06/12/2013 South East Today

The sun shall never set on so glorious a

Welcome to South East Today. I'm Rob Smith. And I'm Natalie Graham.

Tonight's top stories: 30 homes flooded in Kent and a day of

disruption on the trains in Sussex ` the effects of last night's storm

surge are still being felt. We're live in Faversham where the clear up

continues. We still have work to do but the managers of the troubled

Medway Maritime Hospital say they are making improvements.

Also in tonight's programme: Memories of Mandela. People around

the south east pay their respects to the former South African leader. He

was amazing. He was amazing and you only had to look at him and just see

what he had been through and how he felt.

It's not a wind up. Inventor Trevor baylis visits a Kent school, looking

to encourage more girls into science and engineering And the 40 trees of

Christmas. How a Kent church has found an unusually festive way to

raise some funds Good evening. The clear`up operation continues this

evening following last nights tidal surge. More than 40 homes were

flooded in Sandwich and Faversham as water broke over the banks of the

creek. On the Sussex coast train services have been disrupted all day

after the line was flooded at Newhaven harbour. In a moment we

will hear about the flooding in Sussex, but first this report from

Simon Jones in Sandwich. Hundreds of people have been

evacuated from their homes but many headed out after midnight to see how

bad the surge would be. People have been worried. They have been calm

but certainly, some people are rallied. Homes and businesses in

Faversham were badly hit. Sandbags. We pay higher rates than anybody

around here. We are right on the creek. Nothing whatsoever. Didn't

think ` things didn't look much better in the daylight. No one is

going to be staying in this part of the guesthouse for a while. Take a

look at the kitchen. It is underwater. If you take a look

through there, the sitting room is underwater as well. In the gardens,

much has been ruined. As I entered the garden and saw this, it made me

feel a bit sick. The build`up yesterday was a little bit exciting

and everyone was getting ready. Often we do these things and it

turns into nothing. But sadly, the garden has been flooded heavily. The

worst`case scenario of 3000 homes flooded in

worst`case scenario of 3000 homes flood I flood%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

worst`case scenario of 3000 homes flooded in Kent was avoided but the

environment agency says that was down to careful planning. Do you

think the worst`case scenario was overstated? No, I don't think so.

What has happened is that the scheme further downstream dashed... That

scheme has taken a lot of water away before it got to Sandwich. This

afternoon, there has been a second tidal surge. You can see how high

the river has gotten the people have come out to witness the event, which

has fortunately passed off without incident. But the clean`up will take

some time. Our environment correspondence is in

Faversham for us. What is the situation there this evening?

The floodwaters have now subsided. What happened in Faversham is behind

me you've got the creek and you might be able to make out the mast

from the boats. But the water rose so high that it topped over the

banks and across this whole area. Properties were three or four feet

underwater. 28 properties were affected in Faversham. 40 in total

in Kent. I in Kent. in Kent. Sussex didn't escape

destruction either. Wading rather than walking was the

way to get around last night. The Maine coast road was shut as the

tidal surge swept in. West Sussex Fire and rescue service tried to

pump water from properties. My neighbour banged on the door last

night, telling me to move my car because the road was a river. I

moved my car through the water and came back. I watched my porch fillip

with water. We used all the duvets and towels we had in the house,

blocked it. My partner shovelled it out. The morning after the night

before and the clean`up began. As well as preparations for another

high tide. Sandbags were laid and other makeshift defences were put

up. Sure Leopard looks like a harbour after the river burst its

bank. The main runway remained open. Further east, parts of New Haven

were flooded. Some were determined not to be stopped by the water. And

no trains were running because of the flooding. Services between

Brighton and Seaford were suspended. The river has burst its banks and

that is that. No trains between the two times I need to go to. I'm not

going anywhere. It has badly affected me. I can't get to work.

I've been waiting for an hour. High tide crept up again this afternoon

but it escaped flooding. It was nothing like the surge experienced

overnight. I am now outside the Albion pub. You

can see the sandbags are still out. There has been an intense mopping up

operation. With me is Maria, from the pub. What has it been like

today? It has been hectic but we've worked together as a team. We've got

a lot done. We are ready for our Christmas parties. The water was up

to three feet. When I came at ten o'clock, work had been done to get

that done. Most of the damage was in the back. We have been pumped out

and we have bought new fridges and we are ready to go. We've lost lots

of stock but we are still smiling. Thank you very much and well done.

Other properties are not in such a good position. They are still in a

blackout situation. There is a lot of work to do here.

A troubled Kent hospital, criticised for having one of the highest rates

of unexpected mortality in the country, says its death rate has

improved, but there's still more work to be done. The Medway Maritime

in Gillingham is one of 11 hospitals put in special measures over the

summer. The trust that runs it says it's employed more nurses and

clinical consultants. They have been subjected to a series

of highly critical judgements about the mortality rates, failure to meet

national standards and for not having a credible clinical strategy.

