:48. > :20:51.the first time. Finally, the wait is over, the
:20:51. > :21:01.suspense is lifted. But what do you think?
:21:01. > :21:02.
:21:02. > :21:07.I am proud of what I did. It feels good for my work to be surrounded
:21:07. > :21:10.with everyone else's. This has opened the world of art to
:21:10. > :21:15.the children, had given them a whole new experience. They have
:21:15. > :21:19.really thought about art in more than just pictures.
:21:19. > :21:24.It is quite exciting, but also a bit nerve-racking. So many people
:21:24. > :21:29.will see it, and we do not know what they will think.
:21:29. > :21:39.I feel happy and proud of myself, that I work is in public.
:21:39. > :21:44.And public it is. And if you want to catch the
:21:44. > :21:47.exhibition, it is honoured at the Turner Contemporary until February
:21:47. > :21:51.19th. Crawley Town's match against
:21:51. > :21:55.Charlton definitely goes ahead tonight after around 100 tons of
:21:55. > :22:01.snow was clear from the pitch at the Broadfield Stadium. Crawley can
:22:01. > :22:05.go back to the top of League Two with victory over the visitors.
:22:05. > :22:08.A Kent radar station was played a vital role in defending Britain in
:22:08. > :22:14.the second world war could be yours for the price of a semi-detached
:22:14. > :22:17.house. RAF Dunkirk, near Faversham, is being sold at auction. It was a
:22:18. > :22:22.radar station which was built to provide early warning for the
:22:22. > :22:28.Thames estuary and London against bombing raids, and to give the RAF
:22:28. > :22:32.time to get Spitfires and hurricanes airborne.
:22:32. > :22:38.Radar had developed from experiments begun in England in
:22:38. > :22:47.1935. If I 1937, there was a chain of stations across the country for
:22:47. > :22:49.detecting aircraft. One of those was RAF Dunkirk.
:22:49. > :22:59.During World War Two, a radar technology meant incoming air raids
:22:59. > :23:06.could be spotted at least 30 minutes before a German attack.
:23:06. > :23:12.RAF Dunkirk is one of only five surviving radar stations in Britain.
:23:12. > :23:15.These radar stations were what contributed to the winning of the
:23:15. > :23:19.Battle of Britain. Without the radar stations picking up the
:23:19. > :23:24.German bombers coming in over the Channel, we would not have been
:23:24. > :23:28.able to get our fighters to the right places at the right times.
:23:29. > :23:38.The building on the left... Now the derelict station is going
:23:38. > :23:42.under the hammer. Bidding is expected to fetch around �140,000.
:23:42. > :23:49.This is a property that you categorise as unusual. There is a
:23:49. > :23:56.transmitter block, there is what is known as a Type 55 blogs, which is
:23:56. > :24:01.the building to my right hand side, and there is also an airier further
:24:01. > :24:04.over on to one of the side of the site, as well as a number of
:24:04. > :24:08.pillboxes. It is hoped whoever wins the
:24:08. > :24:14.auction will preserve the historical value of the site.
:24:14. > :24:20.Bidding gets under way later this month.
:24:20. > :24:29.They are compact inside! I feel it could be a bit chilly
:24:29. > :24:38.Every time I'm upon the weather chart for the temperature, it gives
:24:38. > :24:45.me goose bumps. -- I look at the weather chart. It will be very cold
:24:45. > :24:52.this evening. Not only the cold, temperatures will be bad, but there
:24:52. > :24:55.will also be some snow heading our way from the North Sea. We had a
:24:55. > :25:00.weather front coming in over the weekend, but with the snow now
:25:00. > :25:05.coming from showers, they are quite hit and miss. So some of us could
:25:05. > :25:10.see a lot, but I think that will be the worst and most were not see any
:25:10. > :25:16.at all. But there will be some out there, and with the air being so
:25:16. > :25:23.dry, at least we do not have to worry about freezing fog, neither
:25:23. > :25:28.problems with ice. So a little bit of good news! Through tomorrow
:25:28. > :25:33.morning, still that risk of a few more flurries. They could be a hint
:25:33. > :25:43.of sunshine in the afternoon. I would say a very cloudy day, and
:25:43. > :25:43.
:25:43. > :25:47.temperatures will be starting well below freezing. It will be feeling
:25:47. > :25:56.well below freezing. Another very bitter day, and it does not chains
:25:56. > :26:02.as we go into their stay. -- change. No more weather fronts on the cards
:26:02. > :26:06.for now, Andes and as we going to Friday. In the south-east, we are
:26:06. > :26:12.holding on to the cold weather. Elsewhere, some are milder
:26:12. > :26:16.temperatures are starting to push in, but in terms of us, there is a
:26:16. > :26:22.chance that we could keep this cold weather for at least another
:26:22. > :26:28.fortnight. So we could have another two weeks of these cold, icy
:26:28. > :26:35.temperatures. Only a few flurries of snow tonight. You would think
:26:35. > :26:45.there would be more sheep in the fields, maybe you should check...
:26:45. > :26:45.
:26:45. > :26:49.Oh, it has gone! I will show you It is the 200th anniversary of the
:26:49. > :26:53.birth of Charles Dickens, and those words of Oliver Twist asking for
:26:53. > :27:01.more food are as well known now as they were in the 19th century, as
:27:01. > :27:05.we discovered in Broadstairs today. Child as he was, he was desperate
:27:05. > :27:10.with hunger, and reckless with misery.
:27:10. > :27:15.He advanced to the master, and a somewhat alarmed at his own
:27:15. > :27:20.temerity, please, sir, I want some more.
:27:20. > :27:26.The master was a fat, healthy man, but he turned very pale. He gazed