But now, signs that things are slowly starting to improve at this

foundation trust. We've got 63 more nurses than before, that is a net

effect, not just to never. We are increasing numbers of midwifes. Our

vacancy rate has come down from between 9% to just under 7%. Staff

are sticking with us despite everything. The trust was put in

special measures after recording persistently higher than average

mortality rates. In October, they were issued with a formal warning by

the care quality commission, after failing all six national standards

in the Trinity. And two weeks ago, the NHS regular ` regulator warned

managers they would be forced out and thus they took urgent action.

This has been a problem at the hospital for a while. The hospital

are very aware of this and are taking steps to address it. But

these are difficult problems to solve and it is never possible to

suddenly transform a hospital overnight. The number of unexpected

death at the hospital has fallen slightly over the last six months

but some patients remain concerned. I've got no other place to go. I

cannot go private because I'm a pensioner. I cannot afford that. So

I've got to go there. I had a head injury give the date but I had to

wait for a long time before they saw me. No, I would rather just wait at

home, wait until the GP is open and go there. Sometimes the weight is

quite long but the doctors and nurses work really hard. Sometimes I

think they are understaffed. They do work really hard. I cannot fault

them at all. The trust admits it has a lot of work to do but they say

that doesn't mean the hospital is unsafe in the meantime.

Jon is at the Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham. Jon, how

significant is that drop in the number of unexpected deaths?

It is a very small drop in the headline rate but by last year 's

standards, that would bring the hospital into the expected and

widely accepted range for hospital mortality although still quite high.

This improvement has I am sorry. It looks like we have

lost the line to chat. We apologise for that.

Coming up: The latest on the trial of the Sussex couple accused of

trafficking women for prostitution. People across the South East have

been marking the death of Nelson Mandela, with books of condolence

opened at cathedrals and town halls, prayers held and flags flown at half

mast. The former South African President visited Brighton in 2000,

to thank people here for their support for the anti`apartheid

cause. And as Ian Palmer reports tributes have been paid across Kent

and Sussex. In the crypt at Canterbury

Cathedral, they are saying goodbye to a leader. Here, Nelson Mandela

will be remembered as a person who brought people together. Prayers for

South Africa's first black president would be made in Kent and Sussex

this weekend. For black parishioners in the Medway towns, Mandela was the

personification of freedom and justice. Was able to unite a lot of

people and also be someone to look up to. He was a real icon and a

father figure, I would say. His status is legendary and we will

remember him for the rest of our lives. Nelson Mandela was a prisoner

when Peter Hain was a student, organising protests against the

Springboks rugby team in 1970. The campaign completed his masters

degree at the university of sussex. The former Secretary of State for

Wales greeted Mandela when he spoke at the Labour Party conference 13

years ago. Mr Hain says we'll never see Nelson Mandela's like again. He

was the indispensable figure in that transition, from the brink of utter

desperate Civil War, to a nation that became healed. Peter Hain help

set up the Mandela Scholarship at the University of Sussex. Today's

recipient is fully aware of the responsibility that comes with a

position that has the Mandela name. He tells me two things. One, I can

achieve whatever goals I set myself to achieve. He brings this hope.

Students at the university gave their reaction to Mandela's death.

He seems like such a force beyond being a human person and it is

almost unimaginable. What ever he got as a student, he used it to

enrich the advancement of society. As a student, and looking forward to

making a difference in the lives of others. Andy Winter voted in the

first democratic election in South Africa. A charity worker now living

in Brighton, he says Nelson Mandela shouldn't just be remembered as a

dear Grandfather of a nation. If we are not challenged on a daily basis

by his struggle, if we are not made to feel uncomfortable whenever we

hear the name Nelson Mandela, and if that does not drive us to seek

greater good, then we will be betraying his legacy. A man who was

born in a mud hut who became an international symbol of peace

freedom and justice, not just in his native South Africa, but right here

in the south east. Campaigners have won their three and

a half years... Plans were announced in 2010 to partially demolish the

1930s Grade two listed complex and build flats. Brighton and Hove

councillors have now approved proposals to give the Saltdean Lido

Community Interest Company a 60`year lease to operate the pool.

Two Sussex footballers have been sacked by their club after being

charged in relation to match fixing. Michael Boateng and Hakeem Adelakun,

played for the Brighton`based Conference South team Whitehawk FC.

Today the Team's Board says the 22`year`olds have been dismissed for

bringing the club into disrepute. A mother has described how she was

forced to work with prostitutes by her former partner. Victoria Brown

said she was threatened by the father of his son, who on one

occasion, through a knife towards her head.

The pair are alleged to have trafficked around 50 prostitutes

into the UK, alongside with three others. Our home affairs reporter,

Rebecca Williams has been covering the case at Hove Crown Court.

Victoria Brown today said she was scared of her former partner.

Yes, she described him as having a fiery temper. She said he often got

very stressed out easily. On one occasion, she said he put his fist

through a wall. There was blood everywhere which terrified her. She

went on to say that nine out of ten Hungarian men she said, he told her,

would put her in hospital for the way she behaved. During the

cross`examination, the defence barrister put it to her that she was

actively and willingly involved in helping to run an international

prostitution ring, a claim that she denies.

And during that cross`examination, she also gave evidence about how she

got involved with these alleged exploits.

We even heard how there was an online next court agency set up. She

denies any involvement in that. The court also heard how she would often

man on the phone. She says, at the request of her partner. All of the

defendants deny the charges against them in the case continues. This is

our top story tonight: 40 homes were flooded in Kent, and Sussex coast

train services remain disrupted, after the sea levels rose in last

night's storm surge. Also in tonight's programme: the

Kent church with a unique approach to Christmas.

And after last nights storm surge, the weather is comparatively quiet

over the next few days. Join me later for the weekend forecast.

Science, engineering and maths are seen as some of the most important

and fastest fastest growing sectors in the UK economy. But despite the

demand, comparatively very few women are taking up the challenge, and

opting for a science based career. Looking to change all that, one

girls' school in Kent, the Simon Langton Grammar in Canterbury, has

invited the famous inventor Trevor Baylis, creator of the clockwork

radio, to inspire the next generation.

I managed to get some sign that of the instrument that was my Eureka

moment... From that moment, the wind`up radio was born, turning

Trevor Bayliss into a household name. On a visit to Canterbury, the

inventor was encouraging students, particularly girls, to pursue a

career in science and engineering, saying their bright ideas of the

future could change the world. When you start looking at history, you

suddenly find that there are some remarkable inventions that are being

created by women. What we have to do is make sure that society realises

that there are so many things that we take for granted and yet the

creators of those inventors don't get the credit given to people who

do art and painting. I thought it was amazing. He is definitely very

inspiring. You normally see men doing things like that. It would the

equal if women did it as well. It's like encouraging you to get

involved. If you have an idea, don't just give up as if... Like he said,

someone might invented snakes and you will think, I have that idea.

Why didn't I carry on with it? Just 7% of engineering graduates in the

UK are women. Trevor Bayliss says that has to change and that cultural

Revolution should start in the classroom.

Now back to the death of Nelson Mandela. Tributes to the former

South African President have been pouring in across the South East.

Mark Norman has been speaking to residents of Kent and Sussex about

their memories of meeting him. The apartheid regime in Nelson

Mandela and exiled South Africans who fought the system. That included

the Williamson 's. She was a journalist, he a barrister. Now

living in West Sussex, both acknowledge the impact Mandela had

on their lives. If you lived in South Africa in the 60s and 70s, you

would have thought this system was never going to end. Other than

through a ghastly, bloody civil war. And then Mandela just changed all of

that. Words cannot describe the debt we have to Mandela and the love that

everybody has four Mandela. From his Rochester home, this world`renowned

Toastmaster, recalls shaking President Mandela's hand at an

after`dinner speech in London. No one has got the presence of Nelson

Mandela. No one will ever have the presence of Nelson Mandela. Having

served 27 years, 17 in solitary confinement, a man that, kept

himself saying, moved from hatred to peace in the world. How do you do

it? You have got to be someone very, very special and we have lost

very, special man. A hugely successful business career and a

lifelong friend of Bishop Desmond Tutu, beating Mandela was one of the

most significant moments in her life. We were very cautious with

photographs because I knew his eyes were damaged by his time in prison.

But he was amazing. You only have to look at him and see what he had been

through and how he felt. That is the man the world has been waiting to

see. After 27 years in jail, Mandela emerged to become South Africa's

first black president and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. For those who

sought ` fought the same course, he will be remembered as the man who

brought about change without bloodshed.

We're joined now by Peter Hain, the Labour MP who was very well known as

an anti`apartheid campaigner. His parents campaigned alongside them

some Mandela in the 1950s in South Africa. `` Nelson Mandela. When you

came over and you were a student at Sussex union, Sussex University, who

campaigned very publicly for change in South Africa. Yes. There was a

big student campaign. Sussex University was the centre of it. It

had many exiled South Africans studying there, including the former

set president who succeeded Nelson Mandela. As were many others from

the African National Congress. There were lots of active students,

British students, who sent coaches around the country, for example

demonstrating against the all`white South African Springboks tour, that

was heavily disrupted by protests in 1969 slash 1970. It was a campaign

which I lead. Sussex was a centre of anti`apartheid agitation and

important in the overall campaign. Nelson Mandela came to Brighton for

the Labour Party conference in 2000. Given all of that history, it must

have been an incredible day for you. It was. It was a magical moment for

me. I showed him in to see the Prime Minister in the hotel on the

Brighton seafront. Then experiencing him speaking to the conference,

there in person. Many people had not had the privilege of getting to know

him. We were a stubborn `` we were astonished that there he was,

speaking a few yards away. It was a magical moment. Talking of magical

moments. Can we go back to 1991? Your whole life until that point had

revolved around the fight. The parents had been forced out of South

Africa. You campaigned so vigorously that you didn't get to beating

yourself until 1991. What was that moment like? What was he like when

you met him face face? As always, when you `` when he meets someone

who hasn't met before, you are the most important to him. It seems

genuine, unlike other celebrities and figures who you sense put it on.

I also had my mother with me. She was at his trial in Pretoria in 1962

as an anti`apartheid activist. Often the only white person in the white

section of the public gallery. They used to salute each other. Being

reunited, here with him, and meeting there for the first time in

Parliament was something that I almost felt wasn't happening to me!

It was one of those it will never happen moments. He seemed to be

imprisoned for all of his long, bleak years. The apartheid state and

all its evil, was so impotent. `` omnipotent. You wondered whether he

would ever come out. We are going to move on to sport.

It's an FA Cup weekend and Dover Athletic have the chance of some

giant killing, and taking a place in the third round of the competition.

The Conference South side travel to League One MK Dons. Meanwhile

Crawley's new manager John Gregory will be hoping to inspire the Reds

to victory at Bristol Rovers. In the Championship Brighton can get

their promotion campaign back on track with victory over leaders

Leicester City. The While Charlton will drop into the relegation zone

if they lose at Yeovil following four defeats in their last five

league games. In League One, Gillingham could move

into the top half of the table with victory over bottom club Notts

County. Jake Hessenthaler, the son of former manager Andy, could

receive his first league start for the club, he came on as a second

half sub last weekend. I will give everybody a chance and if I think

the senior player may be is not doing what I would like, I will then

think about putting more of the young ones on at times. But the

timing is got to be right format. Most of us settle for one Christmas

tree. But a church near Ashford is packed with them from aisle to

altar. It's all part of the Hothfield

Christmas Tree festival, one of the events which herald the countdown to

December 25th. When people ask if Singh Margarets

Church has its Christmas tree object, the answer comes, yes. `` St

Margaret's church. It is the first chance for people to

feel really Christmassy. They come in and it looks beautiful and stop

they can then really start to get the Christmas spirit. For three days

at the start of December, the 13th century church becomes a forest of

Christmas trees. I just cant believe it. I wish I could live here. I love

the trees because of their sparkle. The children like it. There are

baubles and sparkling lights. Everyone's happy. Aren't they,

Sarah? They just think it's magical. They cannot believe we have so many

trees in the church. They are all dressed in a different way. I hope

they take a little bit of the magical spirit of Christmas back

with them. The festival runs until Sunday when the trees will be sold

off, all to help raise the remaining ?15,000 for the church roof's

?140,000 repair fund. Three days when decoration and restoration go

hand`in`hand. I'm starting to feel all Christmassy

now. Are you already? Let's take a look

at the weather. Today has been settled. The winds

have been easing off after last night 's gale force winds. It has

been settled and we stayed dry. We've seen some sunshine. It is much

calmer. The risk of coastal flooding easing off. A high`temperature six

or seven degrees today. Yesterday, we saw gusts of around 50 mph.

Through tonight, we will be staying mostly settled. Actually, frost

free. There may be a little bit of light, patchy rain and drizzle.

Also, when we see clearer skies, mist and fog patches. Temperatures

peaked staying above freezing. Four or five degrees on Saturday. High

pressure will be building. The winds continued to ease off. Quite a bit

of cloud cover around any mist will be slow to clear. Temperatures will

start to recover. Temperatures will go up to nine or 10 degrees. Really

light winds. Through tomorrow night, we've got lighter winds where

we will see clearer skies. Mist and fog will form. Quite a bit of cloud

cover. The chance we could see some light, patchy rain and drizzle.

Mostly, we will be staying dry. Look at these temperatures. Overnight

lows of seven or eight degrees. Very mild indeed. Much more of the same.

We will be settled. High pressure is building. Lots of cloud cover. More

brightness by the time we get to the afternoon. Top temperatures of ten

or 11 degrees. Into the new week, it will be staying settled with some

light winds and some sunshine to get into the middle of the week.

Have a good weekend. Goodbye. Goodbye.